How the Retro Scene Has Changed 2009-2024
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Date: 2024-06-28
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Comments and reviews: 20
BokBarber
Vintage computers as a hobby is kind of like vinyl records, cars, typewriters, or any other obsolete thing that's coming back into vogue. When these things were the only tools around and got replaced with things that were easier and more convenient to use, they became old junk and people were quick to drop them. because the owners at the time saw them as tools, and tools get replaced when better tools are invented. It's only in retrospect, when these things can be used not as tools but at our leisure that they regain any value.
If you had to use a beige box Pentium machine as your only computer, or a dot matrix tractor feed as your only printer, or vinyl records as your only music, or a typewriter as your only word processor, or a stock '68 Mustang as your only car. you would hate those things. As tools they've obviously been replaced. But when you only use that thing when you want to, or only at the things that it excelled at and in the contexts that put it in the very best light, they becomes fun. And I think it really took being a kid when those things became junk for that to happen, because that's when your parents just threw the useless old computer (or whatever) at you and told you to have fun.
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Vintage computers as a hobby is kind of like vinyl records, cars, typewriters, or any other obsolete thing that's coming back into vogue. When these things were the only tools around and got replaced with things that were easier and more convenient to use, they became old junk and people were quick to drop them. because the owners at the time saw them as tools, and tools get replaced when better tools are invented. It's only in retrospect, when these things can be used not as tools but at our leisure that they regain any value.
If you had to use a beige box Pentium machine as your only computer, or a dot matrix tractor feed as your only printer, or vinyl records as your only music, or a typewriter as your only word processor, or a stock '68 Mustang as your only car. you would hate those things. As tools they've obviously been replaced. But when you only use that thing when you want to, or only at the things that it excelled at and in the contexts that put it in the very best light, they becomes fun. And I think it really took being a kid when those things became junk for that to happen, because that's when your parents just threw the useless old computer (or whatever) at you and told you to have fun.
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TK000Master
I find this a really intresting topic in general. i talked with my father about this who is in the boomer generation and basiclly was one of the early adopters with computers as a programmer back then. He just dont get the whole thing today why its even a collectible. For him a Computer is a consumer product just like what it was back then. so when it was outdated you threw it away and bhought something new if you could. So for him it was nuts when i explained him that there are modern expansion cards for old windows 95 PCs and all that stuff. its just developed to some kind of hobby that the people back then could not see.
I mean the whole thing that technology even becomes retro and something that feels worth to collect. just to have like some kind of status symbol just started basiclly with the iphone.
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I find this a really intresting topic in general. i talked with my father about this who is in the boomer generation and basiclly was one of the early adopters with computers as a programmer back then. He just dont get the whole thing today why its even a collectible. For him a Computer is a consumer product just like what it was back then. so when it was outdated you threw it away and bhought something new if you could. So for him it was nuts when i explained him that there are modern expansion cards for old windows 95 PCs and all that stuff. its just developed to some kind of hobby that the people back then could not see.
I mean the whole thing that technology even becomes retro and something that feels worth to collect. just to have like some kind of status symbol just started basiclly with the iphone.
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shodan2958
Yup prices have crept up for games I've noticed, especially on the console side of things but I've been thrilled by what is possible now. Its always been harder to come across retro computing equipment in the UK than in the States I've noticed but I do appreciate when it comes along. Its also been good to see the computers from the 9x and early 00s XP era come into the fold which has really given me a space to look at that time period as a child and see what it's like as an adult. I find hunting for stuff has become more difficult sure, but in my experience, having multiple hobbies with things to collect has made it worth the time, nice to find a few things unrelated then a retro gem you would've missed because going for it alone would've not been worth it.
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Yup prices have crept up for games I've noticed, especially on the console side of things but I've been thrilled by what is possible now. Its always been harder to come across retro computing equipment in the UK than in the States I've noticed but I do appreciate when it comes along. Its also been good to see the computers from the 9x and early 00s XP era come into the fold which has really given me a space to look at that time period as a child and see what it's like as an adult. I find hunting for stuff has become more difficult sure, but in my experience, having multiple hobbies with things to collect has made it worth the time, nice to find a few things unrelated then a retro gem you would've missed because going for it alone would've not been worth it.
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hyun-shik7327
Of interesting note is that a 15 year old computer in 2009 would’ve been like a Pentium 1 and therefore useless just a few years later, but a 2009 computer could still play this video. I think there's a few reasons for this: for most of the 2010s, Intel was pretty much the undisputed champion of CPUs, so they had little need to make them faster. Now, there's AMD, Apple and even Snapdragon making competing CPUs, so the pace of innovation has picked up again. Also over the course of the 2010s, the industry shifted from hard drives to SSDs, meaning that storage capacity has remained fairly close to where it was back then - in 2009 you might've had a 500 GB hard drive, and now a budget PC might come with 512GB of solid state storage.
