Hi,
Welcome to the Vintage Computing community in New Zealand.
If you’re interested in older computers, gaming consoles, history and the technology that drove change, then please join the community on one of these platforms:
- Vintage Computing Aotearoa Online Meetups - a 6-8 weekly online meetup with discussion and presentations:
- Next meetup:
- To be confirmed
- Eventbrite signup and details
- Past meeting recordings: Youtube playlist (be sure to like and subscribe :) )
- Next meetup:
- New Zealand Vintage Computing facebook group - a public discussion group with 1,000+ members.
- Retro Computing NZ discord - a new way to chat with other enthusiasts.
- New Zealand Vintage Computing Forums - a mostly inactive treasure-trove of historic NZ-based vintage discussion.
- NZ Retro magazine - a recently launched nostalgic celebrating New Zealand’s classic gaming scene.
Upcoming meeting:
No upcoming meetings are scheduled - check back soon!
Past meetings:
We don’t tend to record the full contents of previous in-person or online meetups, but if there’s a formal presentation often it will be recorded.
Here is a collection of links to previous recountings of online or in-person meetups:
- 2023-04-08: The third Lower North Island Vintage Computer Show and Meetup was held in Paraparaumu at Paraparaumu Memorial Hall. Organised by David Otter.
- 2023-02-05: Auckland BBQ. Antony Beagley organised an in-person meetup for Aucklanders.
- 2022-12-19: A Christmas online meetup, with Secret Santa, retro gift ideas and banter!
- 2022-10-17: A talk by Josh Bailey at the online meetup about his project Vessel that adds a high speed MIDI interface to the C64
- Unfortunately the recording of Josh’s talk failed.
- 2022-06-14: Apple /// with Kirk Jackson. At the June online meetup, Kirk gave a presentation abou the Apple ///. This is a re-recording, since he forgot to press “record” the first time.
- Apple /// slides and links
- Apple /// with Kirk Jackson video (74mins)
- 2022-05-03: Spectravideo with David Otter. At the Vintage Computing Aotearoa Online Meetup, David gave a presentation about the history of Spectravideo and SpectraVision.
- 2022-03-22: The Arcade with John-Paul Pochin and Chris Mason. At the Vintage Computing Aotearoa Online Meetup, John-Paul and Chris talked about “The Arcade”, a series of art installations in Nelson, New Zealand that allow visitors to experience the wonders of vintage computing and gaming.
- 2022-01-30: Auckland BBQ. Antony Beagley organised an in-person meetup for Aucklanders.
- 2021-10-24: Vintage Computer Meet. In Raumati South, just north of Wellington, David Otter organised an in-person meetup attended by 23 people, 16 of them with exhibits.
- Vintage Computer Meet - Terry Stewart’s write-up of the event.
- New Zealand Lower North Island Vintage Computer Show - Al’s Geek Lab produced a video of the event.
- 2021-04-18: Lower North Island Vintage Computer Meet. Near Levin, Matthew Thredgold organised an in-person meetup attended by a dozen people.
- New Zealand Lower North Island Vintage Computer Meet - Terry Stewart’s write-up of the event.
- 2021-01-30: Auckland Catch Up. Antony Beagley organised an in-person meetup for Aucklanders.
NZ Enthusiasts:
If you’re an NZ-based enthusiast and would like a link to your web presence here, let me know!
- Al’s Geek Lab - Alistair Ross
- Terry Stewart’s (Tezza’s) Webzone for Classic Computers - Terry Stewart
- Bassybeats Retro Project Builds - Jimmy Anderson
- Vintage Vibe - Vernon Sawers
- Bread Box Commodore Computer Museum - Justin Mitchell
- The Poly Preservation Project - Andrew Trotman
- State of the Ark - Donovan Marshall
- The University of Auckland’s Computing History Displays
- Sord - Andrew Joll’s collection and SORD Computer Corporation history.
Historic:
- Vintage Computer Collectors - Alan Gilchrist’s original directory of NZ-based collectors (archived)
- Commodore Home Computer Museum (NZ) - an archived version of Alan Gilchrist’s museum website
- Backspace: Vintage Computers from the National Library
- neoncluster - an archived version of Philip Lord’s site
Buying Vintage Computers in NZ
The most active marketplace in NZ is the Trademe Computers > Vintage section.
There are several hobbiests and small retailers offering accessories for vintage computers out of Aotearoa NZ. Many of them list their items on Trademe, but here are a couple that have their own web stores:
- Monotech Vintage PCs - Jacob Dorne’s selection of hobbiest add-ons for IBM, Mac and other computers.
- vRetro and vDriveZX - Charlie Ingley’s add-ons for Sinclair computers.