Modems, non-RJ45 networks cards (token ring + bnc) and non-usb/parallel printers are on top of my list.
I do understand that sometimes there are someone that are in need of these parts.

Errius wrote:

Oh yes, anything related to pre-RJ45 networking.

Disagree. Back in the early 2000s I came across a large stack of old Microdyne Exos205 network cards. Some were 8bit, some 16 bit ISA but the hardware on both was about the same. They had an early Intel PHY controller, and a 80186 controller with its own dedicated memory and running its own embedded RTOS that was loaded by the driver at boot. They were pre-rj45 but still Ethernet (10base2) so they could be made to work in regular Ethernet networks (coaxial). I had a lot of fun with them for a while helping hack a Linux driver for them. A few years later I had to move, and they were all lost in the move. I still regret losing them. I recently saw one of those sell on eBay for close to $200.

Proprietary cd-rom interfaces. The drives don't work any more, so there's nothing to connect them to.

Are there still corporate networks running over BNC or other old hardware? The only justification for this I can think of is if the old cables run inside walls or other inaccessible places and its not economic to rip them out and replace them.

Errius wrote:

Are there still corporate networks running over BNC or other old hardware? The only justification for this I can think of is if the old cables run inside walls or other inaccessible places and its not economic to rip them out and replace them.

They would be more than 20 years old by now, so I think they would be left inside the wall and new technology is in use.
Too expensive to keep old technology running versus replacing with new.

I wont shame network cards that quickly there still useful, besides one day I just might do a BNC based network just for the fun of it 😜

brassicGamer wrote:

Personally, any post-Tualatin Celeron is wholly pointless.

Actually, the post-NetBurst ones make a strong showing for themselves. But, being based on the Core architecture, it'd be odd if they didn't. For a non-gaming focused system, or one dedicated to playing older games, the Celerons are just fine.

I find modems and printers to be nigh-unusable 10 out of 9 times, much like everyone else it seems.

non DVB TV Tunners

Actually I use a analog TV tuner in my main PC, so I can connect C64 or Amiga to it, and also I can display or capture S-Video signal from another computer, which allows me to see its desktop in a window.

I have a Matrox Marvel G450 eTV which is still useful for capturing video from VHS tape. (That reminds me that I still need to digitise my family's old videos. With Blu-rays it's finally become feasible to archive hundreds of hours of MPEG-2 video in a reasonable number of disks.)

Wireless B network Cards, Ive got aobut 6 of them and they dont work with any modern secure network.

brassicGamer wrote:

Personally, any post-Tualatin Celeron is wholly pointless. And a loud SCSI hard disk is better than none. Non DVB TV tuners are definitely pointless.

Tualatin Celeron = P6
Netburst Celerons/P4s/Xeons can go to hell
However Conroe-L Celeron 4x0 series are also P6 derivative (which you can put on a Win98/Me-ready motherboard e.g. ASRock ConRoe865PE, 775i65G or similar ASUS P5PE-VM and Gigabyte version).

Yes, that lowly 2.2GHz "Celeron 450" (even the name has a good retro-ish ring to it 😉) will beat any of your Tualatins! And 3.2/3.4 P4EE Gallatin too I'm quite sure, though I haven't see any benchmarked comparison. That'd be interesting to find out. It definitely WINS on power efficiency at just 35W though. I just want to annoy those who have P4 machines in their sig that's all. 😜

In any case you should also be able to put Core 2 X6800 (unlocked) on most of the above mentioned boards just for bragging rights. And that would be even more amusing ~3GHz Core vs 3+GHz P4. 😀 😀 😀

archsan wrote:

Tualatin Celeron = P6 Netburst Celerons/P4s/Xeons can go to hell However Conroe-L Celeron 4x0 series are also P6 derivative (whi […]
Show full quote

brassicGamer wrote:

Personally, any post-Tualatin Celeron is wholly pointless...

Tualatin Celeron = P6
Netburst Celerons/P4s/Xeons can go to hell
However Conroe-L Celeron 4x0 series are also P6 derivative (which you can put on a Win98/Me-ready motherboard e.g. ASRock ConRoe865PE, 775i65G or similar ASUS P5PE-VM and Gigabyte version).