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Of interesting note is that a 15 year old computer in 2009 would’ve been like a Pentium 1 and therefore useless just a few years later, but a 2009 computer could still play this video. I think there's a few reasons for this: for most of the 2010s, Intel was pretty much the undisputed champion of CPUs, so they had little need to make them faster. Now, there's AMD, Apple and even Snapdragon making competing CPUs, so the pace of innovation has picked up again. Also over the course of the 2010s, the industry shifted from hard drives to SSDs, meaning that storage capacity has remained fairly close to where it was back then - in 2009 you might've had a 500 GB hard drive, and now a budget PC might come with 512GB of solid state storage.
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JakeElPrro666
Dude, you don't really realize how important you are for some of us. Ive been watching for so long that i wouldnt know what to do with myself if i dont have my old and new LGR episodes to watch. Whether it is to sleep, to eat or to just feel anchored to a feeling of wellbeing or happiness when life gets tough, i always rely on my favorite LGR videos to get me through anything. Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us, for teaching us so many things and to even share a bit of your life journey through your videos, or vlogs or retrospectives. Heres hoping that you find enough happiness yourself while sharing all of this with us so we can have much more of LGR for as long as you can. Thank you for 15 years of great content!
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Dude, you don't really realize how important you are for some of us. Ive been watching for so long that i wouldnt know what to do with myself if i dont have my old and new LGR episodes to watch. Whether it is to sleep, to eat or to just feel anchored to a feeling of wellbeing or happiness when life gets tough, i always rely on my favorite LGR videos to get me through anything. Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us, for teaching us so many things and to even share a bit of your life journey through your videos, or vlogs or retrospectives. Heres hoping that you find enough happiness yourself while sharing all of this with us so we can have much more of LGR for as long as you can. Thank you for 15 years of great content!
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El_Duderino83
To provide some direct feedback: I watch your videos because they evoke a sense of coziness, calm, and relaxation. Old technology, especially from the 90s, fills me with nostalgia. Everything back then felt fresh, new, and somehow innocent compared to today. These days, almost everything looks the same. However, back then, you encountered so much intriguing and unusual stuff, some of which you've featured in your Oddware episodes. Old tech reminds me of a time I recall as easier and more peaceful, even if not as comfortable as today. Keep up the excellent work, Clint! Greetings from Germany.
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To provide some direct feedback: I watch your videos because they evoke a sense of coziness, calm, and relaxation. Old technology, especially from the 90s, fills me with nostalgia. Everything back then felt fresh, new, and somehow innocent compared to today. These days, almost everything looks the same. However, back then, you encountered so much intriguing and unusual stuff, some of which you've featured in your Oddware episodes. Old tech reminds me of a time I recall as easier and more peaceful, even if not as comfortable as today. Keep up the excellent work, Clint! Greetings from Germany.
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NotJustBikes
Congrats on 15 years! I've been watching for about the last 10 years and I'm still loving your videos.
The price of retro hardware is crazy these days, but the most encouraging part for me is the young people getting into it. Our 10 year old and his friends are really into 90s computing and they design their own games with pixelart graphics and chiptune music. It's great to see retro computing inspiring so many people.
I just wish I had kept that 486 we had. Or the Tandy 1000EX. Or that BeBox I bought used in the late 90s. Or the Next Station. Or even that old Roland Alpha Juno 2.
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Congrats on 15 years! I've been watching for about the last 10 years and I'm still loving your videos.
The price of retro hardware is crazy these days, but the most encouraging part for me is the young people getting into it. Our 10 year old and his friends are really into 90s computing and they design their own games with pixelart graphics and chiptune music. It's great to see retro computing inspiring so many people.
I just wish I had kept that 486 we had. Or the Tandy 1000EX. Or that BeBox I bought used in the late 90s. Or the Next Station. Or even that old Roland Alpha Juno 2.
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MrCommodorebob
Crazy to think that I was middle school and got into retro computers thanks almost souly to you. Now im a software engineer professionaly, and really enjoy the engineering and technical aspect, especially the reproduction hardware. Unfortunately the price of things has tracked with my increase in income lol. But I have built up a good collection over the years. I think as time goes on we will see more of a hybrid of old and new hardware to keep these older systems running and available. Now. If only I could get a Apple Lisa and and Amiga 4000
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Crazy to think that I was middle school and got into retro computers thanks almost souly to you. Now im a software engineer professionaly, and really enjoy the engineering and technical aspect, especially the reproduction hardware. Unfortunately the price of things has tracked with my increase in income lol. But I have built up a good collection over the years. I think as time goes on we will see more of a hybrid of old and new hardware to keep these older systems running and available. Now. If only I could get a Apple Lisa and and Amiga 4000
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greyestfox
Love your videos. I've been on a kick recently of rewatching a bunch of them. If I'd never seen them I would not have picked up the 2012 Dell Optiplex at Goodwill this past December and I would've had no idea what to do with it. Now it's the best gaming PC I've ever played on (probably really good for 2012.
