VOGONS


Confessions of a compulsive hoarder...

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Reply 20 of 52, by borgie83

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@Tetrium, I know exactly where you're coming from and wish I had the same mentality but unfortunately I always want the best of everything which ends up costing me a small fortune. For instance, I have 5 x DB50XG daughterboards but I got paranoid and thought, no I need to upgrade the daughterboard on my awe 32 to a Roland SCB-55 so $300 later, it was upgraded. Listening to both of these daughterboards using the same awe32, all I did was swap awesome guitar riffs and drums for cool cymbal sounds and a few extra sounds here and there. Worth $300? Definitely not!

Other problem with offloading hardware in Australia is that most people from overseas don't won't to pay the postage costs so getting rid of some of my hardware is going to be a little difficult unfortunately. I don't blame people either. I quite often think "I can't believe I paid $20 postage for a $5 graphics card". All part of the game I guess.

Reply 21 of 52, by Robin4

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I think, its just how high your priority is. I mean with this, some people are grown up with these old computers and really like to re-live that period of there life.. Some people where born more lately and had never had
experienced how it was back then.. Some people only experienced the Pentium 1 systems or much lately systems, and maybe didnt really care about those systems, but only want to make a cheap as possible system that would be compatible to play there wanted games on.. (its just another generation of people) I really dont care about cell phones, the new generation only wasting there time on these things..

The people who will spend more money have experienced the whole thing, from the beginning when the first IBM XT would released.. As example for me, back in the time i was a kid.. I couldnt affort those systems, because i was just to young to work.. In those days a spend my time on school, learning.. I can remember when my dad could buy a 486 system (and he occupied it the most) I was just angry, because i never could effort a system for my own. My mum and dad promised a lot, but never got a system for me own.. So i know back then i promised myself when i would older i would make a system for my own.. When i lived with me parents, it never came from the floor those plans.. Till i got a girlfriend a going living on my own.. I starting collecting stuff back in 2008.. Before i did, i came in contact with this forum..
I know i saw donutking building his 386 DX 40mhz system.. And i really got that good vibes from back then.. Then the ball was going to roll.. And starting collecting these stuff.. Some things i really had luck (bought very nice things back then). I know it isnt easy to get those older stuff, but i still make the right decisions (like a manager) so i know what i need to get things first, and which things i later can look for..

Now i have almost what i want.. My biggest problem now is, that i have some stuff i need to repair.. And test it on working too.. I hadnt much problems on dead hardware..
So the conclusion is: Some people there lives is just old computers (cant life without it (i cant) Its just still really nice to playing those old games and giving that good vibes of back then, knowing that there arent a lot of people who still have those systems running..
And some other people had just born more lately,and didnt much care, and just want to have a decent system for less money running there games..

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 22 of 52, by sliderider

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snorg wrote:

Same here, I'm trying not to spend a ton on retro gear, maybe $50-$75 a month tops. I had a bad month last month since I was buying a bunch of parts all at once. I also try to stick to "buy it now" and "make an offer" type auctions, that keeps my costs down.

I try, too, but the thing is when you buy something from ebay and are going to pay a shipping charge, then you don't want that money to be wasted so you check to see if the seller might have something else that you will need in the future or that you can use to trade to make every penny of that shipping charge count. Or if a seller has several items that are priced right and they are offering free shipping on them as well, then a bulk buy might be in order. Parts lots are another pitfall that frequently leaves you with more stuff than you actually need. I bought a box of Dell GX1 parts that had 3 or 4 things that I needed to complete a build but the rest is all spares. Sometimes you don't set out to be a hoarder, the hoard just happens.

Reply 23 of 52, by Mau1wurf1977

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Although I don't hoard, the hobby is a black hole for time. When you haven't been near your retro gear for a while it takes me ages to get back into it, figure out the jumper settings and all of that. And you always run into a glitch that takes hours to fix. I have basically not played any games, just mucked around with the hardware.

