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I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

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Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#101

Post by theodric »

underlogic wrote: post #11
chris_wot wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why did they take the material? If you don’t want it, then don’t take it.

[flagged]

> What is this obsession with the past and the early days of computing

The machine that defined our era, and did it so quickly that we realized what was happening and actually had a chance to interview some of the people who kicked it off, and a few of those folks are still alive.

Would you close every museum? What about a museum of old steam engines? Is there a line, or do you simply not see any value in history?

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#102

Post by arexxbifs »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #80

I attended the SoCal Vintage Computer festival, went to a talk and when they asked for questions, seeing no one else asking questions, I asked if anyone wrote malware for these systems now that they’re internet connected. The inventor of the device (Thomas Cherryhomes) immediately belittled the question and asked why anyone would want to do that (the irony seemed to escape him, given that he built a network interface…

Seems a bit harsh to judge an entire event by the conduct of a single speaker, but to each their own, and all that.

To answer your question, yes, people are still writing malware for old systems. They don't even have to be network connected: computer viruses can spread perfectly fine from other media as well. People still send each other floppies in the mail.

It's not as prevalent as on modern mainstream systems of course, but for example, a new Amiga virus started spreading a couple of years ago. The Jackal bootblock virus overwrites the bootblock on floppy disks, possibly rendering them unusable.

https://www.vht-dk.dk/amiga/desc/txt/jackal.htm

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#103

Post by Semaphor »

saulpw wrote: post #98
Semaphor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I bought a bed last year. It’s solid wood, only the bottom of the under-bed-drawers being some kind of glued material. And it wasn’t even some super high-end thing, including the drawers, I paid just below 1000 € for it. When searching for a bed to buy (as I wanted solid wood), I even found many stores specializing in solid wood furniture.

But notably, it's not old. No one wants the old stuff anymore, no matter how good.

Check the comment I replied to, it's talking about new furniture

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#104

Post by iainmerrick »

saulpw wrote: post #98
Semaphor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I bought a bed last year. It’s solid wood, only the bottom of the under-bed-drawers being some kind of glued material. And it wasn’t even some super high-end thing, including the drawers, I paid just below 1000 € for it. When searching for a bed to buy (as I wanted solid wood), I even found many stores specializing in solid wood furniture.

But notably, it's not old. No one wants the old stuff anymore, no matter how good.

There's a big difference between "no-one" and "not enough people to make it worthwhile storing and transporting large and heavy furniture so it can be sold at a reasonable price". Friction is a thing.

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#105

Post by justin66 »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #80

I attended the SoCal Vintage Computer festival, went to a talk and when they asked for questions, seeing no one else asking questions, I asked if anyone wrote malware for these systems now that they’re internet connected. The inventor of the device (Thomas Cherryhomes) immediately belittled the question and asked why anyone would want to do that (the irony seemed to escape him, given that he built a network interface…

Joe Decuir is the man - there are a number of really good presentations of his on youtube. And the parent is talking about Fujinet, which is all the rage:

https://fujinet.online/

It's too bad Cherryhomes shot down an interesting question.

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#106

Post by TylerE »

iainmerrick wrote: post #104
saulpw wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But notably, it's not old. No one wants the old stuff anymore, no matter how good.

There's a big difference between "no-one" and "not enough people to make it worthwhile storing and transporting large and heavy furniture so it can be sold at a reasonable price". Friction is a thing.

and not of us live in cities with furniture showrooms. The nearest stores with halfway decent stuff are like 3 hours from here - and that's just to look, never mind the hassles of arranging

I'm actually in the middle of getting a custom computer/music desk shipped cross country right now. Not solid wood either, and the thing still cost almost $2k with shipping.

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#107

Post by Semaphor »

TylerE wrote: post #99
Semaphor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I bought a bed last year. It’s solid wood, only the bottom of the under-bed-drawers being some kind of glued material. And it wasn’t even some super high-end thing, including the drawers, I paid just below 1000 € for it. When searching for a bed to buy (as I wanted solid wood), I even found many stores specializing in solid wood furniture.

Now try finding a solid wood table that doesn't cost $3,000+.

Literally the first result on the site I checked [0], solid wood table on sale for 339 €. Do you want to move the goalposts even further?

[0]: https://www.otto.de/p/gozos-esstisch-scots-pine-series-essti...

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#108

Post by sandspar »

leidenfrost wrote: post #97
throwaway5959 wrote: post #80

I attended the SoCal Vintage Computer festival, went to a talk and when they asked for questions, seeing no one else asking questions, I asked if anyone wrote malware for these systems now that they’re internet connected. The inventor of the device (Thomas Cherryhomes) immediately belittled the question and asked why anyone would want to do that (the irony seemed to escape him, given that he built a network interface…

Technically a valid question, but imho a problem if you take the network oart seriously. Most of these festivals are more about shared nostalgia than objective appreciation of technology from a specific time. Like watching one of those videos from LGR. Watching him power up an old computer and hearing that "thunk" sound is beautiful. And slighty offtopic, but I think nostalgia is fun when shared with people. Being no…

Yeah and being nostalgic around people who don't share it is difficult, since if you talk about it then they will find you insufferable.

Unrelated but I can remember when a friend of mine came back from a long, glamorous trip and suddenly stopped sharing in our usual moments of nostalgia. They acted like they were embarrassed. It sucked because it made me believe that they were ashamed of who they used to be, and I felt sorry for them. This person has since made great efforts to adopt a newer, more glamorous persona. I miss when they were genuine. I miss my friend.

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#109

Post by throwaway5959 »

arexxbifs wrote: post #102
throwaway5959 wrote: post #80

I attended the SoCal Vintage Computer festival, went to a talk and when they asked for questions, seeing no one else asking questions, I asked if anyone wrote malware for these systems now that they’re internet connected. The inventor of the device (Thomas Cherryhomes) immediately belittled the question and asked why anyone would want to do that (the irony seemed to escape him, given that he built a network interface…

Seems a bit harsh to judge an entire event by the conduct of a single speaker, but to each their own, and all that. To answer your question, yes, people are still writing malware for old systems. They don't even have to be network connected: computer viruses can spread perfectly fine from other media as well. People still send each other floppies in the mail. It's not as prevalent as on modern mainstream systems of c…

Thanks for answering the question.

With regard to the show, I didn’t want to pile on, but here we go:

There weren’t that many talks (the primary thing I was interested in), the trade show section was pretty small, and there wasn’t really much for newcomers to explain why this old hardware deserves preservation.

Re: I continue to no longer attend vintage computer festivals

#110

Post by varjag »

zimpenfish wrote: post #87
imgabe wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had the opposite experience. Offer stuff for free and you will have to deal with the flakiest, most unreliable people in the world. They’ll say they’re going to come pick it up, leave you waiting all afternoon, and then just ghost you. Ask at least a token amount and you will get someone who seriously wants it.

Adding an anecdatum to the pile, my one and only experience with offering a (nice but unloved by the other occupant) chair for free got a response in the first 5 minutes who then arranged a courier to pick it up the following week. Painless.

Well I was giving away our coffee table. A very interested lady who was going to pick it up have held us home for better part of the day with half-hour postponements and then said it's too much trouble.

Relisted it for $20 and the next week it went painlessly.

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