Can relate to the prices of old machines going up. After recently rewatching your HotWheels PC video I thought that'd make a fun case for a sleeper build only to find them on ebay more expensive than a modern gaming PC.
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Love your videos. I've been on a kick recently of rewatching a bunch of them. If I'd never seen them I would not have picked up the 2012 Dell Optiplex at Goodwill this past December and I would've had no idea what to do with it. Now it's the best gaming PC I've ever played on (probably really good for 2012.
Can relate to the prices of old machines going up. After recently rewatching your HotWheels PC video I thought that'd make a fun case for a sleeper build only to find them on ebay more expensive than a modern gaming PC.
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musiqtee
Ironically, at 58 I can’t afford to keep and maintain hardware I used to own and use (for work, then fun. So, I boringly emulate on not-so-vintage used hardware.
Ironic because I’ve been a tech and media worker/producer since two years before MIDI became a thing, using both C64s and Atari STs for that work.
I’m lucky though, as I got to experience all this as a non-retro reality in everyday life. That’s a close and personal relation to what is now retro. Thanks to LGR and others for keeping this going!
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Ironically, at 58 I can’t afford to keep and maintain hardware I used to own and use (for work, then fun. So, I boringly emulate on not-so-vintage used hardware.
Ironic because I’ve been a tech and media worker/producer since two years before MIDI became a thing, using both C64s and Atari STs for that work.
I’m lucky though, as I got to experience all this as a non-retro reality in everyday life. That’s a close and personal relation to what is now retro. Thanks to LGR and others for keeping this going!
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ChrisJackson-js8rd
i get the impression that social media has a similar tho not equal effect across all elements of pop culture. just by providing a venue for people of similar interests to come together. part of the joy of collecting just would not be possible if you couldnt find anyone else out there who understood the significance of whatever you find collectible
all i know is whenever passive lcd displays that you cant even if theyre on theyre so shitty come back into style. on that day i become king of the nerds
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i get the impression that social media has a similar tho not equal effect across all elements of pop culture. just by providing a venue for people of similar interests to come together. part of the joy of collecting just would not be possible if you couldnt find anyone else out there who understood the significance of whatever you find collectible
all i know is whenever passive lcd displays that you cant even if theyre on theyre so shitty come back into style. on that day i become king of the nerds
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jothain
It's sort of an golden era for people that don't want to buy original old hardware and software. Like Steam Deck. Just playing Wing Commander 2 and Crusader: No Remorse on it and keyboard controls ALL mapped into mobile device that runs for hours and hours on that emulation. I would've never thought I'd use device like SD to play those old games on couch. Plus it's really cheap. SD doesn't cost much and just grab titles from GOG, though I'd ike them to offer absolute native files/ISO's for bought titles.
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It's sort of an golden era for people that don't want to buy original old hardware and software. Like Steam Deck. Just playing Wing Commander 2 and Crusader: No Remorse on it and keyboard controls ALL mapped into mobile device that runs for hours and hours on that emulation. I would've never thought I'd use device like SD to play those old games on couch. Plus it's really cheap. SD doesn't cost much and just grab titles from GOG, though I'd ike them to offer absolute native files/ISO's for bought titles.
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jjjacer
Retro has felt like it changed a bit, especially in prices, years ago i could get just about any old PC on ebay for dirt cheap, now it seams the entry price is almost always around $200 from 386/486, old laptops, and computers from japan.
I will say i do like that i can get replacement hardware for cheap to keep what i do have going, such has a XT-IDE with CF card, a BlueSCSI-2, rs232 to wifi, RGBtoHDMI, all within a decent price for stuff that is not made at a really large scale.
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Retro has felt like it changed a bit, especially in prices, years ago i could get just about any old PC on ebay for dirt cheap, now it seams the entry price is almost always around $200 from 386/486, old laptops, and computers from japan.
I will say i do like that i can get replacement hardware for cheap to keep what i do have going, such has a XT-IDE with CF card, a BlueSCSI-2, rs232 to wifi, RGBtoHDMI, all within a decent price for stuff that is not made at a really large scale.
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LeoJay
the decline of the Hollywood and the current state of the gaming industry has got me into playing a lot of old games and watching old movies and I'm enjoying it a lot, idk maybe because it's cool now and maybe because i am a zoomer who held older stuff in a very low standards, but I'm glad i got into it! really enjoy setting up emulators and playing old games that still have dedicated fans who still to this day make ROM hacks/fan translations and quality of life patches!
