Retro computing

Rebuilding VisiCorp's Visi On UI reveals how Apple defined the GUI era

Nina Kalinina takes a deep dive into one of the earliest PC desktops

Software08 Dec 2025 | 27

Speccy clone storms back for Christmas without a shred of Sinclair code

Rubber-key revival leans on Linux, emulation, and third-party ROMs

Personal Tech01 Dec 2025 | 71

Old-school rotary phone dials into online meetings, hangs up when you slam it down

Stavros Korokithakis really wanted to slam the receiver on meetings, so he built his own device to do just that

Offbeat24 Nov 2025 | 27

You are likely to be eaten by the MIT license: Microsoft frees Zork source

Redmond dusts off Infocom's classic text adventures and puts the originals into public hands

Applications21 Nov 2025 | 50

Retro Games opens pre-orders for THEA1200, a full-size working Amiga replica

Company behind THESPECTRUM brings the holiday season early for retro computing fans

Personal Tech14 Nov 2025 | 80

To solve compatibility issues, Microsoft would quietly patch other people's code

Long before automatic updates, the Windows 95 team tweaked third-party software to keep it running

OSes13 Nov 2025 | 20

The CAPITAL LETTERS trick that helped merge Windows 95 into NT

Keeping track of checks, 1990s style

Software29 Oct 2025 | 11

Microsoft's ancient icon library still lurks deep within Windows 11

Pixels of the past 'created just for fun'

Software21 Oct 2025 | 28

In '90s Microsoft, you either shipped code or shipped out

Hiring and firing at the Windows giant more The Bachelor than Survivor

Offbeat20 Oct 2025 | 16

Microsoft veteran explains Windows quirk that made videos play in Paint

Raymond Chen says the OS used green-screen overlays to fake video playback – with curious side effects

Offbeat15 Oct 2025 | 21

Retro nerd hacks LEGO's Game Boy into the real deal

Modder crams working hardware into plastic shell and fires up Tetris

Offbeat03 Oct 2025 | 9

Windows 95 was too fat to install itself so needed help from the slimmer 3.1

30 years on, Microsoft engineer explains why the old OS had to babysit its flashy successor

OSes29 Sep 2025 | 98

Microsoft open-sources the 6502 BASIC coded by Bill Gates himself

GOTO 1976

Software04 Sep 2025 | 140

30 years later, Doom returns to SNES with Raspberry Pi RP2350 muscle

Limited Run Games swaps in silicon to emulate Super FX chip and hit 20 fps

Personal Tech29 Aug 2025 | 2

AmiBrowser brings 21st century web to 20th century Amigas

Also, not one but two new models of the classic 1200

Applications28 Aug 2025 | 20

Classic Psion fan releases proof-of-concept language server for OPL

Vintage computing boffinry to please palmtop enthusiasts

Applications27 Aug 2025 | 23

Junk is the new punk: Why we're falling back in love with retro tech

It was a simpler time

Personal Tech25 Aug 2025 | 141

Commodore Amiga turns 40, headlines UK exhibition

Hands on 500, 600, 1200, 2000... what's your number?

Personal Tech19 Aug 2025 | 91

Fungus-inspired Linux hack gives Amiga a Doom-only brain

PiStorm adapter and a parasitic OS hijack classic 68000 hardware in the name of retro carnage

Offbeat06 Aug 2025 | 11

Google’s Gemini refuses to play Chess against the mighty Atari 2600 after realizing it can't match ancient console

Warned that ChatGPT and Copilot had already lost, it stopped boasting and packed up its pawns

AI + ML14 Jul 2025 | 100

Microsoft developer ported vector database coded in SAP’s ABAP to the ZX Spectrum

The mighty Z80 processor ran the code at astounding speed, proving retro-tech got a lot of things right

Software08 Jul 2025 | 75

Old but gold: Paper tape and punched cards still getting the job done – just about

The State of Storage Will your data still be readable in half a century?

The State of Storage10 Jun 2025 | 80

Chap claims Atari 2600 'absolutely wrecked' ChatGPT at chess

1.19MHz eight-bit CPU trounced modern GPUs – can you do better with your retro-tech?

AI + ML09 Jun 2025 | 69

AROS turns any PC into an Amiga with USB-bootable distro

And other ways to get that Amiga feeling on a budget

OSes22 May 2025 | 67

808 lines of BBC BASIC and a dream: Arm architecture turns 40

'We thought it was a really obvious way to build a processor and everybody would be doing it'

Systems29 Apr 2025 | 70

Build your own antisocial writing rig with DOS and a $2 USB key

Reg hack pines for simpler times, then tries to recapture them

Software26 Apr 2025 | 72

Still browsing like it's 1999: Fresh tools that keep vintage Macs online and weirdly alive

You can't keep a good OS down

Software15 Apr 2025 | 31

AmigaOS updated in 2025 for some reason

Hyperion ships another patch, which is nice

OSes10 Apr 2025 | 38

FreeDOS 1.4: Still DOS, still FOSS, more modern than ever

The 1990s called – they're impressed

OSes09 Apr 2025 | 36

Museum digs up Digital Equipment Corporation's dusty digital equipment

Remembering the fallen giant's first UK office

On-Prem22 Mar 2025 | 103

Beta of Unix version 2 restored to life

What is dead may never die

OSes24 Feb 2025 | 38

How Windows got to version 3 – an illustrated history

Opinion With added manga and snark. What's not to like?

