
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: Ancient Computers in Use Today (2012) - pmarin
http://www.pcworld.com/article/249951/if_it_aint_broke_dont_fix_it_ancient_computers_in_use_today.html
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abruzzi
Im a dabbling electronic musician, so I understand a lot about keeping very
old technology functional in the modern world. A lot of these old synths (all
mine are digital synths) are irreplaceable with newer technology. My stuff
goes as far back as the mid 80s, but there are people that restore and
maintain even older hardware. Recently a synth tech restored a couple of
Crumar GDSs. These were CPM based S100 bus computers with audio synthesis
cards and a program that let you design sounds using a terminal interface,
they play them with a music keyboard. These old synths are very difficult to
keep going compared to something like a MiniMoog from the same era, because
they are dependant on software, 8" floppies, and operating systems and
terminals far out of common usage. Nonetheless this is a pretty amazing
machine, and a very cool restoration:

[http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77037](http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=77037)

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betterunix
Even more amazing is that there are still a few 19th century steam engines
being used:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corliss_steam_engine#List_of_o...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corliss_steam_engine#List_of_operational_engines)

~~~
seekingtruth
Mechanicville, NY 3 Phase Hydroelectric Plant built in 1897 and still running
the original generators:
[http://edisontechcenter.org/Mechanicville.html](http://edisontechcenter.org/Mechanicville.html)

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adamio
I'd like to know about people still using ancient computers that suck. Like a
guy still struggling with an eMachines iMac clone running Windows ME,

or a company using a drowning mainframe with an army of legacy coders
constantly plugging the leaking holes, or nightmare layers of integration

~~~
wldcordeiro
I don't have personal knowledge of the mainframes in use at my employer but we
might qualify based on talking to the coders that work on the mainframes.

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diminoten
> Replacing these old systems with modern machines, she explains, would cost
> millions of dollars and could potentially disrupt national security.

My god...

The private companies who aren't willing to save money by switching are one
thing (apparently the market is okay with slow store management), but the US
and British governments?

That's _very_ scary.

~~~
dsuth
This one surprised me least of all. The issue with upgrading these systems to
newer technology, especially on general purpose operating systems, is that
they're far _less_ reliable, precisely due to the fact that they are more
powerful and flexible, and hence, more complex.

The first rule of critical systems is to reduce complexity, and their current
systems probably found the sweet spot between useability and simplicity
decades ago.

The guy using the IBM accounting machines though... Dear god man! It sounds
like the museum would've handed him a new system on a platter, in exchange for
his old system. Take the upgrade!

~~~
gaius
They are built like crap too, you can put a PC in a rack mount case but that
don't make it a server. The kit from DEC, Sun, SGI, HP et al from the 80s and
90s was rock solid and would keep going for 20, 30, 40 years, easily. Modern
kit you would be lucky to reach 3 years.

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Animats
The IBM 402 has been at the Computer Museum for several years.

~~~
christiangenco
So has the iPhone.

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VLM
Its a three year old article, I wonder if the unit record equipment user has
changed anything, other followups, etc.

Much like the list of steam engine users, giving antique users free publicity
guarantees that they'll do anything to make sure they do not upgrade. Even if
they have to remove the boiler and rotate the steam engine by electric motor,
or have to run the books on the URE and in quickbooks, they'll "have to" do it
for publicity.

~~~
fennecfoxen
I don't think most of these people get their paying customers from this sort
of publicity.

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throwawayaway
> Today, he simply connects a serial port between the CoCo and a PC, with the
> PC acting as a virtual disk drive emulator.

From the third page, I find this fascinating - does anybody know more about
it? Is it an FTP or something else?

EDIT: here's his website,
[http://users.axess.com/twilight/sock/](http://users.axess.com/twilight/sock/)

~~~
jarcane
It's DriveWire4:
[https://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/](https://sites.google.com/site/drivewire4/)

~~~
throwawayaway
very interesting that it supports osx as there are so few modern apple
computers that have any way of using an rs232 port, I think the last macbook
pro with an express card slot was released in 2011. perhaps a usb to rs232 is
used.

~~~
fredoralive
It must require an Xserve, they had serial ports. :-)

(But more seriously, USB->Serial converters work with Mac OS X, I used one to
connect a Palm m105 to a G3 iBook running Mac OS X 10.1 way back when. More
currently, it seems the OS itself ships with drivers for FTDI's converter
chips nowadays, although I haven't used that capability).

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fit2rule
My kids are using our 8-bit battlestation to learn computing. Its excellent -
far better than giving them an rPi, which they just get frustrated with. Turn
on the old Oric Atmos machine, boot up a disk full of software, have a great
afternoon. I do get a bit tired of the ol' "10 PING : GOTO 10" trick, though
.. ;)

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ourmandave
If anything does break you can use your modern 3D printer to make hard-to-find
replacement parts.

Everything new is old again. o_O

~~~
Sanddancer
There are some things where 3D printing is not an option, especially oldschool
wire wrap backplanes. If you can get a 3d printer to create a rig that can
print the functional equivalent of
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Computerp...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Computerplatine_Wire-
wrap_backplane_detail_Z80_Doppel-Europa-Format_1977.jpg) , I will eat my hat.

~~~
fennecfoxen
Functionally equivalent? ... why couldn't you just design a PCB that's pinout-
compatible?

~~~
Sanddancer
Parent had mentioned 3d printer. Of course using a modern pcb layout program
would be the right tool for the job, as well as a good psychologist to deal
with the madness that follows from tracing all those wires.

Then again, I guess one could potentially rig up a program that took gerber
files for a many layered pcb design and have it output a 3d model for forming
a chunk of multilayer plastic circuit board. You'd need a printer that has
multiple heads for depositing conductive materials though. I'd question its
reliability in such an environment as an old mini though.

