Oldies but Goodies! Who Has the Oldest?

This was sparked by another thread in the Switcher forum where discussion turned to older systems.

So, here is the question: Who has the oldest functional computer on this forum?

To meet the criteria it must:
1) Still be in your possession
2) Power on and boot to the OS
3) Even better if the associated peripherals (keyboard etc are original and still work) and if you can load and run software

If you think you have the oldest post the age and specs, and preferrably photo(s) of the machine in operation.

No prize, just generally acknowledgement tha you are the King Electronic Packrat of the Forum . . . ..



I expect stiff competition BTW--unfortunately, I am not in the running as my oldest machine is a 2001 or 2002 vintage Dell running Ubuntu Linux (not where I can check the particulars right now).

Does this include all computers & any OS (I'm assuming we're not just talking Mac's here)?

- Nick

So the Vt320 that may still be in a closet somewhere doesn't count

pigoo3 said:

Does this include all computers & any OS (I'm assuming we're not just talking Mac's here)?

- Nick

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Dysfunction said:

So the Vt320 that may still be in a closet somewhere doesn't count

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This is OS neutral.
If you still have it and it works, it counts . . . providing it is fully functional as in if it a Terminal and requires a host computer you have to be able to provide the host as well.

Vt320's are dumb terminals. It used to have an external modem cobbled to it that I'd use to access the Internet.. back in the day when all you needed was email, usenet, and archie/veronica/WAIS

Now is the time to dig out that old Commodore 64, Amiga, TRS-80, Atari 800 or one of the CPM Machines (Kaypro etc) and see if it will still push electrons. I am betting, though, that the eventual winner will date from the 1970s (surely some body held on to that Altair 8800 or original Apple II).

As an addition, since the Apple II production spans decades, we need to see the manufacture date on your machine, if available.

EDIT: I just thought of it (coffee has started to kick-in) but I think this post is appropriate to Cyber Monday, as a celebration of machines past!

I got some older Mac's...but got rid of my Commodore VIC-20 a longgg time ago. Never had anything from the 70's...so I'll just sit back and see what folks dig up!

- Nick

This thread makes me feel so very young. In fact, I'm willing to bet that some of you own machines older than me. Hooray!

vansmith said:

This thread makes me feel so very young. In fact, I'm willing to bet that some of you own machines older than me. Hooray!

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I probably have alpine boots older than you though.


Not so much with computer equipment

Dysfunction said:

I probably have alpine boots older than you though.

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I love this. Let's keep this up - it makes me feel excellent.

What qualifies as a computer in this case? I have an abacus that bobtomay used to do his homework as a kid sitting in storage in my closet. Does that count?

BrianLachoreVPI said:

I have an abacus that bobtomay used to do his homework as a kid sitting in storage in my closet.

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So you are saying that you kept Bob in your storage closet when he was a kid?
I didn't realize:
a) That you were that old
b) That you and Bob went back that far together
c) That they had closets back then (caves maybe, but closets I thought were more recent)

Hey now, I have a Pickett sliderule sitting here. I'm not *that* old either.

Razormac said:

So you are saying that you kept Bob in your storage closet when he was a kid?
I didn't realize:
a) That you were that old
b) That you and Bob went back that far together
c) That they had closets back then (caves maybe, but closets I thought were more recent)

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Yeah - you know I even edited it and added the 'sitting in storage' part just to keep our resident corndog from going there - that's what I get for being grammatically lazy.

TANDY TRS-80 here, a wopping 16K ram.
It can do a power on ( at least the POS ) , but not load the OS any more ....
I have trashed all my floppy disks years ago.
I am still holding on to that machine, because I programmed my first bubble sort on that thing.

Cheers ... McBie

BrianLachoreVPI said:

What qualifies as a computer in this case? I have, sitting in storage in my closet, an abacus that bobtomay used to do his homework as a kid. Does that count?

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Just for you . . . though mine may not be grammatically perfect either.

Razormac said:

Just for you . . . though mine may not be grammatically perfect either.

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Too late - the damage has been done....

I was going to say abacus, but powering it on requires no electricity...guess I'm out.

iggibar said:

I was going to say abacus, but powering it on requires no electricity...guess I'm out.

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There's quite a bit of electricity in your body...

OLdest machine

Quite a late one, a mac SE30 from 1989. Stills turns on and boots into OS7