Programming mostly, i use for work a 486 laptop, still need to do a lot of programming for old industrial robots that have floppy disk and serial ports, then is easy for me just carry the 486 laptop than a new one with usb floppy etc

I use my 286 for pascal programming, but is not my work, just personal fun, but anyways i use the 286 every day since ... mm... always maybe 25+ years for sure

For my personal stuff, like expense spreadsheets, to keep record of people i need to pay/charge etc i use my Jornada 720, still works fine and i dont feel the need to update

I've thought about using older Windows systems for digital art. I have a couple older 4:3 Wacom tablets, just need to set them up and see if they work.

Nothing here but I've always liked the idea of short story writing on my Windows 98 machine - just me and the PC, no internet and modern life stuff to distract me. It'll never happen though, I don't have the time or energy for writing anymore and staring at text on a CRT is a killer compared to a huge modern display.

I've been writing a diary for ~15 years and again I thought of doing that on my retro machine, but Google docs is just too good. Available anywhere I can log in to docs and of course it handles all the backups for me.

Constantly developing software "stuff" - I've always liked DOS - created my own development tools under it "back in the day"
and still like it as it doesn't much "get in the way" .. can talk to hardware, access all parts of the system without worrying about
a ton of special drivers and working around OS "protection" and other "features".

Now that I'm retired, I don't have to make things that "will sell"or otherwise make money... I just do it because I've always
enjoyed it.

Still maintain a few ancient (DOS) systems, and still maintain my ImageDisk tool, my collection of C compilers, assemblers,
debuggers and other tools for various embedded systems (and I still build "cool special purpose things" using said embedded systems).

Have dozens of "little tools" I'm constantly creating and playing with.. Lots of "just for fun" programs...
Literally hundreds of directories of "Stuff I've made" on the hard drives of these systems...

Interesting! I'd suggest adding some photos in your website of the place you do this work or the devices you use , both computers and hardware like the microscope or the CD loader you mention. You could also upload all the files to archive.org for preservation.

Up until Covid I would use Word/Excel 2003 on my XP rig for personal stuff.
I still prefer that version and firing up the PC was quicker, easier and more comfortable then getting the work laptop out of my bag.

Most of my "important" stuff is on google drive now and my "work from home" PC permanently setup means I the retro fleet is no longer "productive"
I agree there is something about using old software for real work that is fun, and still do from time to time, it's just no longer my default machine.

Programming EPROMs with a serial programmer is one of the tasks I still use a vintage machine.
Did parts of writing of my phd thesis on an IBM PS/2 P70 in 2005, due to lack of a laptop then.
Just for the Text. Pictures and layout on a different machine running LaTeX.

Still planning to play around with some DAQ-boards and Labview, maybe scope readout via GPIB is allready productive too?

Some coding, but since it's nothing useful outside of the retro hobby I wouldn't call it "productive".

But I did write the text of my CV on an old PC recently. I knew it would take multiple hours, evenings and iterations since it was a major rewrite, so I though why not do it at the soothing retro corner using a clicky keyboard and MSDOS editor. Of course once finished it was taken elsewhere for formatting.

I occasionally use an older machine for programming but often for experiments and fun than serious, likewise I enjoy older Office editions and some other software but cannot claim genuine productivity uses

I have never gone on to use google docs or cloud service though

Not me, but Deutsche Bahn or Siemens were looking for WfW 3.11 admins last year.
There's a Windows-based graphical display that runs on InterCity Express trains..
It replaced electro-mechanical instruments, I think.
Since the trains date back to 1985 it's understandable that there hasn't been an update.
The whole certification process makes a replacement complicated, after all.

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows … perating-system

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB2OUia5kSg

I use quite a few of my old machines for numerous productive tasks.

Probably the biggest one is storing and ORGANIZING all of my images / photography and music collection on my XP machines. I just can't do it (as easily) on Vista/7's UI or anything newer - to0 much clutter and certain things that used to take only a click or two on 2k/XP take numerous clicks and annoyances on Vista/7/8/10. Haven't even tried 11 yet, but I'm sure I won't like it. I like single screen, a taskbar that doesn't group stuff (buttons) for me in a tiny thumbnail that I have to click and then look through to find what I need... and... well, the list is pretty large. A NO DISTRACTIONS. On XP, I work efficiently and quickly.

