What's your oldest electronic device that you still use?

[tortillasoup]

I just had the pleasure of talking with ATT for a half hour, trying to get Visual Voicemail added to my account. They kept telling me that the device I provided them doesn't support Visual Voicemail, when in fact it does. I also had the issue of ATT telling me that I was not in possession of a sim card that supported UMTS (3G) and that I needed a new sim card. So, despite the fact that I've gotten reliable 4G speeds with this sim card and have been doing so for some time now, ATT insisted that my sim card does not support 3G+ service... Anyway, after scouring the internet for various smartphones that supported Visual Voicemail, I realized that the iPhone was the first to debut with Visual Voicemail and it was also a 2G device. Provisioned the account with an iPhone 2g and now everything is working perfectly!



So you're probably asking, why did I go through all this trouble instead of getting another sim card? Well because aside from not wanting to waste my time driving to and waiting in an ATT store, I also have some sentimental value for this sim card. This sim card is so old, it says Cingular on it as I got this sim card back in 2005 with the purchase of my first smartphone. Service is identical to that of another phone I have which has a brand new sim card, so I see no need to get a newer sim card, aside from the hassle I had with ATT.


Any of you folks here stubbornly stick with some sort of thing/device just because of sentimental value or other reason I can't think of? I mean if it weren't for the fact that my first smart phone didn't support 3G service (it only had horrible GPRS!), nor external memory larger than 2GB, I think I still would have used that phone!

 

[mikeford]

I have a Nokia 3200b in my pocket still, the one with the clear body you can print your own wallpaper design and put inside. I still have my original Apple II and Mac plus, as well as a 48k PC. I still have my HP45 and 16c calculators.

The trick with old hardware, what you did, find something mainstream that is similar enough and tell them you have that.

 

[pete6032]

TI-83

 

[lxskllr]

HP48GX. I use it daily a calculator and data collector. If you count it's predecessor, the SX, I've used one since 1991.

 

[William Gaatjes]

My beloved tektronix 465 oscilloscope.

 

[MongGrel]

Olympus IR-300 probably.

 

[Engineer]

On a daily basis: My LG VX8300 - 8 year old flip phone.

I do occasionally use my HP 48S calculator. I've had it for 23 years or so, maybe more.

 

[BUTCH1]

I don't think it quite fits in the category but I still have a Tappan "Spacesaver" microwave that I bought in '83 for $225. It was a high-end model for those years with a 750 watt output, I had to replace a diode in it once in '95, other than that it has worked flawlessly and is used every day, it's so old that it has no turntable LOL..

 

[zanejohnson]

ummm lets see, i have a Yamaha pre/pro in my office's stereo stack.. it's from the early 90's, sounds better than most lower/mid level new stuff still...


i have an Athlon XP still in use lol.... linux box acting as a fileserver for storage of not so important docs/apps/ also i have it running streaming media server that one of my streaming set top boxes uses

 

[AMD64Blondie]

1991 IBM Model M keyboard.

I'm clicking away on it right now.

 

[darkxshade]

A fleshlight circa 1998

I kid... or am I? :sneaky:

 

[IronWing]

HP 32SII RPN calculator

 

[lxskllr]

1991 IBM Model M keyboard.

I'm clicking away on it right now.

I'm using one too, but I'm not the original owner. Mine was built in 1998.

 

[MongGrel]

If other things are included, I still have a pair of Kenwood KL-777Z speakers I use daily from around 1981.

They seem to be almost bullet proof from all the use over the years.

Been using em as dual sub woofers awhile now on a seperate amp, seems odd, but works well.

 

[mmntech]

70s vintage Pioneer stereo receiver that's in my basement workshop. It was used on a regular basis up until a couple years ago. Had my PS3 hooked up to it before I bought a 5.1 system.

Oldest working electronic device I own is a radio from the late 1930s.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

In general, I understand attaching sentimental value to inanimate objects. However, doing it with anything electronic is totally foreign to me. Different generation I guess.

 

[MongGrel]

On reflection, I do have a vintage electric DuMore die grinder from my grandfather who was a tool & diemaker also from the 50's that is still operational.

But I do not use it often.

Actually, I'd forgotten I had it in the garage now check this old baby out

Still functions, that thing is old school.

Might even be from the 40's, I see no date on it, he was building tanks at Chrysler during WWII.

The other grandfather was running ammo for em all over Europe.

 

[lxskllr]

In general, I understand attaching sentimental value to inanimate objects. However, doing it with anything electronic is totally foreign to me. Different generation I guess.

I'm not particularly sentimental about any digital device, but some are just better. The two I mentioned(IBM model M, and HP48GX) are peerless, and haven't been equaled, much less surpassed by any new tech.

 

[Engineer]

In general, I understand attaching sentimental value to inanimate objects. However, doing it with anything electronic is totally foreign to me. Different generation I guess.

I'm not attaching sentimental value to that stuff. I use them because they works for what I need it to do and I don't need to spend money just to upgrade them for no reason. Heck, I'm not found a calculator that I like more than the 48S, even my daughter's new TI84 Plus and the likes.

 

[zanejohnson]

no sentimental value here either.....

old yamaha pre/pro.... i'd have to spend 4 or 5 hundred bucks to match it in quality if i wanted to replace it.. and it works fine besides missing some buttons/knobs...


athlon xp linux file server.... does what it needs to do and efficiently

 

[lxskllr]

On reflection, I do have a vintage electric DuMore die grinder from my grandfather who was a tool & diemaker also from the 50's that is still operational.

But I do not use it often.

Actually, I'd forgotten I had it in the garage now check this old baby out

Still functions, that thing is old school.

Might even be from the 40's, I see no date on it, he was building tanks at Chrysler during WWII.

The other grandfather was running ammo for em all over Europe.

That's a cool thing to have. I like old tools. They feel more substantial than the stuff you buy today. One might say they're just more primitive, and newer tools are made to feel better in hand, but how much of the crap at HomeDepot do you expect will be around 60 years from now?

 

[crab]

Probably my Power Mac G5 I use to play with Gentoo.

 

[Ichinisan]

8-bit NES

 

[William Gaatjes]

Now that i think of it, my tektronix scope is the oldest equipment that i have. But i only own it for about 10 years.

I also own a Amiga 600 that i bought around 1994. That would make my amiga 20 years old. But i have it safely tucked away in a box. I have not used it in a while.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Probably my bedroom alarm clock, I've had that thing since I was a little kid. It's just a really basic plugin type, nothing special, but it's always worked so I never replaced it.

The next item would probably be my PC speakers. I've had them since the very early 2000's when I built my first computer which was my second computer. Was digging up some old pics and found a pic of 2002 where I had them but pretty sure I had built that PC a bit before that.

Come to think of it my current desk is pretty old too as I had it at that time. Guess that's not really electronics though.