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Gareth Halfacree · 27th Nov 2012, 13:41

Talking to someone on t'Twittorz about keyboards, I was suddenly struck by the fact that the keyboard I use to write all these words wot you are reading is 28 years old and still going strong.

That made me curious: what is the oldest piece of hardware you still use on a daily basis? I mean, actually use: I've got a ZX81 (the one you saw me building if you bought Custom PC a while back, in fact) that's older than my keyboard, but I don't use it on a daily basis and it's certainly not a part of my desktop rig (although that'd be an interesting modding project...)

In my case, it's my keyboard (1984) and my PCMCIA-PCI adapter (1990-something, I forget.) There's also my Psion Series 3A (1993) which replaced a Series 3 (1991) and which I still use for notetaking when I'm out and about, but that's not a daily-use thing.

MSHunter · 27th Nov 2012, 13:55

EVGA GTS 8800, in my wifes PC. Drives her U2711 just fine for photo editing.
must be about 5 years old now, has an other 5 years warranty left.

Shirty · 27th Nov 2012, 14:06

What keyboard is it Gareth? Surely an original Model M?

Burnout21 · 27th Nov 2012, 14:17

My 2007 IBM X61 Tablet is a my daily driver for net browsing.

Tbh I've still got most my stuff since I first started back in 2003 with my own stuff.

Gareth Halfacree · 27th Nov 2012, 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shirty

What keyboard is it Gareth? Surely an original Model M?

Close - it's the IBM Personal Computer AT keyboard, the last revision of the Model F before IBM switched to the cheaper Model M design.

MSHunter · 27th Nov 2012, 14:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gareth Halfacree

Close - it's the IBM Personal Computer AT keyboard, the last revision of the Model F before IBM switched to the cheaper Model M design.

Now that brings back memories! Thats what my father used to use in the hallway programming late into the night. (yes the floor layout was quite odd in that apartment)

Gareth Halfacree · 27th Nov 2012, 14:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSHunter

Now that brings back memories! Thats what my father used to use in the hallway programming late into the night. (yes the floor layout was quite odd in that apartment)

It's the only thing that has travelled with me since the early days. Mice, monitors and the like get replaced, but the IBM keyboard remains. Despite its lack of several rather important keys - like the six-key home pad, the cursor keys, F11, F12, Alt.Gr, Super...

IvanIvanovich · 27th Nov 2012, 15:14

Well I don't use them every day, but I have Cherry keyboards from around 1985. Oldest stuff I use everyday is my sig rig most of which from 2009. Other I use regularly is first gen mitx Via Epia that is my retro gaming machine from 2005ish with IBM flat CRT from late 90's. I'm working on getting the entire system inside the CRT. Just need to address some cooling concerns.

rollo · 27th Nov 2012, 15:16

Mx 518 mouse probably oldest in day to day usage

AMD 250 CPU next in parents pc.

jbloggs · 27th Nov 2012, 16:42

Intel Celeron 2.2 GHz from 2003, used on a music file server...

bulldogjeff · 27th Nov 2012, 17:14

Probably my Benq T905 19 inch monitor gets used as my second screen. It's about 7 years old and i think it set me back £180

azrael- · 27th Nov 2012, 17:55

It might be my keyboard (OEM NMT RT235BT), but there's no date that I can see on it. I believe it's more than 10 years old, though. Completely void of any Windows key and the like.

Tied for an honorable 2nd place are my case, Lian-Li PC61, and my soundcard, Creative Audigy, both of which I got in July 2002.

xTatic · 27th Nov 2012, 18:11

Hmm...

Probably my TDK Bluetooth Adapter from 2002(?)

Still use it to connect wiimotes to my computer.

TheBlackSwordsMan · 27th Nov 2012, 19:23

For me it's my Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000 4.1 from 1999. It still have guts.

azrael- · 28th Nov 2012, 20:38

Was just wondering what the definition of "in daily use" boils down to, because I've an old PC sitting on my desk. Its main, well only, task is providing surface space for other stuff standing on top of it. Said stuff is standing on it on a daily basis, though.

Oh, and said old PC comes with such legendary hardware as a Pentium II 350 MHz (SLOT 1 no less), an ASUS P3B-F, some unknown quantity of memory (ECC of course), an Adaptec 2940UW SCSI controller, a TEAC CD-R56 DVD writer (SCSI) and a Matrox G400. Amazing stuff.

IvanIvanovich · 28th Nov 2012, 20:47

I have a similar P2 system in daily use as a space waster in my storage...

azrael- · 28th Nov 2012, 20:49

They really do a most excellent job doing that.

MSHunter · 28th Nov 2012, 20:56

no daily use means you actually tun it on and use it say at least 3 times a week.

faugusztin · 28th Nov 2012, 20:59

My LCD TV from 2007

. EDID for HDMI is broke, it consumes 240W, it is only 1366x768.

