Let’s go on a retro road trip! Do you like seeing computers in person but can’t make it to big events like VCF Midwest or Long Island Retro Expo? There may be something for you right in your backyard! That’s the case here in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, where a collection of computer connoisseurs are convening collectively at their own small-scale computer festivals. Back in January 2026 local enthusiast John AKA Dark proposed a retro computer meetup at the Maynard Public LIbrary in Maynard, Massachusetts. Since Maynard was the historic home base of Digital Equipment Corporation this venue was very apropos, and a bunch of people including yours truly showed up.

The event was so successful that John immediately stated planning the next one. Set for June, he posted an event on Facebook and dozens of people registered their interest. I showed up just before opening at 10 AM and watched as a bunch of people wheeled in wagons chock full of cool computers to display. One of the first was this sandwich of Compaq portable computers with a spread of obsolete storage media in the middle. Sure, you’ve seen Zip Disks and DVD-RAMs, but have you ever held an old record-sized removable drive platter? Visitors split their time between both portables by trying some CGA-era games and marveling at the wonder of a working gas plasma display.

Show organizer John brought his 486-powered Tandy 2100. It spent the day cycling through various DOS-era games for passersby to try. Aspiring pilots and race car drivers could try the many simulator games running on a custom-built Windows PC housed inside this absolutely monstrous InWin Q500N case—truly one of the greatest full tower cases of all time. If you care more about the Mac side of things, friend of the show John the BigBadBiologist brought the world’s most adequate Macintosh Classic, with its insides displayed on the outside so you can scope out the bits and bobs which make it oh so adequate. Returning from the last meet is this TransWarp powered Apple IIGS, but now it’s got an ImageWriter printer so attendees could create and print their own creations from The Print Shop. This same setup could’ve been in this very library thirty five years ago!

I was very curious about this tiny PC case. It’s like someone hit a model 95 with a shrink ray! It’s a Starbase Designs PS/2 style case housing an ITX-Llama retro PC motherboard, and it’s gorgeous. It’s even got a chunky red power switch!

Next is a Rockwell AIM-65 PC. This 6502-based PC has both a display and printer built-in which was unusual for a PC at the time.

Another table featured portable retro mini-laptops like a Pocket 386 and Book II Apple II clone. While the hype for these has died down a bit, I still find them charmingly adorable.

Two attendees brought Atari 8-bit systems, first of which is this Atari 800. Nearby was an XEGS with over a dozen cartridges to let you try a more console-style approach.

I love old-school PC clone towers, especially ones wrapped in woodgrain. But that’s not even the coolest part of this PC—check out the combo 3.5 and 5.25 floppy drive. These drives were very uncommon and are one of my favorite oddities of the late clone era.

Want to look up some books? Anyone visiting a library in Massachusetts back in the 1990s might’ve used a terminal like this DEC VT420 to access a digital card catalog.

Peppered in with the DEC terminal and Atari 800 was a tasteful assortment of Tandy machines. Your first course is this delightful 1000HX, followed by the crowd-pleasing Color Computer. Top it off with a TRS-80 Model 4P and you’ve got a menu to satisfy the most discerning Radio Shack gourmet.

You can’t host an event in an educational institution like a library without featuring a classic education computer. Apple IIes like this one resided in schools and libraries across the commonwealth, and the kids in tow were having tons of fun tracking down Carmen Sandiego just like I did thirty-some years ago.

Laptops are popular at these small events because they’re easy to set up and don’t take up a lot of space, and this Dell Inspiron 8500 was a popular portable for millennial college students. Don’t tell the prof that we were secretly playing the Sims in class!

Spread across the middle tables was this colossal collection from a fellow named Andrew. He’s a former teacher who wanted to clear out the stuff he had accumulated over his career. Since the library doesn’t allow buying or selling things at events he basically gave away a bunch of Commodore and Apple items. There was boxed software, accessories, and systems of unknown working order for folks to adopt and by the time I got around to filming it a bunch was already gone. Check out this funky Palm Pilot case with integrated keyboard and function buttons! I wound up taking a 14 inch G4 iBook and a keyboard for the Apple IIGS.

Because Andrew offered these items as-is there was no guarantee anything would actually work. But lucky for us our curiosity could be satisfied by using one of the exhibit tables as a temporary test bench. One fellow took this Apple IIc with all the bits and bobs and assembled it for a test. It powered on with no magic smoke, much to the joy of the new owner and the crowd. The floppy drive refused to read disks, which was a bummer, but he vowed to fix it.

Things weren’t so rosy for Andrew’s poor Apple IIGS. Its battery had leaked all over the logic board and power supply, leaving it in a rusty mess. It’s a harsh reminder to always snip out those batteries before tragedy strikes. It’s not a total loss, though. Because the custom chips were unaffected the IIGS exhibitor decided to adopt it as a parts machine.

Another item of interest from Andrew’s collection was a Mac SE SuperDrive. He wasn’t sure if it would work, and when its new owner powered on it came up to a blank screen. Luckily for him the room was full of Mac mavens who could troubleshoot most any compact Mac malady. After a bit of poking and prodding it turns out that the brightness knob needed to be turned up, which is one of the most common goof-em-ups plaguing an old Mac. It booted right to a desktop festooned with a wallpaper extension and numerous menu bar widgets. Nice.

Another exciting live test came thanks to an attendee who brought a remarkably clean IBM CGA display. He found it in a barn and he hoped someone at the event would have a system capable of testing it. Luckily the Compaq portables were up to the challenge. This display must’ve been lightly used because it looked bright and beautiful in person. Further tests on the Tandy 1000HX looked even better thanks to the more colorful Tandy graphics mode.

Nobody walked into the library expecting these exciting moments. They sprouted organically because someone put an event together which gave them a chance to bloom. I reckon attendance was around 35 to 40 people, and the 10 AM to 2 PM runtime was just long enough for the crowd to explore all the exhibits and gab with gregarious geeks. The small scale works in its favor because you aren’t battling a big crowd to try an interesting piece of kit. What you won’t get out of many small events like these is a big buy-and-sell experience. I think that’s an acceptable tradeoff for this specific event because we’re lucky enough to have a monthly tech flea market at MIT.

But what I hope this proves to you, dear viewer, is that you don’t need an all-singing, all-dancing spectacle to hang out with like-minded nerds. Remember that a monster event like VCF Midwest started out as informal get-togethers just like this one. All it takes is pitching something to your pals at your favorite online watering hole to build some interest. Local libraries and common spaces are more than willing to play host if you follow their rules and you’re realistic about your expected attendance. And the energy from successful events can spur other groups to organize too. Events in New Hampshire and Vermont are already on the calendar here in New England. Maybe something is brewing in your backyard, and if not maybe you might be the one to start it up.