Computing was an exciting hobby in the eighties, new machines by the month and the technology making huge advances year on year. None of them compatable with one and other of course and if you bought something that didn't catch on you were stuffed for software.
All much more efficient now, but one box is pretty much the same as the other and the buzz has gone.
The old excitement is still there if you know where to look, but I agree it's not on the shelf at Dixons any more. You could try:
- Web/AJAX programming
- making your Linux box do something that nobody else's does
- rooting your mobile phone (android is quite a nice open system, just about scary enough to get a buzz from)
- arduino or other embedded/robotics platforms
If I didn't have a full-time job I still wouldn't be short of stuff to play with ... might be short on the cash to pay for it all, is all
(cut my teeth on primary school teacher's spectrum, owned vic-20, commodore sx-64, and amiga before jumping ship to a 486 with linux)
)
