Which is more memorable & nostalgic? Hardware or Software?

[Keatah]

Which is more memorable & nostalgic? Hardware or Software? What is more likely to make fond memories and stick with you over the years?

 

I say it's the software. Each bit of software (and documentation/packaging) has it's own unique "personality". It's this stuff that we buy the hardware for!

 

Hardware, only somewhat, and while there can be many versions of hardware over a platform's lifetime, they're all likely to run the software in the same manner.

[+save2600]

I'm a hardware guy, so that choice is easy. But... obviously, software is what shows off the hardware. And under the same breath, is where I come right back to the hardware again because of expectations and disappointment in software at times. In the case of the Amiga and gaming, too many examples where we received lame ports that didn't take advantage or make the best use of the hardware inside the machine. Lots of examples too where they did, so am especially grateful for them.

 

Will forever be about the hardware for me though, especially the more unique and proprietary under the hood: the promise of its capabilities. Also love the "feel" and aesthetics of these machines, and mostly understand the circuitry and components whereas (outside of super early computing), haven't had such a strong interest in the programming side of things. Plus being more into hardware; I enjoy cleaning, restoring, maintaining and repairing the things. Totally different set of dynamics than you have if you're more into software and programming.

 

All of that said, I do maintain a healthy collection of original software for my systems. To a collector like me, really can't have one without the other. Well, you can - but only if you enjoy simply looking at and displaying your stuff instead of using. Something I hope to devote more time to one of these days - using more.

 

 

Cleaned up and organized the Amiga room a little bit better. Recently added more books and magazines too, which I've always felt helps round out the collection.

 

 

 

No floppy emulators needed here! Though the FAT compatible removable CF capability of the ACA500 sure comes in handy once in a while.

 

[krslam]

I'd have to say the hardware (I consider the basic OS to be part of the hardware). There's something special about the look and feel of old hardware, turning it on and seeing that READY (or whatever) prompt. I enjoy the occasional stroll through an old computer museum (we've got a great one in Seattle) looking at stuff that I had no contact with BITD. Old software doesn't have the same draw for me and it can all be emulated anyway.

[Mr SQL]

Intriguing question; I think the hardware platform, however it is largely memorable software experiences that teach us what the hardware can do and how far it can be pushed.

[simbalion]

I have to go for hardware myself. While the games are definitely part of the equation, whenever I think back it's the hardware that pops up first in my mind. Of course, part of this is because I got to see more hardware than games when I was young. There was no game system in our house until the Game Boy and no computer until 1998. Still, I got to see a lot of neat stuff at Radio Shack and the stores. Different systems have different looks, feel, and quirks and that is all due to the hardware being used. Also sounds! Emulation is ok for a quick fix, but it can't replicate the actual feel of an old system or the sounds of say, a Disk II booting a diskette.

[JamesD]

I went with equal.
The appeal to me is more programming than playing old games, and when I do that I usually just use an emulator.
But I have a collection of old computers and it's cool to actually type or play a game on them once in a while.

[Kombalar]

Ir depends.

 

Nothing can compare with the genuine vector display and the thrill that I got when I purchased my Vectrex back in the day.

 

Save two or three clssics (Mine Storm, Scramble and Cosmic Chasm) the games weren't really that special. But everything else was. I loved it and the Vectrex emulator does nothing for me. I have no desire to play those games with emulator.

 

But some arcade games from the same era are amazingly good, even by today's standards. Also, it depends on the game. Games like Star Wars (that had special controllers) aren't the same on MAME. But emulation can capture 70% of the thrill in most cases, imho.

[JamesD]

Ir depends.

 

Nothing can compare with the genuine vector display and the thrill that I got when I purchased my Vectrex back in the day.

 

Save two or three clssics (Mine Storm, Scramble and Cosmic Chasm) the games weren't really that special. But everything else was. I loved it and the Vectrex emulator does nothing for me. I have no desire to play those games with emulator.

 

But some arcade games from the same era are amazingly good, even by today's standards. Also, it depends on the game. Games like Star Wars (that had special controllers) aren't the same on MAME. But emulation can capture 70% of the thrill in most cases, imho.

