Trailing Edge Technology

Tomorrow, I am sending an old friend to the recycling bin at the landfill. It is a Hewlett-Packard Vectra HM Computer, approximately fifteen years old. It has a Pentium I processor running at 75 MHz, and was a fine machine for its day.

I had two of them, purchased at the local university surplus shop for $5 each; I got the second one for spare parts. I combined the memory SIMMs from the two machines, adding yet more from an older Dell that I had been using (an Intel 486 machine, which had also been an old friend) and putting the two hard drives in the one case. Thus customized, it had 96 MB of memory, one 500 Mbyte drive and one 4 Gbyte drive, plus drives for CD-ROM and 3.5” floppy disks. There are no USB ports. I ran it with the Windows 95 operating system, and Lotus SmartSuite office software. It did everything a computer should do, though it took its sweet time about it. The boot routine was especially slow because it checked all 96 MB of memory, taking three or four minutes. I would start it up, go fix a cup of tea, and come back.

In some ways it was better than the modern computers. The case is solid, well-constructed, made to last. None of the internal components were made in China, so far as I can tell; most of them are from Japan with a few from the U.S.A., as hard as that is to believe. I used it for about six years and it never gave me the slightest trouble.

But time marches on. The Official Music Office Computer, a Dell Dimension with Pentium IV processor, was the oldest and slowest on the church network. Recently, they upgraded to Windows 7, and discovered that the network would no longer work with my lonely Windows XP machine attached – and my machine would not handle Windows 7. (We skipped over Windows Vista, thank goodness.) So, while I was out in West Virginia last month, my computer was replaced by the second-oldest machine, the one that used to be in the secretary's office, a Dell Optiplex 755. Chris, the wonderful computer person who handles such things for the church, told me I could have the old machine for my very own.

My “new” Pentium IV has moved across to my desk and is now offline, not hooked up to anything but the electrical outlet. But unlike the old HP Vectra, it has its problems. There are two optical drives, a CD-RW and a DVD. Neither of them work nowadays, and haven't for some time. Nor do they respond to cleaning, or any other troubleshooting that I have been able to attempt.

Thus, I took it apart this afternoon to fix it up a bit. I had purchased a shiny new DVD-RW drive to install, but once I got into it, I learned that the perfectly good method of connecting drives which has been used for years is now obsolete; the new drive has a different connector, and if I am going to use it, I must purchase an adapter board. I will look into this tomorrow at the retailer. Mind you, this “obsolete” computer is only six years old, built in 2004.

So, I took the CD drive (read-only) from the HP Vectra and put it in the Pentium IV. It is fifteen years old, has seen heavy use, and works like a charm, albeit slowly. “Made in Japan,” the label on the drive says. I am also using the HP keyboard, which is heavy and solid. I have three of these, again from the surplus shop – free when purchasing a computer or $3 otherwise, back in those days; serial keyboards, all.

I am hard on keyboards because I eat while I write. I get bread crumbs and peanut butter in them, spill tea on them, and much more. I have gone through several Dell keyboards over the years, but have never yet managed to kill one of these HP beauties. One of them has the letters worn off the keys, but it still works.

Or it would if they still made computers with a port for a serial keyboard. The New Official Music Office Machine does not have one: USB only. It comes with a miserable little black keyboard which I hate. The keys are too small, they have the light and insubstantial feel of a laptop, and my hands cramp after only a few minutes of work, to say nothing of everything feeling wrong. And I bet that the first time I spill a cup of tea on it, it will be history. “Made in China,” the label on the bottom says.

Nonetheless, I have to admit that (a) the New Official Machine is fast, (b) all the drives work (though it does not have a floppy drive; I pulled the one out of the HP Vectra, and may install it if I can get permission – and if they haven't gone and “improved” the connectors on those like they have on the DVDs), and (c ) Windows 7 is not too bad as operating systems go. It seems to work, which cannot always be said for Microsoft products.

So my Very Own Dell Dimension Pentium 4 is on my desk, and I will use it for everything that matters to me, such as my databases of anthems and journal articles. Its predecessor, a Pentium III Dell (another surplus shop computer, $35 this time – prices for new computers go down, but surplus prices seem to go up) is going on the floor as a backup. And the old backup, the HP Vectra, has to go out the door.

I will miss it. I booted it one last time today to confirm that I had no data on it. It still works perfectly, or it did until I started pulling drives out of it.

At least I have a few bits remaining from the Old Days – the Vectra CD drive, in light tan, contrasts very nicely with the dark grey of the Pentium 4. The HP keyboard (also in light tan) is hooked up to it, along with an Epson dot matrix printer – it, likewise, works like a charm after what must be twenty-five years of use and is cheaper per page than the inkjet printers. I still use a genuine original equipment IBM PS-2 mouse. It has never needed a bit of attention beyond cleaning (and not much of that; it is layered with years of grime).

And I have a lifetime supply of 3.5” floppy disks.