I am starting this new message because I didn't want to get it lost and I thought it desired it's own.

While replying to some of the other message, I have been thinking about the fact that I have many
fond memories of early computer usage. While I use a computer everyday, I find none of brings the
joy that in those early days.

There was something about using the early software that brought joy. I am not saying that it didn't
have issues. Far from it. Rather, I find interesting that even with the limitation of both the
software and hardware, I found computers fun and these days, not so much.

Today, I can use my phone or laptop to send messages anywhere in the world quickly. Where as back in the
day, it would have required a modem and likely a BBS to get messages somewhere eventually. Still this
method of send electronic messages, there is something about it. Something that I can not put my finger
on exactly. I could say that it simplier and while true I am not sure that is 100% it.

I know back then, when I first used a modem to connect to BBS, there was certain feel of community that
now, I do not feel. Back when I dialed up a BBS that BBS was likely local. More often then not, there were
message bases that were only on that BBS. Funny thing, While Fidonet was around, not many BBS I use back
then had Fidonet. I do know that when I lived shortly in Portland, OR there were several BBSs that all
shared messages bases just for that Area. Which was great because it was very easy to find an old Pencil
and Paper RPG (D&D) group. Something that while I can find people to play D&D on the Internet, they are
not always local to me.

I keep thinking about the software I used back then. Much of it was simple. Windows 3.1 was not great but
there were things you could do that you can not do now. I remember there was a simple way to create your
own boot logo for Windows 3.1. I know I did that quite a few times. Hell replacing the Program Manager
with something else was simple. I remember trying a bunch of different replacements for it. In just using
DOS there were tons of options. Almost everyone I knew used some sort of menu system to launch DOS programs.
Those were as varied as the people using them.

Maybe I am just feeling old and nostalgic. I know that in some ways using a computer back then was a feat.
Today you don't have to worry about IRQ conflicts, loud power supplies, or loud analog modems.

I guess the real question, is there something about the old days (whatever time period that is for you), that
you might be nostalgic for? If so, what is that?





... Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

I guess the real question, is there something about the old days
(whatever time period that is for you), that
you might be nostalgic for? If so, what is that?

These days we don't really have control over our computers anymore;
everything is buried under layers of software. One small problem and we're quickly lost.
Also, tons of RAM, fast CPUs, and nobody optimizes their software anymore.
I remember good ZX Spectrum games that only needed 30-40KB of RAM.

... Heisenburg may have slept here.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Gods69 BBS (21:3/220)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: nblade to All on Mon Jan 05 2026 01:56 pm

There was something about using the early software that brought joy. I am not saying that it didn't
have issues. Far from it. Rather, I find interesting that even with the limitation of both the
software and hardware, I found computers fun and these days, not so much.

I guess the real question, is there something about the old days (whatever time period that is for you), that
you might be nostalgic for? If so, what is that?

I feel the same way. I think one reason is that back in the 80s and 90s, having a computer at home was more of a novelty because it was more of a new thing. I think that made it fun. Also, because computers weren't as advanced back then, upgrades were more significant and noticeable - A CPU upgrade was noticeably much faster; you could upgrade from monochrome to color graphics, add a sound card to a PC (and you'd go from simple beeps to quality audio), etc..

Also, although computers were less advanced back then, we saw their potential, and it was fun to think about all the possibilities.

These days, I feel like upgrades are less noticeable. Also, maybe it's
because I've been using computers for so long, I'm just very much used to it now, so it doesn't feel quite as fun as it used to be.

I think another factor may be OS UI design. Since around 2012 or so, the GUIs of the various operating systems have become more flat and mono-tone across the board (starting with Windows 8, Mac OS X Mountain Lion, Android with Material Design, and similar with iOS). I feel like the UIs of the various operating systems today look a bit boring. I think a computer is more fun to use when the UI looks good. MS-DOS and other command-line operating systems were probably an exception back in the day - Each application had its own look & feel; also, I felt like it was fun that you could do pretty much anything with the computer.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: nblade to All on Mon Jan 05 2026 01:56 pm

Howdy,

I guess the real question, is there something about the old days (whatever time period that is for you), that you might be nostalgic for? If so,
what is that?

I agree with your post here.

In the "good ol days", there was always something new or something that was a desire for the "next". Either a bigger/faster hard drive, faster modem, new OS, new processor, more memory, new versio of ...

