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Who Has The Oldest Computer?; Or The Slowest Internet Connection?
Topic Started: Jul 2 2015, 12:22 AM (1,162 Views)
mt999999
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Self-Declared "Genious"

My Windows 7 laptop just bit the dust, and until I (attempt to) patch together the broken pieces inside, I am stuck downgrading to the only free computer in the house. We no longer have an active desktop, and the rest of my family has laptops on Comcast high speed wifi internet. So, I have our only desktop remaining set up at my workstation here. You guys should see this rig, it's pathetic. I wish I could take a picture and share it, but the computer won't connect to my camera! :lol

The DVD drive is broken, so the machine is still running Windows 98 SE, running on less than a 1 GHZ Processor. Most of your smart phones are more powerful that this thing. We have free long distance telephone, and I don't have a good Ethernet port, so I am connected to a free dial-up server 2,000 miles away in California. Thank goodness we are "still in 2005 here" (quoting Coche Blanco). :lol This allows the forum to run on my version Firefox version 2.0. It works, but pictures are painfully slow on this 33.6 KB/S connection. I really don't miss this, so here's to hoping my laptop starts working again soon.

Out of curiosity, do I have the oldest machine still running on the forum here, or do one of you old timers have something equally archaic still running? :rofl Curious to see how this goes...
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ZXTjato
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bass heads

oldes pc i have in my house

intel i7 4790
32gb ram
2 terabytes storage
3gb 780 super clocked GPU

yea not really that old but it is the oldest in the house... so guess im out of this slow race

oh forgot to add that im on a LIMITED internet connection of 200GB a month.... the year 2015 and i have limited internet :shake dont you dare go over because it gets expensive FAST :deal
Edited by ZXTjato, Jul 2 2015, 12:31 AM.
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Mythstae
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Who HAS as in OWNS the oldest?
Well, we've got a Tandy 1000 in the attic... :hmm

:lol
(Seriously, we do)

I USED to have the slowest internet on the forum, we had dial-up and connected at a whopping 26.4k :'(
Now we have satellite... it's faster, ish, I think, but we're capped at 10GB per month! :(
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ZXTjato
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bass heads

Mythstae
Jul 2 2015, 12:28 AM
Who HAS as in OWNS the oldest?
Well, we've got a Tandy 1000 in the attic... :hmm

:lol
(Seriously, we do)

I USED to have the slowest internet on the forum, we had dial-up and connected at a whopping 26.4k :'(
Now we have satellite... it's faster, ish, I think, but we're capped at 10GB per month! :(
10! omg i take back complaints of 200 :rofl
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doviatt
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Does a Intel 80286 (Yamaha C1) or a Sinclair (hooks to TV tuner modulator) count?
I have both.
Edited by doviatt, Jul 2 2015, 01:10 AM.
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perfesser
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner

doviatt
Jul 2 2015, 12:54 AM
Does a Intel 80286 (Yamaha C1) or a Sinclair (hooks to TV) count?
I have both.
On the AT it only counts if you're still running MS-DOS 5.0 :D :D
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Old Man


I still have my slide rule I used in school in the 50s :D and I think I still have an abacus I bought in Japan in the 50s too :lol :lol
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doviatt
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perfesser
Jul 2 2015, 01:11 AM
doviatt
Jul 2 2015, 12:54 AM
Does a Intel 80286 (Yamaha C1) or a Sinclair (hooks to TV) count?
I have both.
On the AT it only counts if you're still running MS-DOS 5.0 :D :D
How about MSDOS 3.3? on the 286 :whistle

Perfessor: your slide rule and your abacus beats my HP41CVX calculator that I still use daily at work. B-)
I even have an emulator on my phone for the HP41. Can't beat RPN on a calculator. :thumb

The Sinclair (Tiimex/Sinclair) was 1982. Ouch!

