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Any others given up on the hobby?

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Reply 120 of 155, by ole smoky2

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I am 66 years old and have always messed around with computers. Over the years I saved a lot of stuff as I upgraded my family computers. It was only in the last few years that I found an interest and found the time for retro systems. I am very happy that I stashed a lot of this old stuff in my attic over the years. My advice is save your stuff if you can cause you never know what your future interests may be.

Reply 121 of 155, by JonathonWyble

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Intel486dx33 wrote:

This stuff keeps your mind busy.

Yeah, seeing that people are doing the things I might like is the thing that keeps me motivated in terms of being active in a community related to it.

Despite the fact that I haven't been here much this month, I still do like to take the time to pop in and see how things are doing here 😉

1998 Pentium II build

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Reply 122 of 155, by King_Corduroy

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Intel486dx33 wrote:

This stuff keeps your mind busy.

Is that a good thing? Maybe it would be better to be bored more often, to read, to think, to walk or talk or just to sit and watch the sky for a little bit. I dunno, I found more often than not that my good days were ones I spent away from my electronics (aka my addiction).

Check me out at Transcendental Airwaves on Youtube! Fast-food sucks!

Reply 123 of 155, by appiah4

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I have to say that after four years of active hoarding and trying my hand at building anything from a 386 to an LGA775 I feel like the thrill has worn off considerably. I'm not burned out of the hobby or anything yet, but there isn't as much that excites me as it used to, at least with regards to the collecting and pc building side of things. the DIY kits and projects like the Snark Barker still fascinate me though, and I am still really fond of playing DOS games on 486/586 hardware, but everything 486 and beyond kind of lost relevance after my LGA775 build pretty much obsoleted all my other PII, PIII, K7 projects..

I kind of better understand Phil these days.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 124 of 155, by Shagittarius

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appiah4 wrote on 2021-02-24, 18:48:

I have to say that after four years of active hoarding and trying my hand at building anything from a 386 to an LGA775 I feel like the thrill has worn off considerably. I'm not burned out of the hobby or anything yet, but there isn't as much that excites me as it used to, at least with regards to the collecting and pc building side of things. the DIY kits and projects like the Snark Barker still fascinate me though, and I am still really fond of playing DOS games on 486/586 hardware, but everything 486 and beyond kind of lost relevance after my LGA775 build pretty much obsoleted all my other PII, PIII, K7 projects..

I kind of better understand Phil these days.

Yeah if you're building to have a platform to play games once you build an LGA775 win98 box there's no need to delve into further machines. Then as you mentioned your have a 486/586 for DOS purposes. I would propose a final XP machine based on a 1366 socket, then you've got all your bases covered for IBM PCs.

Don't forget however that you need an Amiga, and a Mac capable of running OS/9 natively, and your probably going to need a couple of macs due to speed issues with early mac software. =) Just kidding, when you're done you're done.

Reply 125 of 155, by appiah4

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I already have an A500 with a 42MHz accelerator and 8GB CF-IDE hard drive. All set for that. I don't care much for Mac stuff though.

The only XP box I have is a Socket 754 Athlon64 3700+ and to be honest I'm not even sure having Windows XP is actually a warranted necessity. Sell me on the idea, why do I need one? What runs on XP that doesn't run on 10?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 126 of 155, by Shagittarius

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The biggest argument for XP for me was ability to use software with DRM that no longer functions under more modern windows version as well as being able to run the 32bit version for compatibility. Other would point to EAX implementation on XP as a reason. I'm sure others could offer additional compelling reasons as well...

My XP build is a bit of overkill its an x5960 with a 780ti, so I also run Windows 10 on it and it makes a fine co-daily driver when I'm using my main machine for work.

Last edited by Shagittarius on 2021-02-24, 22:29. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 127 of 155, by badmojo

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appiah4 wrote on 2021-02-24, 18:48:

I have to say that after four years of active hoarding and trying my hand at building anything from a 386 to an LGA775 I feel like the thrill has worn off considerably.

I'm with ya, I have more awesome hardware in the shed doing nothing than I care to admit and it's bring me down. On the other hand I'm too lazy to move it on because that takes work and dealing with the numpties on eBay does not appeal.

But what I've found to be the solution to the lack of thrill (at least for now) is to identify my favourite machine and really get to know it. I've had countless hours of fun fine tuning my fave over the last 6 months - getting the best performance, compatibility, image / audio quality, range of eras, etc out of it that I can. My currently project is getting it to run old DOS emulators well, lots of options to try and lots of fine tuning to do. I'll run out of things to do again one of these days but at least now I have a machine that I can leave permanently set up and which does everything I want it to do, instead of having a different machine for each era that I invariably can't be bothered setting up at all.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 128 of 155, by King_Corduroy

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Right now I'm in an odd position, I'm kinda interested in starting collecting again but I can't seem to find anything I'm really excited about collecting. Mostly because I've owned an Amiga, I've owned tones of 80's PCs, I've owned tons of 90's PCs, I've owned an Atari ST, I've owned a Sun computer, I've owned terminals, I've owned early a Z100 and an H89, Commodore 64, 128 and I had a chance to own a 128D but passed on it. 🤣 I've owned Pentium 4 macines and up and I use Linux on the daily. I've owned a large variety of macs (and I dislike them generally). I even currently own a PDP 8/f minicomputer. 🤣 I seem to be in a very odd spot indeed. 🤣

Check me out at Transcendental Airwaves on Youtube! Fast-food sucks!

