From the «typed this on my C-64» department:
Feed: Slashdot
Title: Ask Slashdot: What Was Your Longest-Lived PC?
Author: EditorDavid
Date: Sun, 02 Apr 2023 03:34:00 -0400
Link: https://ask.slashdot.org/story/23/04/02/0058226/ask-slashdot-what-was-your-longest-lived-pc?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Replacing their main machine, long-time Slashdot reader shanen had a sobering thought. "Considering how many years it's lasted and adding that number to my own age, I wouldn't want to bet on who will outlast which." And this prompted a look back at all the computers used over a lifetime: I've purchased at least 15 personal computers over the decades. Might be more like 20 and couldn't even count how many company computers I've used for various classes and work. Then there were the computer labs filled with my students. But this ultimately led them to two questions for Slashdot's readers: (1) What was the brand of your longest-lived PC? (2) What is the brand of your latest PC and how long do you expect it to last? Some answers have already been posted on the original submission. I think the longest-lasting computer that I used on a daily basis as
my main device was a Lenovo ThinkPad R500. I bought it in 2010 and used it until
2019. It still worked when I retired it, but it was getting a bit slow. The longest lived was a PDP11/34A. Made in the late 70s or early 80s, it was still running when I sold it in 2005. Did a couple of component-level repairs, and I reckon there's every chance that it still runs today. Not sure if it counts as "personal" though. I have a polycarbonate Macbook from 2007 still going strong, so I guess that makes the answer "Apple". There's also an interesting story about a long-running server from days gone. But what's your own answer to the question? Share your own stories in the comments. What was the brand of your longest-lived PC — and how long do you expect your current PC to last?

[image 2][2] [image 4][4]

Read more of this story[5] at Slashdot.

Links:
[1]: http://twitter.com/home?status=Ask+Slashdot%3A++What+Was+Your+Longest-Lived+PC%3F%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fask.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F04%2F02%2F0058226%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter (link)
[2]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (image)
[3]: http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fask.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F04%2F02%2F0058226%2Fask-slashdot-what-was-your-longest-lived-pc%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook (link)
[4]: https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (image)
[5]: https://ask.slashdot.org/story/23/04/02/0058226/ask-slashdot-what-was-your-longest-lived-pc?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed (link)



--
First rule of Usenet: you do not talk about Usenet

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Retrograde <fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:

From the <<typed this on my C-64>> department:
Feed: Slashdot
Title: Ask Slashdot: What Was Your Longest-Lived PC?
Author: EditorDavid
Date: Sun, 02 Apr 2023 03:34:00 -0400
Link: https://ask.slashdot.org/story/23/04/02/0058226/ask-slashdot-what-was-your-longest-lived-pc?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

The trouble with these "which brand lasts longest" questions is
that if you apply them practically to selecting new models, you
run into the problem that most consumer brands change ownership
and/or strategy so often that by the time one of their models has
lasted a long time, their current models could be built to a
different standard anyway.

For example I could say my IBM-made Thinkpad, which I still use
often, but of course now the Thinkpad brand is owned by Lenovo,
so that says little in favour of buying a new Thinkpad today.

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Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:

The trouble with these "which brand lasts longest" questions is that
if you apply them practically to selecting new models, you run into
the problem that most consumer brands change ownership and/or
strategy so often that by the time one of their models has lasted a
long time, their current models could be built to a different
standard anyway.

These types of questions are also ripe for running smack into
"survivorship bias". The oldest PC anyone has running is the one it
is because all the others that failed are no longer running. But that
does not say /why/ that given unit is still running. And yes,
products, components, etc. change so rapidly that an ancedote of a
brand X still running after Y years says nothing about a new brand X's lifetime.

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On Tue, 04 Apr 2023 12:59:04 +0100, Adrian Caspersz wrote:

On 04/04/2023 12:49, Sylvia Else wrote:

I'm still using the PC I bought in the 1980s. That is to say, there's
never been a time when I replaced everything part at once.

Sylvia.

Over here, that's known as a Trigger's Broom....

And before that, a grandfather's axe...

--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

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I'm still using the PC I bought in the 1980s. That is to say, there's
never been a time when I replaced everything part at once.

Sylvia.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 04/04/2023 12:49, Sylvia Else wrote:

I'm still using the PC I bought in the 1980s. That is to say, there's
never been a time when I replaced everything part at once.

Sylvia.

Over here, that's known as a Trigger's Broom....

