VOGONS


Reply 40 of 55, by Nvm1

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Well, the piece of hardware that survived everything I did with it and still goes well is the classig Gameboy. That thing survived being used in hot deserts, in the rain, left in my parents and later my own car while it was minus 15 degrees Celsius during the night, airplane/bus travel, packed away with alot of weight on it, being dropped countless times etc and it still works like new... Few scratches and ugly spots on the outside but that doesn't hurt it.

Really build like a tank.. 🤣 🤣

Reply 42 of 55, by SpectriaForce

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keenmaster486 wrote:

My vote is for original IBM PCs with no hard drives. Leave one of those in a room for 500 years, come back, clean it thoroughly, replace the electrolytics, and I bet it would still work.

Yes, you'll have to recap it, because the tantalum caps will definitely explode. I do have a PC 5150 over here with I think the original tantalum capacitors that worked fine during the last test (a couple months ago). Maybe it's a low hour set.

Reply 43 of 55, by SpectriaForce

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Nvm1 wrote:

Well, the piece of hardware that survived everything I did with it and still goes well is the classig Gameboy. That thing survived being used in hot deserts, in the rain, left in my parents and later my own car while it was minus 15 degrees Celsius during the night, airplane/bus travel, packed away with alot of weight on it, being dropped countless times etc and it still works like new... Few scratches and ugly spots on the outside but that doesn't hurt it.

Really build like a tank.. 🤣 🤣

Hmm, the screens of those usually start to fail after some time.

I think the Game Boy Pocket would be a better candidate as the most reliable piece of Nintendo hardware.

Reply 44 of 55, by SpectriaForce

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eisapc wrote:

Wonder why nobody mentioned the IBM Model M keyboard yet? The original with removable cable. Used several of these over the years and never one broke. Only caveeat is they draw too much power on some newer systems or KVMs and some keycaps got lost over the years.
eisapc

I'm not an expert in the field of mechanical keyboards, but I do know many variants of the IBM Model M exist, the earlier ones are better built (they are also heavier). All of them though have the plastic rivets that break off, for which a bolt modification exists. Other than that I would say they are ok in terms of quality, but not the most reliable keyboard ever made.

Reply 45 of 55, by Koltoroc

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SpectriaForce wrote:
Nvm1 wrote:

Well, the piece of hardware that survived everything I did with it and still goes well is the classig Gameboy. That thing survived being used in hot deserts, in the rain, left in my parents and later my own car while it was minus 15 degrees Celsius during the night, airplane/bus travel, packed away with alot of weight on it, being dropped countless times etc and it still works like new... Few scratches and ugly spots on the outside but that doesn't hurt it.

Really build like a tank.. 🤣 🤣

Hmm, the screens of those usually start to fail after some time.

I think the Game Boy Pocket would be a better candidate as the most reliable piece of Nintendo hardware.

the screens don't really fail, the joint between the display and the cable does. Easy fix though, just gently apply heat over the segments that correspond to failed lines.

Reply 47 of 55, by KCompRoom2000

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oeuvre wrote:

Never had any issues with older Dell Optiplexes.

Me neither, aside from capacitor problems with two of the Optiplexes that I've had (the GX260 and the GX520).

Reply 48 of 55, by seanneko

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krcroft wrote:
Cobra42898 wrote:

Seagate ST-225. 20mb. Rarely used but still working.

Seconding those old Seagates!

I have a ST-352A which I killed by accidentally putting the master/slave jumpers on incorrectly 🙁

Speaking of which, what component actually dies when you do this? Is it repairable?

Reply 49 of 55, by oeuvre

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KCompRoom2000 wrote:
oeuvre wrote:

Never had any issues with older Dell Optiplexes.

Me neither, aside from capacitor problems with two of the Optiplexes that I've had (the GX260 and the GX520).

The P4 and LGA775 era Dells were pretty bad with caps

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
ws90Ts2.gif

Reply 50 of 55, by gdjacobs

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They used NCC caps when Nippon Chemi Con had a batch problem with series KZG/KZJ. Not really their fault.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 51 of 55, by KT7AGuy

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Logitech M-BJ58 optical mouse. I've been using the same one daily since 2002 and it is just now starting to have problems with the left button. Fortunately, it looks like replacement switches are cheap and plentiful on eBay.

Reply 53 of 55, by AlaricD

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LaserJet 4 just came to mind. Those extremely heavy and rigid frames keep them so well-aligned. You do need the occasional roller kit and such.

Reply 54 of 55, by wiretap

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In terms of both hardware and software -- Compaq Alpha DS20's w/ OpenVMS. We run them at work (soon to be retired from service) and they often have several years of uptime without a reboot. I work at a nuclear plant, and they're used for the Integrated Plant Process Computer, Visual Annunciator System, and 3DMonicore. (Rolls Royce PMS & General Electric 3DM proprietary software runs on them) Very few hardware failures over the years.. mostly fans and tape drives that fail since they're a high wear item. I think we've had one CPU card fail since installation.

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