What's the oldest system or component you have?

[Quixfire]

My oldest machine in use is a IBM PL350 in my garage with a 4x CD-ROM, 540MB hard drive and the rest is basic. I use ti for Repair manual CD's when working on cars.

My son & I just torn down our old 486 server, which was replaced by a P100 system.

And I believe I have a 286 system that still works, have used it in years, with Win3.1 & complete office suite to boot.

 

[sniperruff]

all you people's garbage parts put my computer to shame! (such as the voodoo's and the k6's)
im still using my pent1 233mmx to type this message as of now.....
i play counter strike on a 4mb S3virge video card...
oh wells at least it's reliable --- it doesn't crash or anything like my roomie's pent3 !!!

 

[RDMustang1]

Oldest part in my main box is my 2940 scsi card (4 years old), oldest part I have that is still working is an IBM PS/1 (386, 2mb ram, 20mb hdd, 3.5 and 5.25 floppy, power goes into the monitor and the monitor powers the computer - 2 pieces but 1 power cord) which is from 1989.

 

[overclock]

I am not lucky enough to have multiple computers. I only have one computer in the house. My wife won't let me build her a computer for each of us. Some day...

I have a 60GB Maxtor from April last year. That's the oldest in the box.
\
The newest is the LiteOn 40X CD-RW just last Friday (4/19/2002) from Dell. That thing can burn!

My goal is nothing over a year old. I almost replaced the Maxtor with a Seagate but Dell sold out to fast. We'll see.

 

[teddymines]

Oldest components: power cord (1991), 3.5" floppy drive (1991). I even have a 5.25" floppy drive but would not even dream of installing it now.

 

[Homerboy]

jebus all this stuff is new!

Commadore vic20 with tape drive (audio tape!), no monitor (hook it up to you TV with the ole switchbox!)

Runs like a charm... can't do crap.

 

[DT4K]

Commodore 64 in a box somewhere. Probably still works. I haven't turned it on in 15 years.

 

[rockhard]

Rig in my sig.
Also had Spectrum and Commodore 64 before taking a long break from computers.

 

[Siddhartha]

Case and floppy drive

 

[WarCon]

I think I still have my old TI-?? Pocket Computer, (1982ish) It was kind of cool. I could write "basic" programs to help in my tranform analysis class.

 

[erub]

I'm currently using a 1990 Dell 12" SVGA monitor as my second monitor. It has AIM open on it right this minute

 

[CTho9305]

30 MB hard drive, currently in tbird 700 crunching genome (why would I use a bigger drive if genome+linux fits? )
My friends and I picked up an IBM PC 6150 (or something like that).... pretty old

 

[CplHicks]

I've got a few old parts.

1) SB16 Value: I remember my brother and I bought this in the early 90s so we could get good sound for our computer games. We split the $99 price, which was a good deal then.

2) IBM PS/2 Monitor: I'm not sure the exact size, coule be 12" or 14". This came with our IBM XT which, sadly, we don't have anymore. The monitor still works and we keep it around as a backup, although it displays everything with a strong blue tint.

3) ISA Hard Drive: My favorite, I think it's 30GB. Somewhere I have a 5 1/4 floppy with drivers for it, I think. This thing is huge, again it was used in our old IBM XT in an ISA slot! :Q

 

[ProviaFan]

<< Pre-ISA (can't remember the actual term right now) cards. >>


Probably MCA? Those were used in proprietary IBM computers, like the PS/2 and PS/1.
As for my oldest computer part, it's the (still working, afaik) monitor from my IBM PS/1 286 that is in the garage.

 

[joecool]

hmm, interesting question ... so much old stuff lying around ... however, i'd have to say the oldest i've got is definitely the first pc i built seven years ago. still have all the original components. it's 486-based, contains what where some frightfully expensive 8mb sticks of edo dram (think i bought two for $240 & couldn't believe the deal i got!), an original sb16 sound card, a really crappy trident 1mb vid card, and not much else, in a tiny case. my wife even still uses the 14" monitor. yuck!

sure wish i'd kept that osborne i got in '82 to take to college with me. what a great "portable" computer ... if you were a weight lifter! anyway, it got my thru my five years. probably a collectors item now, & def. the oldest machine described here!