Waiting for my new appartment (finished late 2013) to get a new TV - don't want to move the 50" plasma in a very small elevator

.

mattyh1995 · 28th Nov 2012, 21:37

An old surround sound system from circa 2003 for use with my PC, still sounds amazing

27th Nov 2012, 13:41	#1
Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! bit-tech Staff Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bradford, UK Posts: 1,843	Oldest Daily-Use Hardware? Talking to someone on t'Twittorz about keyboards, I was suddenly struck by the fact that the keyboard I use to write all these words wot you are reading is 28 years old and still going strong. That made me curious: what is the oldest piece of hardware you still use on a daily basis? I mean, actually use: I've got a ZX81 (the one you saw me building if you bought Custom PC a while back, in fact) that's older than my keyboard, but I don't use it on a daily basis and it's certainly not a part of my desktop rig (although that'd be an interesting modding project...) In my case, it's my keyboard (1984) and my PCMCIA-PCI adapter (1990-something, I forget.) There's also my Psion Series 3A (1993) which replaced a Series 3 (1991) and which I still use for notetaking when I'm out and about, but that's not a daily-use thing. __________________ Co-author, Raspberry Pi User Guide, Meet the Raspberry Pi \| gareth.halfacree.co.uk \| twitter bit-tech news correspondent, Custom PC columnist I'm a filthy freelancer! Hire me!

27th Nov 2012, 13:55	#2
MSHunter I am a Dremel Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Belfast Posts: 1,778	EVGA GTS 8800, in my wifes PC. Drives her U2711 just fine for photo editing. must be about 5 years old now, has an other 5 years warranty left. __________________ PC: Silverstone TJ08B-E, 2500K, Corsair H80, 120GBVertex 3 MAX IOPS,GENE-Z , Corsair V. LP 16GB, Gigabyte 1.5GB GTX 580 Super Overclock. U2711 PC Audio: AKG 271 mk II + Samson Go mic. + Asus Xonar D2X Amp: DENON PMA510AE, Speakers: TANNOY MERCURY F1

27th Nov 2012, 14:06	#3
Shirty Good news everyone! Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 5,659	What keyboard is it Gareth? Surely an original Model M? __________________ 2500K \| Corsair H55 \| HIS 7950 \| 8GB XMS3 \| 128GB Crucial M4 \| Samsung 2TB \| ASRock H77M-ITX \| Corsair CX500M \| White Bitfenix Prodigy \| Dell U2311H \| Creative T6060s \| Ducky G2 Pro TKL (Reds) \| Logitech G500 Why.

27th Nov 2012, 14:17	#4
Burnout21 Is the daddy! Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bindi's cupboard Posts: 8,099	My 2007 IBM X61 Tablet is a my daily driver for net browsing. Tbh I've still got most my stuff since I first started back in 2003 with my own stuff. __________________ Project log Mocha70 Workstation: Q6600, DFI P45-T2RS Plus, 8GB Reaper HPC, Quadro FX3450, 60Gb Vertex 2 Game: i7 930, GA-X58-USB3, 12GB Kingston, GTX280, 1Tb Seagate, WC

27th Nov 2012, 15:14	#8
IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу. Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: USA Posts: 3,757	Well I don't use them every day, but I have Cherry keyboards from around 1985. Oldest stuff I use everyday is my sig rig most of which from 2009. Other I use regularly is first gen mitx Via Epia that is my retro gaming machine from 2005ish with IBM flat CRT from late 90's. I'm working on getting the entire system inside the CRT. Just need to address some cooling concerns. __________________ [end of line] intel i5-750 \| evga p55 sli \| 8gb mushkin blackline \| evga gtx670 \| 240gb mushkin chronos dx \| creative titanium hd \| mushkin 580w \| gh60 custom \| logitech mx revolution \| achieva shimian qh270

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27th Nov 2012, 15:16	#9
rollo I Mod, Therefore I Own Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 3,551	Mx 518 mouse probably oldest in day to day usage AMD 250 CPU next in parents pc.

27th Nov 2012, 16:42	#10
jbloggs Hypermodder Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 853	Intel Celeron 2.2 GHz from 2003, used on a music file server...

27th Nov 2012, 17:14	#11
bulldogjeff The modding head is firmly back on. Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Gliding through cyber space Posts: 7,322	Probably my Benq T905 19 inch monitor gets used as my second screen. It's about 7 years old and i think it set me back £180 __________________ BULLDOGS BOX..FINISHED HEAT BLAST...FINISHED Saturday Night Special..FINISHED... Rebirth Finished

27th Nov 2012, 17:55	#12
azrael- I'm special... Join Date: May 2008 Location: Aarhus, Denmark Posts: 3,757	It might be my keyboard (OEM NMT RT235BT), but there's no date that I can see on it. I believe it's more than 10 years old, though. Completely void of any Windows key and the like. Tied for an honorable 2nd place are my case, Lian-Li PC61, and my soundcard, Creative Audigy, both of which I got in July 2002. __________________ It's not the end of the world ...but you can see it from here. Xeon E3-1245 v2 3.4 GHz \| ASUS P8C WS \| 16GB Kingston ECC DDR3 \| Samsung 830 256GB \| eVGA GTX670 2GB \| SB Audigy \| Seasonic X-560 \| Corsair Obsidian 550D \| Dell 2209WA

27th Nov 2012, 18:11	#13
xTatic ~ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Wakefield, UK Posts: 582	Hmm... Probably my TDK Bluetooth Adapter from 2002(?) Still use it to connect wiimotes to my computer. __________________ NZXT Tempest EVO >> Phenom II X4 955 >> Thermaltake Frio >> Zotac GTX570 ASRock 890 GM Pro3 >> 4GB (2x2GB) Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600MHz CL8 >> Corsair TX650W Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB >> NZXT Sentry 2 >> WD Caviar Black 640GB Last edited by xTatic; 28th Nov 2012 at 20:50.

