How old a system could you run and still be able to work?

[mikehalloran]

Saw this:
http://www.geek.com/tech/a-commodore-64 ... s-1672510/

I ran an auto parts business on my Mac+ and FileMaker beginning in 1986. When FM Pro became relational (I don't recall the version), it still worked and I was able to automate my billing. Word 5.1 may have been the best version ever. It was probably '91 or '92 when I upgraded to a Performa 6200 because MacIntax would no longer run—ˆ was not happy about that. I had sold my business by then, anyway. My scanner was a device that I plugged in place of my ImageWriter II print cartrige—ok, that was pretty bad... Finale, Encore and DMCS were all pretty bad. Still, for the basic functions of running that kind of company, there was nothing I needed to do that couldn't be done on the Plus and an ImageWriter II.

Anyway, the article got me thinking. Save for internet which really does require an Intel based machine running a near-current OS (big changes coming in 2017), how current do I really ned to be?

For me, I figure that I could do everything else I need on my G4 running DP 5.13, Ozone 2, Finale 2007, Encore 5.0.5/4.5.5, SmartScore Pro, Office 2008, FinalDraft 8, FileMaker 7, ClarisDraw and AppleWorks 6 over OS 10.4.11.

Certainly, having things up-to-date is nicer and I consider my smart phone's ability to work with my Mac especially useful since my handicap but "need"? Naw...

[Robert Randolph]

I have a p4 winxp system here that I still use frequently. It appears to be 15 years old 3 weeks ago.

[mikehalloran]

I have a p4 winxp system here that I still use frequently. It appears to be 15 years old 3 weeks ago.

I have no idea how old my WinXP is since it was issued by my work and now abandoned. I could use it if I had to except for internet.

It will be interesting to see how many of the promises made in 2014 will be kept in 2017, even though Apple, Mozilla and Google keep repeating them. Will Flash, QuickTime and support for other outdated internet plugins really, truly be gone? Not holding my breath, here.

[Robert Randolph]

I have a p4 winxp system here that I still use frequently. It appears to be 15 years old 3 weeks ago.

I have no idea how old my WinXP is since it was issued by my work and now abandoned. I could use it if I had to except for internet.

It will be interesting to see how many of the promises made in 2014 will be kept in 2017, even though Apple, Mozilla and Google keep repeating them. Will Flash, QuickTime and support for other outdated internet plugins really, truly be gone? Not holding my breath, here.

I don't have flash installed and I can't say I've missed it at all. I can't think of the last time it was an issue.

[stubbsonic]

I have a sawtooth G4 running 10.4.3. (or 10.4.2?). I could probably run on that in a pinch, but it wouldn't be pretty.

[mikehalloran]

I don't have flash installed and I can't say I've missed it at all. I can't think of the last time it was an issue.

For me, many times a day. I don't want it running automatically so I Control-Click to run when I need. In addition, there are a few state websites that are using some truly ancient plugins. Arizona did an update this year but I can access certain records for Michigan only in FireFox using a plug that Mozilla says won't work in a couple of months—Chrome and Safari dropped it last year.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Truth? I could run on paper and pencil and a beat up only piano if I had to. I've done it before and I can do it again. But an Atari 1040st would work. Apple IIe - not so much. Tat said, I very much like my new controller brain thingy...

[stubbsonic]

Truth? I could run on paper and pencil and a beat up only piano if I had to. I've done it before and I can do it again. But an Atari 1040st would work. Apple IIe - not so much.

When I first read the subject line, I thought (somewhat fondly) of my first (or second?) computer, that good 'ole Atari 1040 ST.

The hitch is delivering something-- and, well, audio.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Ok, then make it an Atari Falcon. It did audio! And it was the end of the line for the Troubled Tramels

[terrybritton]

I have a Windows 98 machine I have to keep alive in order to edit the innards of my ancient Opcode by MidiQuest 8Port/SE MIDI router, which still works flawlessly and does not need to be connected to a computer to work, only to be programmed.

Almost every time I have to start up that old computer, I amaze myself with how much still functional software is sitting inside of it.

Sek'D Samplitude 2496 (Pre-MIDI days)
Cakewalk Pro Audio 8 or 9, forget which. (For MIDI and full SYSEX dumps)
eMagic's SoundDiver 2.1 patch librarian (authorization floppy still works!)
MS Word, natch
Lots of synth editors
Still-working Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 audio/MIDI interface (another victim of the driver no-updates syndrome)

And MOTU Performer 3.2, I believe, is still working on my souped-up Mac Plus (25MHz, 16 megs of RAM!) I could actually still use that if I had to. That was my MIDI machine for years in performances! (Replaced eventually with a Kawai Q80EX hardware MIDI recorder/player/editor that was very reliable and also still works!)