And then when you got it, there was the joy of setting it up and using it - the "I finally got it moment".

Today, I dont have that feeling anymore - perhaps when the Pi's came out it was there for a while, but now I look around for something to buy (because its more affordable now based on my current situation), there isnt anything that I want to buy.

Well, an exception, I held off on 3D printers and I just got one (because I saw my sister printing stuff for Christmas, and was impressed by the quality and capability), I bought one on a wim in the black friday sales.

Its pretty impressive, and I'm looking forward to the different coloured filaments that I've just ordered.

But other than that, there's been nothing for a long while, and once this fad has passed, not sure what I want to waste my money on next... :)


...ëîåï
--- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: nblade to All on Mon Jan 05 2026 13:56:00

...is there something about the old days (whatever time period that is for you), that you might be nostalgic for? If so, what is that?

The '80s. Loved the '80s. The music, the cloths, the movies/TV shows. It was the decade I graduated College, got my first apartment, my first PC clone, my first synth, discovered BBSes, Had cable for the first time (Remember ZDTV?). Course it wasn't all sunshine, nothing ever is: My Dad passed and had to move back to my parent's house (though I did get two bedrooms out of it).

All in all, the 1980s rocked. Would love to do most of it, all over again.
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)

Mortar M. wrote to nblade <=-

The '80s. Loved the '80s. The music, the cloths, the movies/TV shows.
It was the decade I graduated College, got my first apartment, my
first PC clone, my first synth, discovered BBSes, Had cable for the
first time (Remember ZDTV?). Course it wasn't all sunshine, nothing
ever is: My Dad passed and had to move back to my parent's house
(though I did get two bedrooms out of it).

All in all, the 1980s rocked. Would love to do most of it, all over again. --- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux

Well I was still in Jr High and High School in the 80's. I didn't get my
first computer until the 90's. And that's when I discovered BBSes.



... MultiMail, the new multi-platform, multi-format offline reader!
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: Nightfox to nblade on Mon Jan 05 2026 14:32:31

...because computers weren't as advanced back then, upgrades were more significant and noticeable...

Indeed. I remember going from EGA to VGA...Whoa, So many colors! Going from a basic no-name sound card to an SB Audigy; game music and SFX came alive. Increased RAM; Quake now ran butter smooth, and with the VGA upgrade, it was almost like playing a whole new game.

Everything was new and exciting back then. I think the last time I came close to that feeling was in 2007 when I joined Second Life, a 3D virtual world, which I'm still a "citizen" of.
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: Mortar M. to Nightfox on Mon Jan 05 2026 10:15 pm

Everything was new and exciting back then. I think the last time I came close to that feeling was in 2007 when I joined Second Life, a 3D virtual world, which I'm still a "citizen" of.

I was in that for a bit, but haven't been in there in years. I remember finding a virtual rocketry & space museum someone built in there, and they had someone from the aerospace industry in real life come give a presentation there every Sunday, which I thought was interesting.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: nblade to Mortar M. on Tue Jan 06 2026 08:05:00

I didn't get my first computer until the 90's.

Doh! How could I forget. The '80s was when I got my first computer as well. Back in '82 I got a T/S 1000, which was followed by the VIC-20, then the C=64, then the Amiga 1000. /Then/ I got the PC clone.
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)

close to that feeling was in 2007 when I joined Second Life, a 3D virtua

I was in that for a bit, but haven't been in there in years. I remember finding a virtual rocketry & space museum someone built in there, and they ha someone from the aerospace industry in real life come give a presentation the every Sunday, which I thought was interesting.

That is pretty awesome!

Mike
---
þ BgNet 1.0á12 ÷ RAW: Port 27 / Telnet:26 / ftelnet:80
* Origin: moe's tavern * 1-5028758938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27 (21:4/134)

Nightfox wrote to Mortar M. <=-

I was in that for a bit, but haven't been in there in years. I
remember finding a virtual rocketry & space museum someone built in
there, and they had someone from the aerospace industry in real life
come give a presentation there every Sunday, which I thought was interesting.

Second life always had a Mondo2000, too soon vibe - I wonder how it
would fare if it came out with today's hardware and popularity of
social networks?



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Jan 08 2026 07:51 am

Second life always had a Mondo2000, too soon vibe - I wonder how it would fare if it came out with today's hardware and popularity of social networks?

Second Life reminded me a lot of the book "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson (which I had read in the early 90s), and I heard that book was actually an inspiration for Second Life..

