Longtime technophiles who miss their first computer are finding new ways to use modern gizmos to relive their geeky childhoods. Some hackers have started porting emulators for old systems like the Amiga or Commodore 64 into their cellular phones and PDAs. While the phones have physical limitations like a small key interface and screen, the modern devices are actually far more powerful than the archaic machines they are now imitating.

David Fox, the original programmer of the 1988 computer game Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders, (I loved that game!) was stunned a few months ago when a friend loaded the classic game into his Sony Ericsson P800. “The only problem was that everything moved too fast,” he said. The game was played on a ported version of ScummVM, an emulator for Lucasfilm Games point-and-click adventures.