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What's the Oldest Hardware You are Still Using?

ScottBob asks: "Seeing the recent post about the vintage computer festival got me thinking about old hardware I'm still using in my 'modern' computer. I have a 1 ghz Celeryonion machine, but when I bought the mobo I specifically looked for one with an ISA slot so I could still use my old Zoltrix modem I bought in '97 when V.90 was adopted (when it probably would have been cheaper to buy an ISA-less mobo and a PCI modem). I've also moved a '93 model floppy drive from machine to machine, and it still works. Usually, monitors and power supplies survive the ravage Moore's law has on hardware, but what other things does everybody else save when they cruft together a new machine? Anybody ever do things like disguise a 4 GHz P4 in an ancient 8086 machine box? While on the subject, is anybody still running old DOS programs in a DOS box on a Windows machine (e.g. a database) because your company is too poor/cheap to upgrade or doesn't want to bother with any free alternatives?"

27 of 1,705 comments (clear)

  1. Power Cord by onyxruby · · Score: 4, Funny

    Power Cord, leftover from 8086. Least valuable part then, most valuable part now. Still using it too.

    1. Re:Power Cord by Large+Green+Mallard · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm still using a power cord from a 1984 vintage Mac 128K. I know it's from that cause there's an Apple embossed in the plug.

    2. Re:Power Cord by EverDense · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah I have a few old power chords lying around too.
      I believe they originally came from Iron Maiden's 1982 album "The Number of the Beast".

      --
      http://jesus.everdense.com/
    3. Re:Power Cord by Daengbo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Everything after "Killers" just didn't make it. Murder in the Rue Morgue for you?

    4. Re:Power Cord by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Have a NASCOM 1 holding door open. NASBUG o/s from the Seventies. Couple of K to code in, HEX only. Still useful in that role.

  2. What's the oldest hardware I'm still using? by kawabago · · Score: 5, Funny

    My boyfriend!

    1. Re:What's the oldest hardware I'm still using? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Zing! Put some new batteries in that rabbit ... which is probably the second oldest piece of hardware ....

    2. Re:What's the oldest hardware I'm still using? by stevesliva · · Score: 5, Funny
      Hey baby, wanna upgrade?

      (Someone had to say it.)

      --
      Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
  3. School ... by SuperDuG · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm taking COBOL which is on an IBM s390 running zOS and MVS. I know that the s390 is relatively new, but the damned thing is still relatively old and a pain to use :-) I've also got a 486 DX2 running at 66mhz running as a router here, it's not really doing much, besides routing all the houses packets, but it's around 11 - 12 years old. And every now and then I fire up the apple IIe for just plain old fun, I think that thing is getting in the ballpark of 18 - 19 years old. But as far as "running" or "using" you really can't get by running anything older than 5 years old for a workstation, I don't care how big of a mac fan you are :-)

    --
    Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
  4. Re:I HOPE YOU ALL DIE OF HEART ATTACKS!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Excuse me, sir, but I think you misspoke. See, it's "Linux" not "Lunix." I think you accidently swapped the "i" and the "u", lol! Don't worry, it's an easy mistake to make, and it's not easy being new. Well, welcome to Slashdot!

  5. hungkungfooey by segment · · Score: 2, Funny
    Kaypro II!$!@! 4 MHz Z80A 400 KB floppy 300 baud modem 2serial ports... Okay maybe not

    Anyway the oldest machine I have working right now that I actually use is called an Adam and it was made by Coleco Vision. What is it used for you ask? An ashtray. An overgrown ashtray/beerstand nothing more. But I used it in elementary school so I won't part with it no matter how many burns it has... Besides one day it'll be a collectors item which I will sell for billions! NO! MILLIONS!

    Brings tears to my eyes coming here... http://www.old-computers.com/

  6. COBOL???? by Atario · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hang on a sec...did you say you're taking COBOL? As in, taking a class on it? Learning it???

    RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!!

    --
    "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
    1. Re:COBOL???? by LordMyren · · Score: 2, Funny

      show me a man in a fiery underworld infested with slave driving demons and i'll show you someone whose working.

  7. Crystal Caves! by revividus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Up until I recently killed (don't ask) my wife's computer, it still had Crystal Caves 1, 2, and 3 on it. Go Milo!

  8. Re:Ancient UNIX-style hardware at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    keep an eye on that SCO box, it might start sending out press releases and submitting invoices to your customers for $699....

  9. Re:GeForce 2 MX 400 by okle69 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow...I have one too, but it's the newest piece of hw I own...

  10. Re:Ultra-1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    A sun Ultra-1 is our primary Solaris 8 development box, you insensitive clod!

  11. Osborne 1 that still works. by flafish · · Score: 2, Funny

    What is this DOS you speak of? CP/M all the way. :-)

    1. Re:Osborne 1 that still works. by wolfgang_spangler · · Score: 2, Funny

      I have both an Osborne 1 and an Osborne Executive that I STILL use.

      I play cranston manor and eliza on them still, and nothing beats wordstar 1.1

      The truth is I'm just addicted to the azure glow of the power button.

  12. Re:Mouse Pad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "I'm still using my good old Micron mouse pad from 1986, the year I was born."

    ugh. Moderation: -1 for making the rest of us feel like desiccated corpses.

  13. 24 years old - beat that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    My girfriend is 24, and her harware still has a lot of good miles left in it. I think I will keep'er for couple more years.

  14. Vintage? by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Vintage"? Next thing you know, we're going to go to keyboard-testing events, wash our hands in salt water and blow-dry them between testings, and start using weird adjectives.

    "Ah, yes. This eMachines knockoff displays a firmer character, with elements of plozz and fwimple, leading to an oaky finish."

    Eep.

    --grendel drago

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  15. Re:I've got a '286 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, you're still using the original memory!

  16. Re:Do slide rules count? by c4seyj0nes · · Score: 2, Funny

    My Trig teacher in High School had a holster for his slide rule.

    --
    "In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." --Old German Proverb
  17. Re:GeForce 2 MX 400 by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2, Funny

    A big green wang from 1979

    The world is an ugly place.

  18. problem with model M by JimBobJoe · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wouldn't give up my model M for anything. However there is this one interesting issue...when you got one girlfriend on the phone, and the other online, the one on the phone gets pissed off saying that you're not paying attention to her because she can hear you typing in the background.

  19. Re:Nuke plants, too by On+Lawn · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Vent radioactive gas?" [types] Y E S.
    "Sound alertness horn?" Y E S. [it sounds in the distance]
    "Decalcify calcium ducts?" Well, give me a Y, give me a...Hey! All I have to type is Y. [to Marge] Hey, Miss Doesn't-find-me-attractive-sexually-anymore: I just tripled my productivity!