It is hard to say no to deals. That videocard that will run out in 10m and has zero bids at 0.99c. But do you really really need it?

I still haven't figured out the answer. There are so many projects and videos I would like to do but to do it well it's really a FT job and I simply don't have the time. It also never ends. I covered the DOS era pretty well but then you start looking at early Windows stuff and how cool they are and it just never stops.

I played more games before it all started and through DOSBox. In terms of cost, shipping cost is the real cost for me. So many cards that go for minimum bid, but shipping is usually $10 - $15. And yes, you have to take advantage of combined postage, so you end up buying even more 😀

I really don't have an answer to all of this. Game companies also don't make it easy to play old games. Many aren't available or re-releases are botched and sub-standard.

Selling is also a pain. Time-consuming and painful considering some items took you a while to get and have sentimental value that can't me measured.

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Reply 24 of 52, by dirkmirk

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I have a problem that everything has to be perfect before I'll use the system to play games, as an example I'll tinker with bios settings on the motherboards the disk controllers have to offer large disk support, graphics cards have to be accelerated for windows, plenty of ram and have the correct sound cards with the best MIDI devices etc, it goes on.

I have this for other parts of my life too, for example I didn't buy any DVDs for 5-6 years when it became apparent that Blu Ray was the format that was going to win the HD wars, instead I was buying Blu Rays but did I watch them? Hell NO! WHY NOT? Because I couldn't bring myself to watch FUll HD movies on my puny 42" HD Panasonic plasma, I waited years before I got a FULL HD Panasonic 60" Plasma before I would let myself enjoy the BLU RAY format as I knew it was going to be a better experience.....

Kind of Like Crysis which I've never played but If I ever get around to it the hardware wont be a problem to enjoy it fully like it was when it was first released, part of the reason I like being behind the times as it saves you plenty of money.

Reply 25 of 52, by PeterLI

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Looks like I have a better handle on my hoarding / OCD. Then again I have a lot of pressures in my life to keep it in check. The NYC area is super expensive ($10K property tax annually alone for my 3BR/3BR 1950s ranch) and 2 kids with everything that goes with it. Plus my wife and MIL who scrutinize everything and no alternative receiving / shipping location. I would probably go over board like everyone else without those brakes on my tendencies.

The one advantage of not building my own systems or OCD-ing about components is that machines always work and I can play a game right away. Except when they die: in which case I part them out / recycle them.

Reply 26 of 52, by snorg

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My God I think my heart would stop if I had a $10k property tax bill. Holy moly. Sometimes I'm glad I live in the ass-end of nowhere.

Reply 27 of 52, by PeterLI

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This winter does not help either. Had another $800 heating oil deilvery today.

Reply 28 of 52, by Tiremaster400

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Damn!!! And I was complaining about my $2000 property tax bill!!

Reply 29 of 52, by PeterLI

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The NYC area is extremely expensive. Just filled up my car: $52. 🙁

Reply 30 of 52, by Half-Saint

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Haha, I always find it funnd when americans complain about gas prices. Come to Europe! I promise our gas prices will make you cry 😀

Back on topic:
In most cases horading and owning items doesn't give me long term satisfaction anymore. I once bought an old Thrustmaster set for cheap only have it sitting in the cupboard for 2 years. I finally sold it for the same amount I paid for it... that's the biggest issue I have with owning a lot of stuff. You end up not using most of it.

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Reply 31 of 52, by bristlehog

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What is that property tax bill? Like, you pay $10K taxes annually as long as you own a house large enough?

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Reply 32 of 52, by Tetrium

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Half-Saint wrote:

Haha, I always find it funnd when americans complain about gas prices. Come to Europe! I promise our gas prices will make you cry 😀

Back on topic:
In most cases horading and owning items doesn't give me long term satisfaction anymore. I once bought an old Thrustmaster set for cheap only have it sitting in the cupboard for 2 years. I finally sold it for the same amount I paid for it... that's the biggest issue I have with owning a lot of stuff. You end up not using most of it.

