Nostalgia Nerd

It's 2020, and what better way to begin the year than adding to all the other game room and retro game room tours that come out at this time. This is actually a behind the scenes video that I've been meaning to make for a while, and so I've included a progression of my studio/office since my channel began, or at least, since it was relevant, back in 2015. My office space is also housed in the same building as Did You Know Gaming and Ashens, in what I'll describe as a "Youtuber paradise". Find out how that came to be and then you can decide whether the description is accurate within.

Today's video is all about IBM PC Compatibles, and more significantly the Sanyo MBC-550/MBC-555 computers, which changed the this compatible world for the better, back in 1983. You see, before this Sanyo machine, it was unthinkable to buy an IBM PC or IBM PC Compatible for less than $1k. But Sanyo flipped the market on it's head, by doing just that. Let's take a look at the history of this impressive machine, and then get to grips with it ourselves.

Back in 1994, Intel launched a programme called The Journey Inside: The Computer, for schools in the USA and Canada. Today, I'm exploring one of those kits from 1998, including Teacher's Guide, Video Tapes and the incredible Chip Kit, containing all kinds of exciting gubbins.

Yes, the Netherlands. Holland. The Dutch. It's all more or less the same. But, did you know that the Dutch are responsible for a wide array of fabulous computers. Some massive, some small, but all, INCREDIBLY interesting. It's for that reason, Octav1us and I took a trip to the Home Computer Museum in Helmond (which is in the Netherlands), to see these wonderful creations and to learn how the Dutch do the Computering. Creations include the Compudata Sorcerer, Tulip Computers, the Dai Computer, the Tulip System one and the incredible Aesthedes 2: Good god, what a thing.

The ZX Spectrum Next. After a Kickstarter all the way back in 2017, it's finally here. Let's take look at this modern take, on an absolute classic.

It's like an episode of Hoarders, and it's time for the hoarders clean up...From Horror to Harmony. That's the mission for organising my studio/retro games room/office. This is really a vlog featuring the efforts of Octav1us and I, to restore some kind of order to my working environment. Because it's condition was one that was seriously hampering video output. Hopefully this transformation will clear a new path.

The IBM NetVista X40 is a truly icon PC from the year 2000. It not only looks amazing, but it heralded in a new era of IBM streamlining, where home PC marketing was brought inline with business PC marketing. The NetVista line was the result, and those who watched TV in the early 00's will likely remember seeing adoring backgrounds of shows at the time. It's so iconic, that 20 years later, HBO's watchmen decided to use it as part of canon. Watch this video for the backstory and a look around this curious, but iconic machine.

Computers! They're amazing, right? But they have changed over the years. At one point they were a beige box that sat under the monitor, and now, they're not. Where did all the beige boxes go?

So, remember that PC I bought from a stationery shop about a year ago. Just sitting in the shop window, like a brand new PC. The only difference being, the hardware was from 1994. Well, it's time to crack open that PC and find what's lurking inside.

If lockdown is getting to you, then how about you open up the fairway with PC Golf; a classic interactive golf adventure from Sports Sciences Inc., which came with a REAL golf club, sensor, game and most importantly... ACRES of fun?!.... actually I'm lying, well about the "fun" bit anyway.

GeoCities, the hosting service that sparked a wealth of early internet development, creation and creativity. In this episode I'm going to explore this early internet phenomenon. I'm going to look at the history of GeoCities and then delve into the archive of sites which remain available to view and navigate.

It's time to get ACTIVE, like an Athlete, with Computer Athlete for IBM PC Compatibles running MS-DOS. Yes. Yes. I've spent far to long sitting in front of my computer recently, so I thought I'd sit in front of my computer a little longer, but this time on an exercise bike! Welcome to the zany world of CSA's Computer Athlete, from 1995.

If you walk to the point where Elm Hill meets Prince's Street, in Norwich, and look down, you'll find a prehistoric looking fossilised keyboard in the pavement. How did this "pavement keyboard" get here, and what purpose does it serve?

