Byrd wrote on 2021-02-25, 22:58:

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.

I often collect parts, too. But not as a collector in the common sense.
I like to examine them or do some experiments, for example.
Also save old stuff that I see on fleamarkets, but that I already own. Sometimes, the ROM chips hold a more recent copy of the firmware, for example.
Last, but not least, I do collect parts as spare parts for future use.
In 20, 30, 40 years when I'm more wise (hopefully), it will be very difficult to obtain 486 era hardware. Except for a selection of replicas, of course. 😉

Byrd wrote on 2021-02-25, 22:58:

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

+1

Same here. Personally, I think that this hobby often links to other hobbies, too.
Music, art, electronics, astronomy, etc.
- Just think of the Covox plugs, which are easily home made.
Currently, I'm exploring the world of old schematics for my radio hobby.
There were so many use cases for interfacing old computers.. Like doing SSTV, building satellite trackers etc.
ZX Spectrum, C64, PC compatibles, Atari ST.
Last, but not least, there also was the awesome era of virtual reality and stereograms.

Sphere478 wrote on 2021-02-27, 11:11:

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 🤣

I've gone through the same pain. Have enough spares to build a second system with now as well a box of dead parts

Not to throw this thread off topic, but as a semi related note to the whole "Retro computing leads to other hobbies" thing:

I allways felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between retro computer gamers/collectors and the *average* retro gaming crowed. Idk if it's all the work that goes into building PCs that goes over the average gamers head, or the expensive parts. Maybe the stereotypes that DOS games where crap? Maybe it's just all in my head.

I know there are alot of YouTubers who cover retro games and claim to be all about them, but hardly bring up computers, even when they might have been super relevant to gaming in the era. Like the huge success of the Amiga/Atari ST, or the great 3DFX years in the mid-late 90s.

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2021-02-27, 17:49:

Not to throw this thread off topic, but as a semi related note to the whole "Retro computing leads to other hobbies" thing:

I allways felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between retro computer gamers/collectors and the *average* retro gaming crowed. Idk if it's all the work that goes into building PCs that goes over the average gamers head, or the expensive parts. Maybe the stereotypes about DOS games where cheap? Maybe it's just all in my head.

I know there are alot of YouTubers who cover retro games and claim to be all about them, but hardly bring up computers, even when they might have been super relevant to gaming in the era. Like the huge success of the Amiga/Atari ST, or the great 3DFX years in the mid-late 90s.

I'd say it's even more complicated than that. There are people who love retrogames but are all about the convenience of emulation, then there are people whose interest in retro games and retro hardware merge, and then there are people who are passionate about retro hardware/computing but don't give a shit about games. Finally, there are collector/hoarders who are more about satisfying impulses than anything.

Believe it or not, most people on Vogons are actually in the last category, IMO.

appiah4 wrote on 2021-02-27, 21:14:

Finally, there are collector/hoarders who are more about satisfying impulses than anything.

Believe it or not, most people on Vogons are actually in the last category, IMO.

It is my strong impression that the vast majority of users in here is more interested in tinkering around with old hardware and playing games instead of collecting/worshipping them.

Dunno where you're assumption comes from...

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2021-02-27, 17:49:

Not to throw this thread off topic, but as a semi related note to the whole "Retro computing leads to other hobbies" thing:

I allways felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between retro computer gamers/collectors and the *average* retro gaming crowed. Idk if it's all the work that goes into building PCs that goes over the average gamers head, or the expensive parts. Maybe the stereotypes that DOS games where crap? Maybe it's just all in my head.

I know there are alot of YouTubers who cover retro games and claim to be all about them, but hardly bring up computers, even when they might have been super relevant to gaming in the era. Like the huge success of the Amiga/Atari ST, or the great 3DFX years in the mid-late 90s.

My guess would be that a large portion is due to the commitment (both mentally and materially) needed to build and/or maintain at least one retro rig. It's not like buying a car and have a garage fix it whenever the car gets the hickups, you'll probably have to already have, or develop, the know-how yourself as virtually no computer repair shop (those that exist these days anyway) will even know how to troubleshoot any issues it might have.

On top of that, retro computing is also a fairly niche hobby. Well, the actually using and repairing hardware part is mostly niche (in the sense of hard to get into as an outsider) with perhaps the most noticeable exception being collectors who purchase rare and/or popular cards just for the sake of having one for their display cabinets, so to say. Collecting only probably takes a considerably smaller amount of commitment, it's basically just as hard as trying to perfect a pokemon trading card collection which is a lot 'easier' than doing any actual building and actually using and also troubleshooting and repairing.

That doesn't mean that having a collection of, say, 3000 CPUs is a cakewalk because it may still require fairly extensive organisation 😜

My collection consists of the machines I have built to play games on and parts that I bought to replace pieces I expect to possibly fail at some point in the future. The only other pieces I own are the pieces I bought mistakenly, either because I thought I was going to use them or they ended up not working in the build. Sometimes I also bought piece in haste so by the time they arrived I'd already sorted another solution.