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the decline of the Hollywood and the current state of the gaming industry has got me into playing a lot of old games and watching old movies and I'm enjoying it a lot, idk maybe because it's cool now and maybe because i am a zoomer who held older stuff in a very low standards, but I'm glad i got into it! really enjoy setting up emulators and playing old games that still have dedicated fans who still to this day make ROM hacks/fan translations and quality of life patches!
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Tax_2000
to be honest I actually got into retro stuff around 2010 when I was 10. I remember I went down this rabbit hole of watching videos about old game consoles. Then I saw your video about the 3do and that was my first video from you. I then just loved your vibe and little kid me lamented the fact that I didnt grow up in the 90s so I didnt experience pc games when they were at their peak. I did however live through the golden age of pc gaming in the 2000s though. :D
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to be honest I actually got into retro stuff around 2010 when I was 10. I remember I went down this rabbit hole of watching videos about old game consoles. Then I saw your video about the 3do and that was my first video from you. I then just loved your vibe and little kid me lamented the fact that I didnt grow up in the 90s so I didnt experience pc games when they were at their peak. I did however live through the golden age of pc gaming in the 2000s though. :D
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John-jl3ky
Back in 2002-2003 I was buying all kinds of vintage computers, You could get a macintosh 512 or a Commodore 64 with a large box of games and accessories for about 25 bucks back then, also apple was the same way. Everything was very cheap compared to today. I ended up reselling everything, I wish I didn't but now the same stuff is 100-150 bucks or more. I remember one system i bought came with about 25 games and it was like 25 bucks, Crazy.
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Back in 2002-2003 I was buying all kinds of vintage computers, You could get a macintosh 512 or a Commodore 64 with a large box of games and accessories for about 25 bucks back then, also apple was the same way. Everything was very cheap compared to today. I ended up reselling everything, I wish I didn't but now the same stuff is 100-150 bucks or more. I remember one system i bought came with about 25 games and it was like 25 bucks, Crazy.
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lazygamereviews
I have any A500, A600, A1200. An C=64, C=128 and Acorn Archimedes A3010, and i use Disks too. Yes, today we have easypeasy Emulators, but i grown up since 1987 with Computers, and i have more fun with the Real Deal. I understand the people, they not grown up with the Retro computer, and use the modern way. They don't can feel what i feel in the past, because they not live in the past as teenager.
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I have any A500, A600, A1200. An C=64, C=128 and Acorn Archimedes A3010, and i use Disks too. Yes, today we have easypeasy Emulators, but i grown up since 1987 with Computers, and i have more fun with the Real Deal. I understand the people, they not grown up with the Retro computer, and use the modern way. They don't can feel what i feel in the past, because they not live in the past as teenager.
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macgoryeo
the funny thing is, I was into retro computing in the mid 90s to mid 2000s when I worked at universities and schools in the IT department partime during my highschool and own university times. There were tons of 286, 386 and XTs thrown away. MFM, RLL drives, portables with plasma screens. Nobody wanted that old stuff at that time.
CRTs went to trash in the 2000s. I should have kept more
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the funny thing is, I was into retro computing in the mid 90s to mid 2000s when I worked at universities and schools in the IT department partime during my highschool and own university times. There were tons of 286, 386 and XTs thrown away. MFM, RLL drives, portables with plasma screens. Nobody wanted that old stuff at that time.
CRTs went to trash in the 2000s. I should have kept more
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ksp1278
Thanks for all that you do Clint. You got me into this hobby, along with Philscomputerlab about 5 years ago when I saw you rebuild your Win98 PC and build your dream XP PC (which is basically the PC I built back in 2008, no expense spared, and was still using it in 2019 with Windows 7. Your video prompted me to Dual boot it with WinXP and start re-playing games from my youth.
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Thanks for all that you do Clint. You got me into this hobby, along with Philscomputerlab about 5 years ago when I saw you rebuild your Win98 PC and build your dream XP PC (which is basically the PC I built back in 2008, no expense spared, and was still using it in 2019 with Windows 7. Your video prompted me to Dual boot it with WinXP and start re-playing games from my youth.
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glitchedoom
I've been watching for roughly 12 or 13 years. You have been a constant pillar of what this website can and should be: People sharing what they love with the world. Your videos are a comforting escape when I need to get away from the toils of life, and they've only been getting better over the years. Here's to another 15 and beyond!
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I've been watching for roughly 12 or 13 years. You have been a constant pillar of what this website can and should be: People sharing what they love with the world. Your videos are a comforting escape when I need to get away from the toils of life, and they've only been getting better over the years. Here's to another 15 and beyond!
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