That's a good question about how popular Second Life would be if it came out now. For a while, I've been hearing that a lot of people have replaced their traditional computers at home with a smartphone or tablet..

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Doh! How could I forget. The '80s was when I got my first computer as well. Back in '82 I got a T/S 1000, which was followed by the VIC-20, then the C=64 then the Amiga 1000. /Then/ I got the PC clone.

Same here re: ~1982, but mine was a TI. I assumed we were talking PC
clones, which was 1987 and an XT. ;)

---
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* Origin: moe's tavern * 1-5028758938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27 (21:4/134)

Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

That's a good question about how popular Second Life would be if it
came out now. For a while, I've been hearing that a lot of people have replaced their traditional computers at home with a smartphone or
tablet..

I've gotten so used to voice-to-text on my phone, that out of
frustration on my computer, I turned Windows voice recognition on and
started dictating a document I was writing. It wasn't quote as good as Android's, but I might start using it more.



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Hello poindexter FORTRAN!

I've gotten so used to voice-to-text on my phone, that out
of frustration on my computer, ...

iPhone?


--- OpenXP 5.0.64
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: Nightfox to Mortar M. on Wed Jan 07 2026 09:40:24

I remember finding a virtual rocketry & space museum someone built...

I know the one; never saw the presentation though. They had a rocket that you could board and it would launch you into space.
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)

Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Jan 08 2026 08:37:05

For a while, I've been hearing that a lot of people have replaced
their traditional computers at home with a smartphone or tablet..

Tis true, unfortunately. According to various sources, sales of home PCs has been declining for several years now due to mobile devices. However, they all agree that desktops won't disappear completely, because of the business sector, but expect prices to rise thanks to the rule of "supply and demend". We're already seeing this happen now, especially in the area of compnent sales; RAM, graphics cards, CPUs, etc.
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)

I guess the real question, is there something about the old days
(whatever time period that is for you), that
you might be nostalgic for? If so, what is that?

I may be quoting the wrong thing, but I think the happiness you talk about is something that I'm more likely to get when it's something novel, and I'm in a better head space.

If I spent the day watching YouTube shorts or TikTok (both of which I actively avoid, so this is more exaggerating to make a point), I'm going to feel depressed at the end of the day, and tech will have brought me down.

But if I spent the day getting something running, and feel like I accomplished something new, I'll likely feel good.

And if only I could do more of the latter and less of the former, it'd be good.

And, at this point, I've done a bit of work on a 2026 public-domain-derivative-work ANSI thing, where the idea would be that I'd make a bunch, and hopefully get others to contribute, and it'd be something to display on BBSs. And, successfully getting further in that would likely bring me a bit of joy.

But it's also a fair amount of work and there are always many other things I could do with my productive time.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

Re: Old Software Memories
By: Mortar M. to Nightfox on Fri Jan 09 2026 08:52 pm

I remember finding a virtual rocketry & space museum someone built...

I know the one; never saw the presentation though. They had a rocket that you could board and it would launch you into space.

I don't recall seeing such a rocket there.. The ones I remember were all static models and weren't functional.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: Mortar M. to Nightfox on Fri Jan 09 2026 09:59 pm

Tis true, unfortunately. According to various sources, sales of home PCs has been declining for several years now due to mobile devices. However, they all agree that desktops won't disappear completely, because of the business sector,

I imagine there would still be a demand for PCs at home too. PC gaming is still a strong use case (as far as I know). Also, I feel like PCs are still good for things like writing emails (and longer content), editing photos & videos, and general use - It's good to have a physical keyboard and a screen bigger than a tablet. I feel like a smartphone or tablet just doesn't cut it sometimes.

Sometimes I also like to work on my own personal programming projects, where a phone or tablet wouldn't really cut it, but I'm probably in the minority there.

but expect prices to rise thanks to the rule of "supply
and demend". We're already seeing this happen now, especially in the area of compnent sales; RAM, graphics cards, CPUs, etc.

Yeah, that will be a bummer.. :(

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

I imagine there would still be a demand for PCs at home too. PC gaming
is still a strong use case (as far as I know). Also, I feel like PCs

Some YouTube video I watched seemed to think that PC Gaming is increasing and console gaming is going down, but... that's about as far from actual data as one can get.

