MayorDefacto
New member
Hello, my name is Sean, and I may have a hoarding problem... at least if you ask my wife! 
I should preface this by saying that I am a Commodore kid from way back. I cut my computing teeth on a breadbox C64, and it is still my absolute favorite old machine, though I have always been obsessed with the Amiga as well, mostly because I never had one growing up but really wanted one (more about that later.)
I've been collecting retro consoles and computers for the past 6 years, though I have a history with a lot of the machines in my collection that goes way back to my childhood. Like many people, I found myself laid off from work during the financial crash in 2008. Luckily, I was in a personal financial situation that wasn't terribly dire, so even as I looked for more work, I found that I had a LOT more free time than I was used to.
I had been interested in emulating retro systems since the late 1990s, but I had never thought about starting a collection of actual machines until I started going to more thrift shops during my hiatus from the working world. Since money was now tighter than before, I couldn't go and blow a bunch of cash on next-gen games or systems, so I started checking out Goodwill, St. Vincent DePaul, Salvation Army, and the like to see what they had in terms of old machines.
While it's a bit more difficult to find retro systems at a good price these days in thrift shops, back then I was able to find stuff in abundance, at least here in Portland, OR where I live. I started by trying to find a Sega Genesis, since I had owned one back in the day and had sold it off back in the late 90s to help pay for a PC (and looking back on it, I WISH I'd kept my original Genny!)
I also wanted to pick up some machines I didn't get to own when I was a kid, specifically the NES and SNES (my brother and I were Sega kids, having also owned a Master System... which I again had stupidly sold off to help finance the purchase of my original Genesis.) Since here in the States the NES was the big-selling console, I always felt a bit left out of the zeitgeist with my "weird" Sega when I was a kid (even though I was pretty insufferably smug about its technical superiority!) I didn't care as much about the SNES when it was out, since I was awash in blast-processing goodness with the Genesis, but there were a bunch of great SNES games I discovered through emulation that I really wanted to play on the actual machine itself.
I found that I really enjoyed opening these machines up and digging around to see what made them tick (which I would never have dared do with my full-priced consoles back in the day when I was a kid and $199 was a fortune.) I also incredibly enjoyed cleaning and restoring them to as new a condition as I could, fixing old controllers, replacing worn cartridge connectors, stuff like that.
Around this time, I found a new job and met the woman who I would eventually marry (and she enjoys gaming!) So my collection and income were increasing, but I had a lot less time to spend on the hobby.
After the Genesis, NES, and SNES, I found a very nice Dreamcast for next to nothing (!!!) that I grabbed up as well as a very nice Atari VCS, and I started picking up spare machines of everything in my collection in case I needed parts or if something died on me. It was around this time that I really wanted to start finding some old computers as well.
Before the Master System, before the Genesis, my machine of choice (well, technically my *parents'* choice, since it was my family's big Christmas present in 1984) was the C64. They say you never forget your first! Unfortunately, like my other old machines, I had sold my complete C64 system back when I went off to college. Ugh, it hurts to think of how much software, how many amazing bits and bobs I owned back then that I am now having to replace! So, my quest turned to tracking down another Commie.
Around this time, it seemed everyone else in the world started either picking up on the retro machine collecting hobby, or they figured they could make a few bucks by buying up old machines at thrift stores and garage sales and flogging them at a massive markup on eBay. After all, times were tough, a lot of people were out of work, and there were idiots on shows like Storage Wars finding "rare" systems such as the infamous "original NES-001, the first Nintendo DS built" that some jerk thought he could get a bunch of cash for. I think we all know how much more expensive stuff has gotten the past few years because of these jokers. Even the thrift shops caught on that they could get a lot more money for these items.
Anyway, I was looking for a Commodore, but they were not as easy to find in the places that I was frequenting, at least for a price I considered "not a complete ripoff." I happened, however, upon an Atari 800XL. I remember a friend having an old-school two-slot A8 when I was a kid, but I honestly didn't know much more about the machine other than I had enjoyed playing Centipede on it. Whatever. It was the right price and it would scratch my 8-bit itch. I bought it, brought it home, and that's how I started my newfound interest in old Ataris.
I finally did find my C64 (as well as a spare, and more recently a C128 ) but I had reached a point where I felt the platform wars were a thing best left in the past. Not that I'm not absolutely crazy about the Commodore and its great old software... those are warm memories from my youth, after all!
I then embarked on my current mission to collect 16-bit machines from both Atari and Commodore. I had drooled over the Amiga 500 in middle and early high school, but my parents were adamant about not buying another computer at the time, so I was stuck with the C64 while my friends were playing Speedball and Cannon Fodder. I was an exchange student to Germany my sophomore year of high school, and my host brother had an A500 with a ton of cracked games, so I got really familiar with the platform, but never owned one myself until last year. Unfortunately, I haven't really had time to get it properly set up for any amount of time yet.
I also just recently tracked down an Atari 520 STFM and an SC1224 monitor, so I've been starting to mess around with those. And that brings us to the present. My wife and I have recently purchased a house, and I have a spare room filled to the rafters with boxes of retro gear, including tons of stuff I haven't even talked about here. I'm still in the process of unpacking everything, trying to find proper storage for the stuff I'm not currently using, and setting up the stuff I want to play around with now. My wife does tease me sometimes about my "hoarding," but she understands the hobby, so all is well on that front
My biggest issue right now is finding enough time to spend on the hobby. That and wishing I had a basement in this house rather than a spare bedroom!
Well, that's my retro story in a nutshell. I'm glad to be here and look forward to going even deeper down this rabbit-hole that is trying to keep 20-30 year old computers and consoles running for fun!
