Sunday, February 26, 2017

New site for RetroChallenge on the web!

Greetings old nerds, middle-aged geeks, and retro computing enthusiasts of all ages! The time for the April 2017 RetroChallenge event (i.e. RC2017/04) is fast approaching, and this will be the new home on the World Wide Web for the RetroChallenge events.

I accepted the mantle of running the RetroChallenge events starting with RC2016/10 back in October. That event continued to use blogging infrastructure supplied by Mark Wickens, but I'm more comfortable with the facilities povided by the Blogger platform. So, there will be a little shuffling around of URLs and the like. Don't worry, we'll still be here (no matter where "here" is)! I'm working on getting things straightened out already, including getting retrochallenge.org correctly pointed at this site.

About RetroChallenge

In a nutshell, the RetroChallenge is a loosely disorganised gathering of RetroComputing enthusiasts who collectively do stuff with old computers for a month.

The event is very much open to interpretation… individuals set there own challenges, which can range from programming to multimedia work; hardware restoration to exploring legacy networking… or just plain dicking around. It really doesn’t matter what you do, just so long as you do it.

While the RetroChallenge has its competitive side, it’s not really a contest… it’s more like global thermonuclear war — everyone can play, but nobody really wins.

Competition Rules

  1. RetroChallenge 2017/04 commences 1st April 2017 and runs until 30th April 2017.
  2. In order to qualify, computer systems must by approximately 10 years old (or older!) however exceptions will always be made for exotica!
  3. Gaming consoles and PDAs qualify if they were made in the previous century.
  4. Where appropriate, replica hardware and emulators may be used.
  5. Entrants are responsible for adequately documenting their projects and submitting occasional updates during the contest.
  6. Projects may encompass any aspect of retro-computing that tickles the fancy of the individual entrant.
  7. Winners will be carefully selected and adulation bestowed.
  8. Have fun!

Getting Ready

With that said, you should be thinking about what project you will be pursuing for RC2017/04. I'm not quite ready to collect entrants, but I will be soon -- within the next couple of weeks, maybe sooner. I already put out some feelers out for prizes and have had some good responses. I may have identified my own prize contribution as well -- hopefully you will like it! I'll have to ping Michael Mulhern to see if he still wants to return as a judge again. :-)

So that's it -- RetroChallenge is still alive and kicking, and we're live on the Web...again...or still...whatever, just stay tuned!