We tend to judge old hardware by the standards of what current tech pressures it can handle as a "do everything" machine - the Internet being a big part of that measure. But it is quite incredible how well the old software can perform, and in reality, how little has improved in Audio and MIDI handling THAT much! However, I live in pig heaven now - everything I ever dreamed of in the Sixties and Seventies (and more) is now a reality - and I am very glad I do not need to use that old stuff most of the time!

Terry

[ed belknap]

I'm currently (still) running a ~10 year old dual-1GHz G4 (mirrored drive door) with...um...2GB RAM? I don't even remember...OS is 10.3.9, and I'm running DP version 3.something. [edit: turns out it's DP v4.6]

And I have never in those 10 years felt that there was something I needed to be able to do that this computer or software version wasn't capable of. I'll happily upgrade both the computer and the software the very first time a client tells me they absolutely need to be able to accomplish __________ (insert function) or else they'll take their business elsewhere. Just hasn't happened.

And truth be told I was even more productive when I was running DP 2.7 and Mosaic on a beige G3 under OS8.6, so I'm perhaps predisposed to shy away from Upgrade-itis.

[mikehalloran]

I'm currently (still) running a ~10 year old dual-1GHz G4 (mirrored drive door) with...um...2GB RAM? I don't even remember...OS is 10.3.9, and I'm running DP version 3.something.

And I have never in those 10 years felt that there was something I needed to be able to do that this computer or software version wasn't capable of. I'll happily upgrade both the computer and the software the very first time a client tells me they absolutely need to be able to accomplish __________ (insert function) or else they'll take their business elsewhere. Just hasn't happened.

And truth be told I was even more productive when I was running DP 2.7 and Mosaic on a beige G3 under OS8.6, so I'm perhaps predisposed to shy away from Upgrade-itis.

I still have an earlier G4 700 SP that can take 2G (free to anyone who wants it). My G4 DP is the later version that maxes RAM at 1.5G. Huh??? What was Apple thinking going backward?

It can run OS 10.5 but not well at all—horrible, in fact—so I have it dual boot into 9.2.2 and 10.4.11.

It's fairly useless on the internet now but it runs DP 5.13 nicely (my favorite legacy version). I could use it if I had to. Mostly I keep it to translate old files from many apps and lets me view AppleWorks and ClarisDraw files.

I saw my disk from DP 4.6.1 recently. I think I recycled my copies of 2.7—4 a few years back in an effort to reclaim bookshelf space. Gotta do that again soon...

[terrybritton]

I too have a mirror-door G4 Mac, dual-booting with 10.3.9 and 10.4.something. It works fine, but I sure wish I could come up with a use for it. I hate the thought of relegating it to the electronics recycling center.

It still has a bunch of Adobe stuff (CS-2). No music software on that thing at the moment.

I will never, ever part with my Mac Plus, though! (I had to hand-solder the accelerator board to the CPU chip and bend some of the CPU feet out to wire up to the board to bring that up to a blistering fast 25mHZ and 16 megs of RAM with a 4-meg additional ram-disk on the original board. Those were the days!) Of course, that is entirely sentimental - I cannot actually run anything very useful on it, and all my SCSI disks died long ago!

[Shooshie]

The sad thing is that I remember being ultra-productive on all of these machines. I made my living, and a good one, on these. I always dreamed of what we have now, but found ways to make things work. That turned out to be a talent of mine — making things work — and that's part of what I was paid for. So, in a very real way, those machines were more valuable to me than the one I have now. I hate to see them relegated to the junk heap, or even recycling, when they would still be able to do so much. But... who wants to do "so much," when today's measure is "so, so, so, so, so much?" (Keep adding "so" for each succeeding generation, and today's computer will someday be the junk of tomorrow.)

Yet, someday there will be a neural network which can use every stitch of processing available. Would these computers someday be useful on such a network? They'd be horsecarts handling the stuff of rocketships, but even in rocketry, someone has to move the dirt and build the launchpad. I don't know. Someday I have to make the decision to throw these things out. (recycle) Before I do that, I have to make sure none of them contain stray hard drives that could give away personal info. Then cart a truckload of them down to the center and hope they take them.

Can you imagine the mountains of these things that exist? Mountains. What will happen to them all? I hope people are recycling.

Shooshie

[mikehalloran]

Then cart a truckload of them down to the center and hope they take them.

I make a run every year for the stuff too old to donate to schools (anything older than a late 2009 iMac nowadays). That there are local schools too poor to be up to date... ehhh... better leave that one alone...

My local center is the one set up at Homestead High School in Cupertino every year in the Spring. HHS is the two Steves' alma mater as well as my two daughters'... They'd better take my old Macs and peripherals!