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Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

retrocomputing.stackexchange.com

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Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#31

Post by notjulianjaynes »

Dalewyn wrote: post #20
raverbashing wrote: post #4

Honestly emulators work better than the real thing 99% of the time, so I don't feel the need to play with flaky and dusty 30yr old hardware

Call me when you can emulate that 30 year old solder smell, among other things.

I once made some rosin for soldering by dissolving the stuff made from tree sap for stringed instruments in isopropyl alcohol, and I think this is pretty close to the smell you're after. Fairly certain it's still not ideal to inhale the fumes from it, but it must be at least slightly less harmful than additionally vaporizing some heavy metals.

(This works reasonably well as flux for through hole sized components, possibly smaller if you're more skilled than I am, but you do have to clean up any excess afterwards because it's very sticky.)

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#32

Post by iwaztomack »

I have a 42 year old apple //e that had been in an uninsulated attic in Boston for 30+ years. It booted fine and all the 5 1/4" floppies worked. I know that C64s need the caps replaced and the org external power supplies can catch fire. I'd be really surprised if 1990's pcs failed. There was a period of transition to non-lead solder where many pcbs from that era suffered shorts from whiskering but everything else should be fine. Electromigration tolerances in the 90's cpu families was even more strict than today.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#33

Post by masswerk »

ryanjshaw wrote: post #12
masswerk wrote: post #3

My two cents: If we are talking about 1970s and '80s machines, they tend to run pretty hot, related to the PSU technology. Things like electrolytic capacitors "don't like this" and may contribute to cascading failures. PSU failures are apt to fry some chips, some of which may be hard to come by. So, better keep them cool = off. If you consider machines from the 2000s retro, continuous run, avoiding the stresses cause…

Something I didn't see mentioned but a consideration: what's the quality of your electricity supply? I live in a location with a lot of summer thunderstorms and even with a surge protector and lighting arrestors I'm nervous about having stuff plugged in unnecessarily during storms, having seen devices destroyed by it.

That may be a factor, excellent point. Electric supply is pretty good and there hasn't been a major outage, since I was a child. Also, power lines are buried (under ground), here. (But I have surge protection, just in case, and am running all related equipment from the same protected outlet.) Which also means, I have no idea.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#34

Post by ssl-3 »

notjulianjaynes wrote: post #31
Dalewyn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me when you can emulate that 30 year old solder smell, among other things.

I once made some rosin for soldering by dissolving the stuff made from tree sap for stringed instruments in isopropyl alcohol, and I think this is pretty close to the smell you're after. Fairly certain it's still not ideal to inhale the fumes from it, but it must be at least slightly less harmful than additionally vaporizing some heavy metals. (This works reasonably well as flux for through hole sized components, pos…

Lead does not evaporate at the temperatures used for soldering.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#35

Post by Sharlin »

xattt wrote: post #8
masswerk wrote: post #3

My two cents: If we are talking about 1970s and '80s machines, they tend to run pretty hot, related to the PSU technology. Things like electrolytic capacitors "don't like this" and may contribute to cascading failures. PSU failures are apt to fry some chips, some of which may be hard to come by. So, better keep them cool = off. If you consider machines from the 2000s retro, continuous run, avoiding the stresses cause…

It’s almost as if the question is vague on purpose to stir up responses!

It’s almost as if nobody has actually read the question! The OP says in the first sentence that the machine is from 1998, and that they’re going to use it about an hour per day.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#36

Post by Hnrobert42 »

deafpolygon wrote: post #23
dr_kiszonka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but they don't emulate the smells, the sound of fans spinning up and the gentle breeze they generate, the beeps and boops, the tick tick tick hard drives make, the long travel of keys on that old keyboard with a slightly sticky shift (gotta be from that coffee I spilled in '97).

Or that click of death that plagued zip drives.

My Dell had one in college. Everyone thought it was cool until the click-CLICK click-CLICK. Dell replaced it twice. Then I gave up. When did I ever really need to transfer 100MB anyway?

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#37

Post by masswerk »

Sharlin wrote: post #35
xattt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s almost as if the question is vague on purpose to stir up responses!

It’s almost as if nobody has actually read the question! The OP says in the first sentence that the machine is from 1998, and that they’re going to use it about an hour per day.

Still, the attraction, it got the attention for, may be the more general question.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#38

Post by Moru »

mschuster91 wrote: post #17
electronbeam wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power them from a pure sine wave inverter connected to a battery thats being charged. Aka a good UPS

That's not good enough - everything attached to the computer (including network gear, unless it's fiber) must be powered by the same UPS, or you have pathways for lightning current to enter.

Some UPS for consumers even have an ethernet through-port so you can connect your internet cable from the wall to the UPS before it touches your router.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#39

Post by anthk »

beaconify wrote: post #10
dr_kiszonka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but they don't emulate the smells, the sound of fans spinning up and the gentle breeze they generate, the beeps and boops, the tick tick tick hard drives make, the long travel of keys on that old keyboard with a slightly sticky shift (gotta be from that coffee I spilled in '97).

Game speed too.

Simh does.

Re: Are retrocomputers best left on or off?

#40

Post by anthk »

dr_kiszonka wrote: post #6
raverbashing wrote: post #4

Honestly emulators work better than the real thing 99% of the time, so I don't feel the need to play with flaky and dusty 30yr old hardware

Yeah, but they don't emulate the smells, the sound of fans spinning up and the gentle breeze they generate, the beeps and boops, the tick tick tick hard drives make, the long travel of keys on that old keyboard with a slightly sticky shift (gotta be from that coffee I spilled in '97).

FS-UAE emulates even the floppy/HD head sounds and scrapping the media too.
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