I bet not too many people here are still using an 11 year old computer!

Hmm... that's a tough one to beat. My main desktop workstation is an Alpha purchased by my company as part of a render farm for Titanic, which puts it at 1996 -- all original parts, though I'm about to add another SCSI drive from an old Indigo2 -- so that's only 7 years old. My fileserver is a Pentium-MMX, so that's even newer -- 1997 at the earliest. However, my firewall is built from a Pentium based machine which started life as a 486 DX/4, with 8 megs of RAM and DOS 5.0 -- it was a gift from a friend of mine when he moved, and didn't want to take it with him. Still in the original case, still running with the same power supply as when he got it back in about '91. I still have the original keyboard attached to it, though the J key was broken off (and replaced with the 5 key from the number pad) in an attempt to switch keycaps around so that I could learn the dvorak layout. If that still counts as original (all upgrades from 486 were done by me), then I guess that's 12 years.

But it is still my original Gateway computer, because I am still using the original "Anykey" programmable keyboard, and the original floppy drive (one of those 3.5"/5.25" drives that fits in a single drive bay).

Last summer I mourned the loss of a mountain bike that I bought in '95 -- I'd gone through two frames, a number of wheelsets, etc, until the only things left were a seat, which broke two years ago at the start of the Provincial Championships race, and the grips. The grips got cut off after they started leaving bits of rubber on my hands after a ride. Wasn't my bike anymore, after that.

Until about eight months ago, I was using a Soundblaster 16 that I bought when it was new and cutting-edge. A quick look online seems to indicate that that would have been 1992 (which seems right, because I'm pretty sure I was living in a dorm at the time), so that's about 10 years. And my part was more significant than your part. It still works, too. I just have nowhere to put it right now, and, since it's ISA, I doubt I'll ever have anywhere to put it again.

On the other hand, I also still have a Gateway AnyKey keyboard that I got with my 486SX/33 in 1991 that I use when I have to actually type at the console of my AT-keyboarded OpenBSD machine. Actually, I haven't used it in a while, and it just occurred to me that it'll be difficult, because the last change I made to that computer required the removal of its video card. Here's hoping it doesn't break!

Edit: IDE ... ISA -- Whatever it takes!

And my part was more significant than your part

Dem's fightin' words!

"...since it's IDE..."

You mean ISA, right?

I still have an ISA Sound Blaster AWE32 Gold in one of my Linux machines for listening to MP3's and such. Still a great card as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, the AWE32 Gold was one of the best that Creative ever made. The AWE64 Gold was technically good too, although that was around the time that Creative started going downhill - I never did get half of the music software to even install because their installer couldn't believe that a Cyrix6x86 at 200MHz was acceptable. "You must have a Pentium 50 or better."..

Every card that they've made since has been over-priced and under-performing (especially SQ-wise) as far as I'm concerned. Backed up with outrageous bloatware, buggy drivers and a couldn't-care-less attitude towards support. Over 5 years later, and Creative still on seem to test with Intel based systems - witness the *hordes* of Athlon users who have had nothing but trouble with the SB Live.

If I were in the market for a soundcard at the moment, I'd buy either M-Audio or Turtle Beach.

AWE64 Gold, have one of those too. Although, it's currently sitting in my closet somewhere, collecting dust, along with hordes of other misc. parts.

I agree that Creative has gone downhill since then. They seem to cut a lot of corners trying to meet release dates, and continuously release crap. Their drivers are now ridiculous; packed with all kinds of excess garbage that nobody will ever use, and not all that stable.

I have a box full of SB16's and a ton of other cards from back in that era from them, and they all work great. Linux loves them, so they end up in all my Linux boxes.

Ah, yes. At school, we used to describe one form of fixing things as ``the engineer's solution'': whacking it with a hammer.

I usually refer to this as "percussive maintenance".

Hey, I've still got one of those laying around here too. This reminds me that I better put it on Ebay now. it's not like I'm ever going to use it anymore, I don't have a motherboard left that still has ISA slots...

At what point does it become a new computer? When you have removed the last original part?

Never! It's like Grandfather's axe. The handle has been replaced four times, the axe-head twice, but it is still the same axe that he got from his grandfather!

tanstaafl.

Heh, I bought my first (and only) whole PC in '90. It was a 486/sx 25. Been upgrading parts ever since. The last thing to go was the case. I only replaced that when everything moved to ATX. I still have it, and it is housing my firewall. It is, however, starting to show a little rust. The only really strange thing about my PC is that I currently have 2 power supplies in it. One AT and one ATX. The at runs all my drives, and the ATX runs the board and cards. And yes, they're grounded together. It's kinda funny, really. My computer looks like quasimodo. Oh, and I think I lost the case cover 2 moves ago, or about 4 years. I never have bothered to seal it up.

Until about eight months ago, I was using a Soundblaster 16 that I bought when it was new and cutting-edge. [...] And my part was more significant than your part.

I actually have two of those -- one that used to be in my firewall but got put in my fileserver, and one in my Alpha.

I believe the appropriate response here is:

neener-neener.




(Say, I wonder if tanstaafl reckoned on the Linux/BSD people here when he made that comment...)

Yeah, but I was using it in my main workstation. It might be resurrected if and when I hand my current computer down to my wife.

Oh, and are yours the non-PnP jumpered sort?

Yeah, no PnP for me. The one I have in my main workstation is non-operational at the moment due to conflicting IRQs. That's not such a big deal -- I have the software necessary to change it. Only my main workstation is an Alpha, and I'm having trouble getting the x86 emulator working, so that I can get dosemu working, so that I can run the software.