The Emerging Retrocomputer Industry
While visiting the Bay Area Maker Faire this past weekend, I was struck by something: we’re seeing the emergence of a full-fledged retrocomputer industry. There were at least two retrocomputing-specific businesses exhibiting (GGLABS and Manila Gear), and a couple of others selling newly-designed systems running BASIC that would have been at home in 1982. Yes, this stuff has been around since back when retrocomputing was just “computing”, and there have always been vendors providing replacement parts for obsolete machines. But it’s only within the past few years that we’ve seen businesses developing new hardware for 25-year-old computers with no practical purpose beyond nostalgia.
This is a surprisingly big market. Name any brand of computer from the 1980s, and there’s almost sure to be someone in 2017 who will sell you new peripherals and expansion hardware for it. Just within the retro-Apple community, besides BMOW and the two others I already mentioned who are developing new retro-centric hardware, there’s Rich Dreher, Nishida Radio, Michael McMaster, A2retrosystems, RetroConnector, Sigma Seven Systems, Plamen Vaysilov, and many many others (let me know who I’ve forgotten). Then there are also general merchandise stores of retro-Apple products, like A2Heaven, UltimateApple2, and Reactive Micro. I’m not always clear whether those are storefronts for a single business’s own products, or whether they’re reselling products developed by others, but either way they’re impressive. If you’re in love with old computer nostalgia from decades past, then these are the golden years.
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\”…couple of others selling newly-designed systems running BASIC that would have been at home in 1982.\”
Can you name these? I\’d be interested in new designs of retro technology.
This is not really surprising really, the home computer market really took off in the 80s.. and the people who grew up in the 80s are now most financially stable adults..
Lots in that demographic will have money to burn, and nostalgia is always a big market..
@Shimshon I don’t remember the name, sorry. There was a Japanese company showing a “computer” based on an LPC microcontroller, with composite video out (software video), and running BASIC. They seemed to be positioning the product more like an Arduino than a 1980s computer though.
There’s definitely a lot going on in the retro sphere at the moment.
The specnext, a FPGA-based recreation of the Sinclair Spectrum, complete with a new case designed by Sinclair’s original industrial designer and optional additional features, was quite successful on kickstarter recently (http://www.specnext.com). Can’t wait to get mine after having build two Harlequin Spectrum clones (with the ULA custom gate array reimplemented in 74-series TTL – http://www.zxdesign.info/harlequin.shtml) last year.
Coming from a 6502 (Apple ][ and C64) background originally, an implementation of the Apple ][ using more recent components (SRAMs instead of DRAM, Flash instead of ROMs, but keeping to 74-series TTL chips and using a WDC 65C02, which is still available new) would be interesting…