Hardware 2.0

They still have parts and have support for that dinosaur? Or do you have to borrow one of the mice that are powering your Comodore64 to run it?

Dude, upgrade to at least Pentium-II and a 15" monitor!! There are reasons why we don't still use a horse drawn carriages any longer.. it's called advancement in technology!

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Had to check

bryantrv 1st May 2008

Time passes so quickly- I answered 1 year, but then had to check my Newegg confirmation email, and yep- 6/18/07=
CPU COOLER TT|CI-P0374 R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$19.99)
KB&MS MS|BASIC BLK VALUE PK PS2/US% - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$16.99)
CASE FAN|SS 120MM BK| RL-FN121 R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$8.99)
MB ASUS M2NBP-VM CSM NVS 210S AM2 - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$74.99)
CPU AMD|A64 X2 4400+ 2.3G AM2 65N R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$110.00)
CPU THERMPASTE|ARCTIC SILVER5 3.5G% - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$5.99)
FAN ACC THERMALTAKE|A2385 RTL - Retail (Qty=2, Price=$3.98)
CASE ROSEWILL|R5717 SL 450W RT - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$49.99)
SCREW KIT LINK DEPOT|LD-SCREWSKIT R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$3.99)
MEM 1Gx2|TRANS JM2GDDR2-8K R - Retail (Qty=1, Price=$72.99)
HD 200G|WD 7K 8M SATA2 WD2000JS % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$54.99)
DVD_BURN LITE-ON|LH-20A1P-185 BK % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$27.99)
MS WIN XP HOME w/SP2B SINGLE PACK % - OEM (Qty=1, Price=$89.99)

(WinXP is running under vmware server, the main box is Debian Etch).

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Anyone older than 8 years?

Eapache 1st May 2008

Dell Optiplex GX150; PIII 1GHz; 384MB; 160GB; ATI Radeon 7200;

Running vanilla Ubuntu. Probably won't upgrade until part of it actually dies. The hard drive is the only 'new' component (2 or 3 years old now).

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Yep...Just got rid of my Dell GX1 a couple of weeks ago.

ye 1st May 2008

It is 9 years old. Pentium III 600MHz, 768MB RAM, 40GB HD. Was running CentOS 5 though this was not my main system.

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Yup

Captain America 3rd May 2008

Quantex 500mHz, PIII, 384Mb--gets a little funky sometimes, need to reinstall Win98.

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Those Pentium IIIs flew compared to the 4s.

stevey_d 4th May 2008

Mine died not long ago. My brother still runs a 500MHz system, and he's moved to SUSE linux. (I'm Ubuntu, and Debian (on this one)). Plus XP for kids games.
(one day reactos maybe).

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We have a few oldies but goodies

devlin_X 5th May 2008

Their just not our main PC's. My wife's laptop is a 9yr old Toshiba Satellite 1735 with a P-III 750 running Ubuntu 8.04. My son's Ubuntu Studio machine is a P-III 1.0Ghz Dell Dimension 4100.

I also have a Deminsion R450 I'm using as a server running Xubuntu 7.10.

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Yes, several older.

dilbert@... 5th May 2008

Not my main computer, but my main DTP machine is a NeXT running NeXTstep 3.3 and Framemaker and my CAD machine is a Dell Pentium Pro 200 running Win98 and AutoCAD 11 for DOS since I never felt the need to upgrade past that. I'm faster with a 12x12 tablet menu than a mouse and my old Kurta IS-1 has no Windows drivers. Plus I still use a HI pen plotter which functions better with R11 than a Windows system. My office email, file and web server is a Sgi Origin 200 that was an eBay find.

Old tools still can do a lot of useful work. In my home shop I still use a pair of Atlas lathes from 1947. They are seven years older than me but we're still cranking out the work.

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Yep, they just won't die...

Zogg 6th May 2008

There's my P166 I bought in '97 and then upgraded to P200. It's doing router-duty these days. And then there's the 350 MHz P2 system that became my parents' main (Linux) system when my brother upgraded his (Linux) machine a few years ago. Of course, that's had a few upgrades courtesy of E-Bay since and is now a 500 MHz P3, 384 MB RAM, ATI Radeon 7000.

