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."

Comments

Just Throw It on the Meme Heap

[eldavojohn]

My name is Junis, I am posting this from a Commodore64 and my 1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Acoustic Coupler Modem in Afghanistan after years of oppression underneath the Taliban ...</meme>

And I suppose the instant I show any signs of lag in World of Warcraft I'll have to listen to my guildmates crack jokes about me using a 1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Acoustic Coupler Modem ruining the raid.

Re:Just Throw It on the Meme Heap

[Philip K Dickhead]

Re:Just Throw It on the Meme Heap

[aztracker1]

Don't knock it, still faster that T-Mobile's edge network. ;)

oldest piece of "equipment"

[MoreDruid]

is just as old as I am... I just needed a long time to know how to work it.

Re:oldest piece of "equipment"

[Anonymous Coward]

I just needed a long time to know how to work it.

I assume you are referring to that useless "dongle" between your legs?

Re:oldest piece of "equipment"

[vigmeister]

Useless until he figured out the protocol for the handshake.

Re:oldest piece of "equipment"

[sexconker]

The handshake protocol is easy, the peer finding is the tricky part.

Re:oldest piece of "equipment"

[BarryJacobsen]

Beware of viruses when making connections to untrusted hosts!

Viruses are something that can be dealt with - unintentionally spawning new processes is another matter entirely...

My hammer.

[Polarina]

My hammer was made in 1876.

Re:My hammer.

[interkin3tic]

Unimpressive, all of you. Most of the atoms in my computer are like, billions of years old.

Re:My hammer.

[Anonymous Coward]

For those not familiar, the parent is referencing the Ship of Theseus paradox which is an interesting read.

Re:My hammer.

[eln]

I think a lot of things in those days were built without a really good understanding of engineering, so things were typically over-engineered. Things were built far stronger than they needed to be because people didn't have a good understanding of the strengths of the materials they were using or of the physics being employed in their designs. Likewise, without a lot of advanced chemical and metallurgical expertise, they weren't able to create materials specifically to meet the demands of the job like we can today.

The result is they had things that were much stronger, but took a lot longer and cost a lot more to make. Now, we have things that are designed specifically to try and hit the sweet spot between durability and cost, and that can be efficiently mass produced. As a result, our stuff doesn't last as long, but we can afford to buy a whole lot more stuff.

Re:My hammer.

[bitt3n]

Now, we have things that are designed specifically to try and hit the sweet spot between durability and cost

by that definition, my walmart deck lounger is the most precisely engineered piece of equipment in the history of mankind. Whenever I sit down, I feel like it's half a hamburger away from catastrophic failure. (that's one croissant in metric units)

Model M Keyboard

[Bai jie]

I still use my old 1984 IBM Model M Keyboard. I will weep when/if that keyboard ever dies.

Re:Model M Keyboard

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll pay $5, as that's what Google says [google.com] a keyboard is worth.

Google is old hat - everyone who is anyone uses Wolfram Alpha. Alpha-ing "cost of keyboard" gives a price of $47.87 - although if it has a "market cap" (is that anything like caps lock?) the price skyrockets to $21.2 billion.

Just be glad you're looking at the cost of a keyboard instead of the actual value - according to Wolfram Alpha, the value of a keyboard is U+2328. Although I'm not sure what that is in US dollars, because "convert U+2328 to US dollars" doesn't seem to give anything helpful.

Re:Model M Keyboard

[VisceralLogic]

Google is old hat - everyone who is anyone uses Wolfram Alpha. Alpha-ing "cost of keyboard" gives a price of $47.87 - although if it has a "market cap" (is that anything like caps lock?) the price skyrockets to $21.2 billion.

Just be glad you're looking at the cost of a keyboard instead of the actual value - according to Wolfram Alpha, the value of a keyboard is U+2328. Although I'm not sure what that is in US dollars, because "convert U+2328 to US dollars" doesn't seem to give anything helpful.

Dude, Alpha is so old school... these days we "bing" things... get with the times!

2 modems, 4 cans, 2 strings....

[wowbagger]

I've often wanted to dig up 2 acoustic coupled modems, 4 tin cans, and 2 strings, and see if I could get the modems to work over that.

Re:2 modems, 4 cans, 2 strings....

[CookieOfFortune]

This is a... I would like to try this.

Re:2 modems, 4 cans, 2 strings....

[Rorschach1]

Try PSK31 (31.25 bps binary phase shift keying mode used for ham radio) with a couple of sound cards. It'll work over open air with a speaker and microphone. If you used two different carrier tones, you could probably do full duplex.

For my own implementation of PSK31, I once ran it at a carrier of 62.5 hz. Sounded more like war drums than a digital mode over my subwoofer, but it still decoded OK.

Re:2 modems, 4 cans, 2 strings....

[teknopurge]

Try PSK31 (31.25 bps binary phase shift keying mode used for ham radio) with a couple of sound cards. It'll work over open air with a speaker and microphone. If you used two different carrier tones, you could probably do full duplex.

For my own implementation of PSK31, I once ran it at a carrier of 62.5 hz. Sounded more like war drums than a digital mode over my subwoofer, but it still decoded OK.

sick.....you are all sick.......

Commadore Amiga 500

[Pvt_Ryan]

:D and I still love starting it up.. Nothing like the grinding of a floppy drive in the morning..

Old

[Quiet_Desperation]

what is the oldest working piece of equipment fellow Slashdotters have out there?

There's this rock I use as a paperweight next to my computer. I figure it's anywhere between 100 million and 2 billion years old.

Procrastinate much?

[sootman]

He recieved it in 1989 and recently decided to see if it would actually work.

Wow. And I thought I was bad about putting things off.