# Who here is using the oldest computer to access SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373 "2009-10-02T17:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/21 "2009-10-03T19:15:37Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I am pretty sure you can go back farther than that if you wanted to though. There is a text only web browser called Lynx Wow, that takes me back, had forgotten all about Lynx. I used it on my Commodore 128 (which had the 64 built in too). My first computer was in 1981, a Commodore VIC-20. don’t think it could get online any way, but some hacker probably could find a way. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/22 "2009-10-03T21:58:27Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > To be fair, it sounds like **tdn** has never replaced the motherboard, so there is a part of it that does date to the original machine. I might be wrong, but I don’t think the LGA 775 socket that the Core 2 uses was released until 2004 or so. So he had to have replaced that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/23 "2009-10-03T23:19:34Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Thanks for posting that unexpected link. I didn’t know the concept/paradox had a name. My computer has a floppy drive, CD-ROM drive and hard drive which came from an HP Pavilion something-or-other I bought in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/24 "2009-10-03T23:41:08Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > Wow, that takes me back, had forgotten all about Lynx. I used it on my Commodore 128 (which had the 64 built in too). My first computer was in 1981, a Commodore VIC-20. don’t think it could get online any way, but some hacker probably could find a way. I have Lynx running on my Sony laptop running Vista. I use it check accessibility of web sites. The explanation I use is: “This is what the web search engines see when they look at your site”. All the Flash nonsense is invisible. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/25 "2009-10-04T00:50:21Z")
I’m reading the SDMB on an abacus! ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/26 "2009-10-04T17:58:58Z")
I saw this as an invitation to test my backup PC, a Compaq Presario that I bought new in the summer of 1996. Specs: Windows 95, Pentium processor, 40 megabytes of RAM, 1.2 gigabyte hard-drive, 28.8 kilobit/second modem, Mozilla 1.4 browser. So far everything looks okay. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/27 "2009-10-04T18:45:21Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m reading the SDMB on an abacus! :mad: \ ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/28 "2009-10-05T03:00:24Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m reading the SDMB on an abacus! When _I_ was a kid, I had to read the SDMB on stone tablets! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/29 "2009-10-05T03:15:47Z")
OK, I had another reason to hook it up, so here I am posting from my vintage 1998 WallStreet. I have several operating systems on this thing, but in the spirit of the thread I went with the oldest one it can natively boot: this is MacOS 8.1, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/30 "2009-10-05T17:04:11Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You really can access the web, including the SDMB, from a Commodore 64 circa 1982. There is even a web browser for it. I don’t have a physical Commodore 64 any more but I do have the emulator that acts as a virtual computer exactly like the real thing on my Windows computer. I did access the web through it as an experiment once and it worked. You could technically buy a Commodore 64 on Ebay and post to the SDMB if you really wanted to. I may try that virtual experiment with the emulator again later today if I have the time. Like I said, my ex-husband did it. He only pulled it up 'cause I asked him to, though. I remember posting from it, though it was just to some unrelated thread. The point of the thing wasn’t the ability to browse the web, even; that was a given. It was the method of connection. [Here’s](http://members.shaw.ca/cue64/palmcradle.html) the documentation that was posted. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373/31 "2009-10-05T19:37:22Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > When _I_ was a kid, I had to read the SDMB on stone tablets! I prefer oracle bones. It’s the Firefox of bronze age web browsers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-here-is-using-the-oldest-computer-to-access-sdmb/512373.md?page=1)