Retro tech confession

I know many wonderful people who love retro computing. I have tried for the last 5 years or so to get into retro computing and retro gaming. But, I have to admit defeat. I realized recently retro tech isn’t for me. I’m happy for the folks that find joy in retro tech and I have seen some truly amazing projects. It just isn’t for me.

I think what it mostly stems from is I don’t have nostalgia for things. Not just tech. In general, I don’t have nostalgia for pervious eras. Again, no shade to people who love to look back and experience something they had previously or finally get to experience something I never had the chance. It’s just not for me.

This came about because I was working on an ancient Compaq laptop I’ve had around for some time. I got an adapter to convered the 2.5” IDE drive slot into a mSATA and dramatically increase the drive speed. While setting things up I realized I wasn’t having any fun. I was slogging through the process of installing various distros and testing how it worked doing modern things.

And that is when it hit me: I don’t want retro tech, I want it to look retro but do modern things. I want it to look like Windows 98, but be a fully modern DE. I want the case to look like a 2008-era laptop, but I want it to have a m.2 SSD wit DDR5 RAM and wifi 6.

To be honest, this goes for more than just tech. I like things to look retro, but not limit me to being retro.

So, I have moved on from my retro adventures. However, I love to watch others do their retro tech thing. You retro folks, keep it up. It’s just not for me.

On a different note, I also realized what I truly love and where I wish I could spend more time with in tech is tiny tech. I love, love, love mini laptops or PCs. I would love to get my hands on a absolutely tiny laptop, like these. It’s why I have a 11” Chromebook or a GMKTec Nucbox G5.

The tinier, the better.

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