The nice thing about retro PCs is that it is a slow hobby. The only thing that changes with time is information, tools and intact stuff. It is not like an online grind game. You can actually complete things. And you don't have to do it again and again.

I have many hobbies and limited time so I tend to focus on one for a few months to work on a few projects then wander on. At such times I lose focus on social media regarding that hobby for a while, then catch on. I haven't been actively involved in retro hardware or gaming for a few months now, been too busy painting miniatures and stuff. I plan to get a few projects done in October though.

Been a member for 9 years. Can't say I don't post anymore, but I definitely post less these days.

First, there's Discord. If I need an advice or help, I'll get an answer much faster there. Also I feel like more and more projects get announced there rather than Vogons or even Reddit.

It sucks, because Discord is a walled garden (inaccessible to search engines or Wayback Machine), but sadly, convenience always trumps everything. Then again, I mostly hang out at the TRW server. So most of the stuff these guys discover does end up on the Web.

Second, it's hard for me to find time to make a build these days, so most of my hobby revolves around hoarding ancient software these days 😁 Soundfonts, custom BIOS files, obscure shareware stuff, etc.

Third, I feel like Vogons rarely gets any interesting build or hardware posts these days. People are moving into newer hardware. Nothing wrong or "non-retro" with that, just doesn't interest me. I tried messing around with WinXP on a P4 once, didn't enjoy it and moved on. Then again, Vogons has been a thing for what, 20 years now? Probably covered most of eras and platforms already, how many times can your really discuss same things 😁

I still pop on here and there but I feel like I'm going on less and less , honestly I'm of the mindset that I've mostly min maxed my builds that focus on the time periods I'm into and bar like dealing with uber rare hardware ill probably never be able to obtain (ie adlib gold , OG pro audio Spectrum 8 bit) I've kinda tried most of the mainstream stuff (midi , FM , gus, voodoo, A3D) .

So I feel like the excitement has worn off a bit and now I just occasionally play the odd game which gets me excited again for a bit or see a post about something like nuked doing sc55 emulation or someone modding a sound blaster cards firmware which also gets me excited or picogus etc. Sorta in bursts.

Occasionally I might chip in during a discussion but yeah I feel like I've reached the endgame of the hobby for DOS/95/98 stuff, don't get me wrong I'm still a huge fan of vogons and I'm still into the hobby but maybe I'm just a bit burnt out or my interest has worn away.

So maybe that's what's happened to some other folks , they've been there and done that and loss interest over time.

Real life intervenes, different interests wax and wane. Personally after some years with little interest and stuff packed away, I'm having a resurgence - been checking out what hardware I still have, played some old Mac games, fired up some DOS games, now pondering next moves. I have a case for a third PC after my Win10 PC and main Win98 ISA-free machine ... do I stick with the current slotA (most likely) or shift to something slower (socket 7) or faster (462 +2k + Ti4600, no ISA). Or ditch the lot and use it for (literally) new hardware.

They never really leave. Its like IRC they just go afk for a while.

ux-3 wrote on 2024-09-26, 19:57:

We don't, because their online games can't be saved by a retro PC. They will have to find solutions of their own.

for their nostalgia they will use an ai generator; "give me an online game like i remember from 2020's" and a suitably familiar but actually unique all new game will appear, along with dozens of ai online "players" - actual voices speaking too. The experience will feel similar to the ones remembered, but not quite be the same, not quite true or accurate. A bit like the photos from 2024 on, with backgrounds altered, missing friends added in, adjusted, smoothed, filtered, untrue.

jheronimus wrote on 2024-09-27, 09:40:

Second, it's hard for me to find time to make a build these days, so most of my hobby revolves around hoarding ancient software these days 😁 Soundfonts, custom BIOS files, obscure shareware stuff, etc.

