paul
Veteran Member
In the "IBM PC" category, for space reasons, I've kept just two complete 5150s and one 5170 system, selected from many over the last two decades. My interest is purely as a collector, not a "user." I did the "using" in the '80s and am mostly done with that! But my three examples are in exceptionally-good and original working condition, and I wish to keep them that way.
So, I don't run these machines daily, but I do care that they are fully operational and demonstrable at a moment's notice to re-create the impressions of their time. I usually test them once a year, running them overnight, and so far the only failure has been the 5153 CGA monitor (see other thread.)
But, I'm wondering how much longer these historic machines are going to be maintainable in close to their original configurations and what can I do today to maximise their operational life for at least the next two decades? And, how often and how long do I need to run them to avoid damage from non-operation, if at all?
It amazes me that a 33-year old 5150 with belt-driven floppy drives can still work perfectly at the drop of a hat without ever having had a single repair. My '90s RISC workstations cannot match this level of reliability, despite being a decade newer.
Firing-up the AT is somewhat of another matter with fingers-crossed and Hail Mary's all around. There is so much more to go wrong and start-up is far more dramatic than the PC. The static attraction of multiple linear-actuated heads of the 30 MB Seagate ST4038 sitting firmly for long periods on polished soft oxide media cannot be ignored. When I started the AT yesterday after about six months sitting, the disk sounded like it was going through one of those random-seek tests, clearly not happy and requiring immediate shutdown. The head actuator must have had trouble homing off the disk tracks but thankfully it was fine on the next start-up.
We all know that MFM hard disks and MDA/CGA monitors don't last forever and may not be easily replaced with other maintainable technologies. Same with PC and AT power supplies and floppy disk media.
Since some monitors and most TVs (amazingly) still have 1987-vintage VGA inputs it's sensible in the near term to have compatible ISA-bus VGA cards on hand. But surely that standard will disappear soon, along with all other analog video inputs. What to do then? Even 4:3 format LED monitors are becoming rare.
Especially here in NZ, MFM hard disks are nearly unobtainable but luckily I've obtained an original spare, plus have a period-accurate SCSI full-height disk and controller as a backup.
Eventually these machines will be reduced to non-functional boxes just like we see with older computers in museums today, but it would be best to delay that as long as possible.
Aside from stashing VGA cards, 4:3 LCD monitors, Baby AT power supply internals, and floppy media, what plans do others have in this regard to continue computing at 4 MHz in the distant future?
It looks like I have to run the AT more frequently to avoid disk/head stiction, but how frequently?
So, I don't run these machines daily, but I do care that they are fully operational and demonstrable at a moment's notice to re-create the impressions of their time. I usually test them once a year, running them overnight, and so far the only failure has been the 5153 CGA monitor (see other thread.)
But, I'm wondering how much longer these historic machines are going to be maintainable in close to their original configurations and what can I do today to maximise their operational life for at least the next two decades? And, how often and how long do I need to run them to avoid damage from non-operation, if at all?
It amazes me that a 33-year old 5150 with belt-driven floppy drives can still work perfectly at the drop of a hat without ever having had a single repair. My '90s RISC workstations cannot match this level of reliability, despite being a decade newer.
Firing-up the AT is somewhat of another matter with fingers-crossed and Hail Mary's all around. There is so much more to go wrong and start-up is far more dramatic than the PC. The static attraction of multiple linear-actuated heads of the 30 MB Seagate ST4038 sitting firmly for long periods on polished soft oxide media cannot be ignored. When I started the AT yesterday after about six months sitting, the disk sounded like it was going through one of those random-seek tests, clearly not happy and requiring immediate shutdown. The head actuator must have had trouble homing off the disk tracks but thankfully it was fine on the next start-up.
We all know that MFM hard disks and MDA/CGA monitors don't last forever and may not be easily replaced with other maintainable technologies. Same with PC and AT power supplies and floppy disk media.
Since some monitors and most TVs (amazingly) still have 1987-vintage VGA inputs it's sensible in the near term to have compatible ISA-bus VGA cards on hand. But surely that standard will disappear soon, along with all other analog video inputs. What to do then? Even 4:3 format LED monitors are becoming rare.
Especially here in NZ, MFM hard disks are nearly unobtainable but luckily I've obtained an original spare, plus have a period-accurate SCSI full-height disk and controller as a backup.
Eventually these machines will be reduced to non-functional boxes just like we see with older computers in museums today, but it would be best to delay that as long as possible.
Aside from stashing VGA cards, 4:3 LCD monitors, Baby AT power supply internals, and floppy media, what plans do others have in this regard to continue computing at 4 MHz in the distant future?
It looks like I have to run the AT more frequently to avoid disk/head stiction, but how frequently?
Higher integration of more modern hardware can't beat that.