does anyone still use ancient computers?

[starlooker]

I am still using a Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, bought new in 2003. :D

This old P4 exceeds my needs. It runs my office productivity software quite fast, and I watch the odd DVD on it. I also use it for computer programming, and some Photoshop and it works well. I'll probably use it until 2014, when Microsoft stops providing updates for Windows XP. By then, it will be 11 years old.

Two weeks ago, I nearly caved in and upgraded to a Quad-core, but commense sense has one again prevailed. Just can't justify it.

Anyone here have a hex or oct-core? :eyepop:

[DavidU]

YES! My internet laptop is an old Dell P4 1.8Ghz with 2G of RAM and it is super stable and fast. I have faster more modern computers but this one is a gem.

[that_guy]

well... i have a laptop that runs windows 2000 (most stable OS ever i think) 200 mb of RAM 50Gb ROM 1.6 GHz CPU...

[michaellxv]

I've just upgrade :P the PC we have at my parents place for the kids to use when we visit from a 300Mhz Celeron to a 1.5Ghz P4.

The old computers still work, it just depends what you want to do with them and how much time you have to wait.

[renormalised]

I still have an old 400MHz Celeron with 192 MB RAM and 40GB HD...runs Win98 and still works well with the software it has.

I also have an AMD AthlonXP 2500+ (1.83GHz) with 512MB of RAM and 250GB HD...runs XP and Linux, with Dreamweaver, Flash, Authorware, PS6 and a number of other bits n pieces.

[Chillie]

My main computer is a 486 DX4 100 with 24Mb RAM. It runs MSDOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I mainly use it for keeping a record of how much money I spend with Excell 5 and I keep a record of my bank transactions using Quicken 6.0.

[renormalised]

OMG!!!!:eyepop:

I found one of those in a fossil bed of around Permian age!!!!:):P

It had the tooth of a Gorgonopsid embedded in the case:):P

Wonder if anyone is still running a Commodore64, PC-AT/XT or, heaven forbid, a TRS80!!!!:eyepop:

Microbee, anyone??!!:)

[Chillie]

My first computer was a TRS80 Model 1 Level 1 4Kb RAM. It was a good computer I learnt how to program in BASIC on it.

[renormalised]

Just as bad...AppleIIc, Apple Lisa, Vic20, Atari2600, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC and a raft of others:)

[renormalised]

Loved the Amiga, though:)

[Jaybee]

Heh Heh..Mine too! Cost me $1000, used a cassette recorder for storage, and I remember paying about $600 for the upgrade to Level 2 with 16K Ram!!
Blisteringly fast:eyepop:
Next was the ADAM, then the Amiga (Like Renormalized, I loved it), then a 286, 386, 486, Pentium 1, then P2, (skipped 3) then P4 now The Quadcore i7. Built all from the P2 and up myself and saved enough $$$ to buy a Telescope!!:thumbsup:

[GrampianStars]

:lol: I still run a IBM T42 as the obs workhorse
(titanium) :thumbsup:

[Waxing_Gibbous]

" I adore my 64, my Commodore 64....." had one until 1995.

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

I feel so relieved :thanx:

This comes to you (whether you wanted it) from a Duron 1.3 GHz on a motherboard with absolutely no extras, running only a bit of extra RAM for XP Home, viewing a CRT monitor.

Might have to do something with it soon though, we want to use Skype and a webcam to talk to the young bloke in Colorado.

Cheers

[sheeny]

My main PC is a P4 2.8GHz, 1G RAM. The girl's desktop is similar. My lappy is a bit less powerful though newer and I have Chris's old IBM ThinkPad running windows 2000 for capturing with the ST8i in the obs.

No show ponies here...

Al.

[[1ponders]]

Hey I have an old Thinkpad, T20 running windows 2000 (i think, could be '98 its been so long :lol: ), but it doesn't boot up. Can I send it to one of you guys to fix for me? It would be great to run my SBIG with :D

[vindictive666]

i have a pentium with 64mb of ram clock of 133mhz was 100 mhz

running windoze 98

takes forever to load but will run firefox plus some of the win 98 games

regards john

[OneOfOne]

My first computer was an Apple IIe copy (Orange). I built the power supply myself and wirewrapped up my own floppy disk controller (didn't fancy using cassette tape). The I graduated to a Dick Smith Challenger, 80186 with 128k (later upgraded to 256k) and twin floppy drive. Next was a 286 12MHz with a meg of ram and 20M hard drive (later stacked to 40M), lashed out and got the EGA graphics as I figured I could keep the monitor the next time I upgraded :lol:. Then a couple of Pentiums (can't remember details, but one had the "pentium bug") and currently have a 2.67GHz single core with 512M RAM.