My main system is over 4 years old, but I don't have room for another workstation here. That's why my latest system is a laptop/docking station instead. Both are running Fedora 8.

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needs multi choice for first poll for dual boot users

james.faction 1st May 2008

...although I suppose you can still pick the OS on your main computer you use most often, I guess...

Interesting numbers. I think it's telling that more Windows PCs are 3-5 years old than 1-2 years old... But then the poll numbers are not high enough yet to draw any significant conclusions.

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I've noticed this problem

fakejake3 1st May 2008

before with other polls that could have "select all that apply" questions. ZDNet polls don't seem to have that capability. I dual boot Vista SP1 and Ubuntu 8.04, so I just disregarded the first question and answered the ones about Windows and Linux.

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What part of my PC?

riredale 1st May 2008

Let's see, the case and 2 drives are 8 years old, other drives are 7 to 2 years old, the motherboard is 3 years old, the CPU is 1 year old...

What answer is the best fit here?

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Recycling

bryantrv 1st May 2008

You know- that's interesting. I always build boxes with the idea of upgrading them, but when it comes time to upgrade, it winds up easier and cheaper to keep that box and build a whole new one, with the exception of drives. I mean- why pull the Duron 850 and put an Athlon in it when it will function fine as is (just not as my main box).

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Agreed

thx-1138_@... 2nd May 2008

Question is way too broad and general. I suspect many IT/IS inclined persons will be less likely to upgrade an entire system unless the reasons are compelling.

Add to this that many people here are using dual-boot systems, then the question asked is even less precise.

As for me? Well, technically my system is between 2-4 years old - though, as i say, parts of it are more recent. The 80GB HDD is part of original build. original. The 400W PSU alone is about 11 months old; the GPU, and CPU are from the original setup. M/b replaced a fried ASUS K8N which died in a power surge. 1GB RAM - 1 stick was part of original setup and the other is 2 years old; LiteON DVD burner; floppy drive and an antiquated Motorola dial-up modem round out the hardware. OS: XP SP2

Asides from M/b, PSU and one stick of RAM, all else is part of original box.

Specs:

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+(Newcastle - L1:128Kb/L2:512Kb)
(754)
M/b: ASRock K8U (FSB: 800MHz ~ 1000MHz)
HDD: WD 80GB (@7200RPM)
PSU: 400W Generic
GPU: ATI Radeon 9250 (64Mb VRAM)
RAM: 2 x 512Mb (2x512Mb DDR400 @ 333Mhz)
Primary G.P: AGP (4x/8x)
Audio: Realtek AC' 97
Optical Drive: LiteON DVD-R/W,+R, CD-R,R/W
Floppy Disk: Mitsubishi
LAN: Onboard F.E (10/100)
Dialup Modem: Motorola

So, basically, when ZDNet asks questions, it had better be sure and be more specific next time - else expect to get some odd answers in return.

"You ask a silly question - you get a silly answer!"

Regards.

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I'd say go with the mobo

bluescreen_z 3rd May 2008

unless the CPU was a major upgrade, like going from an am2 single core 1.6Ghz sempron to an am2 athlon64 X2 5200 (this is just an example).
We are supposed to be technically savvy, of course most of us have homebuilt machines that we keep tinkering with and swapping parts, and have countless older systems or parts around we collected from friends or customers; so figuring out the age of our systems is gonna take a little work, but is still easy than figuring out the fair share price of INTC or AMD.

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I am surprised to see 74% of Linux users...

ye 1st May 2008

...have a system that is 2 years old or younger. After all the hoopla we've heard about how well Linux runs on older hardware I would expect a lot less than 3/4 to be using such new equipment.

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42% of Windows users have a PC 2 years or newer.

ye 1st May 2008

Contrast this to the 74% of Linux users who have a PC 2 years or newer. Hmmm...

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not surprising

nothingness 2nd May 2008

quite a few people are gamers....