The History of USB; So many USB plugs, so little time. Take USB Mini-B, what happened to that? What happened to USB Mini-A, Why did we move on from USB Micro-B? Why did USB C supersede USB Micro-B? So many USB questions, so little time.

Welcome to the world of PIPE symbols, vertical lines and bars. Why are there two pipe symbols on a computer keyboard? Why are there two vertical lines on keyboards? Why does a solid line produce a broken line? ASCII? What does Ascii and character sets have to do with this? Why is the bar broken? Why is it no longer broken? What does ANY of this mean. Find out within (disclaimer: this video might actually confuse you more than you are right now).

Remember the days when you had to define a separate music card and sound card for DOS games? When your mate's Wavetable Soundblaster AWE32 was the bees knees? When you had a vast collection of .MID files to listen to? Ahhh, the days of MIDI. What happened to those days? Where did FM Synth and Wavetable cards disappear to? Let's delve in.

VTech Computers have always utterly fascinated me. Ever since they started appearing in Argos Catalogues, I was like... What is that? What do they do? Are they real computers?... Well, I plan on answering all of those questions here, as I explore an array of VTech machines, from the PreComputer 1000, to the dizzy heights of the VTech Endeavour, and the disappointing lows of the VTech Vapor (clearly the 80s were better).

I don't know why I get curious about these questions. But here I am, trying to run old computer viruses, DOS Malware and other such malicious code on Windows 10. I thought we could first take a look at some malware from the 80s and 90s, before trying to get it to run on a modern PC. Then it seems a natural progression to run as many of these malicious files as possible and see if it is indeed possible to take down a Windows 10 PC using just DOS Malware.

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum James Bond 007 Action Pack; a bit of a mouthful (no crude Bond jokes here pls). Released in 1990 by Amstrad, this was a computer and game bundle which pushed the ZX Spectrum technology into the 90s, and in doing so, actually did something even more drastic; it rewrote the story-line for James Bond's The Living Daylights. It may not be canon, but the whole pack, and the way it went about things is both a curious tale, and an interesting thing to inspect. So let's delve in.

Tiger LCD games; we're all familiar with those. Handheld games which offer brief moments of distraction, but did you know that Tiger actually made deluxe versions of these games in tabletop format. The outcome is, as you'd expect, ridiculous and absurd, so I felt like it was time to look a the 3 main culprits. Afterburner, Outrun and Batman.

Ahhh, yes, the NES, a think of blocky curiosity. On the bottom of the NES is a rectangular insert, and behind that lies, well, an expansion slot. This video explores the NES expansion slot as well as some of the rumours surrounding it.

You may have heard of Backmasking, or Backwards Masking. This is where messages are hidden within songs (usually on vinyl), which when reversed, will reveal themselves. Well, could the same occur for computer code? Computer games? Let's try loading some code backwards and see if anything reveals itself. Then maybe, try some more realistic ways of finding some hidden computer code, in a fashion similar to backmasking.

In the 90's Intel released a kit designed for schools called, Journey Inside: The Computer. It consisted of a practical experiment chip set, a guide book and a set of video tapes. It's clear however, that Intel's ambitions were more lofty than pure education, so they also created a full IMAX Feature Movie and released it in selected US cinemas. It then made its way onto VHS for our home viewing (dis)pleasure. So what is this movie? Was it any good? and what was the plot line? All these questions and more, are answered within, as you join me on a viewing session through the film.

Viruses have been with us for decades. But what about virus hoaxes? At one point our inboxes seemed more rife with warnings than we knew what to do with. All these seemingly problematic messages doing the rounds, some which would destroy our computer simply if we read the text on screen! Well let's explore some of them, including;

So, I've got a Polybius cabinet... it's just smaller. You can jump on the KickStarter at https://nnerd.es/Polybius, and bag yourself your very own quarter scale Polybius arcade machine. The guys at Numskull are excellent chaps, so the hope is this video tips them over the funding goal.

