I've recently been discovering, programming on and - yes - collecting some ancient, creaky computers from yesteryear. What started with emulators led to theC64, then (because I noticed the SID performance and general speed varied on VICE compared to theC64), a real C64C.
This began a slippery slope down which I am now rocketing at full pace. In the process, I decided to create a video channel for this stuff, and incidentally a Twitter account to go with it. I believed I would not use the Twitter account all that much, and would focus much more on the videos I would make.
Then COVID happened. The majority of the things I was waiting for to create videos got delayed, stopped being sold or just got lost in the post. I held off the most significant item for video making, the camera, since I wanted both to be sure I'd get an appropriate model for my content (I am no camera expert), and also I became increasingly uncertain I'd even be able to make any videos without the stuff I wanted to use...
Still, having the retro itch meant I ended up using the @retrotechtive Twitter account much more than intended, until ultimately it became the main outlet for whatever I happened to be doing with retro gear.
At the time of typing, I am up to just over 90 followers and am every day becoming more and more familiar with the "big characters of retro" and their world. It's a pretty wonderful community!
But I noticed something different between my own motives for all of this, and practically everyone else's. There are a few exceptions to this, but most people seem to be into retro computers and consoles because of nostalgia.
Nothing wrong with that (although I remember a somewhat famous actor once remarking that you should "be wary of nostalgia. It's nice to look back and smile, but dangerous to look back and yearn" - a sentiment I'd totally agree with).
But I had my own nostalgia moment about 20 years ago, when I started coding for the ZX Spectrum again. I had a resurgence in this about 7 years ago, which also tangentially led me to discovering VICE and prodding C64 coding a little (nothing much at that time, as you can see in my old blog posts, but enough to be able to do it). I did have a phase of collecting consoles from boot fairs (large British open air garage sales, for those not from the UK*) a fair time ago, but had to sell all those in preparation for moving at the time.
Even that console grabbing was more to do with the motive I have for my most recent resurgence of old tech interest: that is, something closer to archaeology than nostalgia.
I want to discover, learn and - where possible - master the tech from the past that I was never able to experience or own at the time.
This might be because of the most prevalent cause at the time of their original release: lack of money. Or it might be because something just didn't exist or was scarce in the UK.
I see retro computing as a way to fill in the huge gaps in my historical and technical knowledge, while also allowing something that modern development rarely does: a single person producing or maintaining a complete product on their own** (and having a lot of fun doing it!)
Another thread too is the long-overdue resurrection of my interest in Electronics. Anyone who actually knows real-world me will know that I originally went to University to study Electronic Engineering, and that was meant to become my profession. But while there, it became clear very quickly to me that the reality of what that profession meant was nothing like what I'd imagined, and that if I were to pursue that into employment, I'd be pretty much miserable for the rest of my life.
So I broke (rather painfully at the time) with it. As a result, I stopped all the hobbyist projects I used to do: prototyping designs, etching boards, fixing TVs, etc. I have gone almost 30 years without touching a soldering iron.
Until now.
This little circuit represents the first physical design I've made (from an existing schematic, but my own layout in this case) in all that time. I'd been fiddling with other things just prior to this, to get back into it - but this is the first real standalone thing I've done since abandoning my originally intended vocation. I think the time is right, and I'm enjoying it a lot.
Old computers give this a wider scope, of course - and that's the main reason I now own three Amiga computers (though nostalgia definitely does creep in with these, since I owned them back in the day, unlike everything else I've collected). I want to find out how to repair and maintain these things, bringing me gradually back into the world of electronics in a fun and interesting way.
So I thought I'd jot down some thoughts on this for anyone else involved in gathering together these fascinating remnants of things past: why do you do it? What is it that brings you pleasure from these crumbling things? (I'd wager for some the recent pandemic has deepened the hobby, as people perhaps seek comfort in old, familiar things - or simply want to escape into something different... but it's certainly not the whole story).
What makes you a retro (de)techtive?
😊
(*I live in Canada these days - a wonderful country, at least what I've seen of it so far!)
(** I work in AAA video games, where a single project takes hundreds of cogs people to complete. I think all of us at some point miss "the old days" of one-person shows in this regard; I guess this is our own particular variant of the nostalgic brand...)
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