We used to actually own our computers

Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2025 was overwhelming (in a good way). I'll tell you my favorite experiences and interactions with the vintage tech community in this video. Some of the projects and products mentioned in this video: - VCF Midwest: https://www.vcfmw.org - yyzkevin PCMCIA Pico card: https://www.yyzkevin.ca/pico-pcmcia/ - Open Source CRT analog board: https://github.com/tdaede/td-crt - Meshtastic 64 on C64: https://64jim64.blogspot.com/2025/09/meshtastic-64-meshtastic-radio-for.html - Juicy Crumb Systems: https://juicycrumb.com - Mac84 Video on Personics View Control System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jCujsrHVg Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/geerlingguy Sponsor me on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/geerlingguy Merch: https://www.redshirtjeff.com 2nd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GeerlingEngineering 3rd Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Level2Jeff Contents: 00:00 - Old computers, new tricks in Chicago 00:54 - Nostalgia for old Macs 02:00 - The free pile, and Jeff is easily distracted 02:47 - Open source CRT analog board replacement 03:41 - An unexpected meeting at RCV's booth 04:21 - Cursed input devices 05:07 - Meshtastic on a C64 05:54 - My timing sense tingled 06:57 - Side quest - BlueSCSI disk rescue 08:20 - Relay computers, 70 lb HDDs, and ESMs 09:38 - Preventing e-waste, and analog DRM 10:42 - The anti-AI