Retro Computing
195 sites
https://mirror.cyberbits.eu/textfiles.com
Textfiles.com is a massive archive preserving the text-based culture of the mid-1980s BBS era, collecting thousands of ASCII files that document the early underground internet scene. Run by Jason Scott, the site spans decades of digital history including BBS lists, ASCII art, documentary resources, and text artifacts that offer a vivid window into pre-web computing culture.
https://abandonware-france.org/
Abandonware France is a long-running French-language retrogaming preservation site dedicated to archiving and cataloging old PC games, complete with over 3100 titles available for automated installation. Visitors can browse abandonware games, read manuals, view magazine scans and cover art, watch retro gaming videos, and explore timelines of classic game companies and personalities.
https://edlinfan.neocities.org/
Edlinfan's homepage is a lovingly crafted tribute to DOS-era computing, styled as a command-line interface complete with ASCII art and drive prompt aesthetics. Named after the classic DOS line editor EDLIN, the site includes a blog, archive, webcam, and weather sections all presented in retro terminal fashion.
https://98.js.org/
98.js brings the classic Windows 98 desktop experience directly to your browser, letting you interact with a faithful JavaScript recreation of the iconic operating system. It's a nostalgic tech demo and functional simulation that captures the look and feel of late-90s computing without installing anything.
https://tomasino.org/
James Tomasino's personal hub showcases a technologist and creative who is passionate about retro computing, the Fediverse, Gopher/Gemini protocols, and fiction writing. Notable projects include Cosmic Voyage, a collaborative sci-fi terminal universe, and Stitchy, a crochet pattern generator from images.
https://insufficientscotty.com/2012/03/14/whatever-happened-to-webrings
InsufficientScotty is JohnScott's pop-culture and tech nostalgia blog, featuring a 'Whatever Happened To' series that digs into forgotten corners of early internet history like webrings, GeoCities, and the quirks of web culture past. This particular post traces the origins of webrings from the author's own first HTML project in 1994, making it a personal and surprisingly detailed look at a once-ubiquitous web phenomenon.
https://random.diamondbyte.org/
Random's personal corner of the web champions older software, legacy devices, and a deliberate rejection of modern AI-infused tech, built using Microsoft Expression Web 4 as a nod to classic web tools. The site features projects, a devices section, a guestbook, and webring participation, making it a cozy hub for like-minded fans of vintage computing culture.
http://textfiles.com/
Textfiles.com, maintained by Jason Scott, is a massive archive of ASCII text files from BBS culture spanning the mid-1980s and earlier, preserving a crucial slice of pre-web digital history. Visitors can explore thousands of documents, ASCII art, BBS lists, digests, and companion projects like the BBS Documentary, making it an indispensable treasure trove for digital history enthusiasts.
https://c00lgui.neocities.org/
Inky's personal Neocities site greets visitors with a classic old-web splash page complete with autoplay music warnings and frameset-based navigation. The retro aesthetic and technical choices mirror the geocities-era web, making it a charming example of handcrafted personal web design.
https://bbst.neocities.org/
The Bulletin Board Systems Toolbox is a curated collection of BBS-related software packages, tools, and resources for Linux console users who want to connect to and run classic bulletin board systems. Maintained by a hobbyist who goes deep on the subject, the site offers downloadable terminal utilities like Qodem, ANSI art viewers, offline mail readers, and a personal top-100 retro games list spanning ZX Spectrum, Amiga, and DOS.