I just consider them spare parts that I have ready for use 😜

If I plan a build, I don't want to find out the card I was planning to use, turns out to be dead or unusable due to damage. Then it's handy to have a similar parts laying around instead of having to hunt down online second hand markets.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
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Reply 33 of 52, by Mau1wurf1977

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I wanted to do another video last night but half-way through I thought "what the heck are you doing, (almost) nobody cares about this stuff" and stopped. I might do a different strategy. Pick a game that I want to play, put together a setup using the "best" parts and finish that game. Then move onto the next project.

Otherwise I will never be able to sit down and actually play something.

I really want to experience the headphone surround technology of Aureal. Got the original Halflife and Incoming, both supporting A3D I believe.

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Reply 34 of 52, by PeterLI

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Where we live it is 3% of the assessed value of the property annually. In our case 3% * $340K: $10K. 😵

Last edited by PeterLI on 2014-03-02, 21:59. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 35 of 52, by retrofanatic

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The way I see it, one day when a lot of my retro gear will cease to be operational or will deteriorate, I will have to abandon it (more like it will abandon me 🤣 ) and end up playing everything on a modern rig on DosBox 😢 for nostalgia reasons. I really don't want to do that, but I think it is inevitable....There will be some lucky blokes who will have some working hardware that may even work long enough to hand it down to their children (if they are interested). For now, I would say I am a 'mild hoarder' and collect retro gear to suppress the 'inevitable' from happening as much as possible. I agree with many like snorg:

snorg wrote:

There's a guy that runs some retro gaming site, I forget which one. He may even read Vogons. Maybe it is Blake? I don't think it is Trixter. Anyway, he has set up really nice room in his basement for his retrogaming stuff, where his collection is showcased rather than just having a mountain of stuff.
We all have different means and talents, but I would like to do something more like that rather than just having a disorganized mess of things.

I totally agree with this, and this is what I have been striving toward since I started 'collecting'. A also totally agree with many that talk about having everything organized even in storage. It does really help getting rid of things that you know you will not need now and anytime in the future. Once I organized all of my stuff it really became a little more clear what I would need and what I should get rid of, but of course, you never really know what you may need down the road! 🤣 You never know when you'll get the retro bug to build a system that needs parts that you may have in storage.

What I do to keep the costs down for what I spend on retro gear is that I only buy things that I can get for a good price and in large lots. That's the fun in collecting all this stuff. I find it very exciting that things that cost an arm and a leg back in the day can be had for so little today (for the most part). Also, being able to buy fully functional retro stereos, gaming consoles, computers and other electronics from an era when things like that were built so well make me happy too. Seeing "made in the USA", "made in Belgium", "made in Canada", and "made in Japan" is much better than "made in China" for the most part. I would rather use a solid old telco phone from the 70's and 80's that I got for $4 from a garage sale in my home (after I clean it with bleach of course!) than a new crappy plastic one found at any walmart store.

The only big bucks I have ever shelled out (that I can remember recently) is $100 bill for a complete ATARI ST4 system with keyboard, mouse, monitor, software, cpu unit, disk drives, and software (complete package) and $200 for Roalnd sc-55 and Roland ISA MPU-401 interface (with external box). I also have shelled out a few bucks for some MT-32 and other Roland and Yamaha gear, but for the majority of my sound units, I have pretty much only paid about $30-$70 each. Like many here, I only spend about $40-$60 per month on retro gear. I do have a pretty good, steady income from a good office job so I could easily spend more, but for me it would defeat the purpose and go against why I got into collecting in the first place.

