I think this is one reason to keep the 8-bit computing world alive. The act in and of itself is worthy from the perspective that a lot of the older software is still perfectly useful, fun, and applicable to the modern world, and as well will inspire the perpetuation of platforms as we fall ever further over the abyss of hardware relevance. On one end is 'how relevant is the new hardware' and the other is 'how relevant is the old hardware' .. as soon as these become equivalent, we have a stable progression of human digital culture. But, we don't have that: everyone upgrades their new iDevices as soon as they can, and even in just the last few short years we start to see apps that just don't run any more. This is a given.
Which is why I think that the resuscitation of 8-bit Computing, specifically, is such a valuable thing to do: it provides context. When you've spent the evening actually having fun with 30-year old software, the urge to splurge on soon-to-be-redundant newgear is de-composed. Eventually, a person can understand that all computing architectures over the Age, So Far, are of use. That's how they got to be a working program in the first place: someone found it useful.
I recently downloaded a PDF of 80 or so BASIC programs, written to be as compatible with the plethora of machines that were available in the 80's, as possible. What a joy it was to see linked lists, self-modifying code, and competent optimization of program space while also using simplified interfaces, to be cross platform as possible. A modern comp-sci student can even still today, learn a lot of very important lessons about computers by reading such archives and going through 30 or so years of history. It factually is not a long amount of time. All those lost floppy disk collections, out there in the dumping grounds, or even the ones still working, hidden in the closet, have the potential to be just as relevant in 100 years as they were on the very first day of publication.
I urge anyone with an 8-bit stash to dig it out, soon enough, and find your active community. There are few 8-bit machines out there which don't have a thriving scene.
Which is why I think that the resuscitation of 8-bit Computing, specifically, is such a valuable thing to do: it provides context. When you've spent the evening actually having fun with 30-year old software, the urge to splurge on soon-to-be-redundant newgear is de-composed. Eventually, a person can understand that all computing architectures over the Age, So Far, are of use. That's how they got to be a working program in the first place: someone found it useful.
I recently downloaded a PDF of 80 or so BASIC programs, written to be as compatible with the plethora of machines that were available in the 80's, as possible. What a joy it was to see linked lists, self-modifying code, and competent optimization of program space while also using simplified interfaces, to be cross platform as possible. A modern comp-sci student can even still today, learn a lot of very important lessons about computers by reading such archives and going through 30 or so years of history. It factually is not a long amount of time. All those lost floppy disk collections, out there in the dumping grounds, or even the ones still working, hidden in the closet, have the potential to be just as relevant in 100 years as they were on the very first day of publication.
I urge anyone with an 8-bit stash to dig it out, soon enough, and find your active community. There are few 8-bit machines out there which don't have a thriving scene.