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Most linux users are higher up the food chain

cheapasskevin 1st May 2008

They are more likely to be enthusiast, and enthusiast love a new computer as much as they do alternate operating systems.......
If there had been a poll for it, it probably would have shown that linux users own more computers than window users.
Funny, about the time I got into linux, my computers started multiplying like rats..........................
I guess it has something to do with having a free operating system to put on them. Many were from the thrift store (don't laugh, you'd be supprised what you can pick up for nothing) and wouldn't have been great candidates for windows, and I sure wouldn't have wanted to buy copies of windows to put on them.....
With linux, I don't have to. From DSL and Puppy on the older machines, to 64 bit versions of cutting edge linux distros, I've paid nothing for any of them. All nice and legal, too.

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The used system I just picked up has a W2K COA..

ye 2nd May 2008

...attached to the top of it. Therefore I am entitled to install a copy of Windows 2000 on that system.

One of the negative things about OEM licenses is also a good thing when it comes to used computers. Since one cannot transfer the license the system remains forever licensed with whichever version of Windows it shipped with. One doesn't need to buy a copy of Windows for it. Just install whichever version it shipped with.

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why?

richvball44 2nd May 2008

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Because Linux fanbois have been telling us how well...

ye 2nd May 2008

...Linux runs on obsolete hardware. And therefore a suggestion to buy a new computer is foolish. At least that's what I've been told when I recommend a Windows user replace their obsolete system with a new one if they intend to switch to Vista.

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depend on needs

bluescreen_z 3rd May 2008

You probably also asks them what they do with their computer.
I can use a P3 or Duron 800Mhz Linux system to do the kind of light usage a lot of people do with the weekend bargain box they got at BestBuy or Circuit City, but if I want to be able to capture video, encode DVDs, while I am surfing the web and listening to music that old Duron won't do, but that same bargain box or an inexpensive MOBO/CPU upgrade can give me performance similar to a $1800 iMac.
That Linux allows you to get good reliable performance from an old pos doesn't mean you can't use it on newer more powerful systems.

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Main computer

bryantrv 2nd May 2008

I think the caveat is main computer- most Linux folks have far older computers doing other tasks, being terminals, firewalls, servers, etc., just not as the main box.
Until the motherboard fried I was using a P166 as a terminal ever day- nearly 10 years old.

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Why isn't their main computer one of the obsolete...

ye 2nd May 2008

...systems they insist Vista users continue using?

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More power... duhhh

bryantrv 2nd May 2008

In a bit of irony- Windows is the reason I had to upgrade. My old Duron 850 ran Xandros with Win98 under Win4Lin 9x very well, but the single Windows application I use needed me to upgrade to XP, and non of the VM's would run at usable speed.
So- I now am running my base OS (Debian Etch) and 2 OS's under vmware server- WinXP and Ubuntu "just enough server", for a total of 3 operating systems.

And- Linux guys like eye candy some times as well, which takes cpu power in any OS.

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Re: Why isn't their main computer one of the obsolete...

none none 2nd May 2008

...systems they insist Vista users continue using?

Maybe it's because you're full of it to begin with? You need to stop trying to pick talkback fights with the fanbois talking in your head.

happy

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I think the answers to your question

bluescreen_z 3rd May 2008

were clear and exhaustive enough, did you take some tiem to read or understand them.
I don't know why you are so paranoid about a Linux conspiracy to prevent Vista users from upgrading their hardware, when was the last time somebody was denied the purchase of a new PC (other than because he/she had no money or credit).
It is more of an additional option rather than a conspiracy to keep them from upgrading.
What hardware and software somebody should buy and use is a personal choice, there is plenty of factors, some rational, some not, some people don't like wasting money, some other act on impulse, some just surf the web and send e-mails, other scan professional quality slides and spend hours photoshopping them or put together 200 GB video projects.

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The question wasn't "How old is your hardware?"

Letophoro 2nd May 2008

It was how old is your main computer?

Linux users being the types that tend to build their own, will have "new" computers built from old and new parts. Which reminds me - It's time to build a new computer now that I've accumulated enough spare parts to do so.

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Re: I am surprised to see 74% of Linux users...

none none 2nd May 2008

After all the hoopla we've heard about how well Linux runs on older hardware I would expect a lot less than 3/4 to be using such new equipment.

The poll asked about the primary computer, not the computer it replaced, or the computer that one replaced, or the myriad old boxes that one acquires when one freely can install an OS on as many computers as one wants.

