I for one have been keeping my Amiga and C64 collection alive since the early 90's when there were modern kits of technology.

What doesn't make any sense to me is this massive surge of "retro computing" that is currently happening. I remember no more than 7 years ago I could pick up a lot of 10 C64s or an Amiga 500 for $50-$60 and just last week I spent almost $900 on an Amiga 3000.

Is it the fact that those of use who were teenagers in the early 90's finally have stable work and disposable income and want to relive the glory days?
What gives?

frank%netsurge%demonic
disksh0p!bbs // bbs.diskshop.ca // mystic goodness
home of SciNet // https://diskshop.ca/scinet

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* Origin: !disksh0p!bbs! bbs.diskshop.ca ! mystic goodness ! (77:1/100)

On 16 Jun 2019, Netsurge said the following...

What doesn't make any sense to me is this massive surge of "retro computing" that is currently happening. I remember no more than 7 years ago I could pick up a lot of 10 C64s or an Amiga 500 for $50-$60 and
just last week I spent almost $900 on an Amiga 3000.

Is it the fact that those of use who were teenagers in the early 90's finally have stable work and disposable income and want to relive the glory days? What gives?

Interesting how that works. I am sure that is a big part of it. I missed out
on the C64 / Amiga when I was young so did not experience it. That does seem like a hefty price still unless it is in some amazing pristine condition for its age and/or rare and hard to find or both.

But you were willing to pay for it so it must be worth it to you :)

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Interesting how that works. I am sure that is a big part of it. I missed out on the C64 / Amiga when I was young so did not experience it. That does seem like a hefty price still unless it is in some amazing pristine condition for its age and/or rare and hard to find or both.

The 3000 is a rare machine as it was really only ever used in North America
and for a shot time. 10 years ago I could have picked one up for $100 easy,
and even then that was too much for it.

The 3000 was my workhorse machine when I was younger so it has a special
place in my collection. Today my 4000 tends to run the BBS and my 1200 is for gaming. I own others like 500s and 600s but they tend to be boxed up. Maybe
at this rate these things will be outrageously priced in 20 years and I can cash in, lol.

frank%netsurge%demonic
disksh0p!bbs // bbs.diskshop.ca // mystic goodness
home of SciNet // https://diskshop.ca/scinet

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
* Origin: !disksh0p!bbs! bbs.diskshop.ca ! mystic goodness ! (77:1/100)

On 16 Jun 2019, Netsurge said the following...

The 3000 is a rare machine as it was really only ever used in North America and for a shot time. 10 years ago I could have picked one up for $100 easy, and even then that was too much for it.

The 3000 was my workhorse machine when I was younger so it has a special place in my collection. Today my 4000 tends to run the BBS and my 1200
is for gaming. I own others like 500s and 600s but they tend to be boxed up. Maybe at this rate these things will be outrageously priced in 20 years and I can cash in, lol.

At least you're getting use out of them! My problem is it would sit somewhere in storage for years but I guess it helps to at least realize that is the
case.

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At least you're getting use out of them! My problem is it would sit somewhere in storage for years but I guess it helps to at least realize that is the case.

At the rate prices are going, they might end up being more of an investment than a hobby.

My 12 year old son has taken a huge liking to C64 games. He spent a few month playing with my C64 mini and recently I set him up with a real 64 with an sdcard reader full of games. I can't pull him off of it.

frank%netsurge%demonic
disksh0p!bbs // bbs.diskshop.ca // mystic goodness
home of SciNet // https://diskshop.ca/scinet

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
* Origin: !disksh0p!bbs! bbs.diskshop.ca ! mystic goodness ! (77:1/100)

On 16 Jun 2019, Netsurge said the following...

My 12 year old son has taken a huge liking to C64 games. He spent a few month playing with my C64 mini and recently I set him up with a real 64 with an sdcard reader full of games. I can't pull him off of it.

That's awesome. I think we were spoiled when we were young with technology / software at the state that it was in comparison to now. I think it helps ease you into understanding the basics better to expand into better understanding current to newer technology.

Most things now just give you access to what you need while the older tech
made you want to understand not only how it worked but what you could do to make it improve upon it. Current games look amazing but for most so life like that magic of what makes it a game under the covers is sometimes taken away from view completely.

Maybe I am wrong and just generalizing to how it was for me growing up with that kind of fascination. But for me it felt like it was at a level I could make or tinker with something for my own enjoyment and not feel like
"someone's already done this so why bother".

Random Sunday Night Thoughts -- this cough medicine with codeine must be
pretty good.

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On Sunday June 16, 2019, Lockedown said to Netsurge...

That's awesome. I think we were spoiled when we were young with
technology / software at the state that it was in comparison to now. I think it helps ease you into understanding the basics better to expand
into better understanding current to newer technology.

I really enjoy the challenge of pushing the technical limits of older
software, especially FTN and BBS software. Hysteria, which i'm writing this from, is running on a nearly 30 year old Amiga 4000 with software from 20
years ago. Current technology helps it along especially with tossing and sending mail. What is trivial with todays software requires a bit of work
with older stuff.

