🚀 go-pugleaf

On 5/09/2003 10:34 PM, Phred wrote:

> In article <uriclvgp2afu7eipb66pia36ue4b6jjbba@4ax.com>, Steve 
> <p@q.inv> wrote:
> 
>>I've heard that the life cycle of a home PC is about 4-5 years, after
>>which you can expect problems.  Any truth to this?
> 
> 
> Others have mentioned the problem of compatibility with new gear, but 
> if you're just talking about the "machinery" you can probably get a 
> bit more than that out of them (at least if used in good conditions).
> 
> I've recently dismantled a couple of dead Osborne 486s dating from 
> around 1991-93 IIRC.  They were still working at the end of 2000, but 
> were dead by the end of 2002 if not before.  (One seemed to boot, but 
> wouldn't drive a VDU; the other at least let you see that you had a 
> problem with the HDD system. :)
> 
> In both cases, it seemed the Varta Nicads on the motherboard had spilt 
> their guts and corroded tracks on the board (plenty of pretty 
> corrosion compounds around anyway).
> 
> Now I don't really know whether the battery acid had caused the 
> problems, or whether it just looked bad.  Whatever...  These two PCs 
> were perfectly reliable for around 7 to 9 years at least, and maybe 
> they only died in the end through disuse.
> 
> As a corollary -- Does anyone know if that "verdigris" can be cleaned 
> up somehow without causing additional damage to tracks such as those 
> on motherboards?  I presume there is a point where it *looks* bad, but 
> hasn't yet actually eaten right through something.
> 
> 
> 
>
The old Osbornes were good, reliable machines.   I set up one (DX2-66) 
for a friend of mine in about 1996/97 as a first computer and it was in 
use daily until earlier this year when she decided she finally wanted to 
do more than just play card games and I built her a new AMD system. 
During that time it never missed a beat.

The Osborne is still working, and is about to be passed on to one of my 
relatives who wants it for some very basic card games and simple word 
processing as an electric typewriter.

I was always impressed with the build quality of the Osbornes, and I 
have an unusual tower case here made out of stainless steel that 
originally held a 386.   It has the power supply at the bottom of the 
case instead of the more usual top and has the drive bays at the bottom 
also, which made it a logical arrangement when sitting on a desk.

-- 
Cheers
Oldus Fartus