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The first computer I encountered as a kid was a 386 DOS/Windows 3.1 box. Thanks to a couple #BBS's in local dialing distance and to #fidonet from there, I then grew up drenched in text lore without realizing it: mostly peculiarly academic focused #UNIX stuff and all sorts of 8-bit recollections. And so I learned #Assembly and C. I also now realize I inherited a lifelong nostalgia both for big-iron I've never touched and for an 8-bit era I never really used.
A friend from the #BBS - an old hacker who collected old toys - left me his #Altair when he joined the Navy. That thing I did use quite a bit - but it was still a toy next to the PC as much fun as watching the #blinkenlights was.
I think there's something odd about inherited 8-bit nostalgia - it's like the confluence of the "earlier simpler time" bias combined with this moment where you could build up from basic principles to today so it feels especially much a moment sadly missed.