Went to a retro computer museum and saw a Commodore 64 still booting up

I visited the Vintage Tech Museum in Portland last weekend, and they had a Commodore 64 running from 1982 that still loaded games off a floppy drive. It got me thinking. Do we lose something important when old gadgets stop being repairable? My friend says modern stuff is way better because it's faster and smaller, but I miss that feeling of fixing things yourself. What do you all think, does old tech have a real edge over new stuff or is that just nostalgia talking?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesf291mo agoMost Upvoted

Man, that's the whole thing right there. Old tech makes you slow down and really pay attention to how stuff works, while new stuff just hides everything behind a screen.

alicecraig1mo ago

500+ apps on my phone and I still can't fix a broken toaster.

valc911mo ago

Honestly I used to be one of those people who was all about the new stuff. Like I thought old tech was just slow and clunky and why would anyone want that. But then last year my buddy showed me his old Game Boy and we spent an afternoon fixing the screen ribbon cable with just a screwdriver and some tape. That experience totally flipped my switch. You really do get a different kind of pride when you can actually open something up and see what's wrong instead of just tossing it in a drawer. It's not about being faster or smaller, it's about knowing your gear and not feeling helpless when it breaks. Made me realize there's real value in that old school repairable mindset.