Third, I feel like Vogons rarely gets any interesting build or hardware posts these days. People are moving into newer hardware. Nothing wrong or "non-retro" with that, just doesn't interest me. I tried messing around with WinXP on a P4 once, didn't enjoy it and moved on. Then again, Vogons has been a thing for what, 20 years now? Probably covered most of eras and platforms already, how many times can your really discuss same things 😁

I'm all for ancient software - its what the hardware was used for after all. there is much experimenting and just a kind of 'digital' archaeology to be done looking at old software

i know also, on hardware, that the needle has moved - that stuff from 15-20 years ago is increasingly looking like "modern" stuff to many forum members. I like it well enough, but its sure different from the old '86 yp to pentium 3 days

AppleSauce wrote on 2024-09-27, 10:20:

I still pop on here and there but I feel like I'm going on less and less , honestly I'm of the mindset that I've mostly min maxe […]
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I still pop on here and there but I feel like I'm going on less and less , honestly I'm of the mindset that I've mostly min maxed my builds that focus on the time periods I'm into and bar like dealing with uber rare hardware ill probably never be able to obtain (ie adlib gold , OG pro audio Spectrum 8 bit) I've kinda tried most of the mainstream stuff (midi , FM , gus, voodoo, A3D) .

So I feel like the excitement has worn off a bit and now I just occasionally play the odd game which gets me excited again for a bit or see a post about something like nuked doing sc55 emulation or someone modding a sound blaster cards firmware which also gets me excited or picogus etc. Sorta in bursts.

Occasionally I might chip in during a discussion but yeah I feel like I've reached the endgame of the hobby for DOS/95/98 stuff, don't get me wrong I'm still a huge fan of vogons and I'm still into the hobby but maybe I'm just a bit burnt out or my interest has worn away.

So maybe that's what's happened to some other folks , they've been there and done that and loss interest over time.

there is, i'd guess, a point in any vintage pursuit where most of the things that can be talked about and done have been, and from then on its just application to new scenarios or mulling over the occasional new development, as time moves on the qualifications for being vintage move too and perhaps leave the favoured period behind as a kind of niche within a niche

ratfink wrote on 2024-09-27, 13:03:

Real life intervenes, different interests wax and wane. Personally after some years with little interest and stuff packed away, I'm having a resurgence - been checking out what hardware I still have, played some old Mac games, fired up some DOS games, now pondering next moves. I have a case for a third PC after my Win10 PC and main Win98 ISA-free machine ... do I stick with the current slotA (most likely) or shift to something slower (socket 7) or faster (462 +2k + Ti4600, no ISA). Or ditch the lot and use it for (literally) new hardware.

that wax and wave characteristic of any hobby is my experience too, and i let it happen - there's nothing amiss with losing interesting in something, unless its losing interest in everything. There tends to be a subtle trigger that sets the interest off anew after some time 😀

gerry wrote on 2024-09-27, 14:03:

stuff from 15-20 years ago is increasingly looking like "modern" stuff to many forum members.

Realistically, the classic retro-game oriented "Retro-PC" phase ends with Ivy Bridge. Ivy Bridge marks the end of WinXP compatibility. If a game works past XP, it likely works on modern equipment. If it is disk protected, it likely works on XP. I fail to see any need for a retro PC past an Ivy Bridge system at the moment.
For most retro games (disk protected), a core2duo in a win98/xp system should do it, and then we have the age you suggest.

Hey, how dare ppl fake their fake realities 🤣

VOGONs has been around long enough to loop, starting eating it's own tail kinda, meaning the New systems that were the curse of the old gamester when it first began are now old systems.

Though new and old are a bit subjective, around the turn of the millennium I had a question about a 5155 Portable PC, and I got on some previous incarnation of VCFED, can't remember if guest posting was allowed or I signed up.... anyway, I don't know if it was "they" or just one dude, told me that it was "current" and therefore far too new to be discussed there. Current meaning I guess that the x86 arch was still alive or something.

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 18:58:

I once worked with a man, he was 70 years old, a fan of old web technologies, networks, web 1.0 in particular. Half a year ago h […]
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dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-26, 13:12:

Down here we all float 🎈 […]
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DosFreak wrote on 2024-09-26, 12:47:

Wait.....we can leave?

Down here we all float 🎈

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-26, 13:08:

sometimes people just die

Wow, that's just harsh. But life can be difficult sometimes, death of the family members, illness, searching for new job, etc, etc.

I once worked with a man, he was 70 years old, a fan of old web technologies, networks, web 1.0 in particular. Half a year ago he stopped answering letters, we communicated only by email, after a while his domains stopped working, I think he would not have left it so easily, he had been doing this for a very long time
I will say this - this is not my first such case.
there were several people who died from covid, and over the last 3 years they died or disappeared in the war (I am from Ukraine),
I am 41 years old, my circle of friends is usually much older than me

I know I lost my mother to Covid.

ux-3 wrote on 2024-09-27, 14:20:

gerry wrote on 2024-09-27, 14:03:

stuff from 15-20 years ago is increasingly looking like "modern" stuff to many forum members.

