3308627
I've still got my Compaq Portable III, and the user's guide with the install disks. Up until 2007, I was still using it regularly for word processing, but if I went a week without powering it up, I had to reinstall, since the BIOS battery was fried. It forgot it had an OS.

Oddly, the default date was some random day in 1957, if I remember correctly. No idea why they picked that day in particular. Might have been one of Microsoft's programmer's birthdays.

3308658

I believe I still have a Mac LC 475 and some variety of 386 or 486 in storage. Oldest actual computer in my apartment at the moment is probably my Asus EeePC 701SD, though, which isn't really that old. From 2008, I think. I also have a motherboard or two sitting around, but I moved apartments at the beginning of the year, and tossed out some of my older stuff. (I left everything that was already in storage there, though.)

I do seem to have a Packard Bell keyboard here, though. I literally have enough spare parts around to build a computer. (Which is, in fact, the origin of the computer I'm typing this on. My main computer's in the other room.)

It's always interesting what date computers will default to. And did you know George RR Martin types out his novels on an old dos-based computer in WordStar 4.0?

--arcum42

3308700

And did you know George RR Martin types out his novels on an old dos-based computer in WordStar 4.0?

That's one of the reasons I kept using my Compaq for so long. I was cranking out novels in WordPerfect 2.0, drafts printed on a dot-matrix printer (which printed way faster than the inkjets or lasers of the day, and at a fraction of the cost). I've still got most of that old equipment, but nowadays it's more useful to be using gDocs, especially since I've got a Bluetooth keyboard for my phone.

I've got my IBM PS-2, my Compaq portable, a couple of Toshiba laptops, a Texas Instruments TI-I-don't-remember-what, my ca 2003 desktop, two Mac Classics, and an ancient XP machine (4 GB hard drive!) all around my house, as well as a few bits and bobs from other computers. If it wasn't so big, I'd hook up one of my NEC multi-sync monitors to this computer, 'cause it's got better resolution than the acer flat-screen I've got.

3308750

Yeah, I've got a bluetooth keyboard for my Nexus 7, and with a wifi hotspot, I can write just about anywhere on Google Docs. Whether I will is a different story...

I do have disk images around for an xp computer, and for basilisk ii with either System 7 or 8 around somewhere. Great for playing Taskmaker, Fools Errand, 3 in Three, etc. I still have Escape Velocity Nova around too, not to mention things like Planescape Torment.

Oh, I actually do still have Leather Goddess of Phobos in the original packaging, IIRC.

As far as things actually running, though, There's my main computer which I built, a second one I've built from spare parts, a Toshiba Satellite C655 laptop (Nice large screen, numeric keypad, and slow processor with intel built-in graphics), my nexus 7, and if I charged them, that eeepc, a Nook Color, and a HP Touchpad. Plus a nonfunctional PowerPC-based Mac.

Of course, that's not counting consoles. A Playstation 3, 2 (hacked), and 1, an Xbox 360 (hacked), a PSP (hacked), A Nintendo DSi (hacked), a Gameboy, and a Gameboy Advanced, unless I'm forgetting something.

And actually, having come into another monitor, I've currently got two hooked up to my spare computer. The flatscreen that used to be on my main computer, and a big Dell monitor, which actually does have better resolution then the flatscreen. The flatscreen's bigger, though.

--arcum42

3308769
Last I checked, all my PCs still run--although the 2003 Compaq has a nasty habit of bluescreening on startup. The old XP machine was used a few months ago; the others haven't been powered up in years, but as they say in the automotive world, they ran when they were parked.

My only gaming console is a Gamecube. I've got some Playstation 2 games (Ratchet and Clank), and I'd like to get a console one of these days. Maybe I will, now that they're cheap.

I've still got the install disks for some ][e games somewhere, a few cassette tapes with games on them, and I've got a Syndicate CD. Should install it on this machine for old time's sake.

On the weekends, I work with developmentally disabled adults, and my Bluetooth keyboard has already proven its worth--just today, in fact, I wrote half a chapter of one story, and a blog post. Had I not had it, that wouldn't have gotten done.

3308777

The PS 3 and the xbox 360 are the ones that still get used on the consoles. Playstation 2 games usually get played in emulation with pcsx2 with isos I ripped. (With good reason. While I haven't done anything on it in years, I think I'm still listed on the development team for pcsx2. I have a lot of ps 2 games, because I felt justified in picking up things and making sure they worked. Funny how it was usually games I knew I'd enjoy...)

For nostalgia, gog.com is good, too. They sell downloadable copies of a lot of older games there for pretty cheap. (And I recall them giving away Fallout 1 & 2 at one point.)

For me, the tablet and keyboard are mainly for when I'm on the bus or shopping. I wrote what became the first few chapters of Just Winging It at a bus stop, and most of Making Friends. The first couple chapters of Cubic Zirconia were all written within a day or two at home when I had five days off in a row, though.

The funny thing is that the keyboard is bigger then the tablet...

--arcum42