--
Adrian C

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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In message <u0bu37$2ug5v$1@solani.org>, Retrograde
<fungus@amongus.com.invalid> writes

From the 0 >Feed: Slashdot
Title: Ask Slashdot: What Was Your Longest-Lived PC?
Author: EditorDavid
Date: Sun, 02 Apr 2023 03:34:00 -0400
Link: >https://ask.slashdot.org/story/23/04/02/0058226/ask-slashdot-what-was-yo >ur-longest-lived-pc?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Up until late last year, I was regularly using a PC that I bought in
spring 2002. Apart from replacing the disk (the original crashed), and
adding more memory, it is as bought. Not sure if it will get used
again, even Linux is starting to struggle on it. It currently acts as a
stand for my scanner.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Sylvia Else <sylvia@email.invalid> wrote:

I'm still using the PC I bought in the 1980s. That is to say, there's
never been a time when I replaced everything part at once.

So it is a Ship of Theseus?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

Up until late last year, I was regularly using a PC that I bought in
spring 2002. Apart from replacing the disk (the original crashed), and adding more memory, it is as bought. Not sure if it will get used
again, even Linux is starting to struggle on it.

For the Pentium 1 PC that I'm posting from now, I just stuck with
an old version of Linux (2.4). It's still fine for things like
emails and Usenet. It also dual boots to DOS and Win98 for running
old software that interfaces with various parallel port and ISA
hardware devices. The floppy drive became unreliable a few years
ago but I mainly exchange files via NFS in Linux (still compatible
with NFS v3 in modern Linux kernels), so it's not much trouble even
though there's no USB.

I have had to compile some encryption-related software myself for
email and SSH, and incoming connections from the internet are
of course blocked for security.

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In message <642ca31c@news.ausics.net>, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> writes

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

Up until late last year, I was regularly using a PC that I bought in
spring 2002. Apart from replacing the disk (the original crashed), and
adding more memory, it is as bought. Not sure if it will get used
again, even Linux is starting to struggle on it.

For the Pentium 1 PC that I'm posting from now, I just stuck with
an old version of Linux (2.4). It's still fine for things like
emails and Usenet. It also dual boots to DOS and Win98 for running
old software that interfaces with various parallel port and ISA
hardware devices. The floppy drive became unreliable a few years
ago but I mainly exchange files via NFS in Linux (still compatible
with NFS v3 in modern Linux kernels), so it's not much trouble even
though there's no USB.

That one is a Pentium II (I can't remember exactly which one). It is
running an old version of Ubuntu, but it won't update anymore, and (unfortunately), it updated Firefox to a version that won't run on it.
It was mainly used in recent times for SSHing into various RPis.

It was originally a Win XP machine, and with that, accessing the 3.5"
floppy was possible, but under Ubuntu, I was never able to access that
or the 5.25" that I later fitted. I've now destroyed all the floppies I
had (the 5.25" floppies hadn't been accessed in over 20 years), so that
is no longer an issue.

One of these years, I'll work out if I can change the mother board to
something more modern.

Adrian
--
To Reply :
replace "bulleid" with "adrian" - all mail to bulleid is rejected
Sorry for the rigmarole, If I want spam, I'll go to the shops
Every time someone says "I don't believe in trolls", another one dies.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:

In message <642ca31c@news.ausics.net>, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> writes

Up until late last year, I was regularly using a PC that I bought in
spring 2002. Apart from replacing the disk (the original crashed), and
adding more memory, it is as bought. Not sure if it will get used
again, even Linux is starting to struggle on it.

Adrian <bulleid@ku.gro.lioff> wrote:
For the Pentium 1 PC that I'm posting from now, I just stuck with
an old version of Linux (2.4). It's still fine for things like
emails and Usenet.

That one is a Pentium II (I can't remember exactly which one). It is
running an old version of Ubuntu, but it won't update anymore, and (unfortunately), it updated Firefox to a version that won't run on it.

Yes modern web browsing is out, but I actually like being cut off
from the modern web while using this PC. Websites that won't work
at all in lightweight web browsers are usually annoying in other
ways anyway, and better left for later (or ignored completely,
where possible).

It was mainly used in recent times for SSHing into various RPis.

I usually set a Telnet server running on RPis to future-proof both
ends against SSH encryption method depreciations. Only because I'm
only ever accessing them within a LAN though, I wouldn't risk it
over the internet.

--
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#_ < |\| |< _#

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