Hmm I would think older stuff would be more resilient than newer due to bigger molecular size (micron size of transistors). But if some rogue gov wanted to emp pulse I do not think it would matter....

Random particles of radiation? I guess there was a small bit of advantage in old really low tech digital electronics. But this isn't really an issue unless you are at the site of a nuclear meltdown, or in space. But even in space, we can design to protect against this happening, so new tech is actually better. In consumer electronics, no one cares really to go out of the way to pay more money to protect things, but modern inexpensive design also got good enough no one really ought to worry.
*** note, even in the late 1970s or early 80s, radiation particles flipping bits was already an observable issue had we understood what it was. Eventually it was figured out, but we improved the designs anyway. So actually newer is better here, but we didn't have to progress much to solve this issue.

Major solar flares / emp? No era is better. If you're connected to the power grid, you're screwed.

You need vacuum tubes for EMP/solar flares 😀
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museu … urevich-mig-25/

I knew there was a reason why I keep collecting nuvistors and other vacuum tubes. 😀

Every single wire on earth is an antenna.
From the intercontinental hvdc cables, to the tiniest trace in a microprocessor.

To some extent, the practical, metal boxes housing components will provide some protection, but they're all connected via cables to peripherals, lan, and electricity.

A big enough pulse, I doubt there will be much difference in outcomes between old and new.

The observed survival differences are likely to come down to the location, buildings, power and network topology, and dumb luck.

A basement pc that just happened to be off in a tin-roof building in a valley might survive.
An older pc next door by a window might not.

...and if a shielded PC survives a massive EMP, what good will it do? Likely there won't even be any electricity anymore so you couldn't even turn it on.

stamasd wrote on 2024-10-11, 11:43:

...and if a shielded PC survives a massive EMP, what good will it do? Likely there won't even be any electricity anymore so you couldn't even turn it on.

Petrol based generator, solar cells and gel-lead batteries.. A lot of radio amateurs participate emergency radio stuff and have solar cells and rechargeable batteries.
Maybe they're not using PCs mainly, but laptops but their goal is to have their ham station to be independent from mains.
Amateur FM repeaters are required by law (?) to continue to be operable for 24 hours in a black out. At least in my country.

A few years ago, I had been running an UPS for my PC, an uninterruptible power supply.
When we had a blackout in my part of the city, my PC was continuing to run, while the whole outside world was dark.
It was cool, kind of. If only there wasn't this annoying beeep-beeep sound coming out of the little UPS.
Since it had a small lead battery, it did last merely 5mins so this was understandable.
The UPS was merely meant to give users a chance to shutdown the PC properly and not loss data.

Edit:

myne wrote on 2024-10-11, 10:32:

Every single wire on earth is an antenna.
From the intercontinental hvdc cables, to the tiniest trace in a microprocessor.

Yup. And that's were old TTL and NMOS shine. They're more robust at the silicon level than early CMOS.
NMOS for example has resistors inside, which are the cause for higher heath generation and lower power-efficiency.
As a side effect, though, these resistors do also protect the transistors from overload.
To be fair, later CMOS designs have sort of an ESD protection built-in.

What's most being in danger are old RAM chips, I think. Especially DRAM.
DRAM on board the early OSCAR satellites (10, 13) failed early due to radiation damage.
This was known and being accepted at the design stage of the satellites.
The DRAM had failed almost exactly as expected.

A flare that is big enough to destroy your computer, not through the power grid but just sitting there on your desk, probably would destroy any ICs old or new.

That would be an exceptionally powerful flare.

A Carrington event type flare is bad because it's powerful enough to induce strong currents in very long wires, such as the telegraph lines of the 1850s, or the power grid of today. But what would it do to relatively tiny traces and wires in a computer? Who knows. Maybe nothing. It's the scale of the telegraph system or the power grid that makes such flares dangerous to them.

If your computer isn't plugged into the wall at the time of the flare, and especially if it has a metal case, I would put its chances of surviving such a flare pretty high.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-10-11, 15:35:

Petrol based generator, solar cells and gel-lead batteries.. A lot of radio amateurs participate emergency radio stuff and have […]
Show full quote

stamasd wrote on 2024-10-11, 11:43:

...and if a shielded PC survives a massive EMP, what good will it do? Likely there won't even be any electricity anymore so you couldn't even turn it on.

Petrol based generator, solar cells and gel-lead batteries.. A lot of radio amateurs participate emergency radio stuff and have solar cells and rechargeable batteries.
Maybe they're not using PCs mainly, but laptops but their goal is to have their ham station to be independent from mains.
Amateur FM repeaters are required by law (?) to continue to be operable for 24 hours in a black out. At least in my country.

A few years ago, I had been running an UPS for my PC, an uninterruptible power supply.
When we had a blackout in my part of the city, my PC was continuing to run, while the whole outside world was dark.
It was cool, kind of. If only there wasn't this annoying beeep-beeep sound coming out of the little UPS.
Since it had a small lead battery, it did last merely 5mins so this was understandable.
The UPS was merely meant to give users a chance to shutdown the PC properly and not loss data.

Edit:

myne wrote on 2024-10-11, 10:32:

Every single wire on earth is an antenna.
From the intercontinental hvdc cables, to the tiniest trace in a microprocessor.

Yup. And that's were old TTL and NMOS shine. They're more robust at the silicon level than early CMOS.
NMOS for example has resistors inside, which are the cause for higher heath generation and lower power-efficiency.
As a side effect, though, these resistors do also protect the transistors from overload.
To be fair, later CMOS designs have sort of an ESD protection built-in.

What's most being in danger are old RAM chips, I think. Especially DRAM.
DRAM on board the early OSCAR satellites (10, 13) failed early due to radiation damage.
This was known and being accepted at the design stage of the satellites.
The DRAM had failed almost exactly as expected.

Early 80s DRAM tended to be flaky even on Earth, if I am not mistaken. Though, I wonder now if the Chornobyl disaster had any statistically significant effect on the lifespan of DRAM chips or other ICs at the time. Same questions about Fukushima.

https://sci.math.narkive.com/f8loJhME/james-g … ming-in-of-odd-

You'll love that. Radioactive ram. Took ages to find the cause.

myne wrote on 2024-10-12, 01:33:

https://sci.math.narkive.com/f8loJhME/james-g … ming-in-of-odd-

You'll love that. Radioactive ram. Took ages to find the cause.

🤣

That one sort of rings a bell.

MIL Spec electronics are more common in antique CPUs and more resilient to the usual baddies