Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

retrocomputing
     
        /ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ Refers to emulations of
        way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or
        implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; especially if
        such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or
        parodies, written mostly for {hack value}, of more "serious"
        designs.  Perhaps the most widely distributed retrocomputing
        utility was the "pnch(6)" or "bcd(6)" program on V7 and other
        early Unix versions, which would accept up to 80 characters of
        text argument and display the corresponding pattern in
        {punched card} code.  Other well-known retrocomputing hacks
        have included the programming language {INTERCAL}, a
        {JCL}-emulating shell for Unix, the card-punch-emulating
        editor named 029, and various elaborate {PDP-11} hardware
        emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to keep an old,
        sourceless {Zork} binary running.
     
        [{Jargon File}]