Most of my XP machines have Office 2003 and Photoshop 7.0 on them. Still do a good deal of typing on them. Got an Office2k3 license when in college through that MS program (forget what it was called now). And PS 7.0 is way back from high school. At the time (early 2000's), the school was changing it out to Photoshop CS (1), so our teacher offered us a copy of the old volume licensed CD, since it would not be used anymore. Not sure where that falls in terms of legality, but it was the early 2000's and no one really cared back then either. 😉 Still use that PS7 copy for all of my image editing / retouching. It loads fast and is pretty efficient on an old PC. Sure newer versions of PS probably have added a ton of features now that can simplify some of the things we had to do manually on older versions. For a pro that is getting paid by the hour, that might matter. For me, not so much. And the fact that I don't have to pay a yearly subscription is really the best part. Same with the older versions of Office. I also have 2k7 and use that on my Win7 machines... and all of my family's PCs that I maintain, since 2k3 tends to not always like some features in the newer 2k7 format.

I also have a number of PII/P3 laptops that are not very good for Win98 gaming, but are otherwise great for audio-related stuff - mainly signal generation (the PII Dell Latitudes have really really powerful line outs) and occasionally using the line in for AF oscilloscope/spectrum analyzer via. VisualAnalyzer. So whenever I'm dabbling with a repaired or home-brew amplifier, I always use one of these for testing. The P3 laptops contain my collection of PDF datasheets as well so I can look up common parameters of common parts while working on something on my workbench - even if I don't have internet or just don't want to go online (helps with not getting distracted too.)

Then there's a number of machines that were too new 10-15 years ago when I found them to be considered retro, yet too old for modern stuff. So some of these I have relegated for various other tasks. For example, one of them I use solely for testing/zeroing IDE and SCSI HDDs (50-pin, 68-pin, and SCA). Another one, my partially-faulty AsRock 939Dual-SATA2, I use for retro video card testing, since it has both PCI-E and AGP. If it was working right, I could use it for testing PCI cards too... but unfortunately it's not - either the Southbridge BGA or the Southbridge has internal intermittent fault, making certain Southbridge-connected devices to have issues. The onboard audio is one of these and was the first to bite the dust. The SATA controller also corrupts data frequently, so cannot use SATA HDDs on this board anymore (not reliably anyways). The LAN is A-ok - corrupts bits, but recovers most of the time. Occasionally it does crash the system, though. Same with the USB ports. The PCI slots are the same too - a lot of my PCI video cards that work in other systems will sometimes show really weird artifacts on this PC. But even with all of those issues, I have still used this board to test no less than 100 video cards over the course of 8+ years. Then again, after the board issues appeared and I noticed the NB and SB run really hot, I added a fan to constantly keep these cooled when the system is in use, so I think that is what held the board from progressing any further with more failures.

And lastly... well, one could say I am using ALL of my retro systems for productive tasks, since the newest one is with a 4th gen i-series intel CPU (i7-4770s... and that's the "modern gaming" PC. 🤣 Everything else I have is considerably older. In fact, most of my "daily" PCs are Core 2 -era or P4 -era based. The early C2D's and especially the P4s are really struggling online... though if only used for admin -type stuff (e.g. pay bills and etc.), they are still tolerable. Alternatively said, they are just about an equal match, speed-wise, for my wireless connection, which gets terribly slow as soon as I move a few yards away from the router... which is the norm here, since I live in an old soviet condo with very thick all-concrete walls. And the fact that there are so many apartments around, each with it's own router (or two, if bridged), it's total chaos in the 2.4 and 5G spectrum, I'm sure. Been meaning to put wired ethernet to all of my rooms... but with those thick concrete walls, probably understandable why I keep stalling with that.

mgtroyas wrote on 2025-06-03, 05:36:

Interesting! I'd suggest adding some photos in your website of the place you do this work or the devices you use , both computers and hardware like the microscope or the CD loader you mention. You could also upload all the files to archive.org for preservation.

Not sure if you're responding to me... I didn't see "microscope" or "CD loader"
mentioned in this thread, but things like these are mentioned on my site...
(sorry if not related)

"Microscope" was the name of a software product I developed "back in the day"
which was a visual debugger for various embedded ("micro") systems. I also
mention "Datascope" which was just a two-COM port DOS PC running my DLM
(DataLineMonitor) tool.

There's description, photos and small video of it running for the "DVD loader"
that I built at one point on "Daves Old Computers" - look for "DVD Robot" near
the bottom of the main page.
-- Note: the video segment is *very* compressed/small, and some viewers
-- can't play it - VLC seems to handle it fine!

and... one of my "someday" projects to do is write descriptions, take photos
etc. for the *many* "one-of" special purpose control systems and "unique" tools
that literally fill much of the shelves in my workshop (the workshop itself
would most likely be fairly boring to most people - just a large (bungalow)
basement with a number of test benches and power tools.

momaka wrote on 2025-06-03, 10:08:

I use quite a few of my old machines for numerous productive tasks. […]
Show full quote

I use quite a few of my old machines for numerous productive tasks.

