There were so many cool exotic systems that I read about in books and magazines, but never had the resources or knew the right people to actually play with. Parents and school admins barely knew what that newfangled information superhighway was, and later on at best the stock response to "I want to learn C" was "we aren't paying $1,000 for Visual Studio" - GNU was a completely unknown concept until I stumbled across Slashdot some time in 2000. I imagine similar stories played out for many a mid-90s rural computer nerd.

Second-hand nostalgia, if you will.

This.

I saved up and bought a Sound Blaster Pro. I wanted an SGI machine that cost more than a car, not that I would have the slightest idea what to do after running the demos on it. That or one of those orange AS/400 boxes. Which I would have even less use for.