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Comment by mattw2121 | Hacker News Reader

One of the largest regrets I have is getting rid of all my Apple ][e stuff. I kept it for years in attics as I moved from house to house. I had a couple of ][e's, disk drives, ImageWriter printer, Apple monitors, and so many original software titles including manuals and boxes. (Of course I had 2-3 large boxes of copies too).

About 5 years ago I was moving house and just got rid of everything because I was tired of moving it. I started regretting it 6 months later and even more today.

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I'm more of the Marie Kondo style but couldn't get rid of the computers of my childhood: Atari 600 XL, Commodore 128, Amiga 500, Ti 99/4a (although that one I bought only a few years ago). My most prized possession is a very rare 5"1/4 floppy disk reader for the Amiga (which was supposed to have 3"1/2 floppies): not the official Commodore 5"1/4 floppy disk reader (also a rarity) but a bootleg one.

I've got two big boxes and when I move to another country, these come with me. We've already done three countries together. The Atari 600 XL and the Commodore 128 were still working during the first lockdown (I was stuck at home and took the time to test them).

Once in a rare while I boot the non-modded, time capsule, C128 of my teenage years and launch the game Commando just to hear the song on the SID chip.

I take it they still bring me some joy!

TI made so many 4a's (and firesaled them) that they aren't really collectables. They are cheap cheap cheap on ebay. maybe one day they'll be worth something, but I have my doubts. there are probably many that are just sitting around unopened still in their original boxes because people bought them for what they thought was cheap as "might as well get one as a backup".

but yes, I'm found of it as it was my first computer and grew up on munch-man and parsec (amongst other things)

The problem is that the stuff probably isn't worth much--and it probably isn't worth much to you either if it's gathering dust in the attic. I keep a few old game boxes in my office bookcase. I have a few old computers up in the attic. (An Osborne someone gave me and a couple old DG/Ones. Also a huge pile of laserdiscs and player.) Probably someone would love to take off my hands and might even pay a few dollars. But there's a very real limit to how much effort I'm going to put into finding that person locally.

The "huge pile" can actually make it easier - lay the laserdiscs out on the floor, take a picture, sell the whole thing as a lot on eBay. Sure there might be some rare ones or something, but if there is that's just all the more likely to help it sell.

At some point, I'll probably take a shot at a local take it or leave it first. Then maybe I'll decide it's worth shipping for the right money.

Ill take the ozzy off your hands.

Thats history.

I've heard some of the authors of the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) project say that the main goal of the software is to preserve the old hardware in code form; the ability to play games on it is just a nice side effect. I used to think that this was just a way of sidestepping piracy debates, but having been around the block a time or two now, I see some merit to it. But I suspect they still play games on it ;)

I sometimes have similar regrets, but remind myself that I can do far better things without the baggage of that old stuff. After all, what I truly miss is the spirit of the era rather than the physical artifacts. Much of that can be recreated by other means: emulation for the software, and electronics for the hardware.

That would be “Apple //e”. They stopped the brackets after the Apple ][+ was discontinued.

Ok, yes, I’m still jealous that everybody else had a //e. I also had the early Amiga 2000 with the bad ROM revision, the base model NextStation, and I don’t even want to talk about my non-turbo Porsche 944.

My first car that I bought was a Porsche 944. I can confirm that I miss driving/enjoying the car but not the mechanical bills.

My childhood //e, duodisk, epson clone printer and monitor are sitting in my parents garage. dusty, so the drives are probably shot now.

They tossed the floppies about 5 years back, and that’s probably what I would have wanted to save. Custom lode runner levels. That ultimate Iv saved game. The disks and disks of AppleWorks docs.

Everything old is cool and expensive again. This is why I hate throwing stuff out. I hate how society denigrates hoarders. They [the hoarders] were right.

Most of it isn't actually that expensive. The examples in the article are extremely rare or perfectly mint copies of very old games. A rare unopened copy of SMB sold for 1.5 million but that doesn't mean a loose Mario bros/duck hunt cartridge with scuffed label is worth more than $5. Same for some of the old computers i have in my attic, they are worth something but still sub $100, barely worth the effort of going through the trouble of listing and shipping them. Never mind storing them for decades.

This seems to be mostly over now. Prices on ebay have fallen considerably in the last 6 months in my experience.

An SNES with a couple games still sells for like $300

Nintendo is the exception. I think the rising prices of nintendo stuff temporarily inflated everything else but only nintendo has big enough demand

You'll always have the memories of the good times you shared together, and they're probably better than the real thing anyway.

Sigh. My school's computer lab had a pile of dust covered Apple ]['s sitting in the corner, circa 2005. I don't believe they'd been plugged in since having been moved into the new building ~1999. Myself and a friend offered to take them off the school's hands and free up the space, but were denied for <red tape bullshit>.

Same story here with my C64 and Amiga stuff. I did this around 2010. I miss my C64, my Amiga. However, it was instrumental in moving forward.

While it still hurts and emulators are a different beast, it freed me. I filled the hole with doing modern stuff, like learning JavaScript back then.

While I regret getting rid of my beloved hardware, I never regret the decision to move forward.

The hardware might have been worth a lot to the right person, but finding that connection is easier said than done.

With reference to another post somewhere: I got rid of a $$$ guitar because 'i can only play one at a time', and i kept the one i enjoyed (<$300) playing more. Dont regret a thing and i dont see any lost $$. Quite the opposite. Good riddance to something i wasn't using? Did i lose out? Nope. Not to me....i could have dropped it the next day, or could've got stolen.. I'm very happy to consider anything i own as $0 value, despite what i paid for it.

Got rid of it - did you sell it, donate it, throw it away?

Just left in the last attic :(

everyone, check your attics, quick!

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