I am not surprised in the least.

happy

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I have linux on old and new PCs

bluescreen_z 3rd May 2008

The poll asked my how old was my main PC with Linux, that is less than one year, the 300Mhz to 1.5Ghz systems I have that also run Linux did not get counted.
I did start running Linux on several old PCs and had XP on my main PC, later as I got more familiar with Linux and found a Linux alternative for all the software I was using on XP I installed Linux also on my newer PC.

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In truth it's only the CPU, memory and mobo that I changed

stevey_d 4th May 2008

because the 1GHz one died. The rest of the system is 5+ years old.
(apart from PSU which was changed 2 years ago when it died.

I guess i should go back and click the "5+ years" rather than the 1 year.

One reason could be, you only have to buy components not an expensive software licence?? But in truth, I don't know why a slightly larger proportion of people run Linux on new machines.

Maybe they sold the old Windows ones?
I just don't know, and I doubt anyone else knows.

That's the problem, we know the poll results but not the reasons behind the poll. Time for another poll I think....

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I too

kcredden2 4th May 2008

was surpised at the numbers as well. But I guess it shows one thing. Although us linux users can put linux on older machines we still have that speed lust happy

- Kc

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It could be..

zkiwi 5th May 2008

That there's a major uptake of Linux happening. That'd mean quite a few new computers would be running Linux. Was that too obvious a thought?

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More interesting in which OS's are left out.

shallow_diver 2nd May 2008

What about Mainframe and Unix?

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Or AmigaOS

HypnoToad 2nd May 2008

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Got to love AmigaOS

NZJester 9th May 2008

I still have my old Amiga 1200 still going well after all these years. It's power supply burnt out, a problem with the sealed brick type that came with most 1200 & 600 Amigas. I got the power lead from the burnt out supply hooked up to a working power supply in an old almost empty Commodore PC10 case to get it going again. I also use the PC10 case to power an external 650 MB full size SCSI harddrive that is hooked to the 1200 via one of those IDE to SCSI adaptors that came out for the 1200. I still play a number of my old Amiga games from time to time, but mostly on my PC using WinUAE.

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OMG!!

DigtalDude 27th May 2008

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OS dual boot choice

21_years_IT 2nd May 2008

My main PC can dual boot between Windows and Linux (Windows 2000 and Mepis 7.0).
How about a dual booting choice for a poll?

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Now that enough votes are in

mediocrates@... 2nd May 2008

Notice that the 5+ year old category is in 3rd place for Mac and Windows but is in 2nd place for Linux.

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RE: Poll of the Day - How old is your main computer?

mhenriday 2nd May 2008

I have to agree with several of the previous posters ; I suspect that among those who respond to polls of this type, people with multi-boot setups are likely to be over-represented compared to the general population of computer users. Myself, I'm running 64-bit Ubuntu Hardy from one 250 GB HDD and (32-bit) Windows XP and Windows Vista from another. As I mostly use the first-named and the poll forced us to choose a sole OS, I chose Linux, which, alas, is only, say, 90 % of the truth....

Henri

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my Mac is 5+ years old

bluescreen_z 3rd May 2008

because I could not come up with anything newer in the recycling pile.
A little slow to boot, but at least it has 4 RAM slots. Beware the power of 300Mhz RISC processing! not for the faint of heart, or the impatient.

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RE: Poll of the Day - How old is your main computer?

jstaffor@... 4th May 2008

It makes no sence to keep a system for so long. Just makes it harder to up-grade. I change mine once every 12 to 16 months.

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sense...

Hrothgar - PCLinuxOS User 4th May 2008

The sense of it depends on your situation.

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My last machine

kcredden2 4th May 2008

was a 700 mhz computer with Win2k. Ran acceptably. Only reason I got rid of it, is the power supply blew, and took out the motherboard. Now I'm using a duel booting Win2k, and Debian 4 3ghz screamer. 1 g memory, nVidia 7300 GS card, DVI/E, PCI/E, 2 SATA drives

Runs X-Plane most acceptably now. happy

But in all seriousness. When you go past 1ghz, and a light OS, why do you need more speed? I just overbought mine, so it'd last about 3 - 5 years. That tends to be a good idea.

Once ReactOS comes out, Windows is done, and I can put more power to the programs than to the OS.

- Kc