 

[wfbberzerker]

i think i win... ive got a compaq plus computer, from 1980.

 

[wfbberzerker]

heh i found a link for it, by the way:

link

 

[ScottMac]

I still have a running Heath-Zenith Z100 (an S100 CP/M system). Dual 51/4" floppys, 64K RAM, Diablo 630 daisy wheel printer (30CPS!).

My IMSAI (another S100 system) is/was in the DEC computer museum in Boston. It's the blue computer with lots of switches on the front (like the one the Crawford kid used in "War Games." It's complete with dual 8" floppy drives, a 14" 20Meg Winchester disk, Tarbell tape controller, Punch/reader, and a whopping 32K of original RAM (they didn't want the 64K static RAM board I built).

I dumped the Apple II a decade ago, but recently found the program (audio) cassettes that came with it (Brick Out, Star Trek, Biorhythm, etc). I also found the service "box of chips" with replacement floppy controller chips, spare CPUs, serial drivers, etc.

I still have some 386 / 486 /Pentium stuff in a pile around here somewhere. Some of the video boards have as much as 1 Meg of RAM.

The oldest box on my network is a Dell 133 laptop, the newest is a Dual 2G Xeon.

Old 'puters are fun.....

FWIW

Scott

 

[nortexoid]

usually sell or give away my old stuff...my oldest stuff is basically my newest stuff, which is over 2years old now.

i think my speakers are like 4 years old tho...a set of altec lansing 45.1s

 

[MisterMe]

The oldest thing I use is not the oldest thing I have. The oldest thing I have is an Apple 2+ ($2400 back in 81) in the closet and just last year I booted it up just for grins. The oldest thing I still use is an Externel US Robotics modem. I bought it for $225 right when x2 hit the market. I upgraded it to v90 via it's flash rom and it still comes in handy for sending those occasional faxes or connecting to the internet (52666 kbps) when the big pipe is down...This is still one very nice modem!

 

[DDad]

Oldest computer used regularly (in the house)- Compaq P200
Oldest that occasinally gets booted (because it has a 5 1/4" drive- there are still some people who use those!) Packard Bell 486SX25
Oldest regularly used part- Hewlett Packard Scanjet Plus (1989) BTW, I still prefer that for scanning in Greyscale- seems to get more detail than the newer ones.
Almost as old regularly used part Hewlet Packard Laserjet IIIP (1991) BTW, I keep a few of the older Laserjet IIIs around for "loaners" their bulletproof and amzingly convenient for the businessman whose main printer goes down (usually in the middle of printing statements). Stick a LJ III on it- the drivers are on most systems, away you go!

 

[ElDonAntonio]

Come on guys, most of your stuff is sparkling new...

I have an Apple II that will boot sometimes if you kick it, man did I have a great time with that machine. No hard disk, around 1Mhz speed, 64K of RAM, a true beauty! I still have loads of 5.25" floppies with the greatest games of all times.

Next comes an IBM PS2 machine, then a DELL 486 66Mhz.

 

[moronNZ]

they are all from 1995:
Intel Pentium 75Mhz
unknown socket 5 motherboard
cmedia unknown chipset
ADI microscan 4V
2x CD-ROM
Quatumn Trailblazer 850MB
unknown 5.25' floopy drive

 

[Jman13]

The oldest component still in use on my machine is my Gateway Keyboard. I just love the feel, so I transferred it over to my new system. (4 years old). The next oldest, and oldest inside the machine, is my SoundBlaster Live! Value. It's going on 3.5 years, but still sounds great.

Other than that, the oldest thing is my 20GB HD, which is only about a year and a half old.

 

[Need4Speed]

Lets see, the oldest component in mymain rig would have to be the floppy drive...which originally came from my tandy 386sx25. The next item would have to be my old dell dual p2-350 rig...mostly made out of system pull parts...including a #9 4mg video card that came from my first dell p100. That #9 card still has the clearest 2d viseo of any card I have seen to date.

Everything else is pretty much new gear.