Why collect or mess with “vintage” computers, when modern stuff is so much more fun, faster, and useful? Is it really? I find that while modern computers are all that, there’s nothing really “special” about computers anymore. They’re commonplace and everywhere, and for the most part they all look and work the same. It seems that the big 3 (Microsoft, Apple, Google) all seem to be mostly trying to copy each other to oblivion. In addition, as stuff gets smaller, the focus is more on portability like phones and tablets.
When I got into messing with computers as a kid, my budget was non-existent for the most part, so anything I got to mess with was mostly trash finds or hand me downs, aka “mostly older stuff”. As time went on, I found I kinda liked the uniqueness and simplicity of the older stuff, and kept a couple things around for nostalgia reasons.
Fast-forward a few years and getting into arcade games, I found I needed to get some games repaired where component-level repairs to the game boards were needed. Due to a lot of the go-to board guys being backed up with months of repairs, I had one person offer to sort of help me learn to do some repairs myself.
I was successful in repairing the game (Atari Video Pinball), which led me down the path of “let’s learn more”. 100’s of hours later I taught myself digital electronics and was even doing board repairs for others, which I’ve since put on hold to focus on my own hobbies and get my act together.
As time went on I started to realize how the boards in the arcade games were very close if not nearly identical to the old computers I used to mess with, and their legacy really tied together in terms of the history of the processor makers like Intel, MOS Technology, Motorola and others. I eventually came full circle and started finding older computer equipment to mess with, and since I now had the test equipment, tools, and know-how to fix these things, I enjoyed bringing the older stuff back to life.
Coming up with an official title for this was a pain; do I do “vintage” computers, “retro” computers, “old sh**”, or something else? Even while typing this I changed it between retro and vintage a few times, but I like the word Vintage more than Retro.
Anyhow, as it seems I’m using the site now more than I ever have, I figured I’d make a solid space for my retro *ahem* VINTAGE Computer hobby so I can organize things a little better.