Growing up in the late
1970s, I remember walking into the local Radio Shack, marveling at something new called a TRS-80. A couple of years later,
after moving to a bigger city, I couldn't wait for trips to the mall, to the computer store to play with the Apple II and PET computers. Having grown up in a family that didn't have a lot of money, I dreamed of the day where computers were cheap enough for us to own.
In the meantime, I was excited to find that the schools I was going to had Apple II computers for me to satisfy my fascination with this new technology. Not long after that, I got my very own computer, a Commodore VIC-20, along with this cool thing called a "modem"! That one device opened me up to a new world of BBS systems and online services like CompuServe and QuantumLink.
As time went on, the Internet became available for the average user, and for those of us who spent our free time there, we all felt that this was the future! Between usenet newsgroups and IRC chat servers, we could virtually meet with people all over the world!
Then came the World Wide Web! Thousands of sites, all unique, with a treasure trove of information! The site designs were all rough, and in some cases outright ugly, but that was part of it's charm. Every site was a trip into a new universe.
Those memories are what brings me here - in today's antiseptic, ultra-corporate web, with sites like Facebook and Twitter (excuse me, "X"), the charm of the old network is much harder to find.
I hope to do my part to bring back some of those magical moments for others to experience by sharing retrocomputer and retrogaming resources as well as my experiences, both then and now, here on this site. In doing so, maybe it will spark some joyful memories for some who experienced it back in the day. And just maybe, it will bring new experiences to the next generation so that they can appreciate it too.
This site will be a constant work-in-progress as new sites are discovered (and sadly removed as sites disappear).
There are numerous resources on the Internet that are preserving the history of personal computing. These are a few notable ones that I found over the years.
Podcasts & Youtube Channels
8-bit Guy - Website
8-bit Guy - Youtube
8-bit Show and Tell - Youtube
Adrian's Digital Basement - Youtube
Advent of Computing - Podcast
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Arctic Retro - Youtube
Eaten by a Grue - Podcast
Floppy Days Podcast
Inverse ATASCII - the Atari 8-bit Productivity Podcast
Mac Folklore Radio - Podcast
Next Without For - Podcast
Jan Beta - Youtube
Mac84 - Youtube
Noel's Retro Lab - Youtube
Retrocomputing Roundtable - Podcast
Retrocomputing Roundtable - Youtube
RetroMacCast - Podcast
RMCRetro - Youtube
Retrocomputing Websites
68kmla.org - vintage Mac forums
8bit-museum.de
amiga.org - Amiga resources & forums
amigans.net - Amiga news & forums
Applefritter - vintage Apple/Mac blog/forums
AtariAge - blog & forums
C64 Copy Protection Blog
c64.rulez.org - hosting for C64 related ftp and web sites
commodore.ca - website & forums
DLH's Archive - Commodore & more!
Juiced.GS - quarterly Apple II magazine
Lemon64 - blog & forums
Petscii Forums
QuantumLink Reloaded
Retro Roundup - Retrocomputing and gaming news
TimexSinclair.com - for ZX-81 and Timex-Sinclair 1000
TPUG - Toronto PET Users Group
Vintage Computer Federation
VCF Forums
VIC-20 Denial forums
Retrocomputing Projects & Stores
cbmstuff.com
DIY Chris - Commodore parts, kits & projects
ReActive Micro - Apple II parts & projects
thefuturewas8bit.com
Software Archives
ftp.apple.asimov.net mirror
The Internet Archive
Demoscene
c64intros.org
C-64 Scene Database
Cosmos C-64 - Youtube
RetroDemoScene - Youtube
