What's the oldest bit of kit you still have running?

[PrimaryTech]

I've still got A HP LaserJet 4050 with a parallel port JetDirect that gets daily use as a label printer, original invoice says it was purchased in July 2000.

 

What's the oldest bit of kit you've still got running?

[6Foot2]

Probably not what you were really looking for as, although it's still powered, it's not part of the current network.

 

We have a Buffalo wireless access point in our library. I can't remember how old it actually is, but we are on our second wireless network solution since the old access point was originally in use.

 

It's still in place because it's in a really awkward place to get to, work in with its own, dedicated, power supply. It is, however, disconnected from the switch in the library.

[DJ-1701]

Probably me. [emoji57]

[3s-gtech]

I think it must be our Dell 17” 4:3 TFT screens. Bought in 2005, there’s still a lot of them in service with us, though one died this week. Excellent kit.

[Jobos]

We still have a 17” CRT monitor in daily use :-)

[southhamster]

Our home TV is a CRT Philips 28" from 2005! Keep waiting for it to die but it's too well made and it's a decent picture for a CRT.

[Andycat]

3 of the original Promethean Whiteboards. 1990's

[DrCheese]

Have quite a few Neovo 17ins glass fronted screens from 2005 still going - Aside from some having blown caps over the years, they've ran really well. Would have been replaced with widescreens by now tho, if we'd had the budget...

[the_quick]

HP printer LaserJet 2300dn - still prints fine, very cheap to run, maybe bit slow. Been here when I came, in 2005, so not sure how old it is.

[DalekSec]

During our last PATesting half term just gone, i found that Science had a bunch of Acer laptops from circa 92 (before i was born) that they were still using for some of their Science equipment... running Windows 95 so someone went to the struggle of upgrading them! The mouse buttons were on the side of the device with a small track ball next to the keyboard on the top.

 

Edit: It was a Compaq Contura Aero 4/33c, not a acer!

Edited December 9, 2019 by DalekSec

[3s-gtech]

[emoji54]that’s impressive! They must be very well built (as my experience of late 90s Compaq stuff will attest to).

[sonofsanta]

During our last PATesting half term just gone, i found that Science had a bunch of Acer laptops from circa 92 (before i was born) that they were still using for some of their Science equipment... running Windows 95 so someone went to the struggle of upgrading them! The mouse buttons were on the side of the device with a small track ball next to the keyboard on the top.

 

Edit: It was a Compaq Contura Aero 4/33c, not a acer!

 

 

Oh my god, look at the bezel!

 

Amazing stuff.

 

No idea on how old it is, but our bell system still runs from some weird radio controller on the first floor of the caretaker's cottage, programmed on an old laptop kept alive for the sole purpose via serial cable. Must be from the early 00's at the latest.

[6Foot2]

Oh my god, look at the bezel!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56001[/ATTACH]

 

Amazing stuff.

 

No idea on how old it is, but our bell system still runs from some weird radio controller on the first floor of the caretaker's cottage, programmed on an old laptop kept alive for the sole purpose via serial cable. Must be from the early 00's at the latest.

 

[DalekSec]

Oh my god, look at the bezel!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56001[/ATTACH]

 

Amazing stuff.

 

No idea on how old it is, but our bell system still runs from some weird radio controller on the first floor of the caretaker's cottage, programmed on an old laptop kept alive for the sole purpose via serial cable. Must be from the early 00's at the latest.

 

Didn't look quite like that, it's this model:

 

https://oldcomputer.info/portables/compaq4/index.htm

[Reverend_Dan]

Oh my god, look at the bezel!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56001[/ATTACH]

 

Amazing stuff.

 

No idea on how old it is, but our bell system still runs from some weird radio controller on the first floor of the caretaker's cottage, programmed on an old laptop kept alive for the sole purpose via serial cable. Must be from the early 00's at the latest.

You could hack the Gibson on one of those!

[SamanthaD]

Loads of old AMX RS232 panels (and the Windows 98 laptop with RS232 interface lead to program them!), AMX/Procon VGA switchers etc. Old Denon stereo amps that must be circa mid 1990's, DVD/Video combis....

 

And some old Kodak slide projectors and OHP's for the lecturers who haven't quite got the grasp of computers yet!

[mikeprice]

All well and good - but if you move away from education and Microsoft stuff you find some proper long lasting stuff

 

VMS is an operating system that was designed to run on VAX computers in the 70s

 

VAX/VMS was famous for its almost mythical stability and according to a rumour the

Irish railway had one VAX-system that worked 18 years without reboot. Not bad. source and more details Altiq : vax/vms English

 

And that included operating system upgrades - it was a cluster (yes - in the 80s) and you could so a rolling upgrade and the cluster would remain fully functional throughout the upgrade

 

and this was in the days when a Windows computer came with a reset button on the front because you needed to reboot them many times a day - and we accepted that as normal!!!

[rhysa]

Our CAD / CAM Room has roland Miller's from pre 2000

[DrCheese]

Until last year we still had our Nortel BCM450 phonesystem from 2005 still running in production - With a single spinning hard drive. When we finally had the money to scrap it I was tempted to frame the hard drive & mount it on the wall as a reward for managing to survive for so long!

[caffrey]

We still have a set of Sony VAIO PCG-9G5M from before my time here, I think 2002 maybe ? They are still being used in exams with examwritepad on them.... Makes me cringe

[mikeprice]

This thread reminds me of some system I used to 'look after' when I worked for a business - there were several mini computer systems (yup it was THAT long ago) that no longer had anyone looking after them from the main IT areas so it was assumed that I would do whatever was needed

 

and before you ask the documentation was complete - in that I had program listings for MOST of the programs and they were often written in a language I had heard of

 

the concept was that if they

 

perform all the necessary functions required by the business - including response times

do not communicate in a manner that limits any other systems (such as requiring old comms protocols that can't be properly supported on new systems)

does not create any security problems

all hardware can be supported and spare parts can be found

 

then there is no reason to update them

 

anyone spotted the missing bit?

 

yup - the ability of being able to fix possible bugs and other problems was never mentioned - that was my problem!!

 

still - the job was interesting in those days - became more boring after year 2000 when everything was on nice modern systems like VMS and Solaris

[6Foot2]

What's the oldest bit of kit you still have running?

 

Me.

 

Following on from a comment from another member of staff today.

[DJ-1701]

Me.

 

Following on from a comment from another member of staff today.

 

Great minds...

 

Probably me. [emoji57]

[6Foot2]

@DJ-1707: Hadn't seen that reply, or had forgotten about it.

 

[chaplic]

Dell Inspiron 1525, originally bought for my my mum and donated to the school. Wiki says 2008. Maxed out with RAM and SSD, still does a turn for occasional use and runs win10 like a champ. Other than that, think everything (inc cabling!) is newer than six years old. Not that we're rolling in cash, it's a small place and before I arrived everything was crap!