Probably the biggest one is storing and ORGANIZING all of my images / photography and music collection on my XP machines. I just can't do it (as easily) on Vista/7's UI or anything newer - to0 much clutter and certain things that used to take only a click or two on 2k/XP take numerous clicks and annoyances on Vista/7/8/10. Haven't even tried 11 yet, but I'm sure I won't like it. I like single screen, a taskbar that doesn't group stuff (buttons) for me in a tiny thumbnail that I have to click and then look through to find what I need... and... well, the list is pretty large. A NO DISTRACTIONS. On XP, I work efficiently and quickly.

Most of my XP machines have Office 2003 and Photoshop 7.0 on them. Still do a good deal of typing on them. Got an Office2k3 license when in college through that MS program (forget what it was called now). And PS 7.0 is way back from high school. At the time (early 2000's), the school was changing it out to Photoshop CS (1), so our teacher offered us a copy of the old volume licensed CD, since it would not be used anymore. Not sure where that falls in terms of legality, but it was the early 2000's and no one really cared back then either. 😉 Still use that PS7 copy for all of my image editing / retouching. It loads fast and is pretty efficient on an old PC. Sure newer versions of PS probably have added a ton of features now that can simplify some of the things we had to do manually on older versions. For a pro that is getting paid by the hour, that might matter. For me, not so much. And the fact that I don't have to pay a yearly subscription is really the best part. Same with the older versions of Office. I also have 2k7 and use that on my Win7 machines... and all of my family's PCs that I maintain, since 2k3 tends to not always like some features in the newer 2k7 format.

I also have a number of PII/P3 laptops that are not very good for Win98 gaming, but are otherwise great for audio-related stuff - mainly signal generation (the PII Dell Latitudes have really really powerful line outs) and occasionally using the line in for AF oscilloscope/spectrum analyzer via. VisualAnalyzer. So whenever I'm dabbling with a repaired or home-brew amplifier, I always use one of these for testing. The P3 laptops contain my collection of PDF datasheets as well so I can look up common parameters of common parts while working on something on my workbench - even if I don't have internet or just don't want to go online (helps with not getting distracted too.)

Then there's a number of machines that were too new 10-15 years ago when I found them to be considered retro, yet too old for modern stuff. So some of these I have relegated for various other tasks. For example, one of them I use solely for testing/zeroing IDE and SCSI HDDs (50-pin, 68-pin, and SCA). Another one, my partially-faulty AsRock 939Dual-SATA2, I use for retro video card testing, since it has both PCI-E and AGP. If it was working right, I could use it for testing PCI cards too... but unfortunately it's not - either the Southbridge BGA or the Southbridge has internal intermittent fault, making certain Southbridge-connected devices to have issues. The onboard audio is one of these and was the first to bite the dust. The SATA controller also corrupts data frequently, so cannot use SATA HDDs on this board anymore (not reliably anyways). The LAN is A-ok - corrupts bits, but recovers most of the time. Occasionally it does crash the system, though. Same with the USB ports. The PCI slots are the same too - a lot of my PCI video cards that work in other systems will sometimes show really weird artifacts on this PC. But even with all of those issues, I have still used this board to test no less than 100 video cards over the course of 8+ years. Then again, after the board issues appeared and I noticed the NB and SB run really hot, I added a fan to constantly keep these cooled when the system is in use, so I think that is what held the board from progressing any further with more failures.

And lastly... well, one could say I am using ALL of my retro systems for productive tasks, since the newest one is with a 4th gen i-series intel CPU (i7-4770s... and that's the "modern gaming" PC. 🤣 Everything else I have is considerably older. In fact, most of my "daily" PCs are Core 2 -era or P4 -era based. The early C2D's and especially the P4s are really struggling online... though if only used for admin -type stuff (e.g. pay bills and etc.), they are still tolerable. Alternatively said, they are just about an equal match, speed-wise, for my wireless connection, which gets terribly slow as soon as I move a few yards away from the router... which is the norm here, since I live in an old soviet condo with very thick all-concrete walls. And the fact that there are so many apartments around, each with it's own router (or two, if bridged), it's total chaos in the 2.4 and 5G spectrum, I'm sure. Been meaning to put wired ethernet to all of my rooms... but with those thick concrete walls, probably understandable why I keep stalling with that.

