Here’s a question for my intrepid readers: Do you collect software? Operating systems, applications, computer games, or even image or sound files? If so, do you have a focus for your collection? How do you store it?

I’ve been collecting software for about 17 years. Much of it was once locked into deteriorating floppy disk formats, but luckily I’ve been able to find working disk images of those particular apps and games (say, for the Atari 800 or Apple II) created by others, so not much is at risk of being lost there.

Everything else — all my personal floppy disks, ZIP disks, CDs, and hard drives for Macs and PCs — I long ago backed up to a central file server that uses a RAID 5 array and offsite backup for extra protection. In that collection are the contents of over 30 different PC hard drives imaged and preserved “in state” for research purposes. I keep all the files in place as they were when those drives were in use, because you really never know what you’ll need in the future when it comes to historical research. Many of those files have come in handy already.

I should note that if you have anything backed up on CD-R, get it off now, because I’ve already found CD-Rs from as recent as 2000 that I can’t read anymore. They really are a terrible archival format. The best hope for long-term software preservation (in my opinion) is to maintain a live RAID array of hard drives that you maintain and update over time.

So how do you do it, and what do you collect? I’m interested to hear from you in the comments below.

“This product is not intended for the unlawful copying of copywrited material.”

Rewritable CD-RW discs seemed like a good idea when CD-Rs (which could only be written once) still cost $10 a piece. But as the price of CD-Rs fell to pennies per disc over the course of about five years, the CD-RW format’s popularity quickly faded.

Discussion Topic of the Week: When did you burn your first CD-R or CD-RW? How did you feel when you did it? What did you write to the disc?

“System Requirements: 48k Atari, 1 disk drive, modem”

You’re looking at an ad for what may have been the world’s first multiplayer graphical online gaming service, Games Computers Play (1985). It may also have been the world’s first graphical multi-user environment, as it predated the Lucasfilm Habitat beta test for the C64 (1986) by six months or more.

I don’t know else much about this Atari 8-bit-only service beside what can be gleaned from the advertisement above, a 1985 article in Antic magazine, and this thread over at AtariAge.

One of the posters in the forum thread linked above mentioned that he/she found the creators of the service, whom I’d love to talk to myself. I’m trying to get in touch with that poster, but if anyone knows anything about this service (including info about who created it) or has stories to share, please email me here.

[Update – I did get in touch with one of the creators of this service. More info to follow. ]

Discussion Topic of the Week: What was the first game you played with another human (or humans) over a modem?

PC World recently published “A Brief History of Computer Displays,” one of my most recent slideshow works and the latest in my “Evolution” series. The piece traces computer display devices from blinking lights, to paper tape, to terminals, and beyond.

Special thanks to Steve Wozniak and Lee Felsenstein for help with a certain segment of computer display history — the era when computers shifted from serial terminals IO to directly outputting a video signal. Our conversations were exciting stuff that I’ll explore further in future articles.

I hope you enjoy it. When you’re done reading, come back over and tell us what your first computer display/monitor was like.

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Previous entries in Benj’s “Evolution of…” series:
The Evolution of Video Game Media
The Evolution of Removable Storage
The Evolution of The Cell Phone

Five years ago today, I published my first post on Vintage Computing and Gaming.

The funny thing is that when I started this blog in 2005, I had no idea I would still be doing it five years later — or that it would become the nucleus of a career in writing. No idea.

It’s amazing how life can guide you in new and unexpected directions.

So what this anniversary really means that my career as a professional writer is now five years old. I’ve written for a dozen or so web and print publications over the last five years, and I still enjoy every minute of it.

[ Continue reading Five Years of VC&G » ]

Shades of Tasha Yar

If you were shopping for a home PC in 1984, you were bound to face this decision: should I get an Apple IIc or the flashy new IBM PCjr?

From late 1983 to early 1984, the press hyped the PCjr to absurd proportions, which set IBM’s consumer machine up for a mighty fall not too long after its introduction (IBM withdrew it from the market within a year of its release). The Apple IIc, on the other hand, was one of Apple’s more successful products of the era. Apple won the battle, but IBM won the war with the PC line overall.

(…or did they?)

Discussion Topic of the Week: It’s 1984, and you can only buy one computer: an IBM PCjr or an Apple IIc. Which one will you choose and why?

If you like my regular VC&G series of Halloween costume ideas, then you might enjoy this piece I just whipped up for PCMag, titled “12 Last-Minute Tech Halloween Costume Ideas.” Readers seeking practical costume ideas may be disappointed, but readers expecting boatloads of Benj-style Halloween humor will hit the jackpot. Or at least I hope so.

Happy Halloween!

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Here’s a list of the VC&G Halloween Costume Ideas articles:

2010 Video Game Edition
2009 Video Game Edition
2008 Video Game Edition
2007 Video Game Edition
2006 Video Game Edition
2006 Computer Edition

Halloween is only four days away, and if you haven’t chosen your costume already, you’re screwed. Luckily, VC&G is here to help (once again) with 13 fresh last-minute costume ideas.

Through this article, things you will see. Other places. The future…the past. Old friends long gone.* Regardless of the vintage, each of these costumes is guaranteed to get you candy or your money back. Did I mention this is the fifth entry of this longstanding VC&G tradition? Most excellent.**

* Modified Yoda quote.
** Unmodified Bill & Ted quote.

[ Continue reading VC&G’s Halloween Video Game Costume Ideas (2010) » ]

“The spell is cast this Halloween!” *GASP!!!*

That spooky, spooky holiday is just around the corner, so I figured you guys might enjoy something in theme. I think I’ve played Witchaven once or once before — even if only because it used the Build engine — but I don’t remember it well. What did you guys think of it?

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite scary/creepy computer or video game? Any platform, any era.

If you’ve checked out this week’s Retro Scan and maybe even my NES teardown, you already know that Nintendo released the NES in the United States 25 years ago today (that would be 1985 — I’ll spare you the math).

In honor of the anniversary, I gathered up 13 examples of NES-related weirdness and conveniently packaged them in a slideshow format for Technologizer. The result is “Nintendo Entertainment System Oddities,” a gallery in the same vein as my Super Mario Oddities and Game Boy Oddities pieces for Technologizer. I hope you enjoy it.

Maybe all this NES lovin’ will inspire you to dust off your old console and revisit some NES classics. It certainly did me.