Post #704722

2026-03-17 14:08 UTC

I said it before, and I&#39;ll say it again: These cheap mid-90s, late 486 systems are like cockroaches - disgusting, but will survive just about anything, including a nuclear apocalypse. This one was first used as some desktop machine in a library. When that life ended, it ran 12 years 24/7 as my first Linux server, until the HDD died. Then the next 15 years it rot in corners of various basements. Almost got thrown away several times. And it lives. 1995 World Domination. 😅 #retrocomputing #msdos

Replies (8)

@metin@graphics.social 2026-03-17 14:09

@chainq Ah, good ol' demo scene nostalgia. 🤩

Open ##1591447
@johnefrancis@cosocial.ca 2026-03-17 14:52

@chainq good 'ole high-lead solder. By today's standards.

Open ##1591448
@jake4480@c.im 2026-03-17 15:18

@chainq so amazing. Yeah, I've had/done things like this. Amazing how tough they are. Permacomputing for sure hahaha

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@paninid@mastodon.world 2026-03-17 16:12

@chainq @blogdiva I can’t hear this picture over the sound the modem handshake.

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@skylark13@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-03-17 16:16

@chainq Still remember the satire response to these in another demo... "Larusse pixel" with one red pixel on a black screen hahaha

Open ##1591453
@cpm@spore.social 2026-03-17 16:19

@chainq funny i skipped the 386 went from a 286 (with a 287 math coprocessor) (which would boot coherent, only took an hour) to a 2nd gen 486, and clung to that thing like oxygen for *years*

Open ##1591454
@grant_h@mastodon.social 2026-03-17 17:06

@chainq these cockroaches still run the Hubble Telescope... https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6275/Hubble-Space-Telescope-uses-386-processor/ which includes the upgrade 486.

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@CAWguy@mstdn.ca 2026-03-17 20:59

@chainq Those 486s ran almost all of the robot controllers in the plant I was at. I wish I had a record of the hour meters on them because they worked out to decades of nearly trouble free uptime.

Open ##1591457