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45-Year-Old Modem Used To Surf the Web
EdIII writes with this awesome snippet from Hack a Day: "'[phreakmonkey] got his hands on a great piece of old tech. It's a 1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Acoustic Coupler Modem. He recieved it in 1989 and recently decided to see if it would actually work. It took some digging to find a proper D25 adapter and even then the original serial adapter wasn't working because the oscillator depends on the serial voltage. He dials in and connects at 300baud. Then logs into a remote system and fires up lynx to load Wikipedia. Lucky for [phreakmonkey] they managed to decide on a modulation standard in 1962. It's still amazing to see this machine working 45 years later.' Although impractical for surfing the Internet today, there is something truly cool about getting a 45-year old modem to work with modern technology. The question I have, is what is the oldest working piece of equipment fellow Slashdotters have out there? I'm afraid as far back as I can go is a Number Nine Imagine 128 Series 2 Graphics card on a server still in use at my house which only puts me at about 14 years."
The CNC industry is still using NC machines built to work with paper tape. 30 years old and still going strong ...
How about oldest piece of equipment in regular use?
I use a 1991 IBM Model M at my main workstation, which puts me at 18 years. They just don't make them like this anymore (well actually Unicomp does)
For those not familiar, the parent is referencing the Ship of Theseus paradox which is an interesting read.
I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Wargames. Ferris Bueller never hacked into any goverment computers.
Actually, there is a software package for Commodore 8-bit systems called GeckOS that includes a TCP/IP stack with serial SLIP support. You could hook a Commodore 8010 acoustic couple modem to your PET and surf at 300 baud.
Not that you'd want to. But you could.
Hell, I can't get my 8800GTX from 2 years ago to work because EVGA won't honor their "Lifetime* Warranty".
*apparently NOT lifetime
IBM copyrighted the design in 1984, but no keyboards are actually that old. Also on the label, you will find a date of manufacture. IBM was including the 1984 copyright on new keyboards well into the 90s.
Weep away, but you might be able to console yourself with one of these: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/cus101usenon.html
I got this abacus here that's at least a couple hundred years old. Amazingly, it still calculates just as well as it did when it was first made....
This guy's the limit!
No need to weep. They still make 'em: http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net//
They can have my model M when they pry it... well, you know.
If anybody wants an old "clacky" keyboard, there really is a really cheap and easy way to get one-Go to your local mom&pop shop. We always have stuff like that around, because we are packrats and never throw anything working out. When I ran low on "claky" keyboards I just went to the other shop down the street and he let me rummage through his keyboard box. I got an old IBM and the Compaq I'm typing this on now for a whole $7.50 for the pair.
So go and visit your local mom&pop repair shop, it is like old PC junk heaven. Hell I even have some old S3 Virge cards sitting in the drawer here somewhere. Hey, you never know when they may come in handy! But any mom&pop repair shop that has been around for any length of time quickly becomes a "Sanford&Son" junk shop for anything tech related. We just don't have the heart to throw working gear out. Some come on down! It'll be an adventure! Don't suppose I can interest you in some S3 Virge and Matrox PCI cards?
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Ignore my post. Jumped the gun. While I do have 2 keyboards, they are for IBM terminals and not adaptable for PC use.
I assume you mean they cannot be directly plugged in. This is not the same as "adaptable". Depending on the amount of effort you are willing to spend, almost anything/a. is adaptable for use as a PC keboard.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
...from a company that was spun off of AT&T back in 1984. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Phone_Services ...and yes, I still have one in my basement!
If you watched the video you'd know that this acoustic coupler doesn't support AT commands - or any other kinds of commands. it just converts bits it receives on the serial port into pulses in the tone it generates, and it converts pulses it receives into bits on the serial port.
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
A couple of years ago I fired up my old Amiga 1000. What's that, circa '84, '85? Nifty machine. Still have my Apple II+, but that's been in storage forever. Also have an original Macintosh, but no peripherals (was someone's paperweight). I powered it up, sounded like it was working, but no screen. Haven't got around to cracking it open to play with the innards. Oh, forgot the old Okidata dot matrix printer for the II+. Wonder if I could get that to work? I'll have to find it. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever thrown out any computer equipment. Well, at least they eBay now!
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.