Who is using the oldest computer?

[audioguru2]

Hi Guys,
Many people say that I should upgrade my computer. But even though it is nearly 10 years old, it does almost everything that I need. It has been downloading reliably for years from the internet at 350KB/s to 1MB/s (thats bytes, not bits like a 56Kb modem) on cable (they say it is impossible) while my son's 2.4GHz Pentium 4 gets 1.2MB/s on the same router. He downloads a file in 1 second and I have to wait for up to 3.4 seconds. For almost 10 years, it is still using its original bios/clock soldered-in coin battery.
It's a Compaq 486DX-100MHz The processor is small and made like a Pentium and sits on a daughter board along with its 5V to 3.3V regulator. It is the last 486 processor that Intel made. The daughter board has the same size and pins as a regular old 486.
Is anyone using an older one?

 

[ante1]

Hi,
That one runs on steam, right ? ;D

Ante :

 

[Yevgenip]

Well, your comupter sure is strong!

I have a computer that is even older! its a 286 intel processor, 1 MB RAM Memory, a VGA grapic card and a very slow clock.

This is kind of funny, telling about who has the oldest computer. great idea!!!
anyone wish to challange me?

 

[ante1]

Well mine is not in use so it doesn

 

[audioguru2]

Hey guys!
When I say USING it, I mean it!
My 486 is used every day on the internet (cable) for surfing, e-mail, ordering parts and for word-processing invoices, etc. It is reliably running Windows 98, 1st Edition and very rarely crashes. It is all-in-one, like a Mac, so I can't even put a good video card in it (it has only 500kB of video RAM). Videos display at about 10 frames per second when small, and VERY jerky at full screen.

Yevgenip,
What do you use your 286 for, and how often?

Any other challengers?

 

[hotwaterwizard2]

There is one good thing about the older computers. They don't get as many viruses and they are less complicated.

 

[audioguru2]

Hotwaterwizard, you're right, the viruses stay away from me. I've never had one and don't run any anti-v software. But I do update and run a little virus-scanning program that I got from my ISP every month. Microsoft won't let me into their Update Center because my IE 4.01 browser is so old (it came with Win'98). If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
My 1st add-on RAM chip (4MB) cost $200.00 and I gave it away a couple of years later when I replaced it with 32MB for $30.00. Since the 486 has a limit of only 64MB for RAM, I have a RamBooster program running in the background. It pops-up and does its thing for a couple of seconds whenever available RAM runs low (maybe every 1/2 hour).
Defrag takes awhile but who cares when it's done in the middle of the night.

 

[SleepN2zero9]

you can set rambooster so that it doesnt pop up when its running....

my computers pretty old...

Windows 95
75Mhz Pentium
16Mb Ram
and........drum roll please...
a 14.4k modem(dont laugh)

huh......works fine for me....

 

[MP1]

I have several different vintages myself. A couple of XTs, one 286/20 MHZ, a 386/40 MHZ, a 486 not in use as it is too troublesome, one 586/133MHZ, which came out just before the Pentium, a Pentium 200MHZ,then I have the P2/300MHZ, P3/450 MHZ and the one I use the most is a P4/3 GHZ. The XTs are only used for some old programs, eeprom burner and some CNC work. The others take their turns as CNC drones as well. The P2 and P3 have different OS and serve to work well with different programming languages. All except the XTs are on a network and all can access the net. The P4 is used for designing and programming as well as most of the Internet work. Although the others work fine, I have found that there is nothing that compares to being able to listen to mp3s, surfing the web, having more than one cad program open and a spreadsheet going all at the same time with no loss of speed. When I click on something, I immediately see it. I do not wait for it to load.
However, I use my computer for work, so time really means a lot to me. The good point to having multiple computers is that you can access what you want on a network without running back and forth between the shop and the house or keep back ups of all of your programs on more than one system in case you have a major crash.

MP

 

[audioguru2]

SleepN2zero9,
You are still surfing at 14.4K? If you value your time then you should upgrade.

MP,
You have quite a quantity of PCs. Yhe last XT that I saw was also an EPROM burner.

 

[MP1]

I used to have an old Texas Instruments computer that had no storage such as hard drive. Everytime you wanted to run a program, you had to write it, then compile it and run it. It was a TI-99A. Ever seen one of these?

MP

View attachment 35275

 

[ante1]

Yes I have seen the Texas I have never owned one. At that time I used Sinclair and Commodore Computers. The first computer I owned came as a kit

 

[ZomBiE]

I still use good old C-64 for gaming... (i hate those buggy emulators) and i still have few original games that can't be found from internet ;D

 

[audioguru2]

ZomBiE,
Your Commodore still works, great!

