I can't let go of my ancient computer

[Zorander]

I bought an HP Microserver to serve as a low power/quite file server/web browsing general office machine to replace my old Dell 8250 Pentium IV circa 2003. However, rather than retire the thing I am loading a fresh install of Linux Mint Debian on it and browsing around for an SSD to give it some more life. The HP sits in the corner waiting to be installed as a pure file server.

Anyone else unreasomably hold onto very old hardware which you actually use every day?

Do those things even have SATA ports (required by most, if not all, SSD)?

That said, I'm still holding onto an AthlonXP-M laptop from 2003 as well as a Canon flatbed scanner from 2001. It's heavy as brick and slow as snail but it's the only device (with 32-bit OS) at home that can talk to the scanner.

 

[brblx]

oh, just chucked about 50 SIMMs. the 30 pin variety.

winnar!

anyone still have a stack of hard drives measured in megabytes?

 

[bhanson]

Historically I've kept things and they've followed this pattern:

1. New!
2. Replaced, but still being used
3. No longer used and is taking up space out in the open
4. Stuffed in closet
5. Disposed/given away while moving

 

[sdifox]

winnar!

anyone still have a stack of hard drives measured in megabytes?

Had a mac external hdd for the Mac Classic. and some apple talk cable. Just chucked them in the dump bin. Clearing out my house :awe:

 

[lxskllr]

winnar!

anyone still have a stack of hard drives measured in megabytes?

I have a couple. My 486DX50 is still fully operational, though I don't use it. It was my first IBM compatible machine, and I don't have the heart to throw it away.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I have the opposite issue. I hate old tech. I hate seeing it and want to destroy it.

 

[her209]

winnar!

anyone still have a stack of hard drives measured in megabytes?

I recently dumped (as in took to the w-waste recycling place) an old ISA hard drive that had 2.1GB capacity.

 

[sdifox]

I recently dumped (as in took to the w-waste recycling place) an old ISA hard drive that had 2.1GB capacity.

I just did the same with a scsi removable 340MB drive

 

[ThatsABigOne]

It is actually refreshing to see that there are people out there that still use old computers.

I am still using my 2000 Dell Latitude C600 with 700/850mhz Pentium 3 with 384mb of ram.
MS Visual Studio is molasses for this machine.

 

[sdifox]

It is actually refreshing to see that there are people out there that still use old computers.

I am still using my 2000 Dell Latitude C600 with 700/850mhz Pentium 3 with 384mb of ram.
MS Visual Studio is molasses for this machine.

I have a sealed copy of vs 6.0 ...

 

[lxskllr]

My oldest computer still in use is the one I'm typing on now. It's a P4 2.8ghz underclocked/volted to 2.5ghz, an Albatron Ti4200, and 1gb ram. I'm using Ubuntu 10.04.

 

[bhanson]

It is actually refreshing to see that there are people out there that still use old computers.

I am still using my 2000 Dell Latitude C600 with 700/850mhz Pentium 3 with 384mb of ram.
MS Visual Studio is molasses for this machine.

Old (extra) computers aren't worth the cost in power consumption to me.

At least not for the benefit they provide.

 

[ViviTheMage]

upgrade

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Old (extra) computers aren't worth the cost in power consumption to me.

At least not for the benefit they provide.

That is true, but I 'like' using old computers. And this laptop has a 3 hour batter life, so it is useful for posting on this forum. :awe:

 

[Via]

There's no way I could ever part with my old Compaq Presario 1235 laptop. That sucker got me through so much; it was my mobile studyhall/office for years. When I bought a horribly flaky Dell 8100 with Windows ME I often had to use it to it to finish stuff.

It's sitting at my parents house with a bunch of games like Alpha Centauri, Baldur's Gate, warcraft 2, Civ 2 on it and I still use it to game when I visit. Interestingly I never used headphones with it until very recently (trying not to wake anyone one night). Turns out it had GREAT surround sound, especially for a laptop of it's time. I'm not kidding. Walking into the Friendly Arm was a whole new experience.

I also could never get rid of my SNES; don't care if it works or not. It's in a box in the garage somewhere.

I given away an NES, a PS1, a PS2, and an Xbox. But the SNES stays with me.

 

[Fayd]

winnar!

anyone still have a stack of hard drives measured in megabytes?

i just chucked like 4 simms as well.

and 6 harddrives. 3 of them belonging to macs.... (Mac SE, mac plus, apple 2gs) parents didn't want data on them recoverable, so.... sledgehammer. was kind of sad.

 

[zinfamous]

yeah, but mine was only built in 2005, 64bit amd (3500+) with a somewhat useable x800 xl still attached.

haven't been able to sell it (tried over two years) thinking of advertising it as a silverstone case...with computer attached! the case is a bit of a monster. heavy as balls.

 

[zinfamous]

Athlon 700 Slot A...

that was the first computer that I built.

:'(





noob to most of you.

 

[AlienCraft]

Had this model but was forced to throw away since I was moving and didn't have any space for it at that time. :'(
Good thing I still have my Commodore Amiga 500 and 64 stored in the shed.

Jon Cain of JOURNEY still has one of those.

 

[Rhoxed]

My oldest computer I use is a Pentium M 1.6ghz laptop with 256mb of ram... only used for music really... for long road-trips or making a small playlist for a family members house that doesn't have a digital player (meaning switching a cd every ~50 minutes)

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

winnar!
anyone still have a stack of hard drives measured in megabytes?

Do platters from those count? I have a stash of ~60 of them somewhere. Was supposed to sell them to a member in FS/FT here (he would make decorative Valentines roses out of them).

 

[Wyndru]

I've held onto my timex sinclair and commodore 64 for no reason other than nostalgia.

I just threw out a bunch of EDO ram and old slot processors the other day though, they were just taking up too much space.

I've never thrown out a hard drive though, so I have a ton of those still, even some 5 1/4 drives.

 

[spikespiegal]

I don't keep old hardware myself, but roving around in IT contracts you get to see a lot of ancient crap. The 20lb, 5.25", fat SCSI external floppy drive I scavanged will make a superb gag gift.

Finished up a contract gig last year where the client had about half a dozen 486's with over-drive processors (remember those?) running Citrix / ICA from Win98. These were Gateway boxes in those massive towers you could smuggle a midget through customs with.

Don't laugh- they ran quite well. One thing I've learned about computer hardware is if it was made prior to 2000 it has a greater likelyhood of working today than something made a few years ago.