Do you like playing with old technology?

Nowadays, it seems like new technology comes out to replace the old stuff every week. You may buy a custom built computer, but by the time you finally get it, there's something new and better! Naturally, this leaves a lot of old technology. Most people toss away, or (hopefully) recycle old computers, cell phones, and other gadgets. Although I love to play with the newest technology, as every geek does, I also occasionally like to dust off an old computer tower, or even play around with an old cell phone or gadget. To me, it's just good to take a break from today's top-of-the-line technology and "enter a time machine", getting to see and, at times, remember technology from the past. I just recently discovered two old computer towers, each running Windows 98, and decided to hook them up. As a geek at heart, I liked nothing better than to hear an old dial-up modem, connected to a phone line, make the telltale noise as it tried to connect to an ISP. I always had my newer laptop running in the background, but the old computer brought a sense of escape from the newest computers of today; nothing like booting up a Windows 98 system, running on 128 MB of RAM, with a Pentium II processer and a 4 GB hard drive! And, not to mention, it also brings a lot of fun.

Tags: computer, computers, fun, old, tech, technology

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Comment by NeferSif on July 12, 2009 at 5:17pm: I have not spent much time playing with my old computer. Although it has crossed my mind. The old tech I do play with is my original Nintendo, my SNES and my Sega.
I love to play Mario 1,2 and 3 (3 is my favorite. Just don't tell the others). And who could forget Battle Toads. My son thought it was more fun to hit me with the stick instead of the bad guys. A little Earthworm Jim, Boogerman, Golden Axe and Sonic can also be a nice break. And because the technology is so slow, I rock at Columns. I can get to level 50. But my eyes are bugging out. And tears are running down my face.

Ah, the good old days!

Comment by Pantelis Zembashis on July 1, 2009 at 2:36pm: I love classic tech, its different from old tech, Classic tech is revolutionary and will always be loved :). eg arcade games, the original mackintosh computer

Comment by Stephen on July 1, 2009 at 2:10pm: When I lived in the Bay Area, one of my favorite things to do was to walk around in the back of the Weird Stuff building. I could find everything from disk packs for a Pertec mini to connectors for IBM mainframes (circa 1960s). I still have a 2U rack-mount Pentium III sitting on my shelf...just took it offline a week ago to make room for some storage! Downstairs I have one of the early blue iMacs. No, I didn't keep my 8086 boxes -- can't keep everything. I also have an IBM 380D laptop with Win 98 SE installed -- it just sits in the drawer collecting dust. That was the machine I used when I was editor-in-chief at MicroTimes Magazine 10 years ago. It still works too.

Comment by Kasijjuf on July 1, 2009 at 10:30am: When I'm feeling bored, I pull out 386 and boot it up . . . into MS-DOS 3.2

Comment by Eric Fox on July 1, 2009 at 10:28am: Forget the fun, old stuff is usually a lot less buggy than the new stuff. The farther back you go "in time" the more you realize that those people believed in things lasting. These days, nothing is built to last, on purpose, so that you have to continuously buy a newer model (or repair your current one) to give the companies more money.

Comment by BrettApple on July 1, 2009 at 9:55am: I love old technology, however I gave my old computer to my friend who uses it full time. It is a Dell Dimension L667r. It has a 667 MHz Pentium III and 128 MB RAM and a 10 GB HDD. And it runs Windows XP just fine. Even iTunes 8 works great. Considering the minimum requirements are a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM I don't understand how it works so well. The only change Ive ever made to it was installing an ethernet card. I have never ever had that machine freeze up the whole time I owned it, and neither has my friend. I told him when he is done with it to give it back to me. By the time I get it back it might just be a Giant iPod or something. I might go with a lightweight version of Linux. Puppy seems to do fine here. Or go back to Windows 2000, the best version of windows according to me.

Comment by Connor Bryant on July 1, 2009 at 9:02am: I used to enjoy playing on our old Windows 95... what a beast of a monitor it had! It was huge! And the tower was VERY loud... that was back in the day...

Comment by Anubis on July 1, 2009 at 8:01am: I do love old technology, I still hav 2 working DOS comps that i still use, and I just got an old TI-99 comp. from a neighbor.

Old technology = win

-Anubis

Comment by askajehovahswitness on July 1, 2009 at 6:14am: I love it. I just found a copy of Windows 95 at and yard sale, brand new, unopened, still in plastic rap!

Jef

Comment by JOHN LEYLAND on July 1, 2009 at 6:05am: (I am not much of a gamer but i do like and still use the old Nintendo I bought for my kids when they were little Duck Hunt is just as much fun now as it was when it was new. Now my grandkids are using it. and my old Imac is used every day Tt has a whopping 350 processor, and it still works!!!