16 Jan
2004
16 Jan
'04
3:59 a.m.
From The Register: "Intel and HP find oldest
working PC"
(http://www.theregister.com/content/67/34933.html)
"Dutch company PHI DATA yesterday received a € 18,000 prize from Intel, HP
and Dutch IT weekly Computable for still owning and operating a vintage IBM
5160 (Intel 8088) computer from 1983. PHI Data uses the IBM to test matrix
printers. It is now officialy the oldest obsolete-yet-active PC in the Low
Countries."
<snip>
"When Dell ran a contest in the USA back in 1999 for the oldest
small-business PC still in use, the winner was the Altair 8800b. Still
running a 1960 Digital PDP-1 to do your maths? Let us know."
I suspect that a number on this list can do better.
Bob
_________________________________________________________________
There are now three new levels of MSN Hotmail Extra Storage! Learn more.
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=hotmail/es2&ST=1
16 Jan
16 Jan
6:03 a.m.
I used to work for Martin Marietta's Aerospace division. When the
defense work slowed to a trickle in the early 1990s and they were laying
off hundreds of people I switched over to the Data Systems division. One of
the jobs that I did there was to go around and inspect company PCs for
unauthorized software. As part of that process we had to inventory all of
the computers, SW, peripherals, etc. Based on what we found and the user
requirements, MM replaced thousands of various brand and vintage PCs with
new 386s. One day, I inspected an upper level manager's computer and I
found an original IBM PC with either 64 or 256k of RAM and one floppy drive
and no hard drive. It was an IBM model 5150 with serial number 000023!!!!
We couldn't even run our virus checker and inventoring SW on it. The only
thing that the manager used it for was to connect to the E-mail system
(IRMA IIRC). He had DOS 2.0 IIRC and the IBM IRMA SW and that was all. We
tried to upgrade him to a 386 with Windows but he was adament and refused
to switch to the new system and kept his old PC. It's probably still there.
Joe
At 08:59 AM 1/16/04 -0600, you wrote:
From The
Register: "Intel and HP find oldest working PC"
(http://www.theregister.com/content/67/34933.html)
"Dutch company PHI DATA yesterday received a ? 18,000 prize from Intel, HP
and Dutch IT weekly Computable for still owning and operating a vintage IBM
5160 (Intel 8088) computer from 1983. PHI Data uses the IBM to test matrix
printers. It is now officialy the oldest obsolete-yet-active PC in the Low
Countries."
<snip>
"When Dell ran a contest in the USA back in 1999 for the oldest
small-business PC still in use, the winner was the Altair 8800b. Still
running a 1960 Digital PDP-1 to do your maths? Let us know."
I suspect that a number on this list can do better.
Bob
_________________________________________________________________
There are now three new levels of MSN Hotmail Extra Storage! Learn more.
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=hotmail/es2&ST=1
6:27 a.m.
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004, Robert Feldman wrote:
Not only on this list but everywhere. I would say thousands of companies
still run computers that are 20-30 years old because there was never any
need to upgrade. And I'm not just talking about embedded process control
type applications either.
Heck, in around 1999 I was contacted by a nursery in San Jose that was
finally retiring their 1950s Burroughs accounting machine. I passed it on
to the Computer History Museum where it sits today.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
From The
Register: "Intel and HP find oldest working PC"
(http://www.theregister.com/content/67/34933.html)
"Dutch company PHI DATA yesterday received a ? 18,000 prize from Intel, HP
and Dutch IT weekly Computable for still owning and operating a vintage IBM
5160 (Intel 8088) computer from 1983. PHI Data uses the IBM to test matrix
printers. It is now officialy the oldest obsolete-yet-active PC in the Low
Countries."
<snip>
"When Dell ran a contest in the USA back in 1999 for the oldest
small-business PC still in use, the winner was the Altair 8800b. Still
running a 1960 Digital PDP-1 to do your maths? Let us know."
I suspect that a number on this list can do better. 
6:51 a.m.
My father has two of those in his garage. I remember visiting his
office in the very late 50's and early 60's and wathing him work on
them. There was Burroughs and one other It was some kind of IBM and
was programmed by pegboard and punch cards.
James
Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
Not only on this list but everywhere. I would say
thousands of companies
still run computers that are 20-30 years old because there was never any
need to upgrade. And I'm not just talking about embedded process control
type applications either.
Heck, in around 1999 I was contacted by a nursery in San Jose that was
finally retiring their 1950s Burroughs accounting machine. I passed it on
to the Computer History Museum where it sits today.