But those are video games and this is the classic computing area.

So does that apply to computers?

 

[Kombalar]

But those are video games and this is the classic computing area.

So does that apply to computers?

I also had a C64 and personally I don't see much extra value in the computer hardware itself. Or the slow 1541 floppy drive.

 

Maybe there was some extra thrill with the cassette drive though. You loaded up Rambo or Commando for 15 minutes only to find out that it didn't work that time. And then reloaded and tried again. Haha.

[BydoEmpire]

I was going to say software, but for me they're both important. Playing 2600 games with a gamepad on a modern modern monitor sucks. The same game with a real 2600 joystick on a tube tv is fantastic. It's the same for me in a lot of other cases, from console to computer. I'm nostalgic about the games themselves, but the hardware is part of the experience. It's really about the controller and the screen more than anything else. I really like using modern storage systems (FloppyEmu, etc) with otherwise vintage hardware. Best of all worlds. I had a classic c64, but i wouldn't care if I was playing a game on a c64c or c128. I'm not nostalgic about that part of it.

[jhd]

For me, it's the software by far. I had a Coco growing-up, and while I sometimes care to revisit some of the games that I enjoyed back in the '80's (via emulation, of course), I have no nostalgia for the truly awful chicklet keyboard or the non-centering analog joystick. I do not want to even think about loading anything from cassette tape anymore.

 

There is also the issue that I simply have no space in my apartment to set-up vintage hardware, and keeping everything packed away in storage indefinitely is pointless. (I have not physically seen my Atari 2600 collection since about 1998; I might as well not own it for all of the joy it brings me.)

[JamesD]

...

There is also the issue that I simply have no space in my apartment to set-up vintage hardware, and keeping everything packed away in storage indefinitely is pointless. (I have not physically seen my Atari 2600 collection since about 1998; I might as well not own it for all of the joy it brings me.)

This is similar to my current situation. I am living in an RV full time. I have a desk, but I'm not even sure it's deep enough for the original CoCo.

I mostly keep the hardware around to test to see if stuff I've written works on actual hardware.

At one point I had 30+ machines, but I lost many of them in a fire and sold off at least another 10 recently.

Most of the machines I have left are reasonably small so storing them is no big deal. There was no point in storing things I'd never use or duplicates.

Edited January 17, 2018 by JamesD

[carlsson]

Who did you like most when you grew up, your Mom or your Dad? (assuming both were present in the family)

 

Great hardware without meaningful software falls flat. I've got a few specimens of that in my collection.

 

No matter how great the software is, it can not exceed the limits on the hardware it runs. I probably have examples of this too.

 

Ergo I also chose "both are equal" since one can't live without the other, just like the hen and the egg.

[Keatah]

In the 1970's and 1980's I would have said hardware. I was enamored with all the pretty and colorful circuitry. I liked playing with the controls. And I believed the personality of the machine emanated from it. I thought hardware was the very embodiment of a computer. It was, well, just there!

 

But, today, I selected software. At some undefined point I switched over to this "position". I don't remember when. Maybe even recently. Anyways. It's the games I remember, the utilities & tools, the new functionality that "appeared" with every new disk I acquired. Different companies made different styles of games. That was not lost on me. If I want a certain flavor of game I sometimes think of company XYZ and peruse their catalog.

 

If I want adventure games, I might pick from Scott Adams, or Infocom. If I want action I might go with Sirius Software, maybe Br0derbund. Each one being distinct and different from the next.

 

It's those flavors and auras and essences that remain with us and define the nostalgia. The feel and scope of a game. The first thing that pops into my head - the image on the screen. It was always the software that seemed to pull new tricks out of "old" hardware. It's things like that which create & define the good times.

 

When I think back to yesteryear I think of my buddies and me playing all sorts of games, the competition, the camaraderie.. The adventures in Flight Simulator, the late night think tanks we hastily formed to solve an adventure. It's the software that created the nostalgia, the puzzles, the action, the rewards.. The software set the mood. The hardware was simply a means to an end.