Realistically, the classic retro-game oriented "Retro-PC" phase ends with Ivy Bridge. Ivy Bridge marks the end of WinXP compatibility. If a game works past XP, it likely works on modern equipment. If it is disk protected, it likely works on XP. I fail to see any need for a retro PC past an Ivy Bridge system at the moment.
For most retro games (disk protected), a core2duo in a win98/xp system should do it, and then we have the age you suggest.

now for 20 dollars you can buy a game stick that is inserted into the TV, and you can play on two joysticks (included), games such as nes, snes, sega, sega saturn, and other consoles, there are about 20 consoles. so old games are quite a paid pleasure

of course, if you play on the original consoles, then it is expensive, even very expensive, but more often the question arises that there is simply nowhere to store all this stuff

I am often drawn not so much to old hardware as to what it can do. I make programs for it, write websites for 40-year-old computers, and yes, you can easily access the Internet on them, it is strange that few people do this, it is very fun and cool. But I know very few young people who are interested in this kind of thing

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-27, 15:38:

now for 20 dollars you can buy a game stick that is inserted into the TV, and you can play on two joysticks (included), ...

...and that is modern equipment.

Not a very long time member but my vintage interest is pretty periodical. With family life I don't have a lot of free time tbh. Look into the forums once a day or so on popular topics but seldom see things I can contribute to. Most lurking.

ux-3 wrote on 2024-09-27, 15:50:

Turboblack wrote on 2024-09-27, 15:38:

now for 20 dollars you can buy a game stick that is inserted into the TV, and you can play on two joysticks (included), ...

...and that is modern equipment.

but what's important is that it runs old software. and old hardware will disappear sooner or later, software is more important

ux-3 wrote on 2024-09-27, 14:20:

Realistically, the classic retro-game oriented "Retro-PC" phase ends with Ivy Bridge. Ivy Bridge marks the end of WinXP compatibility. If a game works past XP, it likely works on modern equipment. If it is disk protected, it likely works on XP. I fail to see any need for a retro PC past an Ivy Bridge system at the moment.
For most retro games (disk protected), a core2duo in a win98/xp system should do it, and then we have the age you suggest.

If we factor emulation and source ports into the mix, almost everything can be run on a modern PC. IMHO, the mark of retro PC isn't just the software, but running older operating systems and/or hardware.

I've started to feel nostalgic for Windows 7 and have been thinking of a revisiting a 4770k (Haswell) / Win7 system which is what I used to use about 10 years ago.

jheronimus wrote on 2024-09-27, 09:40:

Been a member for 9 years. Can't say I don't post anymore, but I definitely post less these days. […]
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Been a member for 9 years. Can't say I don't post anymore, but I definitely post less these days.

First, there's Discord. If I need an advice or help, I'll get an answer much faster there. Also I feel like more and more projects get announced there rather than Vogons or even Reddit.

It sucks, because Discord is a walled garden (inaccessible to search engines or Wayback Machine), but sadly, convenience always trumps everything. Then again, I mostly hang out at the TRW server. So most of the stuff these guys discover does end up on the Web.

Second, it's hard for me to find time to make a build these days, so most of my hobby revolves around hoarding ancient software these days 😁 Soundfonts, custom BIOS files, obscure shareware stuff, etc.

Third, I feel like Vogons rarely gets any interesting build or hardware posts these days. People are moving into newer hardware. Nothing wrong or "non-retro" with that, just doesn't interest me. I tried messing around with WinXP on a P4 once, didn't enjoy it and moved on. Then again, Vogons has been a thing for what, 20 years now? Probably covered most of eras and platforms already, how many times can your really discuss same things 😁

Which Discords are you usually on if I may ask? I don't think there is a Vogons Discord, is there?

appiah4 wrote on 2024-09-30, 05:58:

Which Discords are you usually on if I may ask? I don't think there is a Vogons Discord, is there?

The Retro Web's one 99% of the time. I tried others, but found TRW discussions to be of most use for my interests.

And no, I haven't heard about Vogons' server, but I think a lot of old-timers are on the TRW one.

Sometimes I've got so many problems I don't have the right free mind to focus on this hobby and I've barely the time to do something else before going back home from work so much tired I'd directly go to sleep.

I hope things will get better sooner or later.