Nadege Roche-LabarbeJun 27
Jessica Rooster
People don’t often realize that most labs are held together by a single HP laptop from 2002 that cannot be unplugged
Jun 26 at 8:02pmWeb
Show threadDavid O'BrienJun 26

So are most payrolls.And they cannot, ever, connect to the internet.

They have to send a letter.

@rooster

Show threadlittle tricksJun 26
@rooster tech startups, too, though the date on the laptop is usually newer
Show threadJinnaJun 26
@rooster Ah yes, the good ol' PC that can still run OS/2 Warp, because that was a great idea at the time for running really expensive completely irreplaceable microscopes. Friggin biologists.
Show threadGalbinus Caeli(moving, see bioJun 27
@jinna @rooster that's not a PC! It's a PS/2. (Not THAT kind of PS2)
Show threadJinnaJun 27
@GalbinusCaeli @rooster Turns out there's a company today making an OS/2 compatible successor, ArcaOS. That can boot from USB even on UEFI and GPT disks, use the first 4GiB of RAM, up to 32 cores and do TCP/IP! Especially the last part sounds like a great idea. So now there's a path to never let go of those ancient things even when the old hardware breaks. Major downside being that they want $139 for a personal license.
Show threadGalbinus Caeli(moving, see bioJun 27
@jinna @rooster nice. I haven't touched OS/2 in fifteen years
Show threadpurple despairsJun 27
@GalbinusCaeli @jinna @rooster but it is that kind of PS2! the port is named after the …oh you mean PlayStation don't you?
Show threadlucidiot Jun 26
@rooster isn't that just every organization's network
Show threadcpresserJun 26
@rooster like almost everything at CERN :)
Show threadirelephantJun 26

It would be upgraded, but it can't be plugged out.

Also: https://sreally.com/twitter-tales-load-bearing-mac-mini/

Twitter Tales: Load Bearing Mac Mini

During Twitter's early days, when the company was still less than 100 engineers, a small computer became a crucial piece of infrastructure. This is the true story of Twitter's infamous "Load Bearing Mac-Mini."

Show threadnshrubsJun 26
@rooster @lisamelton Some school districts & universities still have a VAX system.
Show threademersssoJun 26
@rooster and you better not change the static IP assigned to that laptop, or change which port of the switch it's connected to. And dear god, don't change the device name to be consistent with your latest IT policy!
Show threadJohannesJun 26
@rooster
Yes, and now that the university really would like to upgrade all devices to Win11 (pretty please) all hell breaks loose because equipment with the retail value of a 5-bedroom waterfront property in Saint-Tropez really really only runs with Gluberton 2.5 on this ancient artefact of a computer.
Show threadMore boobs than brainsJun 26
@rooster OMG literally!! One of my recent jobs hard the firmware compiler on a single WindowsNT laptop that had to get carried to different Electrical Engineering stations with an escort. 🤣
Show threadFatuJun 26
@FinalGirl @rooster when I was in undergrad (which I guess was over ten years ago now...fuck), our PCR machine ran on a windows 95 desktop
Show threadcyberveganJun 26
@rooster Like this one?
Show threadMercurius GoldsteinJun 27

@rooster

with a post-it stuck on the screen since 2002 written in sharpie DO NOT SWITCH OFF

(triple underline for NOT)

Also the screen stopped working in 2017.

Show threadjamesb (MW1CGG)Jun 27
@rooster
People don't realise that the ongoing support and occasional feature upgrade of some of your very expensive lab equipment is only possible because of an old Windows XP desktop, long disconnected from the Internet, sat under my desk.
Show threadinateJun 28
@rooster I quite like the HP9825a. Note quite the laptop it's more of a hmm... dining-room-table-top!
Show threadGraham WattJun 28
@rooster Possibly a Windows for Workgroups 3.11 device controlling the modems for a certain Electrocardiogram system. (Well, it lasted until my successor in the role replaced it, but it was online during the whole Melissa Virus hoopla).
Show threadRegionales Retro-RechenzentrumJul 10

@rooster … that is required because of its PCMCIA slot for a LabView certified National Instruments GPIB card that provides a 1.5 MBit/s serial bus to an instrument from 2017?

Happy to help if it breaks :)