 

And, now, emulation abstracts hardware out of the picture altogether. The essence of any one single game can be enjoyed on 20 other platforms, without changes or re-writes. So there's that. And almost paradoxically, it's software that allows that to happen! Or look at it this way, there's very little memorable or unique about a new FPGA console or whatever, it's the software.. Will it run on it? Is it available for it? When are new games coming out? And more.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Keatah

[RangerG]

It is hardware for me. I use the original consoles with period correct controllers on Commodore monitors, This is a good question and for me the hardware is an easy answer.

[Keatah]

All of that said, I do maintain a healthy collection of original software for my systems. To a collector like me, really can't have one without the other. Well, you can - but only if you enjoy simply looking at and displaying your stuff instead of using. Something I hope to devote more time to one of these days - using more.

 

 

Cleaned up and organized the Amiga room a little bit better. Recently added more books and magazines too, which I've always felt helps round out the collection.

 

IMG_8172.jpg IMG_8173.jpg

 

IMG_8174.jpg

 

No floppy emulators needed here! Though the FAT compatible removable CF capability of the ACA500 sure comes in handy once in a while.

 

 

Looks like a healthy collection of meaningful software. It doesn't seem to have gotten out of control and is nicely displayed in what appears to be a usable arrangement.

 

I've seen millions of collections where there is so much stuff, it's just ughh.. I can't cite one overarching reason for the buildup of bulk. But I've been tracking the demographics over the past decade and it is reversing.

 

Books and manuals definitely add meaning and substance to almost any collection. That's why I only have 2 more pieces of Apple II hardware on my hot list. Then my focus is going to be 100% on software and manuals. And as people grow up and mature, I'm seeing more effort on preservation. This seems to be happening when game playing is getting "old" and new horizons are sought. And it's in the "software arena" that it's taking place!

 

As far as floppy emulators and multi-carts and CFFA3000s - they're really nice to have. They can take the wear and tear off your original software.

 

[Kombalar]

If I want adventure games, I might pick from Scott Adams, or Infocom.

Oh man... Infocom. Amazing.

 

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was brilliant. So was the Zork series.

 

But for me the biggest thrill was "Witness". It was a detective story. I never forget the feeling when I completed it. I was listening to Rush and Van Halen songs while playing. Ahh... being kid in the 80's again...

 

Edited January 18, 2018 by Kombalar

[Keatah]

Yah, Rush, Van Halen, Robert Plant, all that mellow rock. Really great mood setters and background. Classic computing isn't the same unless you have a selection of your fav top hits going, and it HAS to be 80's.

[spacecadet]

I said hardware. The software can be run on any modern PC using emulation. It's the hardware that really defines how I felt using that software at the time.

[Keatah]

Yah. See. For me it's like I was playing Space Raiders, then Star Dance, for the Apple II. 2 things that made the hardware feel totally different to me. Then it was on to stuff like Star Blazer or A2-FS1.. Majorly different there.

 

Not so different that I felt I had a new computer or something, just different games for different times and experiences. That's what I remember. With cartridge systems I knew I was changing things out, a ROM chip. Here with the computer, loading from magnetic media into RAM felt like there was a transfer and installment of some sort of specialized intelligence. Remember I was a kid at the time.

 

And then now with emulators it's a whole extended ballgame. Software that takes one rather bland machine like a PC and infuses an exciting, variety-filled, vintage personality. In context of this thread emulators could be seen as personality modules.

[carlsson]

Sure, if it wasn't for the hardware, nobody would emulate it but also if it wasn't for the software, nobody most likely would bother spending time developing an emulator for the hardware. I say "most likely" because there always is someone who wants to do what nobody else did, see e.g. the Unisonic emulator in the Intellivision parts of this forum, an obscure console that barely could play a few card games but still being emulated.

[krslam]

And there's an emulator for the Commodore 65, an unreleased system with zero software.

[digdugnate]

i went with equal- i could emulate with software, but the tactile/aesthetic part of me realllly digs the feel of cartridges and computers/consoles.