Reply 130 of 155, by gerry

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kolderman wrote on 2021-02-25, 06:30:

Collect less, play more, do you must.

this is wise stuff, whenever the act of collecting and fixing up old PCs weakens i say let it and either use the stuff you have or rest it for a while

think about things you quite like doing, where there is a crossover with PCs do them - make a tune on old tracker software, try programming, check out curious old operating systems and software or just leave the whole vintage PC thing to one side for a while and don't ponder upon why your losing interest - if it comes back (and it probably will in some form) the great and if not, then it was great

Reply 131 of 155, by creepingnet

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Reading this thread is like the collective echo chamber of thoughts in my head. I'm 38, and I've been messing with this stuff for over 20 years, I may even be one of the first if not the first PC compatible collectors around.

On the subject of quitting, I'll never quit. I've quit twice already, both times I just ended up buying up more stuff again. I will be purging again soon, but this is more because I feel like I've found my "home" of sorts. As I get older, the less I want to spend time putzing around with irritating old commercial O/Ses that only still half-work, and spending money fixing up old hardware just to accumulate it and sell it off later. I started getting into laptops more recently (wihtin the last 3 years) because I'm kind of sick of having to dedicate an entire room to the things I enjoy doing. I kind of enjoy being able to drag my NEC Versas all over the house and just kick around playing games in FreeDOS till the cows come home. It's turning more and more into me using FreeDOS and an NEC Versa rather than that big wall lineup of XT and AT desktop machines I used to want. I'm still keeping one or two of those though.

Anything for Windows 95 or later I've found runs perfectly on my Linux boxes. So now I can play The Sims on my old T61, and surf the web, and post on Vogons, and it's like running a modern laptop. I can do the same with the i5 desktop I have, or my other machine. TO me, those games really don't have a specific "feel" on hardware that varies or changes much from a modern machine. I've been trying out ALL of my old favorites on LInux using Wine and I'm finding that's fine for me.

One post on the first page mentions hatred for modern things. Honestly, I harbor the same. And that's kind of how this all got started in the first place. When I got into computers in the late 1990's, a new PC was a $1500 investment that became "obsolete" in 3 years even though knowing what I know now, almost NONE of those machines at the time between the years of 1991 and 1998 were anywhere even near obsolete. And it just seems to me the industry just keeps creating biggear "bear traps" for the mainstream (DRM, DLC, Cloud-Based-Tethered SAAS, required HTTPS, TLS 3.0) these sorts of things tend to put me off of wanting to use a modern computer for much more than things that make it convenient. If I had my own personal choice, I'd use FreeDOS as my main daily driver O/S - something I really thing advocates of the open source DOS clone should look at. I mucho prefer my old gray lapwarmers and beige beasts. rather than proceed to make you feel stupid for some horribly implimented process change in the name of what's hot right now, they do what I tell them to, you're rewarded for it. It's like driving an old stick shift car - which I also prefer.

And it seems a lot of us here have a ton of hobbies, I myself do as well. I'm pretty much chastised behind my back by friends and family members for owning 12 computes, 28 guitars, 2 CRT TVs, 5 old game consoles, as rasperri pi, and a Plex Media Server, and a "Vintage" truck..... and then proceed to go out during the summer and work on my truck and building more guitars, basses, and pedals, and walking around town and driving around off-road, rather than waste my time on the couch watching awful movies on the Dumb Panel that make me want to throttle the Gen Y and younger characters on the show because they're so bloody annoying.

That said, collecting is not as exicting as it used to be. IT was more fun in the 2000's when it was uncharted territory and nobody liked this old stuff anymore, and there were so many mysteries. I never thought I'd see the day I'd see computers I sold 10-20 years ago on evilbay. I swear I ran into my old DEC 486 a couple weeks ago, may have run into my Compaq Deskpro 386 at one point, and I think my AT&T Safari laptop - the one that lead me to buying NEC Versas no less - may have found its way on there just a month ago......I almost bought it, but figured I've already invested so much into the NEC ecosystem there's just no point. I think in the end it's going to be my Tandy or my 286, and then a pile of Versas, and then my one 486 Desktop which I'm even on the fence about at times.

My idea of a good time? A versa on the desk, a Jag-Stang in my lap, Vice Grip Garage or BIthead1000 on the CRT, and maybe an hour or two in the desert doing not-even-ameteur offroading and getting airborne in a 30 year old Ford Explorer.

