Ask HN: Should I sell my vintage computer collection?

I'm in the exact same boat except with retro gaming instead of retro computing. Personally I recommend giving away whatever you can to somebody who you think will really care for them. If somebody donated retro gaming stuff to me I'd cherish it for life. Some people would take stuff and just flip it to somebody who probably just wants it because it's trendy right now and will throw it away when they get bored. Part of my emotional attachment is to physically owning the stuff, but part of the attachment is to the thing itself and wanting it to be cherished the way I cherish it.

One thing that would definitely help is pulling back on future acquisitions. Now that we have jobs and our own money, unlike when we were children, it's easy to keep accumulating. But if you can find a way to re-evaluate what really brings you value now, vs what brought you value as a kid, that might tackle your problem from a different angle (preventing future stuff vs dealing with current stuff). As an example, now I'm really into data hoarding and console modding, which allows me to play games on most consoles from HDD/SD card/USB/etc. As a result, physical games are not quite as impactful to me as physical hardware like controllers or consoles, so I still go for hardware if I see it but I'm much more picky about what games I acquire now.

They might ask you some leading questions on how you might work towards making that museum a reality now, instead of some nebulous future, or how you might come to accept that a computer museum is an unrealistic goal. I'm not saying that either of those things are "right". I'm just some punter on the internet who is making assumptions based on his own problems with hoarding (VR headsets and hobby project materials, in my case). The therapist will help you work through what you really, truly, want out of your life and create the sounding board and accountability to make you admit why you're avoiding it.

I got super overwhelmed with the search for a therapist. My health insurance had a provider search form online and when I used it, it came up with 3000 hits in a 5 mile radius around my house. That was ridiculous. I eventually realized that there actually was no way to make a decision on a therapist just from reading profiles on the internet. So I found local healthcare centers that had a lot of therapists on staff, looked up reviews for them, and called the center that had the most positive reviews. They then helped me schedule my first appointment with my therapist, because fitting your schedule is probably more important than finding exactly the right person the first time.

I'm somewhat considering changing to a different therapist, but I achieved a much more important thing: I got started, and I got into the system that can make it very easy to switch.

I decided to have a change in my career, so I closed this office I had with my friend, and we had to decide what to do with it. We donated all to a local computer museum. Now I have this mantra, If I have some hobby stuff I have not used for three years, I donate it. Donated my Xbox360 and my playstation3 recently.

Sometimes I get caught by nostalgia, like last week when I was looking at a appleII clear case mod, and I get a small urge to buy another one. Then I just remember how good was that time, and that good memories are never the same when you live them again.

Now I use the money and time I would spend with a collection in many ephemeral hobbies. The current are electronic projects, laser cutting and Kitesurf.

I don't really have an answer for you, but I can at least commiserate with you on this point. I also never had the money for a computer in the late 1970's and 1980's, and I've likewise been going back and trying to acquire some of the things I always wanted. I bought an Atari 800 on Ebay about a year ago... and have not even bothered unboxing it. So yeah, I kinda feel your pain. And yet, despite having no practical need for any of this stuff, I fully expect I will also add an Atari 1040stf to the collection at some point.