[orangecomputer]

Today I still have a working Pentium 1 with hard disks in full operating order.

As for the 486, I brought it down to my dads when I moved, and switched to using his much more modern system. It did eventually "die" in 2007-2008. My dad threw it out after the clock chip failed on the motherboard. I was pretty bummed because it sounds like a fairly straightforward fix / such a minor issue, but he's as sentimental as I and referred to it as "an old clunker".

[robert_tweed]

I just read that part and was slightly horrified. It's extremely unlikely that there was anything wrong with the RTC chip. What's much more likely is that the CMOS battery was flat. Usually, that's a CR2032 "button cell" that you can buy for pennies. It takes about 5 minutes to change, most of which is unscrewing and re-closing the case.

At least you have your Pentium. I've still got a bunch of my old code from the 90s and I'd have a very hard time getting any of it to run on a modern PC.

[codezero]

Fair enough, pardon my previous skepticism, I hope things are going better for you now!

[orangecomputer]

Completely understandable; My modern system has suffered enough hard disk failures to put it in the 2 digit range, and I've gone through around 7 graphics cards. Likely the result of having a computer that is constantly exposed to extremely tropical humidity and sea air. The last graphics card I had to die (only a few nights ago as a matter of fact) has rust on it, and is only a year old.

They don't build em like they used to! The Pentium 1 interior blew me away upon opening it. Not a tad of corrision, rust, or even dust! Also the disks are still in top notch shape and seem to read just fine.