4 days ago
19
A father and son duo have converted an old school bus into a computer gaming museum. The Retro Reset Computer Bus was inspired by the son’s visit to a traditional brick-and-mortar computer museum, and the wish to spread the joy of retro-computing more widely, reports the BBC. The non-profit organization founded upon this idea schedules bus visits around schools, colleges, youth clubs, and more, around its East Sussex (UK) base.
Retro Reset was set up by Jason and Luke Stoner, a father and son duo who are 52 and 19, respectively. They started building the bus in September 2024, in the wake of Luke’s computer museum enlightenment at the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge (over 100 miles away). The Computer Bus was ready, in its current form, in September 2025. One of the generous donors to Retro Reset was actually the Centre for Computing History.
As well as hoping to spark interest in computers and consoles, old and new, it is hoped that the bus will provide insight into the workings of computers. Thus, as well as the plugged-in and powered-up devices spanning various computer gaming eras, the bus is stuffed with PC DIY parts from various eras. This includes components like old servers, RAM sticks, graphics cards, hard drives, floppy disks, and more.
Of course, a bus has limited onboard space, compared to what you might expect from even a small brick-and-mortar museum. So, many of you will probably be itching to know what devices the Retro Reset duo let visitors get their sticky hands upon.
We couldn’t find a definitive retro equipment list (perhaps it rotates), but the sources indicate there are 10 systems up and running at any one time. Named attractions include the following selection:
- Sinclair (Timex) ZX Spectrum 48K
- BBC Micro
- Commodore 64
- Atari 2600
- Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) II
- Nintendo 64
- Sega Dreamcast
- PlayStation 1
In the images we can also see some kind of retro PC with its top removed, various tools, and PC components. The BBC report notes that one of the old computers that bus visitors can tinker with was “previously used to edit Hollywood films.”
This looks like a great idea for spreading retro computer knowledge and appreciation. Perhaps the Retro Reset idea can grow to accommodate larger or multiple busses, and even inspire others to begin similar projects.
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