The VC&G Christmas Collection (2015 Edition)
December 8th, 2015 by Benj EdwardsIt’s that time of year again: the Yuletide. Over the past few years, I’ve been posting an annual collection of all the Christmas-related tech material I’ve written (both for this site and for others) into one place for easy reading. Below, you’ll find list of off-site Christmas slideshows, other features, and of course, plenty of Retro Scans of the Week.
I have a soft spot for Christmas, having been raised with the tradition, so this list is for me as much as it is for everyone else. After going through these things again, it’s amazing to see how much Christmas stuff I’ve posted over the years. I hope you enjoy it.
* = New to 2015 Edition
Christmas Slideshows
- A Vintage Mac Christmas (Macworld, 2012)
A slideshow of vintage Christmas-related Macintosh art and ephemera. (VC&G description) - Opening Computers on Christmas Morning (PCMag, 2011)
Vintage family photos of kids receiving computers as Christmas gifts in the 1980s. (VC&G description) - The Ghost of Christmas Graphics Past (PCMag, 2010)
A compilation of vintage Christmas computer graphics, mostly culled from BBSes and the early web. (VC&G description) - The Ghost of Christmas Games Past (PC World, 2009)
A list of vintage Christmas-related console and computer games. There are more than you might think. (VC&G description) - A Very Vintage Tech Christmas (PC World, 2007)
Vintage computer advertisements with Christmas themes. Sadly, the pictures came out tiny due to technical limitations. (VC&G description) - Ye Olde Vintage Computer Gift Guide (PC World, 2009)
A Christmas gift idea guide featuring vintage computers. It’s funny how commenters interpreted this as a holy war for/against certain platforms. - 10 Worst Christmas Gift Ideas (PCMag, 2010)
Not vintage, but written by Benj. Expect ample amounts of silliness, including 2000-watt light bulb and a box of tiny gears.
Christmas Features
- Popular Tech Gifts of Holidays Past (TechHive, 2012)
TechHive asked me to figure out the most popular tech Xmas gifts of the last decade. So I did.
Christmas Retro Scans of the Week
- ThoughtWare JingleDisk *
- A PreComputer Christmas *
- Santa’s TRS-80 CoCo *
- Printer Paper Christmas
- Benj’s 1989 Christmas List
- Atari ST Christmas Catalog
- A High-Powered Christmas
- An Analog Christmas
- Merry Christmas From Nintendo, 1988
- Datalife Holiday Pack
- Nintendo vs. Sega: Christmas 1987 Shootout
- Give Your Apple Vision For Christmas
- Kickle Cubicle Blows In
- Give The Gift of TRS
- A Peachtree Christmas
- Santa’s Big Secret
- Hot CoCo (2) For Christmas
- RB5X: Your Christmas Robot
- Castle Wolfenstein: Bring an Allied Soldier Home for Christmas
- A Very TRS-80 Christmas
- Christmas 1983 Challenge
- Your Atari Christmas List
Christmas VC&G Posts
- Prodigy, Christmas 1992
- [ Retro GIF of the Week ] Christmas Fireplace
- The Theoretical Christmas iMac
- May the Triforce Be With You
- Homemade Zelda Ornament
- Animated Christmas GIFs of Yore
- Christmas Music Classics — NES Style
- Eric’s VC&G Christmas Medley
- What’s the Best Christmas Present You’ve Ever Received?
- An OS/2 Christmas Miracle
December 9th, 2015 at 2:04 am
Boink, I was very convinced I was the only person looking at that particular piece of ANSI art this holiday season. (I’m working on visuals for 50 minutes of retro computer Christmas music.) I believe it’s elsewhere attributed to Jean Ludwig.
December 9th, 2015 at 10:02 am
Roman,
(Not sure who Boink is, but I’ll reply anyway.) I have a fairly large collection of Christmas ANSI graphics, and it’s neat that someone else other than me is still interested in them too. For the past decade I’ve been collecting retro computer/video game Christmas art, games, and demos. It’s been fun using them in the offsite work I’ve been doing over the years.
December 9th, 2015 at 10:42 am
Sorry, “Boink” was just an awkward opening — an ill-considered goofy exclamation of astonishment in the wee hours.
I’ll drop you a line when we get our images and sounds coordinated — I’ve mined over 250 pieces of textmode holiday artwork from various sources, ANSI and ASCII, public domain and underground, static and ANSImated! (Had I realised you had already done similar work — because of course you have — I would have come to you first 8)
December 24th, 2015 at 2:51 am
And here you go, the full “Christmas ANSI art music video visuals” project I was discussing:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d5gbddtQcg
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9NRRadx-zY
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p-D0j-awns
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fApZFio-aTo
Part 5: https://youtu.be/aU266CumO7E
If I’m really on top of my game, I’ll zip up the accumulated assets utilized in the video and send them your way.