Yes, that lowly 2.2GHz "Celeron 450" (even the name has a good retro-ish ring to it 😉) will beat any of your Tualatins! And 3.2/3.4 P4EE Gallatin too I'm quite sure, though I haven't see any benchmarked comparison. That'd be interesting to find out. It definitely WINS on power efficiency at just 35W though. I just want to annoy those who have P4 machines in their sig that's all. 😜

In any case you should also be able to put Core 2 X6800 (unlocked) on most of the above mentioned boards just for bragging rights. And that would be even more amusing ~3GHz Core vs 3+GHz P4. 😀 😀 😀

Forgive him... The kid doesn't know what he's saying 😉.

archsan wrote:

Tualatin Celeron = P6 Netburst Celerons/P4s/Xeons can go to hell However Conroe-L Celeron 4x0 series are also P6 derivative (whi […]
Show full quote

brassicGamer wrote:

Personally, any post-Tualatin Celeron is wholly pointless. And a loud SCSI hard disk is better than none. Non DVB TV tuners are definitely pointless.

Tualatin Celeron = P6
Netburst Celerons/P4s/Xeons can go to hell
However Conroe-L Celeron 4x0 series are also P6 derivative (which you can put on a Win98/Me-ready motherboard e.g. ASRock ConRoe865PE, 775i65G or similar ASUS P5PE-VM and Gigabyte version).

Yes, that lowly 2.2GHz "Celeron 450" (even the name has a good retro-ish ring to it 😉) will beat any of your Tualatins! And 3.2/3.4 P4EE Gallatin too I'm quite sure, though I haven't see any benchmarked comparison. That'd be interesting to find out. It definitely WINS on power efficiency at just 35W though. I just want to annoy those who have P4 machines in their sig that's all. 😜

In any case you should also be able to put Core 2 X6800 (unlocked) on most of the above mentioned boards just for bragging rights. And that would be even more amusing ~3GHz Core vs 3+GHz P4. 😀 😀 😀

or just OC the celeron most will hit over 3ghz

Jeez guys, calm down with the nested quotes already. 😜

candle_86 wrote:

or just OC the celeron most will hit over 3ghz

The problem is that the above boards (865PE/865G chipset) work best with 800MHz FSB, and the Celeron has locked multi, while the C2X doesn't. I haven't tested the C2X but I hope it can do 3GHz while lowering the FSB to 800, not sure if it's going to work flawlesly, I have to get the chip first. OK... let's save that for another thread. 😀

Back on-topic: most undesirable piece ... would be any card/board with badly rusted metal plates/connectors/parts ... That just turns me off 🙁

How about the serial 9-to-25-pin adapters?

Zip drives.

tincup wrote:

Zip drives.

I actually have a special place in my heart for those things, especially the SCSI versions, Iomega being a Utah company and I know a few people who used to work there. 😎

However, since I have 9 of them (7 are SCSI), the rest I donate to the local thrift store. The SCSI are handy with old Macintosh SE's.

tincup wrote:

Zip drives.

Actually ZIP drives can be quite useful to move data around between old machines, 8088, 286, 386, 486, specially if you don't have them networked and still use hard drives instead of Compact Flash or SD cards.

carlostex wrote:

tincup wrote:

Zip drives.

Actually ZIP drives can be quite useful to move data around between old machines, 8088, 286, 386, 486, specially if you don't have them networked and still use hard drives instead of Compact Flash or SD cards.

Same. This is what I actually use my ZIP drives for. Of course they can die, but so can basically everything else.

dogchainx wrote:

tincup wrote:

Zip drives.

I actually have a special place in my heart for those things, especially the SCSI versions, Iomega being a Utah company and I know a few people who used to work there. 😎

However, since I have 9 of them (7 are SCSI), the rest I donate to the local thrift store. The SCSI are handy with old Macintosh SE's.

There was some talk about them recently so I figured there might be a advocate or two out there 😀. But personally I found them horrible to use and uniquely unreliable and quirky. We used them as backup drives for a few years at work and they proved deficient in the role - I usually needed to have the same data stored on 2 or 3 of the damn cartridges in hopes that at least 1 would work if needed. Home use fared no better.

However I can see their use in ferrying more-than-floppy size data between retro rigs. - but for that I find an external USB dock easier and more reliable - then again I only run W95+ rigs.

I tossed all my ZIP gear about 7 or 8 years ago: 3 or 4 drives and 20 or so disks... did I make a regrettable "retro blunder"? God knows I've made them before.