Author Topic: My computer is older than YOUR computer! (Read 34792 times)

wreckedcarzz · « **on:** October 13, 2008, 09:22 PM »

*Restrains emotion*

I have just acquired a Packard Bell Legend 406CD. It has an Intel Pentium CPU @ 75MHz (ITS THE FUTURE, MAN!

), 8MB RAM, a 850MB hard drive and runs Windows 95. It boots into Windows - kb works (although it has 2 keys broken, I don't care - its Windows 95!), mouse functions fully as well. Looks to be fully functional, no problems yet. I'm so happy!!!!

I might have the oldest functional computer here, now that I have this; and the neighbors were going to toss it in tomorrows trash pickup!

Here are some pictures:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/5518/img1886bi4.jpg

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/491/img1887qr0.jpg

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4722/img1888cf3.jpg

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6876/img1889ip5.jpg

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

Can you beat that? It has to be a functional computer that is older than that (so something running Windows 95 or earlier, as the machine DOESN'T STATE its manufacturing date anywhere ). I had an image that proved it was running Windows 95 (winver.exe), but freaking ImageShack kept timing out

BTW, if anyone has $20 to spare, I wouldn't mind some RAM for it for my birthday in 3 weeks...

-Brandon

Deozaan · « **Reply #1 on:** October 13, 2008, 09:29 PM »

Oh yeah, well I bet my dad can beat up your dad!

f0dder · « **Reply #2 on:** October 13, 2008, 09:37 PM »

I think I still have the parts for my old 486DX4-100 (although I trashed the 512meg harddrive) that made up the legendary sh33pb0x (I should upload the old website somewhere, our "promo video" is at flork.dk though). But perhaps my mum threw the parts in the trash, since she+brothers are moving, and it wasn't much use anyway.

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #3 on:** October 13, 2008, 09:55 PM »

"Put a sheep on top *sheep placed on top* *sheep's eyes glow*"

Computer: $500

Sheep: $20

Video: Priceless

Shades · « **Reply #4 on:** October 14, 2008, 02:02 AM »

In the place where I was living in the Netherlands I know I have some fully functional 286's, each with 4 Mb RAM and 40 Mb harddrive.

Dormouse · « **Reply #5 on:** October 14, 2008, 02:47 AM »

I still have an original, fully functional, Atari ST - 1985.

skwire · « **Reply #6 on:** October 14, 2008, 03:46 AM »

I also have an Atari (130 XE) computer from 1985. It was our family's first "real" computer. It's still fully functional with 5 1/4" floppy and plenty of software on such media from when I was a kid. While most kids were turning in school reports typed out on a typewriter, I turned them in printed off using Bank Street Writer (anybody remember that?). I also have our fully functional Commodore 128D complete with the RGB monitor (none of this TV-out crap here :). I still set this up occasionally for my wife to beat Impossible Mission for the umpteenth time. If you want to go back even further, I still have our Intellivision II ECS complete with tape drive and chiclet-style keyboard. I wrote my first program ever in Intellivision BASIC on that machine.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #7 on:** October 14, 2008, 04:25 AM »

In the place where I was living in the Netherlands I know I have some fully functional 286's, each with 4 Mb RAM and 40 Mb harddrive.
-Shades (October 14, 2008, 02:02 AM)

The question that arises is: Does a current 64 bit Vista system with 4Gb of memory and terrabytes of storage actually achieve much more than these old 286 systems (grief I remember when 286 was revolutionary!) - and I bet the 286 boots quicker!!!

Grorgy · « **Reply #8 on:** October 14, 2008, 04:54 AM »

I got an abacus

nudone · « **Reply #9 on:** October 14, 2008, 06:12 AM »

i've got an atari 2600 video games console that works fine. does that count as a computer? i guess not. oh well, it was worth a try.

gexecuter · « **Reply #10 on:** October 14, 2008, 06:37 AM »

Can it run Crysis?

fenixproductions · « **Reply #11 on:** October 14, 2008, 06:57 AM »

I still have an original, fully functional, Atari ST - 1985.
-Dormouse (October 14, 2008, 02:47 AM)

Me too but additionaly I have PONG set

It's just black plank with two controllers. Single controller is just thick stick with looks like microphone with knob.
Oh! There is only PONG

Edited
Unfortunately: I've just heard that my brothers gave it someone behind my backs...

f0dder · « **Reply #12 on:** October 14, 2008, 11:31 AM »

In the place where I was living in the Netherlands I know I have some fully functional 286's, each with 4 Mb RAM and 40 Mb harddrive.
-Shades (October 14, 2008, 02:02 AM)
The question that arises is: Does a current 64 bit Vista system with 4Gb of memory and terrabytes of storage actually achieve much more than these old 286 systems (grief I remember when 286 was revolutionary!) - and I bet the 286 boots quicker!!!
-Carol Haynes (October 14, 2008, 04:25 AM)

Boots pretty fast to DOS, but if you want to run win3.x it takes a while extra. If you cut down the time spent in BIOS initialization phase (which is longer today than back then), I wouldn't be surprised if the OS boot time is about the same...

And yeah, current systems do achieve a lot more, both in features and user friendliness. I wonder if it's possible to come up with some "additional power required compared to bloat compared to user friendliness" (et cetera) index. I *do* feel that a lot of processing power is wasted these days.

I wish that my old C=64 worked. Spent many hours with that fine old machine.

