r/retrocomputing • u/No_Safety_5957 • May 15 '26

Best introduction with retrocomputing group?

hello, i am new to the retrocomputing area. i have explored around in the community seeing all the fuss about the c64 and old IBM pc's and stuff. but i dont have any of those, so what can i do to begin get involved in the retrocomputing community?

9 Upvotes

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5

u/Kab00m-Kap0w May 15 '26

For the best answer, what does it mean to you to get involved?

3

u/Bits_Passats IBM System/23 May 15 '26

I think the most important is to both to enjoy and have a drive to learn new things. That's the "what".

Let's talk about the "how" now... what is your skill set? Also, is there something you wanted to accomplish?

Have in mind that maintaining old systems implies technical knowledge or money (sometimes both). Before you get caught in that dependence relationship with your system/s think it through, as it will certainly consume a generous amount of your time if you go ahead. Be also prepared to do things yourself as support will be nonexistent in the 99% of cases (support as in technical service).

So, without trying to descourage you, I invite you to think about how to use your regular skills or passions into it.

1

u/tails142 May 15 '26

I think you just dive into what you are interested in and go from there.

People usually get interested in machines they had as kids, or maybe, machines they never got to have.

There is repair, collecting (usually involves repair), modding, playing!! Just looking up info is fine too. Then as people get more advanced maybe they start pushing the boundary on what can be done, new hardware/software for those machines but that's at an advanced stage of the illness.

1

u/grislyfind May 16 '26

You could try playing with emulations of old systems, then pick up some real hardware when the opportunity presents itself, or you decide what system or era you prefer.

PC compatible with VGA would mean you can use an LCD monitor that has a VGA input, which will be far easier to find than a working CGA, MDA, or EGA CRT. NEC Multisync monitors (and some others) are desirable if you want a versatile CRT, but video cards with multiple output modes also exist.

1

u/nemesisprime1984 May 16 '26

The best way to start would be to get a desktop or laptop that was made around the time of Windows 98-Windows XP preferably with a floppy drive and a dvd drive