I think why many of us have got into retro computing and older games is for nostalgia reasons, but much of it has to be attributed to the fact that, for the most part, a lot of older stuff is very cheap and can still provide us with hours of enjoyment. I find it amazing that I can still find an old PII computer for free, or a box of cool DOS games for $10, or a complete NEC P1 system (ready to go) complete with monitor, mouse, keyboard, onboard wavetable sound card for only $30!! Or a commodore 1701 CRT monitor for only $3 and a Voodoo3 card for $1, and a AWE64 Gold card for only $10! You get the picture....how can you stop buying when all of this cool stuff can be had for so cheap?? This is what drives us to collect and use all this old hardware for the most part. As much as everyone says it's for notalgia and whatever, if it cost a lot more, I think there would be a lot less people on Vogons and more people just playing everything on DosBox and other emulators.

It is getting more difficult to procure, but the fact is that old retro hardware is still grabage to many people, but gold to many of us, and they are willing to practically give it away in many instances!! Like it or not, retro collecting for most of us is based on this - pretty much seeking out people that think it is garbage and capatalizing on their indifference. It is really easy to get hooked on this and continue to build up a pile of cool old retro hardware (and software), but it does have to be controlled as there are of course other things in life to contend with.

Some of my 'rules' to keep me from becoming a full on hoarder:
- I consider retro hardware/software as a hobby for me...it's not my life (even though it does take up a lot of my time)
- Keep everything organized - the more organized, the more I can tell what I may not need and what I should sell.
- Allocate a finite amount of space for my collection - If it doesn't fit in the space I have allocated for my retro collection, I won't buy it.
- Determine what systems I ultimately want to have in my setup and try to concentrate on those systems, even if it is 10 different systems...at least this way I can narrow down my collection somewhat.
- Never spend too much and take my time - even though some things are becoming more scarce, it is not worth spending too much on something you may be able to find in a couple of months for much cheaper.
And of course, it should go without saying that things like my family, girlfriend, car, groceries, friends, job and rent should take priority over my retro gaming obsession 🤣

Reply 36 of 52, by nforce4max

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Got the itch again and came home with yet another for the hoard (laptop), just couldn't pass up on that Dell Precision 6300m with that expensive FX3600m x.x

I hate taxes in general but places like NY and London are crazy about that.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 38 of 52, by Robin4

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retrofanatic wrote:
The way I see it, one day when a lot of my retro gear will cease to be operational or will deteriorate, I will have to abandon i […]
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The way I see it, one day when a lot of my retro gear will cease to be operational or will deteriorate, I will have to abandon it (more like it will abandon me 🤣 ) and end up playing everything on a modern rig on DosBox 😢 for nostalgia reasons. I really don't want to do that, but I think it is inevitable....There will be some lucky blokes who will have some working hardware that may even work long enough to hand it down to their children (if they are interested). For now, I would say I am a 'mild hoarder' and collect retro gear to suppress the 'inevitable' from happening as much as possible. I agree with many like snorg:

snorg wrote:

There's a guy that runs some retro gaming site, I forget which one. He may even read Vogons. Maybe it is Blake? I don't think it is Trixter. Anyway, he has set up really nice room in his basement for his retrogaming stuff, where his collection is showcased rather than just having a mountain of stuff.
We all have different means and talents, but I would like to do something more like that rather than just having a disorganized mess of things.

I totally agree with this, and this is what I have been striving toward since I started 'collecting'. A also totally agree with many that talk about having everything organized even in storage. It does really help getting rid of things that you know you will not need now and anytime in the future. Once I organized all of my stuff it really became a little more clear what I would need and what I should get rid of, but of course, you never really know what you may need down the road! 🤣 You never know when you'll get the retro bug to build a system that needs parts that you may have in storage.

What I do to keep the costs down for what I spend on retro gear is that I only buy things that I can get for a good price and in large lots. That's the fun in collecting all this stuff. I find it very exciting that things that cost an arm and a leg back in the day can be had for so little today (for the most part). Also, being able to buy fully functional retro stereos, gaming consoles, computers and other electronics from an era when things like that were built so well make me happy too. Seeing "made in the USA", "made in Belgium", "made in Canada", and "made in Japan" is much better than "made in China" for the most part. I would rather use a solid old telco phone from the 70's and 80's that I got for $4 from a garage sale in my home (after I clean it with bleach of course!) than a new crappy plastic one found at any walmart store.

