Internet today what's left for hobbiests

Hi everyone,

When I first got involved with computers in the 80's, it was something of an art and took talent and work to really get what you wanted. This wasn't always easy, but it made the hobby really fun. Even simple things like connecting to a BBS, using MCI-PC Pursuit to connect to remote boards-systems, and even hardware hacks were all part of the hobby. It was also neat being one of the few who even knew about this 'online realm', and I remember doing reports and papers on it in jr high and high school getting looks from people who still didn't understand.

Over the years as the Internet evolved this online world that was only accessible by those who sought its secrets is now accessible by anyone and from anywhere. There's many advantages, and I guess the 'global network' everyone wanted has come true, but what's left for the hobbiest? For me the hobby was peeking and poking my OS, tweaking hardware, finding crazy methods to use telenet and tymnet to connect to the BBSes I wanted to call, and just hanging out on the Internet using Usenet and later IRC. It was a neat club to be apart of, but now everyone's a member.

Now'days I find myself doing the same things most others are doing, like checking out RSS feeds, trying to find new ways to listen and watch the movies and shows I enjoy on my computer, and some general hardware hacks that are common place now'days. Technology is gimme and cheap. There's nothing to sought after. I hate to think I'm akin to nostalgia, but I still run a BBS, I still stick with Linux and command line (which I'm still more comfortable with over GUI), and I enjoy messing with wifi hacks-wardriving and other things that are still not mainstream yet enjoyable.

Just curious if anyone else see's this from my point of view. For true hobbiests short of falling under some corporate envelope what else is there to do?

Take care ---

Sam