Charlie Balogh5d ago

I said it before, and I'll say it again: These cheap mid-90s, late 486 systems are like cockroaches - disgusting, but will survive just about anything, including a nuclear apocalypse.

This one was first used as some desktop machine in a library. When that life ended, it ran 12 years 24/7 as my first Linux server, until the HDD died. Then the next 15 years it rot in corners of various basements. Almost got thrown away several times.

And it lives. 1995 World Domination. 😅

#retrocomputing #msdos

Show threadJake in the desert5d ago
@chainq so amazing. Yeah, I've had/done things like this. Amazing how tough they are. Permacomputing for sure hahaha
Show threadIsaac Ji Kuo
@jake4480 @chainq Most of the perceived toughness is just a matter of the luck of being manufactured before the lamentable "capacitor plague" era.
Mar 17 at 4:19pmWeb
Show threadCharlie Balogh5d ago

@isaackuo @jake4480 Well, indeed, that plays a big role, but also the fact that basically none of the components in these were bleeding edge any more, yet they still needed precise enough manufacturing to count. These together create kind of a Goldilocks-zone for reliability.

Oh, and also the fact that this one has a CR2032 battery holder from the factory. No barrel battery to leak everywhere, which is what killed so many of the earlier generation motherboards... 😅