But was it a 386 or a 486?

dont know, but it was 50MHz so according to wikipedia that means it has to be 486.

this is waay before my time, what does that mean?

386 / 486 was the class of processor like P1, P2 etc

the 50 Mhz was its speed like your 3.642Ghz - honest to god

i got that bit, thanks i may be a young sprout but i know how slow PCs used to be, i have a 433MHz celeron win98 box for gods sake >.<

it was the whole x86 bit i didnt get, obviously x86 instruction set is 32bit, but im not used to seeing it with a number where the x is

just remembered GIMP boasts about being "i686" in the exe title, i spose that is Pentium 4 and up?

Yes in principle but I had an IBM 586 at one stage that was effectively a P 1 but not Intel.

ANd I cant remember when 32 bit OS's came up in relation to the chips sets. Twas a long time ago ..........

Windows NT brought 32-bit.

Windows 9x was pseudo 32-bit. It was a 32-bit core with 16-bit drivers and 16-bit DOS sessions running in 386 virtual mode, so that it was (somewhat) compatible with NT.

My oldest camera is a Pentax MX, the only SLR I've ever owned and it's still performs perfectly. I did have some older kit, but it was large format so I gave it to an art student.

Oldest working computer is my Sharp MZ80K, 1MHz 8 bit Z80 processor with 48K ram. I also have all the bits to upgrade it to 6MHz with 64K of sideways ram, but I never did.

Also have a BBC and an Electron, both working. Mostly used for playing Elite

Oldest working IBM compatible is either my Amstrad 8086 with 640K ram and 50MB HDD, or my V20 laptop with 640K, single 1.44MB floppy and CGA graphics. The V20 was an 8088 clone that ran a bit quicker.

I swear 123 ran faster on my BBC at 2MHz 8 bit than Excel does on my dual core 2GHz 64 bit PC

Would a G5 count?

Yours are still going? You lucky thing. Elite FTW!

Actually, tangent ahoy, I've been playing X3:Terran Conflict recently and it's giving me flashbacks to Elite, not enough to be comparable in any particular way thankfully but enough to make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I have an old AT 286 machine somewhere. 6mhz of pure power, baby!

My uncle has a VIC20 if that counts. And I have a load of the older sega consoles (I have an old square jap import Master system )

Do Atari ST floppy disks count?

I think the oldest thing I have about the place is a Master System, closely followed by a Game Gear

I’ll raise you an Archimedes disk.



There is an old Box Brownie somewhere abouts.

The Purple One has a Box Brownie, I seem to recall she got hold of some film somewhere and shot some pictures with it the other year.

The oldest piece of 'technology' I have is a 1920's typewriter. I picked it up from a car boot sale for £10. It still worked before the ribbon ran out...It was designed in London and produced in Manchester if I recall. It's keyboard layout is the QWERTY layout, but with things like the '@' symbol on the '2', leading me to believe that the original British keyboard layout has changed somewhat...But then again, on this old thing you had to dot the question and exclamation marks yourself with a full stop.

I'll get some pictures when I can, the camera is back up in Aber and the typewriter is back home, I'm currently at the Purple One's house.

I don't have anything old left - I move house so often things just get chucked out. However, I am looking for a Zorki 4 if anyone has one lying about...