OSes18 Jan 2025 | 122

They've only gone and made Doom run in a PDF file

Knee-deep in the markup

Offbeat14 Jan 2025 | 66

How a good business deal made us underestimate BASIC

Feature A somewhat savvy hardware move may have hurt street cred of an important language

Software03 Jan 2025 | 287

Christmas 1984: The last hurrah for 8-bit home computers

Feature Saturation point, and Nintendo and Sega, were just around the corner

Personal Tech28 Dec 2024 | 170

BASIC co-creator Thomas Kurtz hits END at 96

Obit Pioneering Dartmouth College mathematician died last week

Bootnotes20 Nov 2024 | 115

The National Museum of Computing reboots Bletchley Park's H Block

Tunny and Colossus galleries re-roofed

On-Prem15 Nov 2024 | 22

Babbage boffin Ada Lovelace honored for computer science contributions

Penned Analytical Engine algorithm in her youth, imagine if she'd lived past 36

Science08 Oct 2024 | 12

What is this computing industry anyway? The dawning era of 32-bit micros

Part 3 And you may ask yourself, 'How do I work this?' And you may ask yourself, 'Where is that large computer?'

Personal Tech04 Sep 2024 | 109

Sweet 16 and making mistakes: More of the computing industry's biggest fails

Part 2: The 16-bit era As the hardware got more capable, the messes got more expensive

Personal Tech29 Aug 2024 | 119

Where the computer industry went wrong – the early hits

Part 1: The eight-bit era A personal collection of the memorable missteps and fumbles

Personal Tech28 Aug 2024 | 215

A last look at the Living Computers museum before collection heads to auction

A guided tour of vintage hardware set to be scattered to the winds

Personal Tech27 Aug 2024 | 38

Ex-Microsoft engineer resurrects PDP-11 from junkyard parts

Because everyone has a box of mystery computer bits they simply can't part with

Offbeat23 Aug 2024 | 70

80 years ago, IBM gave Harvard University one of the world's earliest computers

Feature In celebration of US Navy funded electromagnetic wonder that is the Automated Sequence Controlled Calculator

On-Prem08 Aug 2024 | 20

FreeDOS and FreeBSD prove old code never dies, just gets nifty updates

Anniversary time and both are going strong into their 30s

OSes02 Jul 2024 | 57

Microsoft founder Paul Allen's tech museum closes, sells off collection

Letter from Einstein, vintage space suit, and ancient computers all up for sale

Bootnotes26 Jun 2024 | 41

The Canon Cat – remembering the computer that tried to banish mice

Feature Refurbishing the next machine to come from the original inventor of the Mac

Personal Tech31 May 2024 | 51

BASICally still alive: Classic language celebrates 60 years with new code and old quirks

Small Visual Basic, Chloe System, and QB64 Phoenix all updated

Personal Tech03 May 2024 | 63

The chip that changed my world – and yours

Opinion Zed 80 is dead baby, Zed 80 is dead.... vulture claws over the astounding tech

Systems29 Apr 2024 | 94

Microsoft dusts off ancient MS-DOS 4.0 code for release on GitHub

Nobody's favorite operating system is now available for inspection

Offbeat26 Apr 2024 | 107

The eight-bit Z80 is dead. Long live the 16-bit Z80!

Feature Yes, they are harder to solder, but there's way more potential

Personal Tech26 Apr 2024 | 41

Wing Commander III changed how the copy hotkey works in Windows 95

No, boss, I'm not just playing a game. I'm testing compatibility. Honest

Offbeat19 Apr 2024 | 84

VMS Software prunes OpenVMS hobbyist program

Vintage OS editions go the way of the dodo as VSI cranks up exclusivity

Applications09 Apr 2024 | 55

A cheeky intern nearly turned MS-DOS into NSFW-DOS

Easter egg in test build could have scrambled Microsoft's reputation

OSes08 Apr 2024 | 48

How a single buck bought bragging rights in the battle to port Windows 95 to NT

It reached the desktop and then ...

Offbeat28 Mar 2024 | 136

PiStorm turbocharges vintage Amigas with the Raspberry Pi

FOSDEM 2024 Who needs the present when you can relive the '80s at warp speed?

Personal Tech12 Feb 2024 | 34