~The Creeping Network~
My Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/creepingnet
Creepingnet's World - https://creepingnet.neocities.org/
The Creeping Network Repo - https://www.geocities.ws/creepingnet2019/

Reply 132 of 155, by Byrd

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kolderman wrote on 2021-02-25, 06:30:

Collect less, play more, do you must.

Rather good advice. These days you have to maintain what hardware you have as it certainly won't improve over time. All the hoarders with piles of crap they have no time to restore ... won't work next time they look.

Still love the hobby of vintage computing - it's remained my staple interest since I was in my teens (hard rubbish Melbourne Australia I miss you). I tire a bit of the restoration side of things, preferring to play, but I've certainly learnt a lot about electronics in the process which has assisted me with other hobbies.

JB

Reply 133 of 155, by clueless1

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Agreed on playing more, collecting less. I seemed to fall in to this early on in my collecting and am glad I did. Once I found a sweet spot (my P200MMX system) that played all the DOS games I grew up loving, I've been babying this system to help it last as long as possible. Even when I built some newer retro PCs, I could not get into them as much because I wasn't connecting with Win9x-era games as much. Building the systems and getting them all set up to run games was fun, but that's over pretty quick. What's left is playing the games, and I just wasn't feeling it on any other eras besides 1990-1996 DOS. Right now I just have the one DOS PC set up, one Win9x PC set up that rarely gets turned on, a 486 and a couple of XP machines disconnected in storage. The P200MMX gets all my TLC and runs like a top.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 134 of 155, by Shreddoc

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On both sides of the fence. Perhaps more accurate to say, I go through phases.

There's still plenty of stuff I want, and I guess that will never change.

But frustrating experiences do pare away the enjoyment from some areas, leaving behind a more productive focus.

Like many others here, the mid-late 90's stuff which is new enough to not-be-a-total-pain, but old enough to do all the cool (DOS) stuff authentically and pleasingly, is where it's currently at for me.

Reply 135 of 155, by King_Corduroy

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Yeah that's my point though, I kinda realized my Packard Bell machine from 1997 will do everything I want so I'm like... well... what in the world is even left to discover about this hobby? 🤣

Check me out at Transcendental Airwaves on Youtube! Fast-food sucks!

Reply 136 of 155, by BetaC

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King_Corduroy wrote on 2021-02-27, 07:09:

Yeah that's my point though, I kinda realized my Packard Bell machine from 1997 will do everything I want so I'm like... well... what in the world is even left to discover about this hobby? 🤣

Since everyone is echoing the "play more" idea, I can recommend setting a goal like "I'm going to play through everything in a series". It's what got me to get off my ass an play through The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 1-NV, which was something I had put off for seven years.

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Reply 137 of 155, by clueless1

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BetaC wrote on 2021-02-27, 09:10:
King_Corduroy wrote on 2021-02-27, 07:09:

Yeah that's my point though, I kinda realized my Packard Bell machine from 1997 will do everything I want so I'm like... well... what in the world is even left to discover about this hobby? 🤣

Since everyone is echoing the "play more" idea, I can recommend setting a goal like "I'm going to play through everything in a series". It's what got me to get off my ass an play through The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 1-NV, which was something I had put off for seven years.

In the 1990s, I almost never finished a game, but I loved tons of them. I had a bad habit of buying games too often, never allowing myself time to get my hooks into any one game. My goal was to complete every game I started but never finished back in the day. I also ended up replaying and completing a few games that I did finish! These included WC1-3, System Shock, Pacific Strike, and Wings of Glory.

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And in case you're wondering why I rate every game at least 70/100, that's kind of my baseline score for a game just good enough to get through to the endgame. There are games I'd rate lower, but I didn't bother completing them.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 138 of 155, by Sphere478

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What sucks is getting into the hobby with none of your old stuff cold turkey. You have a bunch of parts and it’s impossible to figure out where the problem is because you didn’t start with a known good config. It took me months to debug my new builds to the point they are today and reaccumulate the boot disks adapters software etc. I used to have a bunch of hardware I could use for diagnosing problems now I have had to get it all over again. It’s like 1000 problems all at once and you can’r sort them out from one another 🤣

Sphere's PCB projects.
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Sphere’s socket 5/7 cpu collection.
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SUCCESSFUL K6-2+ to K6-3+ Full Cache Enable Mod
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Tyan S1564S to S1564D single to dual processor conversion (also s1563 and s1562)

Reply 139 of 155, by Joseph_Joestar

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kolderman wrote on 2021-02-25, 06:30:

Collect less, play more, do you must.

Pretty much this. I currently have three rigs which cover DOS, Win9x and WinXP era games fairly well. I'm still interested in building a Pentium MMX system for its superb slowdown options, but that's very low priority.

Honestly, I'm just happy with the hardware that I have right now, as it allows me to replay most of my old favorites at their top settings. It feels great to completely max out a game, knowing that this is the best that it could look and sound at the time of release.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi