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Ask Slashdot: What Tech Products Were Built To Last?
itwbennett writes: "When you think about tech products these days, you probably think 'refresh cycle' more than 'built to last.' But there are plenty of tech products that put up with hard, daily use year after year. Here's a few to get you started: Logitech MX510 mouse, Brother black & white laser printer, Casio G-Shock watch, Alvin Draf-Tec Retrac mechanical pencil, Sony Dream Machine alarm clock. What's your longest-lasting, hardest-working device?"
Still works as does my IBM PS2 Model 95. There are still DEC PDP-11s in daily use as well.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
It's gotten nothing but shit every day for 30 years and it still works just as well as when I first got it.
I still use my HP-11C and HP-32S calculators at least weekly. They're now 25+ years old, and I've changed the batteries maybe twice.
Enter > Equal ..... Yeah!
These things are awesome. The ones I've got were built in the mid 90s and still clicking.
TZ
It sits there in standby waiting for print jobs that almost never come, then with a wheeze the top fan blows out the accumulated dust, the lights dim briefly and I get my printout like it was 1999.
HP LaserJet II and LaserJet 3 - worked reliably for 20 years and probably quite a few of them still in use.
sPh
Admittedly as noted above no high-tech product can yet match the longevity of a well-built plumbing system - some of them are over 2000 years old and still functioning as designed, while most major cities still depend on water and plumbing infrastructure build 1880-1920.
The quality difference between pre 2001 electronics and now is astounding. Current products are all utter junk compared to earlier stuff.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
IBM's Model M keyboard.
I always like to point to one of my fave brands of TM gear (test and measurement): power designs.
go to ebay and search for these 3 words 'power designs precision'. see the metal concentric dials? those are not to be seen in today's gear; unless its a photo of one on a touch screen somewhere (sigh).
I have at least 4 of these models and they date from the late 50's to early 60's. some caps might need changing (not need but suggested) and some deoxit-d5 cleaner on the switches and that's that! 100uV dial-in resolution, microvolt level noise and hum, current load at full rated cap for 7x24 duty cycle and the PSU can be thrown off a truck and still work to factory specs.
they tend to be $100 or so, used. if you built that today using those specs, it would be 10x to 50x the price, if you could even GET it built today (no, china could not even build this if they tried).
old tektronix and HP gear still works great after 30+ yrs. lots of old US designed and BUILT gear is still fully reasonable to use today. its repairable and the user guides, back then, actually had circuit descriptions, schematics and even names/addresses of companies that make the parts that go into the box! you NEVER see anything like that today. you can't even get schematics from agilent or fluke or keithley or tek anymore, on their current gear.
I like to point to power designs (precision) line of gear as stuff that was built to last 50+ yrs and I have actual proof that this is not a dream. I'm over 50 and I'm not doing as well as some of the gear in my tech shop.... ;)
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I've got a Power Mac G4 from 2002 that's been running my professional recording studio for 12 years now without a hiccup.
I have several Teletype machines from the 1926 to 1940 period. All are in good working order. They're completely repairable; it's possible to take one apart down to the individual parts and put it back together. But they're high-maintenance. There are several hundred oiling points on a Model 15 Teletype. There are things that have to be adjusted occasionally, and manuals and tools for doing that. Every few years, the entire machine has to be soaked in solvent to clean off excess oil, then relubricated and adjusted. This is the price of building a complex machine good for a century or more.
(The Model 33 of the minicomputer era is not one of the long-lived machines. This was by design. The Model 35 was the equivalent long-lived, high-maintenance product; the 33 required little mainenance but had a llimited life.)
Its not easy to get JoeWalsh out of bed in the morning. I assume it is because he goes to parties.... sometimes until 4.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
Alarm Clock? Really?
I used to live across the street from police & fire stations. I can sleep through anything. A few years ago, searching for ever louder and more earth-shaking alarm clocks, I got to thinking about that. For tens of thousands of years mankind has not had alarm clocks. We relied on the Sun and Daylight to wake us up. So I went down to the local megamart and bought a digital outlet timer. You know, the sort of thing you use to turn your lights on automatically while you're out of town. Hooked up a power strip to it, and plugged in a bunch of $5 floor lamps. Nothing like a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Lamps.
Every morning at exactly 6:55 the digital timer turns on and my room is brightened by 5,000+ lumens of light. It's a nice way to wake up. Very gentle. You come out of sleep slowly rather than abruptly.
Still works like a charm (and still a bit slow, hehehe).
"my scsi-3 bus is fast and its wide,
I lost my R-term and now it won't drive."
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I have a firewall
So I won't get jacked
My password's weak
So I still got hacked
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
I would say that my old HP48SX calculator with a card for additional functions still works and is useful. Engineering calculations are engineering calculations, and the tactile feel of the buttons is a lot more accurate than trying to use an emulator on a smartphone.
Just the small engineering touches showed outstanding build quality. For example, the card had an edge connector, but there was a sliding metal flap that kept the connector on a card shielded until it was inserted into the calculator.
Roughly 40 years old and still doing science.
I think you're confused.
egarland's law states that only pompous windbags have their names associated with obvious phenomenon that everyone has always known.
set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
So got me an office
With a fat cat-6 pipe
Send me an email
Maybe I'll skype.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
A computer that has run for three years. That's so cute!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
My old Nokia candybar phone (c. 2000) is practically indestructible. To this day I can still charge it up and play "nibbles" in all its LCD monochrome glory. Too bad the cell towers don't support its signal anymore...
What else can happen when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object?
I was going to say the IBM Thinkpads, too. Like any computer, they eventually get old and underpowered compared to the new stuff, but they keep chugging. Mine is from 05, I think right after Lenovo bought 'em, but it's still the IBM version. One key is missing, case is cracked and there are a few grey pixels, but it still works (typing this on it now). Made it through deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, too.
Is that "long lasting" or is it sad that 9-10 years out of a laptop is considered long?