27th Nov 2012, 19:23	#14
TheBlackSwordsMan He's looking at me ! Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 2,300	For me it's my Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000 4.1 from 1999. It still have guts. __________________ 5 2500k@4Ghz l Z68-UD4-B3 l 8Gb Mushkin Silverline l HD 5870 l Mushkin Callisto 60GB l 6.2TB l X-FI Titanium l Seasonic X650 Canon EOS 350D : 18-55mm f/3.5 Canon : Plastic Fantastic 50mm f/1.8

28th Nov 2012, 20:38	#15
azrael- I'm special... Join Date: May 2008 Location: Aarhus, Denmark Posts: 3,757	Was just wondering what the definition of "in daily use" boils down to, because I've an old PC sitting on my desk. Its main, well only, task is providing surface space for other stuff standing on top of it. Said stuff is standing on it on a daily basis, though. Oh, and said old PC comes with such legendary hardware as a Pentium II 350 MHz (SLOT 1 no less), an ASUS P3B-F, some unknown quantity of memory (ECC of course), an Adaptec 2940UW SCSI controller, a TEAC CD-R56 DVD writer (SCSI) and a Matrox G400. Amazing stuff. __________________ It's not the end of the world ...but you can see it from here. Xeon E3-1245 v2 3.4 GHz \| ASUS P8C WS \| 16GB Kingston ECC DDR3 \| Samsung 830 256GB \| eVGA GTX670 2GB \| SB Audigy \| Seasonic X-560 \| Corsair Obsidian 550D \| Dell 2209WA

28th Nov 2012, 20:47	#16
IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу. Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: USA Posts: 3,757	I have a similar P2 system in daily use as a space waster in my storage... __________________ [end of line] intel i5-750 \| evga p55 sli \| 8gb mushkin blackline \| evga gtx670 \| 240gb mushkin chronos dx \| creative titanium hd \| mushkin 580w \| gh60 custom \| logitech mx revolution \| achieva shimian qh270

28th Nov 2012, 20:49	#17
azrael- I'm special... Join Date: May 2008 Location: Aarhus, Denmark Posts: 3,757	They really do a most excellent job doing that. __________________ It's not the end of the world ...but you can see it from here. Xeon E3-1245 v2 3.4 GHz \| ASUS P8C WS \| 16GB Kingston ECC DDR3 \| Samsung 830 256GB \| eVGA GTX670 2GB \| SB Audigy \| Seasonic X-560 \| Corsair Obsidian 550D \| Dell 2209WA

28th Nov 2012, 20:56	#18
MSHunter I am a Dremel Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Belfast Posts: 1,778	no daily use means you actually tun it on and use it say at least 3 times a week. __________________ PC: Silverstone TJ08B-E, 2500K, Corsair H80, 120GBVertex 3 MAX IOPS,GENE-Z , Corsair V. LP 16GB, Gigabyte 1.5GB GTX 580 Super Overclock. U2711 PC Audio: AKG 271 mk II + Samson Go mic. + Asus Xonar D2X Amp: DENON PMA510AE, Speakers: TANNOY MERCURY F1

28th Nov 2012, 20:59	#19
faugusztin I am the guy with two left hands Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bratislava, Slovakia Posts: 4,605	My LCD TV from 2007 . EDID for HDMI is broke, it consumes 240W, it is only 1366x768. Waiting for my new appartment (finished late 2013) to get a new TV - don't want to move the 50" plasma in a very small elevator . __________________ Cerberus Core i7-2600K Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe GSkill RipjawsX 2x8GB DDR3-1600CL9 watercooled EVGA GTX670 Samsung 830 256GB Bitfenix Prodigy Seasonic X-460 Windows 8 Pro Prometheus Xeon E3-1235 Asus P8B WS GSkill RipjawsX 2x4GB DDR3-1333CL7+2x8GB DDR3-1333CL9 Coolink Corator DS Force 3 240GB+4xWD30EFRX+2xWD20EARS+6xWD20EARX Nanoxia DS1 Seasonic X-460 Ubuntu 12.04

28th Nov 2012, 21:37	#20
mattyh1995 Supermodder Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Leigh, Wigan, United Kingdom Posts: 480	An old surround sound system from circa 2003 for use with my PC, still sounds amazing __________________ \| Intel Core i7 2600k \| ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z \| 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 @ 1600mhz \| \| MSI GTX580 Twin Frozr II \| \| 64GB OCZ Agility 3 + 2TB Storage \| CM Storm Stryker \| Corsair TX750 PSU \| Asus Xonar DX \| Acer G245HQ \| \|Steam - [UK] Holcroft\|