Three day weekends are a rarity for me so when I get them I relish the time. I spent most of Saturday cutting a nasty overgrowth of thorn bushes from my parents’ yard. Expecting to be greeted by a hot shower, a cocktail and bed, I was instead welcomed by a young neighbor who had been given an old PC.
“I have no idea what I have, I just know it’s old,” said the young man. At this point I was filthy, covered in weeping scratches and tired from the 100 degree sun. Even though I was exhausted and torn I offered my assistance.
Sitting in front of us was a large beige box with a CD player, 3-1/2″ floppy drive and a stack of floppy disks. Amazingly, after connecting all the peripherals, the computer turned on and fired up to Windows 95. Someone had given this young man an impeccable representation of mid-90’s nerdy nostalgia.
Quite honestly, I’m not sure what’s spawning the resurgence of people wanting to rebuild the old relics; all I know is I’ve seen a lot of beige going through my stores lately. Earlier this year we had a request for a 1990’s custom computer to power an old engraving machine. During the past months I’ve had several people ask for older gaming systems.
I’m flabbergasted the old systems are making a comeback and can’t figure out why. Business use is one thing, but home use is quite another. Businesses that can maintain an older system don’t need to reinvest in software titles that may not work on newer versions of Windows. One business we service told me new scheduling software is a $30,000.00 investment. Certainly replacing the old machine is worth the investment.
OK, so I understand businesses investing in their old stuff, but consumer users? When I asked my neighbor what he planned for the antique taking up space on my kitchen table he explained he wanted to see what it was like playing games on an old computer. His answer isn’t too different than what most of my customers say when posed with the same question. Old computers, it turns out, are like time machines.
Provided working parts are assembled and setup correctly, old computers work the same now as they did when they were new. 66 megahertz in 1991 is 66 megahertz now so programs (not apps as they’re now called) run correctly and execute as they did when the technology was current. Businesses can run their software without filtering it through virtual machines and gamers can play authentically.
Earlier this year I decided to build my dream computer of the 90’s. I assembled components I couldn’t afford then and installed Windows 98. My plan was to build my own time machine using floppy based software I’ve collected over the years. Oddly, while setting up the system in one of the stores, a customer offered me $200.00 for the system with only an operating system. That story has repeated itself several times this year.
There’s something about setting up and using an older computer that brings back memories. Most of the technology that comes through my door is no more than five years old, but lately I’ve been seeing stuff from a time when all my hair was one color. While I was in the shower Saturday night it occurred to me I was the young man’s age when his computer was built but he was a mere twinkle in his father’s eye.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)