I should preface this by saying that I am a Commodore kid from way back. I cut my computing teeth on a breadbox C64, and it is still my absolute favorite old machine, though I have always been obsessed with the Amiga as well, mostly because I never had one growing up but really wanted one (more about that later.)
I've been collecting retro consoles and computers for the past 6 years, though I have a history with a lot of the machines in my collection that goes way back to my childhood. Like many people, I found myself laid off from work during the financial crash in 2008. Luckily, I was in a personal financial situation that wasn't terribly dire, so even as I looked for more work, I found that I had a LOT more free time than I was used to.
I had been interested in emulating retro systems since the late 1990s, but I had never thought about starting a collection of actual machines until I started going to more thrift shops during my hiatus from the working world. Since money was now tighter than before, I couldn't go and blow a bunch of cash on next-gen games or systems, so I started checking out Goodwill, St. Vincent DePaul, Salvation Army, and the like to see what they had in terms of old machines.
While it's a bit more difficult to find retro systems at a good price these days in thrift shops, back then I was able to find stuff in abundance, at least here in Portland, OR where I live. I started by trying to find a Sega Genesis, since I had owned one back in the day and had sold it off back in the late 90s to help pay for a PC (and looking back on it, I WISH I'd kept my original Genny!)
I also wanted to pick up some machines I didn't get to own when I was a kid, specifically the NES and SNES (my brother and I were Sega kids, having also owned a Master System... which I again had stupidly sold off to help finance the purchase of my original Genesis.) Since here in the States the NES was the big-selling console, I always felt a bit left out of the zeitgeist with my "weird" Sega when I was a kid (even though I was pretty insufferably smug about its technical superiority!) I didn't care as much about the SNES when it was out, since I was awash in blast-processing goodness with the Genesis, but there were a bunch of great SNES games I discovered through emulation that I really wanted to play on the actual machine itself.
I found that I really enjoyed opening these machines up and digging around to see what made them tick (which I would never have dared do with my full-priced consoles back in the day when I was a kid and $199 was a fortune.) I also incredibly enjoyed cleaning and restoring them to as new a condition as I could, fixing old controllers, replacing worn cartridge connectors, stuff like that.
Around this time, I found a new job and met the woman who I would eventually marry (and she enjoys gaming!) So my collection and income were increasing, but I had a lot less time to spend on the hobby.
After the Genesis, NES, and SNES, I found a very nice Dreamcast for next to nothing (!!!) that I grabbed up as well as a very nice Atari VCS, and I started picking up spare machines of everything in my collection in case I needed parts or if something died on me. It was around this time that I really wanted to start finding some old computers as well.
Before the Master System, before the Genesis, my machine of choice (well, technically my *parents'* choice, since it was my family's big Christmas present in 1984) was the C64. They say you never forget your first! Unfortunately, like my other old machines, I had sold my complete C64 system back when I went off to college. Ugh, it hurts to think of how much software, how many amazing bits and bobs I owned back then that I am now having to replace! So, my quest turned to tracking down another Commie.
Around this time, it seemed everyone else in the world started either picking up on the retro machine collecting hobby, or they figured they could make a few bucks by buying up old machines at thrift stores and garage sales and flogging them at a massive markup on eBay. After all, times were tough, a lot of people were out of work, and there were idiots on shows like Storage Wars finding "rare" systems such as the infamous "original NES-001, the first Nintendo DS built" that some jerk thought he could get a bunch of cash for. I think we all know how much more expensive stuff has gotten the past few years because of these jokers. Even the thrift shops caught on that they could get a lot more money for these items.
Anyway, I was looking for a Commodore, but they were not as easy to find in the places that I was frequenting, at least for a price I considered "not a complete ripoff." I happened, however, upon an Atari 800XL. I remember a friend having an old-school two-slot A8 when I was a kid, but I honestly didn't know much more about the machine other than I had enjoyed playing Centipede on it. Whatever. It was the right price and it would scratch my 8-bit itch. I bought it, brought it home, and that's how I started my newfound interest in old Ataris.
I finally did find my C64 (as well as a spare, and more recently a C128 ) but I had reached a point where I felt the platform wars were a thing best left in the past. Not that I'm not absolutely crazy about the Commodore and its great old software... those are warm memories from my youth, after all!
I then embarked on my current mission to collect 16-bit machines from both Atari and Commodore. I had drooled over the Amiga 500 in middle and early high school, but my parents were adamant about not buying another computer at the time, so I was stuck with the C64 while my friends were playing Speedball and Cannon Fodder. I was an exchange student to Germany my sophomore year of high school, and my host brother had an A500 with a ton of cracked games, so I got really familiar with the platform, but never owned one myself until last year. Unfortunately, I haven't really had time to get it properly set up for any amount of time yet.
I also just recently tracked down an Atari 520 STFM and an SC1224 monitor, so I've been starting to mess around with those. And that brings us to the present. My wife and I have recently purchased a house, and I have a spare room filled to the rafters with boxes of retro gear, including tons of stuff I haven't even talked about here. I'm still in the process of unpacking everything, trying to find proper storage for the stuff I'm not currently using, and setting up the stuff I want to play around with now. My wife does tease me sometimes about my "hoarding," but she understands the hobby, so all is well on that front
My biggest issue right now is finding enough time to spend on the hobby. That and wishing I had a basement in this house rather than a spare bedroom!Well, that's my retro story in a nutshell. I'm glad to be here and look forward to going even deeper down this rabbit-hole that is trying to keep 20-30 year old computers and consoles running for fun!
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