I often ask myself; why have I been thinking about DoubleSpace and DriveSpace for almost 30 years. I have no answer. It's why I make these videos. It's why I'm talking today about why Drivespace replaced Doublespacce in Microsoft DOS 6.22, and why Microsoft creating Doublespace actually led to a lawsuit with a company called Stac Electronics. Did Microsoft STEAL their technology? Let's delve in.

There was once a piece of code, buried deep within Windows, designed to detect competitor operating systems, and upon finding them, CRASH... or at least, make the user feel like something was seriously wrong. This was Microsoft's attempt to truly kill Digital Research's DR-DOS, and although it worked, it wasn't long until the true nature of Microsoft's practices was uncovered.

PKWare, PKZIP, PKUNZIP, these are all names which mean something significant to me. For most of the 90s, the PK tools were probably the most frequently used in my toolbox. Compressing Doom from my mate's PC across several floppy disks, creating my own VB installers, downloading data from bulletin boards or the early internet. It was an essential compression/decompression tool. But, the story of its origins is a little more tarnished than perhaps you would expect. If you've hard of SEA and their ARC file format, you might already know. Let's dive in.

Oh god, it's that time again. The time where I've let too much post build up, and decide to open it all in one go. We've got stuff I bought here, as well and stuff I've been sent. So big thank you to anyone who sent something in. Links for products, etc are below.

Well, well, well, if it isn't a Halloween video, of sorts. The Halloween Documents, as they are known, consist of various leaked documents from Microsoft (and those connected with the company), regarding their fears and concerns around Open Source Software in the late 90s (mainly Linux). As well as being packed with frightful suggestions, and abject fear about what a free OS could do to their market domination, the Halloween documents offer yet an interesting (and somewhat damming) view into Microsoft's marketing tactics during these years.

Game watches, game watches, game watches, legend has it, that if you say this 3 times into a mirror, one will magically appear on your wrist. Legend also has it, that you may become so infuriated with the game, that it gets smashed in seconds. However, there were actually decent game wrist watches, and the history of this gaming medium is both interesting and colourful. Join me, as we begin in 1977 and journey though the Casio Game 10, the GCE Game Time, Nelsonic game watches and of course, Tiger's offerings.

Dot matrix printers, you remember; they've actually been around in some form since the 1920s, but really became a useful consumer product in the 70s. Remember that screeching sound bursting out of your corner desk whilst a piece of homework, or your freshly composed CV thrashes its way out of a print head? Well, thankfully dot matrix printers were also useful for printing dirty great banners, for all the best parties you could imagine. So, in this video, armed with a brand new Epson LX350 dot matrix printer, I will perform the duty of bringing the banner back for 2020.

So, the Mega 65 is here. If we're counting the days since the Commodore 65 prototypes, it has been a long time coming, but this "Mega 65" is so much more than the Commodore 65 was intended to be. This is a complete machine, a whole machine, and although this is only the Mega 64 Dev Kit, it gives us a very firm taste of what the complete machine will hold. Let's dive in.

So here's something interesting, a laptop (or notebook if you prefer), that could actually save your life. Once used in the medical industry, this Epson ActioNote had a very specific purpose, and it still comes tooled up with all its kit. But I guess importantly, as well as all of that, does it run Doom?

The AtGames Arcade Legends Ultimate arcade machine is a thing. It's a thing of size. It's a thing of MDF. It's a thing of plastic. It's a thing of potential joy. But the question is how much joy? Is this thing any good? Have AtGames actually created something that's decent? Something worth paying £799 for? Perhaps? Perhaps they've known how to do it all along.

So then, the festive period is upon us. Christmas. The Holiday Season. Which for many of us will mean mandatory viewing of The Snowman, by Raymond Briggs. Originally brought to TV in 1982, it made its way to PC CD-ROM some twenty years later. So what does it have in store?....