178 points

Y’all remember the computer room? Like that guest bedroom or whatever that wasn’t really used for anything other than housing The Computer?

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119 points
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Plus all the accoutrements that invariably went along with The Computer.

A printer and a scanner

A filing cabinet for all the things you liked to print and scan

A rack full of CD-ROM disks like Encarta 95 and Ecco The Dolphin and CorelDRAW 4

A beige container with clear plastic lid for storing floppy disks, that for some reason had a lock on it as if floppy disks were the Crown Jewels

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29 points
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I still have all this stuff and the room. probably because I am not good at cleaning. also the office chair straight out of 90s. Maybe if enough time passes of not throwing things out I will be able to open a museum and make some extra

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7 points

We definitely upped our chair game since then. That’s for sure

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17 points

…i miss having no responsibilites.

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10 points

So many accoutrements! This was also the original home of the box of random cables that lived under the bed. Some day I’ll be buried with those cables.

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8 points

I had about 4 different boxes of floppies, with different keys for each. Any key worked in any lock. The handle of a spoon worked in any of the locks.

Just don’t forget to put the dust cover back on the CRT monitor and keyboard when you were done!

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3 points
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A do miss the degauss button.

Edit: There has to be an app that would simulate the button, right? I did a quick search just now and found one for iphone, another for android, but too old so it’s no longer available/working. I’ll look some more tomorrow.

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28 points

We put internet on mobile and things went to shit.

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13 points

Being constantly connected is bad for us because we haven’t figured out the right coping mechanisms. I bet the generation Gen Z raises will do a lot better since Gen Z will be familiar with exactly how hooked on simulated connectedness you can get

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8 points

I doubt that. My mother was addicted to CompuServe back in the day and I was a neglected child because of it. I give my kid all the attention I can, but he wants more than I can possibly muster.

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1 point

I doubt that since most of gen z is injecting the feed directly into their arteries. They suffer fucking withdrawals if disconnected for more than a few minutes without something else to occupy them.

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20 points

I can still hear the white noise ringing of the hard drives that hit you as soon as you walked in. So good

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18 points

When my mom took my computer out of my room, I used to crawl to the computer room after she went to bed to use it. Fun times.

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9 points
*

After my dad had locked me out of the computer room, I learned how to pick locks. And I’m not even kidding.

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5 points

I knew a kid whose mom didn’t want him using the internet after she went to bed so she unplugged their cable modem each night and locked it in a goddamn safe lol. I think he eventually found a similar model at CompUSA or Best Buy and just got his own.

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15 points

Yeah, unless you grew up in the Bible belt then it was in the corner of the dining room with no privacy.

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14 points

Me and my brother established ourselves as like The computer kids so my extended family just dumped off all there broken and old computers

Now we have a room, not for using them but to store all the random tech we have accumulated

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10 points

And it was always cold because someone’s father would always say something like “I’m not paying to heat that room no one is ever in it.”

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9 points
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The dads of two guys I knew remodelled their entire basements to accommodate “the computer.” Now writing this down, it sounds like they bought VAXes or something, but it was just plain old Pentiums, plus printers and stuff.

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7 points

They were just looking for an excuse to remodel the basement and “the computer” made it seem like something they were doing for the family.

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7 points

Remember? I still have one.

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10 points

We call them “home offices” now but ultimately they’re still the same thing lol

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3 points

I could never find the computer room.

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2 points

id use it to play backyard baseball all day

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1 point
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Yeah, it’s called an office, I still have one to do work and game in.

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89 points

That was pretty normal when I was 10. I was born in the 80s. It was novel like TV in the 1950s or radio in the 1920s.

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36 points
*

Yep same. AOL chatrooms and shock sites like rotten(dot)com were a staple of middle school sleepovers.

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22 points

This is how we did it in the 00s too. Then I remember when I got to college and everyone had a laptop - but we still reflexively did all of our hanging out in the same room, just showing each other youtube/newgrounds videos we liked in between classes.

That was peak internet for me, everything since has been a pale shadow.

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3 points

I’m in my 20s and it wasn’t any different for me

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78 points

“Get off the computer, I have to make a phone call!” -My childhood

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3 points
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Deleted by creator
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2 points

That’s why I waited until 2 am to dial in to the local BBSes. On a Tuesday. During the school year.

*Taps temple*

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2 points

Get off the phone, I need to play counter-strike - My childhood

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73 points

In the mid-90s my dad bought a Compaq Presario and the LucasArts games multi-pack. X-Wing, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, and Indiana Jones. Amazing. I was like a God.

I also remember playing a game called The Neverhood, which was a claymation liminal space game. Gave me nightmares of being trapped there, but it was still one of my favorites.

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11 points

LucasArts was goated at that time

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7 points

Damn this thread is making me feel ancient.

This was my first computer.

I still kick ass at Snake Byte.

(Also, The Neverhood has one of the best game soundtracks of all time. I still listen to it.)

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5 points

This was my computer lab at school. Vividly remember the double stacked apple floppy drives and the wood box of floppy discs that you could check out at the school library to use the on the computers.

Didn’t have a home PC until the Commodore 64. Still have that one in a box somewhere with way too many accessories.

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3 points

Zork

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2 points

I had every Zork. Even the crappy CD-Rom one with bad video starring the older brother from The Wonder Years.

Zork Zero was my favorite. I still have the Zorkmid coin that came with it.

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3 points

Everybody wayyyohhhh

Mmmm-zibadaba zibadaba zadap-eee!

My gravy love, potaties love…

https://youtu.be/pEjBlL64SuU for the uninitiated

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6 points

I had the exact same Lucas arts box set. Each of those games was amazing! And I think I actually finished them all. I ran them on my Packard Bell Pentium 75 with 8mb of ram. So much fun then!

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4 points

Neverhood was my fucking childhood, man. The day I beat the game my grandfather and I celebrated. Add to that Myst, RCT1, Zoo Tycoon, and eGames Pack Volume 1 (which had DEMONSTAR on it) and you’ve encapsulated basically 100% of my gaming experience until I discovered Minecraft in 09-10.

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4 points

Neverhood and Sam & Max were great games.

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2 points

I was whatever was exactly one generation later. Also a Compaq but my games were a demo pack of X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Dark Forces, and Yoda Stories.

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1 point

Tie Fighter and Dark forces were great games, but I always liked Xwing, because I was more accurate when the aiming reticle was locked center screen.

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2 points

Did you check out the Neverhood sequel from a few years ago? Was via Kickstarter, I think.

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1 point

Day of the tentacle, lol. I remembers that. as well as prince of Persia and commander Keen

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1 point

FUCK YES NEVERHOOD

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51 points

Neighbor: gets nice computer

Me: is this for me 🥺👉👈

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