7:20 a.m.
New subject: Save this equipment for the dump!!! 48hrs ONLY!
I am taking this stuff down to the dump Monday morning if someone doesn't
pick it up and arrange for it to be picked up by someone local by the end of
Sunday:
DEC PDU Power Distribution System from a Storageworks cabinet, 220V 3 Phase
connector, has 28 ports on the back for power cables.
6 BA350 Storageworks enclosures
Vax 4000 BA-400 Pedestal cabinet (empty)
I am in Carmel, NY 5 mins from CT off of RT84
Curt
7:30 a.m.
New subject: Save this equipment for the dump!!! 48hrs ONLY!
Vax 4000 BA-400 Pedestal cabinet (empty)
Anybody know if a BA213 (metal part) will go in a BA400
cabinet (plastic part) with the door removed?
My thinking is if both would have to fit rail-racking systems
then they would be the same overall dimensions, and the
outer box would fit either.
John A.
11:49 a.m.
New subject: Save this equipment for the dump!!! 48hrs ONLY!
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 13:30:43 -0500
"John Allain" <allain(a)panix.com> wrote:
Anybody know if a BA213 (metal part) will go in a
BA400
cabinet (plastic part) with the door removed?
I think yes. I can't say for
sure, but BA400 and BA213 boxen are 19"
rack mountable (== same with) and have the same height.
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
19 Jan
19 Jan
10:09 a.m.
New subject: Save this equipment for the dump!!! 48hrs ONLY!
I am taking this stuff down to the dump Monday morning
if someone doesn't
pick it up and arrange for it to be picked up by someone local by the end of
Sunday:
Next time, drop it off in my driveway. I am on the way to the dump
anyway. And I won't charge you nearly as much...<g>
William Donzelli
aw288(a)osfn.org
16 Jan
16 Jan
8:52 a.m.
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004, Robert Feldman wrote:
5160 is an XT.
The 5150 (PC) came out in August 1981.
Could ANYBODY, ANYWHERE, believe that a unit from the third year
of production is THE OLDEST?????????
I assume that they are so lacking in context that they aren't even
considering machines other than IBM?
From The
Register: "Intel and HP find oldest working PC"
(http://www.theregister.com/content/67/34933.html)
"Dutch company PHI DATA yesterday received a
and Dutch IT weekly Computable for still owning and operating a vintage IBM
5160 (Intel 8088) computer from 1983. PHI Data uses the IBM to test matrix
printers. It is now officialy the oldest obsolete-yet-active PC in the Low
Countries." 
12:36 p.m.
From The Register: "Intel and HP find oldest
working PC"=20
(http://www.theregister.com/content/67/34933.html)
"Dutch company PHI DATA yesterday received a =80 18,000 prize from Intel,=
HP=20
and Dutch IT weekly Computable for still owning and operating a vintage I=
BM=20
5160 (Intel 8088) computer from 1983. PHI Data uses the IBM to test matri= x=20
printers. It is now officialy the oldest obsolete-yet-active PC in the Lo=
w=20
Countries."
<snip>
"When Dell ran a contest in the USA back in 1999 for the oldest=20
small-business PC still in use, the winner was the Altair 8800b. Still=20
running a 1960 Digital PDP-1 to do your maths? Let us know."
I suspect that a number on this list can do better.
Depends on what you mean by 'in use'. Many of us have systems much older
than that that are still working (my oldest desktop computer is probably
the HP9830 from 1973, the fact that there's a PDP8/e on my desk that's a
couple of years earlier doesn't make it a desktop :-)). But it's arguable
if they're 'in use'.
In terms of machines still doing very useful work here (as opposed to
machines that are fun to operate, repair, hack, etc), there's the PC/XT
that runs the EPROM and GAL programemrs. And the TRS-80 Model 4
(non-gate-array CPU board) that I use for disk copying (it makes a better
job of handling strange disk formats than any PC I've seen).
Actually, the M4 emitted a cloud of smoke the other week while copying a
disk (and carried on working as if nothing had happened). From the smell,
I would guess a tantalum capacitor exploded, but I've not had time to
pull the case to check.
-tony
7491
days inactive
7494
days old
9 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
allain＠panix.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
aw288＠osfn.org -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
curt＠atarimuseum.com -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
jrice54＠charter.net -
r_a_feldman＠hotmail.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com -
vcf＠siconic.com