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posted by on Monday February 15 2016, @04:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the exemplary-mtbf dept.

The can of worms we opened when we learned of the server switched off after eighteen years and ten months' service is still wriggling, as a reader has contacted us to tell of nearly 30-year-old laptops still in service.

Reader "Holrum" says he has "a couple dozen Toshiba T1000 laptops from the mid [1980s] still fully functional (including floppy drives)".

The T1000 was introduced in 1987. [...] The machine was one of the very first computers to use a clamshell form factor. [...] It also offered a rather archaic LCD display, as illustrated.

[...]The machine ran MS-DOS 2.11 on a ROM [and] came with a colossal 512kB of RAM [...] and a single 3.5-inch floppy drive.

Holrum says the T1000s are taken offline every few years for just the few minutes required to replace the NiCad batteries and give them a clean before they are returned to duty as process monitoring terminals.

Previous: Beat This: Server Retired After 18 Years and 10 Months


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  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday February 16 2016, @07:07AM

    by anubi (2828) on Tuesday February 16 2016, @07:07AM (#305082) Journal

    Judging by the failure rate of the machines I have been supporting, I have more than ample spare parts to fix whatever broke, and I know where to get more.

    The rate of failures I am seeing leads me to believe the machines will be running far longer than I will be running, providing someone doesn't like the way they look and trash 'em.

    It does not require a super computer to drill a hole in a piece of metal at a certain place one after another 24 hours a day. Having access to a skilled machinist to make spare parts for the robot is a lot more critical. I could probably get anything I need right out of damn near any electronic scrap pile.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]