Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

My computer is older than YOUR computer!

<< < (6/8) > >>

Carol Haynes:
Don't know if this is available outside the UK but how about an antique computer quiz:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7671677.stm

I scored 6/10

Jimdoria:
BASIC on the Atari 2600 was a great way to prepare for modern computing. Spend hours tweaking an underpowered program using a fiddly interface, then lose all your work when you turn off the power.  Just like when Windows crashes today! :D

They designed a real programming system for the 2600 once that would have turned it into a bona fide home PC. It plugged into the cartridge slot and added a chicklet-style keyboard as well as BASIC. It never saw the light of day, though. Perhaps they feared it would pirate Atari 400 sales.

I too have a 130XE in the attic, but haven't plugged it in in years. I'm hoping the floppy still works and that the disks are still readable so that my college ouevre will not be lost to history.

The oldest working/still useful PC I have is a Gateway Handbook 486. It's a notebook PC slightly larger than a paperback book, with one of the best small-size keyboards ever invented. (Oh, you thought the eee book was a new idea?  ;) ) I've actually got 2 of them - one runs Win 95 and the other runs DOS/GEOS. If only the dead batteries weren't so expensive to replace, I'd probably still be using these.

icekin:
Check out the specs: 80KB of RAM expandable to 200 KB (ZOMG!), 32KB of ROM and...
-Lashiec (October 14, 2008, 12:18 PM)
--- End quote ---

But 64KB of RAM is more than enough for anybody...:)

My oldest machine is a 286, but it got tossed a few years ago, along with a perfectly functional and working 486. The oldest machine I still own is a Athlon XP 1500 which I assembled myself and runs Win XP. But my friend has a 486 with 16MB ram that she plans to throw away. Too bad I live in a small flat and don't have the storage space to collect antique junk.

wreckedcarzz:
BASIC on the Atari 2600 was a great way to prepare for modern computing. Spend hours tweaking an underpowered program using a fiddly interface, then lose all your work when you turn off the power.  Just like when Windows crashes today! :D
-Jimdoria (October 15, 2008, 11:24 AM)
--- End quote ---

Best analogy ever

</comic book guy voice>

sazzen:
If you live in Santa Cruz, CA, that has GOT to be my old computer. Across the room is its successor, a Packard Bell Multimedia M415 that was purchased in 1995. Until August of 2004, it was my only computer. Until September 1st of this year, it was still used daily. I can't bring myself to dismantle it.  I confess, I loved Windows95. I was comfortable with it, didn't mind trying every tweak I came across and didn't mind digging around in the registry. If something went awry, I just dug out the Windows95 disk and reinstalled over everything. No problem. If I needed help I phoned Microsoft and a real person walked me through the solution. The phone calls were free -- for a year.  Best of all and the reason I can't let go of it, was the software. If I need to do really serious work, I can always walk over to the corner and fire up WordPerfect 6.1 or Excel 97.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page