NAME 1000
MANUFACTURER TIMEX / SINCLAIR
TYPE Home Computer
ORIGIN U.S.A.
YEAR 1982
BUILT IN LANGUAGE Sinclair Basic
KEYBOARD Membrane keyboard
CPU Zilog Z80A
SPEED 3.25 Mhz
RAM 2 KB
ROM 8 kb
TEXT MODES 32 x 22
GRAPHIC MODES 64 x 44
COLOrsc None, black & white
SOUND None
SIZE / WEIGHT 16.5(W) x 17.5(D) x 3.8(H) cm
I/O PORTS Expansion bus, tape-recorder, video
POWER SUPPLY 9V external power supply unit
PERIPHERALS Memory modules, thermal printer
PRICE $99.95



Edited by doviatt, Jul 2 2015, 01:32 AM.
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Boogie Rat
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If you wanna really split hairs, I still have a functional Atari 2600, made in '81. Rockin' the old 6502 microprcessor. Gaming consoles are technically computers. And it's an oldie. But I'll bet there's someone here who still has an even older Magnavox Odyssey.
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rmcelwee
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I have two computers that I still use regularly that are running DOS 6.2. Both are P1 chips but I cannot remember how much memory (8 Megs ???). I would replace them but I still run 16 bit ISA video and sound cards in them and I am not sure if I can replace them with something faster. I was actually going to start searching for new MBs for them the other day to bring them up to speed a bit. Oh, I boot them off 3.5" floppies (do I get bonus points for that?).

Actually, I recently sold a 1980 Heathkit H89 (I think I got $750 for it on Ebay). It still worked but wasn't in use.


Posted Image


Oh, speaking of internet. When we first started selling internet, all my customers were running off a 56K connection. This doesn't mean that had 56k each, they were SHARING a total of 56K. We are at 62 phone lines at that time so each person had around 1K if everyone was hitting them at the same time. I seem to remember paying somewhere around $1500 a month for that 56K connection. I think I was charging $5 a quarter or $15 a year for access.
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dayle1960
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Fastest Hampster EVER

Back in '92 I bought a Tandy 8088. Boy what a joy to have ZERO hard drive space. Everything had to be downloaded onto a floppy disc. Now, talk about old school.



The pic Robert shared of the Heathkit computer sure does show how far technology has come. Just think of how much computing power you can buy today for $1500?
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perfesser
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner

Back in '85 I had a Fat Mac on my desk at work. 512k RAM and 2(!!!) 880k 3.5" floppy drives. Hard drives at that time cost about $1k/MB. The Apple Lisa had a 5 MB HDD, but no one could afford it.

I was working at the IBM plant in Boca Raton when they were building the production line for the (not yet announced) IBM PC. When it was introduced it had 64k RAM and the storage was handled by a cassette tape backup that plugged into the back of the box! (I have one in my office just to show the students.) My job at the plant was to design a new machine to insert the 8" floppies into their envelopes. (Yes, 8"!! Some of you may have seen the old 5.25" floppies, but these came first. Double-side, double-density, held 180k, and there weren't any files big enough to fill one!)

Doviatt - that was Old Man with the slide rule and abacus. Could have been me though. I got my first college degree using a slide rule. I still have 4-5 in a drawer waiting for us to get over our infatuation with electrons. A limitation of the slide rules is that you can't add or subtract on them. My abacus I got in Korea. When the first electronic calculators hit the market, I bought a refurb at the PX and took it over to the orphanage I volunteered at to show the kids. One of the girls pulled an abacus out of her book bag and challenged me to a race. I have never been beaten so badly!! She could have answers faster than I could enter the numbers! And then my battery died and she just kept right on going. Next time I went over there, the kids had all chipped in to buy me an abacus and a book on how to use it.
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ZXTjato
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bass heads

as funny as all this is, my monster pc will be just as laughable in 25-30 years. technology is evolving faster than any other spiecies on the planet :scared
Edited by ZXTjato, Jul 2 2015, 09:50 AM.
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marxtoys
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stuck in a dent

I have a 486 set up in a corner with an even more ancient EPROM writer(Data I/O 29b).
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Boogie Rat
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I'm just waiting for someone to claim they have an ENIAC panel stashed in the attic.
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