The only big bucks I have ever shelled out (that I can remember recently) is $100 bill for a complete ATARI ST4 system with keyboard, mouse, monitor, software, cpu unit, disk drives, and software (complete package) and $200 for Roalnd sc-55 and Roland ISA MPU-401 interface (with external box). I also have shelled out a few bucks for some MT-32 and other Roland and Yamaha gear, but for the majority of my sound units, I have pretty much only paid about $30-$70 each. Like many here, I only spend about $40-$60 per month on retro gear. I do have a pretty good, steady income from a good office job so I could easily spend more, but for me it would defeat the purpose and go against why I got into collecting in the first place.

I think why many of us have got into retro computing and older games is for nostalgia reasons, but much of it has to be attributed to the fact that, for the most part, a lot of older stuff is very cheap and can still provide us with hours of enjoyment. I find it amazing that I can still find an old PII computer for free, or a box of cool DOS games for $10, or a complete NEC P1 system (ready to go) complete with monitor, mouse, keyboard, onboard wavetable sound card for only $30!! Or a commodore 1701 CRT monitor for only $3 and a Voodoo3 card for $1, and a AWE64 Gold card for only $10! You get the picture....how can you stop buying when all of this cool stuff can be had for so cheap?? This is what drives us to collect and use all this old hardware for the most part. As much as everyone says it's for notalgia and whatever, if it cost a lot more, I think there would be a lot less people on Vogons and more people just playing everything on DosBox and other emulators.

It is getting more difficult to procure, but the fact is that old retro hardware is still grabage to many people, but gold to many of us, and they are willing to practically give it away in many instances!! Like it or not, retro collecting for most of us is based on this - pretty much seeking out people that think it is garbage and capatalizing on their indifference. It is really easy to get hooked on this and continue to build up a pile of cool old retro hardware (and software), but it does have to be controlled as there are of course other things in life to contend with.

Some of my 'rules' to keep me from becoming a full on hoarder:
- I consider retro hardware/software as a hobby for me...it's not my life (even though it does take up a lot of my time)
- Keep everything organized - the more organized, the more I can tell what I may not need and what I should sell.
- Allocate a finite amount of space for my collection - If it doesn't fit in the space I have allocated for my retro collection, I won't buy it.
- Determine what systems I ultimately want to have in my setup and try to concentrate on those systems, even if it is 10 different systems...at least this way I can narrow down my collection somewhat.
- Never spend too much and take my time - even though some things are becoming more scarce, it is not worth spending too much on something you may be able to find in a couple of months for much cheaper.
And of course, it should go without saying that things like my family, girlfriend, car, groceries, friends, job and rent should take priority over my retro gaming obsession 🤣

Nice said, but some things here are not true? And i ment about organization of these hardware parts.. Some lines back you wrote about that it would cheaper to buy in lots.. I think this isnt really the best way to collecting things.. Mostly those lots contains about 2 or 3 things you really want (the best parts) and the bigger part of these lots are mostly lower priced items you final dont going to use in the near future..
After all you really decide to take those best parts from the lot.. So i really dont see the comparison about buying from bigger lots and organization. If you dont buying lots, but instead the parts you really look for, then you dont have to organize the stuff you never would use again..

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 39 of 52, by snorg

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I need to get more organized myself. I don't have much stuff compared to others, but the stuff I do have, is taking up more space than it should due to lack of organization. I'd really like to have a special room for everything but that will have to wait.

On a completely different note, is that $800 for a single month, Pete? Or is that more than a month's worth? I don't know what the hell I'd do without natural gas heat, this winter has shattered any illusions I've had of being able to rough it in a cabin in the mountains. I don't think there is any quantity of wood I could chop that would be able to keep me warm. I bet you would go through several cords easy, even to heat a small cabin in this kind of miserable weather.