Really looking to upgrade in the next year or so as it is really getting a bit old. If I run Stellarium and copy an image to the clipboard, I have to exit Stellarium so that I can paste the image from the clipboard into anything.

[Barrykgerdes]

I still have an operational multitek from 1982. It was originally two 360k floppies but I put in a 20MB HDD and a 1.44 floppy, added 64K of RAM and a VGA card.

It still runs. I check it every couple of months.

Barry

[Lee]

I remember upgrading the RAM on my first PC, a 16MHz goliath.... cost me about $400 to go from 1 to 4 MB..... enough for DOS and Word Perfect 5.1! My first computer was a 64K Amstrad, c.1986 I think.....

[mithrandir]

The first PC we bought was an Apple ][ with the whole 32KB RAM and duo-drive (two 5.25 floppies in one case). The ex kept it.

I still have my Mac IIcx I bought in 1990 - for over $8K. Haven't tried powering it up for a while.

The box that does most of the housekeeping I built in 2000. It's a dual CPU P-III 866MHz with 1.5GB RAM and Matrox video running Slackware 9.

This one's a bit quicker, but some bits are up for replacement. Q6600, 4GB RAM, 2TB disk, ATI Radeon (my opinions of this card have been voiced elsewhere) and Slackware 12.

[starlooker]

We have a winner! :D :thumbsup:

[AndrewJ]

Does a Sharp PC1500 count as a computer????
( It runs basic :lol:, and drives its own printer )
Still works and is smaller than a modern lappie
IIRC, upgrading from 2k of Ram to 10k
cost as much as the whole unit:shrug:
Havent times changed

Andrew

[tlgerdes]

Actually, it wasnt 1982, it was 1985, purchased from Dick Smith.

Does anyone have anything older, that is still functional?

[bojan]

My first one was Sir Clive Sinclair's ZX 81.. Then I build Apple ][..

My Bartels system is running on Fujitsu Stylistic 1000 (50MHz pentium, DOS6.22)..
And I have another Stylistic 1000, running W'95.. for reading books in bed before sleep :-)

And I have NEC PC8201,it is still functional (1MHz processor, LCD sreen, batteries life time is couple of weeks).

[Buck]

I've got an Abacus - dates back about 3000 years (the technology that is - not the one I've got). Doesn't need any power source, but limited to arithmetic calculations - can handle quite large numbers, but the CPU (me) is not very fast. Self taught I'm afraid.

[Ric]

Hi Henry

I'm still running one of those as well with a 256mb hard drive. It lives in the garage and runs my vehicle servicing program. It's a bit clunky and takes around 5 minutes to boot up but it's a trooper and does the job. :thumbsup:

I refuse to part with it as it cost me $2500 in 1995 and I want to make sure I get my money's worth out of it. :lol:

Cheers

[AstralTraveller]

Not an ancient computer, but what about an ancient operating system? The software for one of the mass specs I operate runs under OS/2 Warp 3 fixpack 32 (or earlier). There will never be an upgrade. Eventually the OS may not run on new hardware and so I will have to put it in a virtual machine. In the meanwhile I have a stock of old machines (and dot matrix printers) under my spare desk. Although the OS lacks any bells and whistles it is rock solid, but the software has a memory leak which requires a reboot every few days to avoid lockups.

[multiweb]

I have a Commodore VIC 20 somewhere. I doubt it still works though. It has the tape recorder with audio cassettes to save and load programs, and two extension cartridges. One is a module to program the 6052 in Assembly and the other one a RAM extension that adds a whopping extra 3KB to the system equivalent to approx. 100 lines of code! :eyepop: :lol: :thumbsup:

[scopemankit]

I have a dos operating computer to run my Scope.exe drive

[Jeffkop]

Still got 2 microbee 16's here and the absolute winner, the start of it all .. a ZX80 with 16KB memory expansion pack ... Ive an enormous amount to thank Mr Sinclair for ... these two systems introduced me to computers in the first place, and the Z80 and machine code ... and you know ... modern processors and the code to run them has certainly changed for sure but a lot of the change is to do with the fact that now the processor is much more than that ... its all the peripheral devices as well ... but the nuts and bolts machine language concepts ... they are very much as they were back in those days ... with the one exception I guess .. now we have very fancy editor assemblers to write the code with.

