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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Are we the last generation of Retro Computing?
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LeoNicolas Guru  Joined: 07/10/2020 Location: CanadaPosts: 623 |
Very interesting. I think MMBasic is part of this culture as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MNNCiQ9gNM Edited 2026-08-20 13:31 by LeoNicolas |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5190 |
I think there will be a healthy community long past our expiry dates. I like restoring valve radios, even though I was born at the end of that era. Today I spent 3 hours working on a 53 year old car, even though it was built 10 years before I got my drivers licence. Why, because these old machines are simple. Easy to understand, easy to fix. We get to use our hands and brains, and that's rewarding. There are many Youtube retro computer/electronic/car/anything channels hosted by very young people. Whenever I go to a car event, most of the car owners are younger than me, but restore cars much older. I think its just human nature, we like to tinker, to build, make and use tools. It doesn't matter what era the stuff came from. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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v.lenzer Senior Member  Joined: 04/05/2024 Location: GermanyPosts: 145 |
An old saying goes: "Study the old to understand the new!" Future generations will continue to abide by this. And as Gizmo said, our descendants, too, will tinker, invent, and experiment. Best wishes! Joachim |
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Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3365 |
I agree with Glenn that tinkering with stuff is easy with retro gear, especially with older cars where you can actually see what is going on (unlike modern cars). And I don't think that will ever go away. However, I believe that MMBasic triggered a different thing, which is nostalgia (the subject of the video). I remembered that when MMBasic came out it caused many people to relive their memories of when they learnt to program on a TRS-80, Commodore 64, Apple II, and so on. Often a discussion of how MMBasic worked would get hijacked by someone reminiscing on their memories of those days. Certainly, the original Maximite running MMBasic was partially intended as an exercise in nostalgia. But MMBasic is also useful as a quick and dirty development environment and I think that will keep it going long after the nostalgia has worn off. BTW, the video presenter has a unique style. Jumping in an out of the frame while standing in an otherwise empty paddock. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 6048 |
Future ? I have long thought MMBasic would end with my generation. The seeds that I planted with my grand children did not bloom. Partly becuase they are not interested in tech as much as I am, but also partly because there is a "maker scene" they are part of that goes different direction. Until last week... On my desk is a 4'th monitor, connected to a VGA picomite, and it every day I start a different program, as a teaser for colleagues. Sometimes Chessclient in auto mode, sometimes a demo from javavi, sometimes a game, sometimes my logic analyzer with default input signals. And last week a young colleague started asking. He is very active "maker" in several area's (build his own year 1900 photo camera, beautiful wood work). I explained a bit and showed him flappy bird, and edited the program to make a change. That threw him over(*). I tasted his enthousiasm, and gave away the VGA pico for him to have and play with. Last weekend he worked through the user manual, started programming, even consulted claude, and ported one of his tools to the VGA pico. I saw a demo. He requested access to the forum, and may show up here. A new generation may be on board. Way beyond my capabilities. Volhout (*) for a music festival he created a horizontal mechanical flappy bird, using stepper motors, camera with gesture decoding, where are bath duck moves 2d over a large horizontal flatscreen TV showing the playfield, controlled from human gestures. Edited 2026-08-20 17:16 by Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9070 |
He makes some very good points. I don't believe that original hardware is necessary for retro computing though, or even desirable. It was created using what is now old and unreliable technology, probably the last thing someone wanting to recreate the experience wants now. An old, flaky computer is not what we had at the time - they (usually) worked properly at the time. FPGA systems can give the original hardware feel back, with enough of the original "feel" about them to keep most enthusiasts happy - if they can have the same user hardware that they had at the time. That's the real problem, getting the feel of a "too chunky" C64 or the zero travel multi-function keyboard of the ZX81. Carving up an old machine to install a FPGA is tantamount to sacrilege as that hardware will eventually become unobtainable. How much of the retro computing hobby is *really* about playing old games though? If you want to do that there is a healthy choice of Chinese consoles currently available that come with more games than anyone ever had as a kid. I agree with the video, I think it's more of a nostalgia trip really. So projects like MMBasic have a position here. They offer the "program it yourself" experience ok, it's only availability of the hardware that's the problem - but that's already one of the major problems in retro computing anyway. It's not an insurmountable problem as the PicoCalc shows, but it really needs handling a bit differently in my opinion. MMBasic wasn't designed for devices like that. The CMM2 is closer and the PC3 closer still in some respects, even if it's only for the ease of applying firmware updates. My concern here is that less people now take up electronics as a hobby. They do it as a job, fixing guitar amps or something like that. They aren't learning any more about electronic theory than they need to pass exams and many learn virtually nothing about the practical side. I suspect that you can get a degree in electronics now without ever discovering which end of a soldering iron to hold. As the handling of modern components gets more difficult it's already too late to teach the next generation in some respects. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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Martin H. Guru Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 1517 |
There’s a lot of truth in that. These days, most people look at you strangely when you open the command line in Windows. HACKER  When you then say that that’s how PCs used to be operated, people say, ‘Grandad’s telling tales of the war’  But then again, they weren’t around at the time or weren’t even born yet, so naturally they’re missing those basics 'no comment |
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| zeitfest Guru Joined: 31/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 700 |
In a decade or so I think most of todays computing will be considered "retro" in present terms. Assuming humas persist, I guess our descendants will be brains in jars, like Spock in Futurama. ***  ALL GLORY TO HYPNOTOAD *** |
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Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 10011 |
Good video.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Frank N. Furter Guru Joined: 28/05/2012 Location: GermanyPosts: 1150 |
Hello Computer!  Frank |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9070 |
Even some FPGAs are getting a bit Retro now. The Cyclone II dev board has crept up in price as it's got older, I notice. You can still find it at 30 quid on AE though. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4367 |
In time, what will retro even mean? Missing BSOD maybe? Looking in a museum at a "mouse" and wondering what/why? John |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9070 |
Easy - it'll be last week's computer. :) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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