|
|
|
|
| Welcome, Guest | Home | Search | Login | Register | |
| Author | Old Tech still in business use :-) (Read 21905 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
|
on: March 31, 2024, 10:42
I got this from a German vintage computing forum. Thought I'd share it with you because I think some of you will find this equally interesting :-) Apparently not far from me in the Bavarian capital Munich there's a clockmaker shop that has been running an Apple II as a cash register for next to 40 years now. Here's a photo of it on revontulet.org. Pretty amazing, isn't it? But I can totally see why this is a cool solution - no fan (quiet), no internet (no ransomware), and low operating expenses (no constant upgrading). I wonder how much old tech is still in use in various business, especially small mom & pop style stores, that we have no idea of. I know that until a few years ago, almost all of the copy shops here were still doing their pre-print work on G4 towers with OS9 and QuarkXpress / Photoshop. Some of those Macs must have had hundreds of thousands of hours on them. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Edit: March 31, 2024, 10:46 by Bolkonskij
|
68040
|
512 MB  Posts: 950 68k - thy kingdom come, thy will be done !
Reply #1 on: March 31, 2024, 11:01
|
If it ain't broke don't fix it. Even the fastest supercomputer couldn't change anything on 2+2=4.
|
wove
|
1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #2 on: March 31, 2024, 14:05
|
I was reading the other day that many systems on the International Space Station run on 6502 processors. I gather they are rugged enough and simple enough that the hazards of space do not effect them. At first that just seems like new equipment using old parts, but then the ISS has been up there for a good long time now. So maybe it has arrived at the point the whole system is just old tech (built on even older tech).
|
Knezzen
|
Administrator 512 MB Posts: 608 Village idiot
Reply #3 on: March 31, 2024, 15:40
|
At my place of employment we still have a Luxor ABC80 controlling parts of the production. Still going strong after more than 40 years on the job 
|
cballero
|
1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #4 on: March 31, 2024, 23:31
|
Wow!  So the ISS is running systems that have chips the same family as the Atari 2600, Commodore 64 and NES? Now that's a really cool fun fact right there! 
Last Edit: March 31, 2024, 23:33 by cballero
|
wove
|
1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #5 on: April 01, 2024, 02:19
|
An interesting thing to note though is that while the 6502 is still in use and still being made, it is now made with newer technology than was employed back in the C= 64 day. Freshly made 6502 chips are about 7mm squares. Small enough to even be used in a watch. As Knezzen noted computers used as industrial process controllers will be expected to last the life of the machine, which is often decades. A few years back an aircraft mfg was hunting for a C= 8250 disk drive. It was needed because it held the software needed to run some industrial machine that made some critical component. With the drive out there was no way to load the software on the Pet 8032 which controlled the machine making the critical part. (It is also an example where companies are no better at backups and redundancy than the average home user.)
|
ShinobiKenobi
|
256 MB Posts: 362 System 7 fan
Reply #6 on: April 01, 2024, 06:29
|
I love stuff like this. Years ago, I encountered customers who still used MS-DOS for their companies, because critical systems they needed ran on it, and it would be a major PITA and too expensive to change all their equipment. Also, as Bokonskij said, no internet = no ransomware. That was one of the major reasons the local Lowe's store (or possibly the whole company) as recently as 6 years ago was still running their point of sales on MS-DOS as well. Maybe not because of ransomware, but someone told me they felt it was more secure that way.
Last Edit: April 01, 2024, 06:32 by ShinobiKenobi
|
MTT
|
256 MB Posts: 394 SSW7 Oldtimer
Reply #7 on: April 02, 2024, 06:29
|
DOS Cash POS software is still in use today, check out these beauties. I especially enjoyed the "Bombastic Pyroteknik Kalmar" pic from Sweden  It's a free POS software that's been around seemingly for ever, I first came across it in the early 2k's. Written and distributed by the author, Dale Harris, and has been a freeware all of this time. I believe it is used mainly by small businesses. The main home page here: POS / Cash Register Even though it's for a DOS software, this site is fairly System 7 browser friendly -iCab 2.9.9 is fine -Netscape 3 fails. The "Why does this site look so crappy?" page is a good read
Last Edit: April 02, 2024, 06:38 by MTT
|
Neal_SE30
|
256 MB Posts: 401 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #8 on: April 06, 2024, 09:41
|
I imagine there’s still a fair amount out there in small/medium businesses. I believe many older CNC machines, CAD or architect printers are run for old 8/16-bit computers. They work and would be expensive to replace so it makes sense. I also imagine some other areas like POS in small shops, back of warehouses with dot matrix printers. Hey even the NHS in England only just upgraded from windows xp a few years back. That is a cool apple II
|
68040
|
512 MB Posts: 950 68k - thy kingdom come, thy will be done !
Reply #9 on: April 06, 2024, 13:30
|
They have been predicting the death of COBOL for decades. Yet just the other week I found a job search add for a "COBOL Administrator" in my inbox.
|
Neal_SE30
|
256 MB Posts: 401 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #10 on: April 06, 2024, 14:08
|
And you have to remember we think we’re advanced and yes you’re iPhone in your pocket is a super computer but in reality everything we now use is just an evolution of an evolution of the same kernels, same principles of our beloved classics. The Arm processor was designed by acorn back in 1985, the basics of the internet back in the late 1960s. We can use excel, word, PowerPoint, photoshop and many other main titles on our classic Mac’s today, be it simpler with less features and slower for sure. The 6502’processors are still sold and used in set top boxes and telecoms, even the loved Motorola and PowerPC are still going today in some form or another. Yes i believe lots of old kit is still in use around the world, plus less likely to be attacked or get a virus.
|
Bolkonskij
|
Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #11 on: April 06, 2024, 19:34
|
Indeed! Usually everything in computing is much older than you'd think.
|
Neal_SE30
|
256 MB Posts: 401 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #12 on: April 07, 2024, 18:42
|
68040 did you apply for the cobol job
|
|
Pages: [1]
|
| |||||||||||||
|
© 2021 System7Today.com. |
