Using old and obsolete equipment

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Gurezaemon

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#324009 15-Feb-2026 17:11

What old/obsolete equipment does everyone still use? I really get a kick out of keeping old (ancient?) equipment usable and out of landfill.

I'm still using an Atom D510 motherboard from 2009 as a backup NAS (a backup to my Synology NAS), and it handles the job admirably with OpenMediaVault. It sips power, is passively cooled, and with a cheapy add-on card has all the connectors needed along with a gigabit ethernet port. A benefit of using something this old was I was able to double its ddr2 RAM (from 2 to 4 gigs!) for $15 from Aliexpress.
I tried using this with Proxmox a little while ago - it worked, but was far too slow to realistically use.

Also, a couple of Raspberry Pis (Pi 1 and 2) running PiHole for all the goodness that it provides.

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#3461759 15-Feb-2026 19:58

Not sure if it counts because its not quite 10 years old, but a HP t630 thin client.

Passively cooled . Runs docker with Home Assistant, Node Red, Heimdall, and about 5 other containers.

The T630 got a big upgrade today with bits from an old Win 10 laptop. RAM 4 --> 8GB, SSD 32--> 256GB

The laptop may live again as a ChromeOS Flex machine that I might be able to give away.

Rikkitic

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#3461762 15-Feb-2026 20:23

I extracted a 78 RPM gramophone from an old radio console and made a new mount for it so I could transfer the record collection of a dying friend to CDs. As a young Dutch person just after WWII, He built up this American collection at considerable expense and difficulty and I was told that being able to hear it again left him in tears. It didn't cost me anything and I was glad to do it for him and I now possess a 78 RPM record player. I am pretty sure that is my oldest device, though I also have some casette tape players and a Windows 98 desktop that reads floppy disks. Oh, and a CRT TV in a closet.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

SepticSceptic

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#3461768 15-Feb-2026 22:27

I still use a 60Mhz analog 2 channel tektronix scope, and has delayed timebase feature. Not that I have ever used that particular feature, but it's there, just in case..

I should probably spring for a new fandangled digital scope with quad overhead rattails, pulse gun generator, and arbitrary i-can't-believe-this-ever-existed waveform percolator.

But I like the warm green blue phosphor fuzz, and analog smoothing of spurious transients.

Tinkerisk

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#3461773 16-Feb-2026 03:25

Hewlett Packard 214A Pulse Generator. 😁

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#3461774 16-Feb-2026 06:30

My laptop is a 2012 model (Sandy Bridge, i3-2350M) if that counts?

I told myself I would keep using it until it dies... it can be quite funny pulling it out among a sea of "thin and light" ultrabooks.

ascroft

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#3461780 16-Feb-2026 08:10

I am living inside a body that was made in 1960.

It’s pretty old now with some rattles and leaks. The outer finish has faded a bit. It’s analogue only.

I plan to use it until it fully stops working and then will get rid of it.

I did think about getting a newer version like a 2000 model but the upgrade path looks challenging at this stage.

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Mehrts

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#3461879 16-Feb-2026 13:30

I was recently looking at record turntables, and decided for the price vs features that a solid second-hand unit was a better option than a new one.

I'm now the proud owner of a 1979 Akai AP-206C which is in great shape for its age, and interestingly enough it was made in NZ under licence by an outfit called PYE Limited.

xpd

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#3461886 16-Feb-2026 13:46

I've got an old school Kenwood amp, PYE turntable, Technics tape deck (top load!) for music.

Bunch of old (3-4th gen) i5 mini PCs connected to TVs for media.

A 40's valve based radio (tossing up if to try and get working or replace guts with something modern)

Arcade machine in pieces - on going long term refurb job

70's body - starting to show wear and tear with some internal issues. Not had to replace any parts as yet but tack on some add-ons.

XPD / Gavin

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Wheelbarrow01

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#3461891 16-Feb-2026 13:54

I'm still rocking the Sony MiniDisc headunit that I bought circa 1998 in my 1980's Hilux. Anything more modern just seems wrong. In the last 6 months I've also unpacked and re-setup my Sony MiniDisc player/recorder on the stereo amplifier in the garage so if I want, I can still create new mix discs to play in the Hilux, and I can also blast them in the garage when working on the car. I can also alternate between MiniDisc and my old iPod which sits in it's charge cradle next to the garage amp now too.

Last year I took a 1300km round trip in the Hilux to attend the Hilux world record attempt in Kingston South Otago. I rotated through a number of old discs full of 90's and early 2000's music of many genres the whole way there and back. The nostalgia was awesome lol.

I also recently ditched Sky and sent the decoder back. With a hole in my entertainment unit needing to be filled, I cracked out the old DVD/BluRay player and have been enjoying watching some of my old movies on disc.

There's no longer pornography in our house though - I regret we no longer have a pornograph to play it on 🤣

richms

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#3461901 16-Feb-2026 14:26

I still use 8th gen CPUs machines. I remember when they came out with more proper cores in them it was such a game changer. I will probably retire them soon but they do everything I need except game at great speeds, and up till rampocolipse happened were great for high ram usage needs with inexpensive DDR4.

I still have my trinitrons in use for my misterFPGA and old consoles.

Still use my first gen amazon echo which thankfully did not get alexa plus so is the only one to do things properly sometimes.

Still have an XP era dell somethingorother laptop that I use with a USB connected logic analyser that will not play nice with 64bit installs or 32 bit windows 10.

Richard rich.ms

Behodar

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#3461908 16-Feb-2026 14:55

Wheelbarrow01:

With a hole in my entertainment unit needing to be filled, I cracked out the old DVD/BluRay player and have been enjoying watching some of my old movies on disc.

I didn't even think of that. I have a modern player (Ultra HD) that still gets a fair amount of use. It runs my home theatre, although it has a hard drive so it's fairly rare me for to use it for actual discs.

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richms

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#3461911 16-Feb-2026 15:03

I dug my old player out when I stuck a vintage DVD into one of the gaming consoles and got some BS about region being wrong. Forgot that was ever a thing as I had ripped almost everything before I went on a cleaning spree on the media storage getting rid of all the potato quality rips.

Richard rich.ms

Rikkitic

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#3461930 16-Feb-2026 16:14

xpd:

I've got an old school Kenwood amp, PYE turntable, Technics tape deck (top load!) for music.

Bunch of old (3-4th gen) i5 mini PCs connected to TVs for media.

A 40's valve based radio (tossing up if to try and get working or replace guts with something modern)

Arcade machine in pieces - on going long term refurb job

70's body - starting to show wear and tear with some internal issues. Not had to replace any parts as yet but tack on some add-ons.

Oops, forgot about my 40's valve radio... and the 70's ghetto blaster! Both still work fine.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Radiotron

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#3461947 16-Feb-2026 18:19

A 1994 IBM Model M keyboard has brought you this comment. The Sony CD player on the hifi shelf is 36 years old, and there's a 1964 AVO Valve Characteristic Meter that gets regular use. Not to mention a variety of 80s-90s test equipment, a modest highlight might be the Fluke 83 DMM I bought new in 1990. Expensive at the time that was. We tinker on.

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allan

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#3461970 16-Feb-2026 20:40

I'm using a 14 year old Synology DS212j NAS as a backup destination from a much more modern device. Works just fine and yes I have checked I can restore from it 😀

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