But I do think that people are struggling with $80 games. Which is _kind_ of interesting, just because there were Super NES games that cost $75. But it's still a big-enough amount of money that it can be hard to justify.

Especially when there are plenty of good games that are cheaper.

editing photos & videos, and general use - It's good to have a physical keyboard and a screen bigger than a tablet. I feel like a smartphone or tablet just doesn't cut it sometimes.

Yeah. Smartphones seem mostly good for distraction things. Tablets are at least good for drawing on.

But it seems hard to be productive with a Smartphone.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

On 05 Jan 2026, nblade said the following...

I guess the real question, is there something about the old days
(whatever time period that is for you), that
you might be nostalgic for? If so, what is that?

I guess using Linux (any distro, for that matter...), kinda brings up that joy again... I guess it's what gets newer generations into Linux install and useage these days. The "over-engineered" use of coputers you describe kinda falls into the newer user experience people get from Windows PC.
That's just my way to see it.

Pol Malvinas.

Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas!

... Islas Malvinas, siempre Argentinas.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/64)
* Origin: The Vault BBS (21:4/167)

Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: Adept to Nightfox on Sat Jan 10 2026 05:34 pm

Some YouTube video I watched seemed to think that PC Gaming is increasing and console gaming is going down, but... that's about as far from actual data as one can get.

But I do think that people are struggling with $80 games. Which is _kind_ of interesting, just because there were Super NES games that cost $75. But it's still a big-enough amount of money that it can be hard to justify.

Especially when there are plenty of good games that are cheaper.

Yeah, there are plenty of inexpensive games for the PC. And I think it has always been that way, as far as I can remember. I got my first PC in 1992, and although I had a Nintendo, I also spent a lot of time downloading PC games from BBSes and playing them. Aside from the inexpensive games, there were also a lot of shareware games you could download and play, which were basically free. Although they wanted you to buy the full version with more levels, I still played the shareware version of a lot of games because I didn't have money yet to buy full games.

I don't think there's nearly as much shareware these days as there used to be, but there are still a lot of inexpensive games for PC. And there are even some free open-source games.

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

Mortar M. wrote to Nightfox <=-

Tis true, unfortunately. According to various sources, sales of home
PCs has been declining for several years now due to mobile devices. However, they all agree that desktops won't disappear completely,
because of the business sector, but expect prices to rise thanks to the rule of "supply and demend". We're already seeing this happen now, especially in the area of compnent sales; RAM, graphics cards, CPUs,
etc.

We're all 100% laptops at my office, one of my techs found a desktop PC
in the storage room and thought it an oddity!



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Mortar M. wrote to Nightfox <=-

I remember finding a virtual rocketry & space museum someone built...

I know the one; never saw the presentation though. They had a rocket
that you could board and it would launch you into space.

There's a web site with photos from an imaginary space ship museum,
lots of science fiction ships laying around on the sand alongside real
vehicles; I can't find the link, though.

--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Ogg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Hello poindexter FORTRAN!

I've gotten so used to voice-to-text on my phone, that out
of frustration on my computer, ...

iPhone?

No, I do a lot of dictation on Android while driving - I go into an
office 2x/week, 2 hours each way.



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

I've gotten so used to voice-to-text on my phone, that out
of frustration on my computer, ...

iPhone?

My Motorola Android does it also. There are some words you can count on
it always getting wrong... whichever version of "were" and "we're" you
mean, it will always pick the other one... but it works ok. I have
relatives that expect verbose answers to things so it is the only way. ;)
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Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: Adept to Nightfox on Sat Jan 10 2026 05:34 pm

Some YouTube video I watched seemed to think that PC Gaming is increasing and console gaming is going down, but... that's about as far from actual data as one can get.

With the present RAM crisis, I think this generation will see a bit more predominance of consoles and console-like appliances over traditional PCs. I also think it will be a bit of a lackluster generation. Nintendo started very strong with the Switch 2 but has started losing steam very quickly.


--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Re: Re: Old Software Memories
By: Nightfox to Adept on Sat Jan 10 2026 10:41 am

I don't think there's nearly as much shareware these days as there used to be, but there are still a lot of inexpensive games for PC. And there are even some free open-source games.

You don't even need the cheap games. The Epic games store licenses a game every week for free (at minimum). You can buy some acceptable to low-end PC, create an Epic account, and play Epic freebies pretty much forever. A lot of the free games they give away are meh but if they hand out a good game every month or two, you are set.


--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)