I really don't have anything else I need to build so now I just collect the games when I find them around town, ebay is far to expensive most of the time to buy software anymore, geez I remember just a decade ago when you could get sealed IBM PC games for a couple bucks plus shipping.

Shagittarius wrote on 2021-02-28, 04:05:

My collection consists of the machines I have built to play games on and parts that I bought to replace pieces I expect to possibly fail at some point in the future. The only other pieces I own are the pieces I bought mistakenly, either because I thought I was going to use them or they ended up not working in the build. Sometimes I also bought piece in haste so by the time they arrived I'd already sorted another solution.

I really don't have anything else I need to build so now I just collect the games when I find them around town, ebay is far to expensive most of the time to buy software anymore, geez I remember just a decade ago when you could get sealed IBM PC games for a couple bucks plus shipping.

Value Village and the local Salvation Army are my go-to places for old games . TBH, you have to get lucky, and I believe that I have been quite lucky indeed in the last few years .

On the PC hardware front, I believe that I already have most of what I ever wanted and a few spares for nearly everything that might/will fail . My avenues for building/optimizing/tweaking these days are mostly tangential to the hobby. Specifically, I am still playing around with video and audio output. Video is mostly a solved problem (OSSC and an LCD with a 4:3 mode and a tolerance for oddball scanning rates) at least maybe until OSSC Pro comes out . Audio-wise, I am on my second multi-track recorder used a mixer and will be migrating to my third one once it is ready, for more details see Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today . I am also still working on my software-defined S/PDIF mixer running on a Raspberry Pi 4, which is coming along nicely, IMHO, if interested see Not so crazy idea : using a Raspberry Pi 4 with jackd , Zita A2J bridge and jack_mixer to make a software S/PDIF mixer . I am still on the lookout for exotic/better homebrew audio options (Orpheus and AWE64 Legacy) and rare vintage audio gear at a an affordable price .

All that being said, I still follow and sometimes participate in discussions regarding things which I am unfamiliar with, like EGA and CGA characteristics and limitations because they catch my curiosity . I also try to be helpful whenever I can.

That's what the hobby is for me at this point and unless I catch a new interest regarding something to research or experiment with, I don't think things will change any time soon . I have definitely not given up on the hobby, I would say that I have just grown comfortably into it .

I'm so fed up with dishonest sellers.
I bought a socket 8 board without the riser card. It was alright because I wanted it for test purposes.
I asked the seller anyway if he has the card by any chance and he found it, I was happy.
Now he wants money for the riser as well like it's not part of the mainboard!
It's like selling a car and the seats separately.
I'm too old for this shit.

That seller isn't being dishonest, he just has a different opinion than you and it's making you mad. Demand he throw in a case too - no point having a car without the body.

Not this thread again...

There is an argument to be made that if you post on Vogons, then you're still in the hobby, to some extent. So most of us are just a little bit hypocritical, perhaps.

Like some people who purport to being "all about the games" and don't care about the hardware... who as a general rule tend to be the very people who, actually, own a metric boatload of hardware! 😀

It's easy to be satiated when you've already had everything. But most of us have not had that privilege... yet. 😀

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-03-01, 03:08:

There is an argument to be made that if you post on Vogons, then you're still in the hobby, to some extent.

Most of us don't give it up for good just stop for a while to do something else. 😉
It's still fun to browse Vogons and read informative and interesting posts or see what awesome stuff others bought.

I am a DOS nut, so need to have many 486-P3 ISA based machines in storage. And multitude of S3 and Cirrus and Nvidia based video cards. And many sound cards. Just need. but well if someone will buy my Voodoos and Gravises for good money ... I have no real objection for that 😁

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2021-02-27, 17:49:

Not to throw this thread off topic, but as a semi related note to the whole "Retro computing leads to other hobbies" thing:

I allways felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between retro computer gamers/collectors and the *average* retro gaming crowed. Idk if it's all the work that goes into building PCs that goes over the average gamers head, or the expensive parts. Maybe the stereotypes that DOS games where crap? Maybe it's just all in my head.

I know there are alot of YouTubers who cover retro games and claim to be all about them, but hardly bring up computers, even when they might have been super relevant to gaming in the era. Like the huge success of the Amiga/Atari ST, or the great 3DFX years in the mid-late 90s.

Personally I started out getting into vintage computers because I couldn't emulate the games I wanted to play. Still can't but it quickly became more about learning about the hardware and tinkering than the games. Tbh even now I don't play many games but I love vintage electronics. 🤣 My problem is now that I don't think there's too much more to experience that isn't kinda rehashing the stuff I've already done when it comes to vintage hardware. 😒

Well it'll always be there for you - that's one thing I really like about retro computing. I was watching an old dude in a fancy, much loved soft-top MGA (tiny old British sports car) weave his way through the CBD the other day and it looked awful - the roads are super busy these days and cars are generally big SUVs. You'd have to go a long way to find a road that wasn't busy around here - even out in the sticks you end up with some huge modern beast up your bum.

But an old PC always delivers the same experience, all of the zeros and ones are exactly where you left them 👍