Maybe I am wrong and just generalizing to how it was for me growing up
with that kind of fascination. But for me it felt like it was at a level
I could make or tinker with something for my own enjoyment and not feel like "someone's already done this so why bother".

I spend hours and hours dialing into other bbses and chatting via message echos. I spent even more making sure my bbs was the best it could be.
Jumping into chat with users as they called.

I spent my youth in misspent ways. I was a member of many cracking groups
and was alway amazed that I could chat with people in real time on the other side of the world. I flew home today and was facetiming my wife from 30,000 feet in the air.


frank!netsurge ! hysteriabbs.com ! zeus 1.7 ! amiga 4ooo
--- Zeus BBS 1.5
* Origin: hysteria - amiga 4ooo - hysteriabbs.com (77:1/111.0)

On 21 Jun 2019, Netsurge said the following...

I really enjoy the challenge of pushing the technical limits of older software, especially FTN and BBS software. Hysteria, which i'm writing this from, is running on a nearly 30 year old Amiga 4000 with software from 20 years ago. Current technology helps it along especially with tossing and sending mail. What is trivial with todays software requires

I was just thinking about this the other day and how being creative within these virtual limitations is it's own kind of art form in a way. Now to just take some of these ideas floating in my head and make them a reality (well virtually).

I am currently all on new hardware but I can understand also seeing what you can do with classic hardware as well -- maybe someday I'll start looking into that but for now sticking with the software side and using modern hardware
for now.

I spend hours and hours dialing into other bbses and chatting via message echos. I spent even more making sure my bbs was the best it could be. Jumping into chat with users as they called.

Find myself doing the same -- and amazed how every new BBS I "dial" into has some great uniqueness about it. And I always find something new that I had never seen before.

I spent my youth in misspent ways. I was a member of many cracking groups and was alway amazed that I could chat with people in real time on the other side of the world. I flew home today and was facetiming my wife
from 30,000 feet in the air.

Welcome back home BTW. Yeah I love technology old and new. I think the only thing I try to avoid now is the negative side of the social networks / blasts of bad world news. I think our brains are only meant to handle so much
outside information to stress over and constantly hearing about things around the world you have little to no control over does not help.

So this has been a great way for me to escape that but still interact with a close and friendly global online community.

PS
I never had an Amiga but went on an Amiga BBS this week (Absinthe BBS) and
can understand the appeal -- a very unique BBS experience.

---
LockeDown (Mickey Frklic)
[mysticisland.strangled.net]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
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I was just thinking about this the other day and how being creative
within these virtual limitations is it's own kind of art form in a way. Now to just take some of these ideas floating in my head and make them a reality (well virtually).

The stuff people are doing is both an art and amazing. There is this retro computer lover out of the UK, Ravi Abbott, who DJ's with two Amiga 1200s. Amazing stuff with essentially 16bit mods.

Welcome back home BTW. Yeah I love technology old and new. I think the only thing I try to avoid now is the negative side of the social
networks / blasts of bad world news. I think our brains are only meant
to handle so much outside information to stress over and constantly hearing about things around the world you have little to no control over does not help.

I spent a few years on a technology based TV show that aired in Canada and Australia. Social media was in its early days, Facebook was king and Twitter was only used by the tech community. I built a social media brand for myself, lots of soccer moms with questions, that kind of stuff.

I walked away from it all. It have become a sea of people yelling and very
few listening. Most of these companies just want to learn everything they can about you, data mining, and most people give them every bit of personal info. It really blows my mind.

Don't get me wrong, they can be used for amazing things like near instant
news or connecting and chatting with friends and family, but bbses and echomail, IMO, offer a real interaction without the fear of big brother snooping on everything you say or do.

frank // netsurge
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home of SciNet // https://diskshop.ca/scinet

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retro computer lover out of the UK, Ravi Abbott, who DJ's with two Amiga 1200s. Amazing stuff with essentially 16bit mods.

lol i make that Amiga DJ software with two friends. Working on a new version
we basically rewrote from scratch.

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lol i make that Amiga DJ software with two friends. Working on a new version we basically rewrote from scratch.

That is awesome to know. I have two 600's here that I want to use to do something similar.

Where can one find this software?

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Hi!

The 3000 was my workhorse machine when I was younger so it has a special place in my collection. Today my 4000 tends to run the BBS and my 1200
is for gaming. I own others like 500s and 600s but they tend to be boxed up. Maybe at this rate these things will be outrageously priced in 20 years and I can cash in, lol.

Or you can buy one 500 by 100$ and spend 300$ in an acelerator board, install an RTC, change the drive with a USB Gotek Emulator, the video chip and have a frankiemiga like mine (I know, i have a problem, but i was an atari ste user) xD

[+] NetMail DevNull @ [2:341/203] [46:2/103] [57:245/13] [9:92/8] [21:4/118] [+] PGP KeyID 0x1352338D

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Or you can buy one 500 by 100$ and spend 300$ in an acelerator board, install an RTC, change the drive with a USB Gotek Emulator, the video
chip and have a frankiemiga like mine (I know, i have a problem, but i
was an atari ste user) xD

I have a few 500's, 600's and 1200's already. All in various states from
stock right up to vampired.

I'm also a collector and the 3000 has been elusive.

|15frank |08// |15netsurge
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