The subject to f that is and what isn’t vintage computing is an argument as ancient as the computer itself. Fact is, it’s a moving target. As every year passes, products you can categorise as “vintage” changes at different rates. For example: IBM PC’s have largely standardised and “stagnated” in the last 10-50 years. A machine from 2010 is largely similar in operation as a machine from 2022. However, an iPhone from 2010 (such as the iPhone 4), is woefully obsolete compared to modern offerings. Certain product lines and categories age worse than others. Another example is the PPC Macintosh line. Radically different, and largely unsuported, this range of computers were only discontinued in 2006, but i’m sure there’s no argument that they’re pretty on-topic.
What is defined as on-topic and off-topic is something we can argue until the cows come home, but utimately it’s a matter of opinion. However, i believe that this list, in particular, seems to aim at the weird and wonderful, regardless of decades. There’s people on this list who are experts at the Apollo Guidance Computer, there are people here who understand the BeBox. There’s people here who have experience with Cray supercomputers and Connections Machines supercomputers. There’s places to discusss early 00’s winboxes, 8-bit home computers, or video games consoles. But ultimately, if i’m interested in information on some obscure 70’s-80’s-90’s-00’s box of chips, i bet this list is the place i can get an answer. I think, in general, this list is ultimately aimed at the “weird and wacky”, and not any sort of age. Even if that is pretty frab run-of-the-mill stuff like modern winboxes or 8-bit consoles. Looking to see how to rig an acoustic modem and a 5.25” drives to a Server 2003 machine? Here’s a good place. Looking for ROMs for your C64? Probably not. Cheers, Josh Rice