Edvard · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2008, 11:58 AM »

I was always more than a little impressed at how snappy Windows 95 was on a 486 DX100 w/64 Megs compared to WinXP on an AMD XP1600 with 256 MB.

I still have a Packard Bell 386 that runs well but I can't use because the bios has to EXACTLY match the hard drive parameters or it won't use it and guess who's 240 MB hard drive has next to NO information on the label...

Lashiec · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2008, 12:18 PM »

I have an old MSX^w, a Philips VG8020, from around 1987 at least, inherited from my middle brother. It could be older though, but my first memories of it go back to when I was around 4 years old, seeing my brother play Gauntlet, Knight Lore or Gunfright. It's like new, and works like a charm after all these years, except that it needs a new external tape recorder.

Check out the specs: 80KB of RAM expandable to 200 KB (ZOMG!), 32KB of ROM and... TWO CARTRIDGE SLOTS! A killer machine, indeed

. Nah, seriously it provided many hours of fun through the years for us, and I learned BASIC on it.

My oldest brother has a Spectrum^w on the attic, but I never saw it, so it may work or not. I ignore when it was bought, but either I was a baby, or I wasn't even born when the machine got home.

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #15 on:** October 14, 2008, 04:03 PM »

I've got an Apple IIe at home, circa 1983. This picture isn't of mine, I swiped it off the web:

My computer is older than YOUR computer!
I've been trying to transfer files from my PC to this computer via its cassette tape interface, but haven't been successful. So about the only thing it does now is play "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

I really wish I still had my old Atari 800.

40hz · « **Reply #16 on:** October 14, 2008, 05:26 PM »

I've got a VIC-20, a C64, and a C-128. I used to be big on Commodore before they nuked themselves through sheer stupidity.

There was also a RadioShack TRS-80 up in the attic somewhere, unless My Beloved got fed up with my techno-packrat behaviors and tossed it already.

Also a Northgate 386-20 (2 of them actually!) and an old CompuAdd 486DX-something. I'll have to dig it out and check.

(Anybody out there got a Lisa or a PDP?)

wreckedcarzz · « **Reply #17 on:** October 14, 2008, 05:31 PM »

I got an abacus
-Grorgy (October 14, 2008, 04:54 AM)

My sister has an expensive Chinese Abacus - I suppose it could be a math utility, not sure about a computer

Can it run Crysis?
-gexecuter (October 14, 2008, 06:37 AM)

Does flash Crysis count? Does IE 5 even support flash anymore???

I have an old MSX^w, a Philips VG8020, from around 1987 at least, inherited from my middle brother.
-Lashiec (October 14, 2008, 12:18 PM)

Good god, that looks like a typewriter-meets-calculator gone nuts.

Definitely cool though.

app103 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 14, 2008, 06:42 PM »

i've got an atari 2600 video games console that works fine. does that count as a computer? i guess not. oh well, it was worth a try.
-nudone (October 14, 2008, 06:12 AM)

Only if you have the BASIC Programming cartridge and the twin controllers with the buttons. (I have them!

)

tsaint · « **Reply #19 on:** October 14, 2008, 06:58 PM »

I've still got my first computer - an Exidy Sorcerer, circa 1973. 8K rom for basic, 4K ram, came with a booklet with a listing of the OS to read. After using cassette tape, I graduated to "stringy floppies" because the floppy drives at those times retailed for round $1000 (a lot back then).
Then I got an Osborne Mark 1 which I still have - the world's first laptop?

Darwin · « **Reply #20 on:** October 14, 2008, 07:06 PM »

I've got the oldest and most complex computer of them all: the human brain (mine hasn't weathered the past 40 years all that well, though, and takes a long time to boot up and fusses and farts through pretty basic routines...)

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #21 on:** October 14, 2008, 07:16 PM »

(Anybody out there got a Lisa or a PDP?)
-40hz (October 14, 2008, 05:26 PM)

Believe it or not, I once had a PDP-8. It had belonged to the school's computer music studio, and had just been brought out to the loading dock for the trash. I got a fraternity brother with a pickup to help me retrieve it. But honestly, I couldn't figure out what to do with the darned thing. I wound up trading it to a friend for a VT-100. Certainly that terminal was worth a lot less, but I had a real use for it.

PDP-8:

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

VT-100:

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

nudone · « **Reply #22 on:** October 15, 2008, 02:35 AM »

i've got an atari 2600 video games console that works fine. does that count as a computer? i guess not. oh well, it was worth a try.
-nudone (October 14, 2008, 06:12 AM)

Only if you have the BASIC Programming cartridge and the twin controllers with the buttons. (I have them! )
-app103 (October 14, 2008, 06:42 PM)

now that IS cool.

f0dder · « **Reply #23 on:** October 15, 2008, 06:42 AM »

i've got an atari 2600 video games console that works fine. does that count as a computer? i guess not. oh well, it was worth a try.
-nudone (October 14, 2008, 06:12 AM)

Only if you have the BASIC Programming cartridge and the twin controllers with the buttons. (I have them! )
-app103 (October 14, 2008, 06:42 PM)

now that IS cool.
-nudone (October 15, 2008, 02:35 AM)

But apparently also pretty useless

nudone · « **Reply #24 on:** October 15, 2008, 07:12 AM »

after seeing the photo of the pads, i'd say it's even more cool than i first thought.