 

[Kasamiko]

Hi,
That one runs on steam, right ? ;D

Ante :

HA!HA!HA!HA!....I thought you'd say PEDAL POWERED!!! ;D ;D

@ audioguru
When you say 1MB/Sec. you're not kidding right!!?? my fastest is 5KB/Sec. on 56k modem!! Whaaaaaaa!!!

I have a WANG 286, with a whoopping 4MB RAM, 256kb Video, 2 floppy drive no HD and an IBM PS2 monitor..

 

[audioguru2]

Kasamiko,
Actually, my 486 runs on twisted rubber bands!
Yes, on cable I'm getting 1MB/sec, and the router for my LAN doesn't seem to slow it down, and even faster by using download-accelerator software. A 1MB PDF-file (nearly 200 pages) downloads so quickly that I can't read the speed on the accelerator's pop-up.
My 56K modem was downloading at about 42Kb/sec but the accelerator boosted it to about 250Kb/sec. The accelerator has a "resume" function, so that if you are cut-off or just can't wait, it can continue a download later.
If you don't have an accelerator then you must try one. Mine is called MetaProducts Download Express and is here:
http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/mpProducts_Detail.asp?id=18
I'm using rev. 1.3.0.119 and it is so good that I won't upgrade.
It might still be free.

 

[Kasamiko]

42Kb/sec without accelerator on 56k modem??!!
I'm using a 56k modem too. but my fastest is only 6kb/sec.. I'm using Flashget to DL some files..1mb takes about 15 minutes to download..
I don't know what's holding on??

 

[audioguru2]

Kasamiko,
I think that you will find that your 3Kb to 6Kb is actually 3KB to 6KB, which is a mistake that I made when I replaced my built-in 14.4K modem with the 56K one. Windows gets the "b" and the "B" mixed-up sometimes.
1Kb in 15 minutes calculates to about 1.1Kb/sec, which does not agree with the above.
1) Make sure that your phone-line is clean (no hum nor static).
One time I had hum and I complained to my phone company (post office, over there?). They used a high-tech cable-finder, and after digging-up my whole street finding cable-TV wires and old car-parts, they found the telco cable. A different company came and dug a hole that was 10 feet deep and huge. Then the 1st guy came back and made his splice and nearly got stuck down there when it rained. Then the digging company came back and filled the hole. Then another company came and replaced my grass. I'm not finished yet. Then the 1st guy came back because his office didn't record that the job was completed before. Each company sent 4 guys, one did the work and the other 3 supervised.
This took nearly 2 months and didn't make any difference!
2) Find out which modem and speed of modem that your ISP is using, and set yours to match it.
3) Make sure that your modem is set-up correctly, for the modem and for Windows. Win '98 and newer defaults to DSL, not modem (maxMTU of 1500 instead of 576 for modem).
4) If your ISP's modem is newer than yours, then get an updated driver from your modem's manufacturer if they are still in business (mine wasn't).
5) The web is full of ways to tweak your settings. I tweaked my modem, then my high-speed settings, and got big improvements on both.

 

[wizard1]

Well,speaking of old computers,my room could be considered,two months ago,an old-computer museum.
Steam-operated,pedals-operated,animal traction-operated,you name it!!! ;D ;D

Along with over 70 microcomputers(HC,Sinclair,Comodore,Atari,TCS,etc...) all functional btw.,i have an XT computer,Manufactured by Robotron-Germany(R.D.G.) in 1984,with a
OMNILOGIC 8086 CPU running at 4,77 Mhz,640K memory(two full-lenght XT boards filled with RAM chips),an MDA Video card,keyboard but no mouse,NO BIOS!!!,a double floppy disk controller for two 720K/5,25 inch FDD,an 8251 HDD controller for a 20 Mb MFM HDD(dating from the time when hdd's were sent by the manufacturer with factory-marked bad sectors list),a printer controller,and AMAZINGLY!!!,a 14,4 K acoustical modem(XT card+accesories)
The computer is curently up and running(it took me almost a month to repair it)and i have all accesories for it(printer,keyboard,monitor,floppy disks with software,etc) I've even managed to install Dos 6.22 and Pascal on it.
I had over 200 old computers(microcomps,XT,AT) but it got REEEEEEEALY crowded in my room,as you can imagine - so i had to give away or sell most of them two months ago... very unfortunate thing for me...
But i kept the Robotron and i still use it from time to time for dos games and ancient software....
So,is there anyone who can overcome that?Or anyone who has the "old computer's collecting bug" around here?
If so,step forward... 8)