# Who's Using The Oldest Computer?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 18, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934 "2004-10-18T23:30:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/1 "2004-10-18T23:30:49Z")
This has probably been done before, but if it has I can’t turn it up. Who is posting to the SDMB on the absolute oldest clunker of a computer? I got to thinking about this because I have been considering replacing my laptop at home, which I bought in 2000 (450 MHz, 4GB HD), but I know there have to be folks out there on 486’s and such.
n.b., I’m not interested in the oldest computer you _own_ (at least not in this thread), but rather the computer you are using right now. I have an Atari 800, but needless to say I can’t surf the web with it. Come to that, I have a big cylindrical slide rule from 1880 that is technically a computer, but it doesn’t have an Ethernet card.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/2 "2004-10-19T00:43:14Z")
I.B.M. Personal Computer, 8088. Full-height Winchester Hard Drive, with small flashing LED on face.
One full-height 5 1/2 inch floppy drive.
Beige keyboard. Small green Raytheon monitor.
What???
😛
I’m on a Pentium II 233 with 128 Mgs RAM and a 30 Gig HD. It’s pokey but for normal Internet surfing and whatnot and regular computer work, it’s just fine.
Cartooniverse
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/3 "2004-10-19T00:47:54Z")
Ok, just to end all the joke answers before they even begin:
“I’m surfing the Dope on my Charles Babbage-designed Analytical Machine.”
😛
There. Actually, I use an IBM T30 laptop.
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### Author:  [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/4 "2004-10-19T00:49:23Z")
When I’m not using my work laptop, I use a 1998 Sony Vaio PCV-240. P-300, 64 megs of RAM, still has my old ISDN adapter in it.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/5 "2004-10-19T01:38:15Z")
I’ve seen someone post a screen shot of the SDMB as it appears on Commodore 64.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/6 "2004-10-19T02:01:46Z")
I’m currently posting with my main machine, a 1998-vintage PowerBook. The oldest machine that I somewhat regularly post to the boards from (i.e., at least 2-3 times per month and a pretty high cumulative total) is a 7100/80 from 1995.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/7 "2004-10-19T02:12:21Z")
If someone’s using the text browser Lynx, they could be using quite a less-powerful machine…
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### Author:  [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/8 "2004-10-19T02:29:26Z")
I’ve got a P2-300 with 64 megs of memory and a **four gig** Ultra-Wide SCSI 2 Cheetah hard drive. Woohoo, that 10,000 rpm drive just _flies_ with all that memory and processor speed, I tells ya!
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### Author:  [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/9 "2004-10-19T02:41:17Z")
150mhz, 48mb RAM, 1.8 gig hard drive. lynx as the web-browser.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/10 "2004-10-19T02:59:41Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> I’ve seen someone post a screen shot of the SDMB as it appears on Commodore 64.
Link, please? It’d be neat to get a set of shots of the SDMB as it appears in many different places…
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/11 "2004-10-19T03:34:36Z")
[The beginning](http://www.sunspace.org/sdmb_lynx.png) (a PNG image) of this thread as it appears in Lynx under Windows XP Pro SP1. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/12 "2004-10-19T03:48:18Z")
Not me, unfortunatly. I pay for what my wife buys to post to her message board. (that somehow seems like a waste of time as long as no one brings up my posting to this message board)
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/13 "2004-10-19T05:05:26Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#):
>
> “I’m surfing the Dope on my Charles Babbage-designed Analytical Machine.”[/SIZE]
Ha! Everyone knows the TCP/IP stack for the difference engine is buggy.
You really haven’t read SDMB until you’ve read it on paper tape.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/14 "2004-10-19T06:06:02Z")
ASR-33 teletype, connected to a Rockwell SC/MP with 4K expansion board. Connected to a Bell 103 acoustic coupler, running 110 baud.
Reading a smiley takes ten seconds.
If my dog barks near the phone, it sometimes spells _flee_.
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/15 "2004-10-19T09:13:08Z")
I’m running Windows 95 on a 133 mhz Compaq Presario 9240, along with a Mustek MFC-600S scanner and a NEC Spinwriter SuperScript610plus, all of which I bought in 1996, and all of which runs surprisingly well. Still have the original 1 gigabyte hard-drive, although I upgraded the RAM from the original 16 megabytes to 40 megabytes. I keep saying that I’m going to have to buy a new PC “one of these days”, but using the Mozilla browser everything runs surpringly well.
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### Author:  [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/16 "2004-10-19T11:33:07Z")
This thread is like the movie _Genevieve._
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### Author:  [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/17 "2004-10-19T12:30:23Z")
Til I got my eMac a few months ago, I used a 6400/180 from 1995. OS8.6, IE4, it aint going any higher.
I also had a LaCie 4 gig HD with one of those SCSI connectors on the back thats about a foot wide. Still works too, i’m waiting for my brother to come and pick it up so he can use it.
“Many times have I tried to kill this machine, but she refuses to die. She’s a warrior, and you gotta respect that”
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### Author:  [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/18 "2004-10-19T13:37:04Z")
I’m actually a little suprised that no one has an earlier machine. We were running TCP/IP stacks on Windows 3.1 machines with the NCSA Mosaic browser at Biosphere 2.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/19 "2004-10-19T14:41:04Z")
This thread as viewed with [NCSA Mosaic 1.0.3](http://home.earthlink.net/~ahunter/Upload_Download/Mosaic%201.0.3.jpg); [Netscape 1.0](http://home.earthlink.net/~ahunter/Upload_Download/Netscape%201.0.jpg).
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-using-the-oldest-computer/269934/20 "2004-10-19T14:47:05Z")
I have, on a lark, hooked up my old Mac LC to the 'net and posted to the boards from that once or twice.
Manufactured in 1990, max screen resolution of 512x384, glorious 16 bit color. 10 mb ram, 40 mb hard drive. 68020 motorola processor, sans fpu, mostly 32 bit save for a 16 bit memory bus (due to Apple’s efforts to make a “budget” computer). Slower than molasses in January under system 7.5.5.
I believe I was using either Netscape 2 or iCab.
This isn’t even a patch on the C64 fellow, though. Now **that’s** impressive.
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