Classic Computing Poll: How Do You Go Retro?

Nostalgia has been big here on element14 over the last few weeks, as we were reminded of the BBC Micro days of yore when the micro:bit was announced. The community flocked together to tell us all about their introduction to computing from years gone by, and then the 16-bit champion the Commodore Amiga casually broke our hearts as it turned 30-years-old.

And that's got me thinking a lot about classic computing in contemporary culture. Is there no alternative for you than breaking out the original machine, or are you all about emulation? We've got big plans for more richly nostalgic content here on the community, so I want to know...

How do you go retro?

Top Comments

balearicdynamics over 10 years ago

I have abandoned beside me the retro games, but probably now it is time to restarts. In the early '90 with a strange and crazy crew we built a sort of dynamically moving hydro-pneumatic vehicle to simulate several different kind of real movement in the virtual world. Then we have interfaced Doom and Terminal Velocity so the player was able to play networked with other hunters, hear the game sounds and speak with the players, being "inside" the game closed in this sort of spaceship with the only thing visible was the 19 inches monitor in front of him. This was really nice and immersive. I hope to find the time to setup again these two games on a small console.
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1234jgs over 10 years ago

I don't have any very old equipment so I have to use emulation.
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DAB over 10 years ago in reply to nlarson

Hi Nicole,

I might take a look, but I have a lot of gear in the basement that I need to work through.

By the way, welcome back.

DAB
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nlarson over 10 years ago in reply to DAB

Hi DAB - you might be interested in a website called "OfferUp" it's a bit like Craigslist (but much more easy to scroll through all the items). You can search based on how far you would go to get the item. You could probably find some interesting retro equipment there as well
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eugenenine over 10 years ago

Emulation for me at the moment. About 10 years ago I had to clean out my computer and electronics room to make a nursery. Sadly no one wanted them so they all went in the trash.
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shabaz over 10 years ago

Hm, going retro can be expensive!
That very nice looking Commodore PET can go for £650 or more..
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bwelsby over 10 years ago

Let's see ... in the cupboard under the stairs I have : One Atari 400 console One Atari 800XL + peripherals Three Sun Sparc 20 servers And my first home built Nascom 1 heavily modified. Well I am sure there's more goodies if I dare to go searching :)
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DAB over 10 years ago

I pick up retro equipment at garage sales and look at the circuits to see if I can reuse them on a current project.

DAB
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