Digital photography is definitely something I would miss if I went to using a 1990's computer like my Mac 100% of the time and nothing else. It's so convenient and the photos are so crisp. I agree though XP machines are surprisingly great all around machines as long as you don't need to go on the web. I had a SFF Compaq HP machine with a 3ghz HT Pentium 4 and I could watch DVDs, run early version of Minecraft, play everything up to Fallout 3 (with settings on low. 🤣) and view even my high res images take with my Sony A7RII with barely a pause to load. Honestly I wish MS had just stopped at XP. 🤣

That said I do have a Cannon Rebel G which is really nice from 1996 that I use occasionally but man it's so expensive to shoot film.

Until 2016, I used vintage computer equipment for a T-shirt business and name meaning / heraldry business.

Would love to still do it but all the festivals and craft fairs died

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-06-03, 18:29:

Until 2016, I used vintage computer equipment for a T-shirt business and name meaning / heraldry business.

Would love to still do it but all the festivals and craft fairs died

There's probably still places you could sell stuff at. Flea markets and Renfairs etc.

I was using a Pentium II laptop to type papers in college, and I graduated in 2015. I bought a new laptop for college, but it was the one I made a ridiculously long post about in the "hardware you wish you'd never bought" thread. The big problem was the keyboard only lasting three months, but I also remember some file corruption problems (with all hardware diagnostics passing).

King_Corduroy wrote on 2025-06-03, 18:28:

Honestly I wish MS had just stopped at XP. 🤣

Right?! 😀
To me, that's still the best OS ever. To think that one can still use it for quite a few things, despite being over 20 years old now, is just amazing IMO. With a modern updated browser (well, there really aren't that many besides Supermium now... Mypal hasn't been updated in ages) it's still possible to go online without too much fuss.

King_Corduroy wrote on 2025-06-03, 18:28:

That said I do have a Cannon Rebel G which is really nice from 1996 that I use occasionally but man it's so expensive to shoot film.

Yeah, film photography now carries the "expensive hobby" tax. There's just not that many companies that make the supplies (film, film post-processing supplies, etc.) so it's natural that the cost has gone up. It's actually hard to find a place anymore that can develop your films too.
I do really like film photos, though. Even a semi-pro camera from back in the days can still produce images that gives modern phone cameras a run for their money. Well, maybe not a run for their money (given how expensive film photography has become), but certainly something to aspire to in terms of image quality. Despite now there being phones with 100 MP cameras, I can still see their shortcomings - mainly that they don't have a proper lens and light control, so they rely on AI / software post-processing to "correct" the image.

rmay635703 wrote on 2025-06-03, 18:29:

Until 2016, I used vintage computer equipment for a T-shirt business and name meaning / heraldry business.

Would love to still do it but all the festivals and craft fairs died

Can thank Amazon / online shopping for that.
Where I live now, though, small businesses like that are still abundant and able to make it. But online shopping is also starting to take onto a lot of things here.

lti wrote on 2025-06-04, 04:33:

I was using a Pentium II laptop to type papers in college, and I graduated in 2015.

There's something magical about those old laptop keyboard, isn't it? FWIW, my college laptop (2010-2015) was a Pentium 3 Dell Latitude C600. I did a lot of my typing on it... though not anywhere as much as on my desktop with its beige Dell QuietKey keyboard. Actually, by senior year, I had two other classmates who liked to come by my place when we had group projects, because they really liked using my (at the time) P4 desktop PC and abovementioned Dell keyboard.
Let's be honest - no one likes typing on a modern flat keyboard. 🤣

"Anyone else use their vintage machines for any productivity work?"

I dont even use my new, top of the line rig for productivity....

"Honestly I wish MS had just stopped at XP. 🤣"

Yea... no. Win7 was the peak.

momaka wrote on 2025-06-06, 17:53:

lti wrote on 2025-06-04, 04:33:

I was using a Pentium II laptop to type papers in college, and I graduated in 2015.

There's something magical about those old laptop keyboard, isn't it? FWIW, my college laptop (2010-2015) was a Pentium 3 Dell Latitude C600. I did a lot of my typing on it... though not anywhere as much as on my desktop with its beige Dell QuietKey keyboard. Actually, by senior year, I had two other classmates who liked to come by my place when we had group projects, because they really liked using my (at the time) P4 desktop PC and abovementioned Dell keyboard.
Let's be honest - no one likes typing on a modern flat keyboard. 🤣

It felt a lot nicer to type on, but the main point was to have a keyboard that worked. The three-month-old (at the time) laptop's keyboard wouldn't register keystrokes reliably on the most frequently used keys.