30-year-old computer still runs HVAC system for 19 public schools

[Hugo Drax]

$2 million to replace it? Really?

yeah the special arduino device costs 2 million dollars.

 

[Thebobo]

I miss my Amiga 🙁

 

[MarkXIX]

On the other hand there are systems like DMS telephony switches that have been running for decades and still perform their function and also still have support, so they just have no reason to change it. Our switch has an uptime of like 30 years, I'm sure there are systems out there that have an even bigger up time.

Yep, we took our phone switch offline and it had an uptime of 28 years without an issue. You could stand in the switch room and hear the line cards clicking as phone calls were happening. Pretty cool stuff. Almost no heat issues either because the traces on the circuit boards were large enough to be self cooling pretty much.

 

[BUTCH1]

Gotta love this part of the story,
"A Kentwood High School student programmed it when it was installed in the 1980s. Whenever the district has a problem with it, they go back to the original programmer who still lives in the area."

Guess they hope he never dies or decides to move away LOL..

 

[local]

Controls are where the money is at these days. One facility we do work at costs $7,500 to connect a replacement unit to the existing controls system. There are zero parts involved they just charge that to make the connection.

We try to push customers towards an open source controls system that anyone can work on but many of them have bought in to the major companies bullshit.

 

[Rakehellion]

$2 million to replace it? Really?

They also have to replace the hardware at all 19 schools.

 

[flexy]

OMG...Memories. Amiga 500 (and later 1200), best computers of all time.

But I got my Amiga 500 definitely AFTER 1984, so the "30 years" is not entirely correct. It was released in '87. (Of course STILL shocked..this was almost 30 years ago...seriously..hard to believe)

 

[flexy]

Yea, I'm still dumbfounded as to how/why Commodore went bankrupt, the 64 alone was a HUGE success and sold between 10-17 million units and this form Wiki, "The C64 made an impressive debut at the January 1982 Consumer Electronics Show, as recalled by Production Engineer David A. Ziembicki: "All we saw at our booth were Atari people with their mouths dropping open, saying, 'How can you do that for $595?'" The answer was vertical integration; due to Commodore's ownership of MOS Technology's semiconductor fabrication facilities, each C64 had an estimated production cost of US$135."

Have been a HUGE Amiga fan/fanatic back then....together with friends who also had Amigas. Remember the time at the end when there were constantly rumours about the "Uber-Amiga" coming out which was supposed to have (back at that time) incredible features like DSPs etc..

Then Escom (?) bought them and somehow there was never this new "super-Amiga" coming out. Why exactly they went bankrupt...PCs at that time saw an incredible boost and PC tech surpassed them...also about the time when Windows was released, 3D graphics cards etc.. All of a sudden the formerly unique features Amiga had, anyone else had it, and better.

 

[crashtech]

I'm pretty sure they could start retrofitting the system one school at a time. That would necessitate having a new control system sitting next to Old Faithful, but it wouldn't be such a hard hit. Why someone didn't come up with an incremental upgrade plan before now is beyond me.

 

[PingviN]

They also have to replace the hardware at all 19 schools.

This.

 

[Blanky]

This is a nice story but it's also indicative of risk management.

I am impressed though that some of you are able to spec out a new system including a rough estimation of cost based only on the article and a crap load of assumptions about what replacing it requires.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

OMG...Memories. Amiga 500 (and later 1200), best computers of all time.

But I got my Amiga 500 definitely AFTER 1984, so the "30 years" is not entirely correct. It was released in '87. (Of course STILL shocked..this was almost 30 years ago...seriously..hard to believe)

Yeah, the articles keep referring to "early 80s" but no Amiga was released until 1985 and they have an Amiga 2000, which was released in 1987 alongside the Amiga 500. So, at best, these guys got it in the LATE 80s.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Have been a HUGE Amiga fan/fanatic back then....together with friends who also had Amigas. Remember the time at the end when there were constantly rumours about the "Uber-Amiga" coming out which was supposed to have (back at that time) incredible features like DSPs etc..

Then Escom (?) bought them and somehow there was never this new "super-Amiga" coming out. Why exactly they went bankrupt...PCs at that time saw an incredible boost and PC tech surpassed them...also about the time when Windows was released, 3D graphics cards etc.. All of a sudden the formerly unique features Amiga had, anyone else had it, and better.

Yep, rumors were that the next Amiga would have a Motorola DSP 56000 series onboard and of course, the AAA chipset. Commodore shelved it for various reasons but if it had been released, would've put the Amiga a few years ahead of the PC again. Remember, PC tech didn't catch the Amiga until 1990 or 1991 and even then, the Amiga still had a significant lead in some areas.