[AndrewJ]

Real men still write their assembler/machine code in notepad:D

Andrew

[vindictive666]

i have a comodore 64 no monitor five and a quarter floppy drive plus software

still all works

regards john

[Jeffkop]

Ive still got the notepad Andrew, (well exercise book), mnemonics and beside it the opcodes all written down to enter one by one. I remember I wrote a word processor and invoicing software to use in my business and used it for years. Then around 1988 I bought an "IBM" style machine that you had to assemble yourself ... with a 20Mhz CPU, 640K ram, 5 1/4 floppy and a 20MB hard drive that cost 660 bux by itself.

[mithrandir]

Newbie.

Real programmers can multipunch their machine code on 80 column cards.

[kustard]

My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI99/4A. After that I got a CBM64 and then when 386's first came out that was my first PC, with maths co-processor and a whopping 4MB of RAM.

I have emulators for both the TI and CBM64 (and a couple of others) for whenever I get nostalgic :)

Here at work we run a couple of 486's on some of our production line machinery as all they need is DOS and Win95.

[multiweb]

Pffft!... I can write binary code by directly tapping on the desk and record it. :P ... and I love quiche too so don't give me the real man stuff :lol: . The only other person who can program this way is chuck norris. May be...

[AndrewJ]

Gday Jeff

I meant Microsoft Notepad;)
Working on paper is way too hard as i have to play with three different sets of opcodes, Motorola 68HC11, Toshiba TLCS-900 and bog std Microchip. This real man stuff only cuts so far:)

Andrew

I've gone green since those days.:D
( I hated punch cards )

Andrew

[Jeffkop]

Oh yeah ... I remember the paper tape days too ... Octal machines ... with pixie neons for displays and HUGE banks of transistor based cards that were the memory .. they used some form of magnetizing, just forget exactly .. They would just call that machine a heater nowdays :lol::lol:

Boy haven't we advanced, what a thread, what a trip down memory lane .. no pun intended.

[Terry B]

I don't have any of those old puters but all of my current machines have native parallel and serial ports.;)

[pgc hunter]

Mine is 7 years old with a P4 2.8 ghz processer but with upgraded ram and graphics card. It can't run Flight Simulator X without being subjected to a slide show so that's a real bummer. For everything else its perfectly adequete.

[stattonb]

My current pc is AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 4gb ram, 1tb hdd running OSX86. but i still have a commadore 64 that i use to play load runner lol

[starlooker]

Athlon 64s are ridiculously powerful single-core CPUs. :eyepop:

I had an 17" A64 3000+ laptop, and it was FAST. But it stopped working, and I had to downgrade back to my P4 2.6 desktop.

I still have the A64 chip in my drawer.

[kinetic]

heads up ABC Collectors 8pm tonite SA time
old computers..

Steve

[M54]

Hi guys,:hi:

You all might like to take a look at this, from tonights episode of collectors. (If you missed it).

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/collectors/segments/s2899648.htm

:thumbsup:

[DavidU]

Well the hard drive went DOA this morning. buggah !

[starlooker]

You can probably find laptop drives cheaply on eBay or gumtree.

Anyway, with respect to my own ancient P4 2.6Ghz, I have bought a 1Gb stick of ram on eBay, which will now bump my ram from 768mb to 1.5Gb. I am expecting at least a 10% boost in speed. :D

[RB]

I sometimes still log onto IIS using my trusty System 80 and the acoustic coupler.
But I find 75/300 a little slow, might upgrade to a 1200/1200 Maestro.

:P

[renormalised]

Yep, takes all of 5 hours to download the first sentence of my reply!!:):P

Seriously sloooooooooowwwwwwwww:):P

[Spanrz]

I just recently upgraded from a P4 machine that was built by me in 2004. I now am the proud owner of the latest Pentium quadcore i7, only 2.8ghz, but it does everything quite fine.
It finally bit the dust after all those years of hard work. So 6 odd years was pretty good out of that one.
We got given to us (the wife an I), an 8086 about 13 years ago, I still had it a while ago, but I had no purpose it. I had to "let it go" to heaven a couple of years ago. But it still worked like a treat. Could have sold it to NASA :D

My first computer was an Atari 2600, then a C64 then first PC was a 486sx33. I still remember that 486. Cost me $800 to put 8 meg of ram.

I still remember when they Overclocked the Pentium (1) 300 cpu up to blistering 500mhz. I think that this was the surge for overclocking and just raw power.

Could you imagine overclocking the 8086/TRS80/286 ?? LOL
"Oooooooohhhh, we got an additonal 5mhz overclock".......lol..