Converted school bus turned into mobile retro computing museum — historic array includes Sinclair (Timex) ZX Spectrum 48K and Commodore 64
Mobile museum spreads the joy of retro and features devices dating back as far as the 1970s.
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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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
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hotaru251 Reply
Sega Dreamcast
Sega's costly mistake for being ahead of the times :|
if they had just waited few yrs later it would of been a top seller e_e...also fact the controllers were hall effect even back then meanwhile even today 1st party refuse to ship em :|
Still have my Dreamcast and a small collection of games that I enjoy playing even today (time stalkers is a roguelite rpg that I adore)
The VMU memory cards were gimmicky but as a small child they were tons of fun on car rides to grandparents or store. -
rluker5 Must be rich over in Great Britian. We don't have any school buses that modern around where I live in the US. Still all yellow with the rounded roofs.Reply -
ejolson Calling this "Retro Reset Computer Bus" does not accurately describe a load of video-game consoles and 8-bit microcomputers playing space invaders. That's a "Retro Reset Video-game Bus."Reply
In addition to a video-game bus, my opinion is a retro computing bus that contains functional minicomputer hardware and terminals would also be interesting to school-age children. It's possible such a bus has even more universal appeal across genders and ages. -
USAFRet Reply
A few years ago, a local middle school hosted a 'retro tech' afternoon.ejolson said:Calling this "Retro Reset Computer Bus" does not accurately describe a load of video-game consoles and 8-bit microcomputers playing space invaders. That's a "Retro Reset Video-game Bus."
In addition to a video-game bus, my opinion is a retro computing bus that contains functional minicomputer hardware and terminals would also be interesting to school-age children. It's possible such a bus has even more universal appeal across genders and ages.
I brought my working Commodore VIC-20 and C-64.
Running, outputting to a 13" color TV, playing Breakout.
The kids were less than impressed. -
Steve Nord_ Reply
You might have missed the humble 'party bus' ones with flashing low lights on board with liquor licenses or dancers (or educational materials for selling wagyu) for adults. But then those have seats. The long-term nuclear waste storage plaque and shuttle bus to the Torment Nexus lurches closer...rluker5 said:Must be rich over in Great Britian. We don't have any school buses that modern around where I live in the US. Still all yellow with the rounded roofs. -
ejolson Reply
I think a retro video-game bus is a nice idea and didn't mean to sound negative. One advantage is that a Sega and Nintendo don't weigh as much as a PDP-11 with a DECwriter.USAFRet said:A few years ago, a local middle school hosted a 'retro tech' afternoon.
I brought my working Commodore VIC-20 and C-64.
Running, outputting to a 13" color TV, playing Breakout.
The kids were less than impressed.
I guess breakout is not the ideal retro game for children. Maybe it has too much visibility as a Python programming exercise.
I recall Archon on the C64--though maybe not that much fun to play--was different enough people might find it interesting from an historical point of view, if only as an example of something that didn't quite work out.
I wonder if a bus full of new Raspberry Pi 500+ keyboard computers could be used to show people what computer programming was like before Claude, ChatGPT and the other code assistants took over.