getting older

rjent · Post by **rjent** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 7:44 am

skou wrote:Dick, I agree as far as Shopsmith is concerned, but my current computer's motherboard was made by a now-defunct (Abit) mobo maker, in 2007. I had a house fire in 2012, lost everything. But, I ended up replacing the board that burned up, because I liked it. Even got the same CPU, Q6600. (Oh, Abit IP-35 Pro.)

That board was obsolete, when I got my first one, (I was a Moderator on Abit's Forum, and scored a free one) and that one was one of the first ones in the country. I also buy refurb and sell IBM/Lenovo T-60 Thinkpads, that are also obsolete, but they also function just fine. I can find carcasses for #25 to $30 or so, and sell them for $150 or so.

What I'm driving to, just because it is dated (think of a Model 10) it will STILL work just fine. But, you've got to get quality stuff.

steve

Absolutely! That was my point. Someone mentioned Windows 2000. I actually have a W 2000 machine running still. It does a lot of my music production (MIDI). Nothing wrong with it, except MS doesn't support it anymore and most new software won't run on it because of the .NET architecture which is on purpose Lots of great old computer products out there but are truly obsolete because of the Corporate Model of planned obsolescence. It is really a shame. Again, it is one of the things that separates Shopsmith from so many companies and industries. Your example 10ER IS a perfect example.

Dick

Jack Wilson · Post by **Jack Wilson** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:09 am

The last two sentences were spot on.

skou · Post by **skou** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:14 am

rjent wrote:Absolutely! That was my point. Someone mentioned Windows 2000. I actually have a W 2000 machine running still. It does a lot of my music production (MIDI). Nothing wrong with it, except MS doesn't support it anymore and most new software won't run on it because of the .NET architecture which is on purpose Lots of great old computer products out there but are truly obsolete because of the Corporate Model of planned obsolescence. It is really a shame. Again, it is one of the things that separates Shopsmith from so many companies and industries. Your example 10ER IS a perfect example.

Dick

Dick, I think we see eye to eye! THANKS, Bro!

steve

roy_okc · Post by **roy_okc** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:47 am

robinson46176 wrote:I thought I would give the window 8 a chance to see if I liked it at all. The first day Windows 8 crashed 3 time and the 3rd time it lost a bunch of records (thankfully I had backup). At the first chance I wiped it clean and installed Ubuntu, I think at that time it was version 12.04 or maybe 13. It is now 14 something.
It serves me great, your mileage may vary...
.

I, too, am a long-time Linux user. Started with Red Hat around 1998, then transitioned to a user-friendly Debian-based distro a couple years later, believe I went pure Debian for a while after that other distro folded, and have been on Ubuntu for several years, probably at least 2008.

I didn't have a Windows "desktop" machine at home from 2000 until last year when I had to install one for my shop computer to run my laser; have had Windows laptops here and there since then and will likely have one for the foreseeable future for CNC & laser design apps.

I downloaded and have been playing a bit with the Windows 10 technical preview in a virtual machine. It appears so far to be pretty decent. It gives the options of using a lot of the concepts that were forced in Windows 8 (I have never used 8, hopefully never will) or not, the way it should have been done in 8; I have this install looking very much like Win 7. I don't yet see any compelling features in it that would make me want to rush out and pay to upgrade my systems from 7 to 10, but it is good to see that MS realized their mistake and are back on track. The only somewhat significant, for me, feature is virtual desktops finally included directly in the OS and not an add-on; however, I don't yet see a way to save the number of desktops between sessions--looks like a person has to create however many desired after each boot.

Roy

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 1:20 pm

I still use DOS!:D

I prefer quatro-pro over excel.

I can still program for my 'unique' needs. The speed of a newer machine(compared to sub mhz 8088) is astounding(especially with assembler written programs).

Yes there are more useful things out there. I use them also.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:23 pm

I still have an old iMAC with the translucent turquoise case that I bought a number of years ago because I wanted to learn a little about OS-X. I consider it a shop computer to sit just outside of the woodshop by the door in another room of the basement just so I can do some quick stuff without running upstairs. It stills works perfectly if a bit slowly.

Most of my computer needs are low demand these days and most of my use is internet involved. I have a zillion hours on Ancestry.com, family and friend stuff on Facebook. I follow a lot of different science and news sites on Twitter. Otherwise my use is mostly for writing and I can use about any old box for that. I have the motorhome parked out back where I can see the 2 main horse lots and I want to set an older box I have in there so if I want I can just step in there to do a little writing at odd times. I have to have power to the motorhome because I keep a float/maintenance charger on the batteries.

Writing is an odd pursuit and I find that I do better if I just do it as the mood or opportunity strikes instead of going to one workplace on some schedule and sitting down at the same desk. Sometimes I toss a laptop in the work truck and drive to a back corner of the farm that is higher than all around and I can see for miles. We planted several hundred Scotch pine trees there on about 2 acres there some years ago and many of them are 20' - 25' tall now. It makes a really nice spot to sit and listen to the wind in the pines and disconnect from the rest of the world.

I keep my working files on a tiny 32 gig flash drive (constantly backed up) and just carry them with me so I can work on them a bit anywhere on any computer.

I was fairly satisfied with Windows 98SE and with Windows XP. If I had some Windows only software that I wanted I would probably set up a dual boot install of Windows XP and Ubuntu.

If I recall correctly the first PC's that had a hard drive were XT's. The oldest one I had came with an 11 meg hard drive. This fairly low cost laptop I'm using now has a 311 gig hard drive.

I'm afraid that my good wife has very little understanding of my need to putter with old computers but it is the only one of my many hobbies (some kind of expensive) that she complains about. I just keep stuff spread out and out of sight...

.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Oct 04, 2014 11:38 pm

XT's had a 10 mb 'fixed' disk.