Who here has the oldest functional computer?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

I've been reading about the history of the development of the Internet lately and it got me to thinking about refrigerator-sized computers of the late '60s, mainframes, and even the first PCs connecting to nascent networks.

It led me to consider buying an ancient PC just to mess around with it, and in that regard, I wondered who among us has the oldest working machine and what they use it for.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I loved Marathon.

I discovered last year you can download a pretty good free emulator for PC. It was fun to play again. Still a scary-ass game to play in the dark at 2 in the morning, long before things like “Resident Evil”: walking down a dark ship corridor and hearing that distant alien throat-call off to your left...

[Richard L. Morris]

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

Have this from another forum. I am going to try it on the next long break I have.

Officially yes Microsoft stopped the free upgrade to Windows 10 a long time ago. But it still works:

Microsoft stopped the free upgrade to Windows 10 a long time ago?Is that true?Why did i find a free method (Windows Media Creations Tool) to upgrade to Windows 10?

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by Richard L. Morris

Microsoft stopped the free upgrade to Windows 10 a long time ago?Is that true?Why did i find a free method (Windows Media Creations Tool) to upgrade to Windows 10?

That's not a licensed copy of Windows. It's basically a trial that never ends but gives you a full featured copy of Windows. You just wont get any support from Microsoft until you activate it with a licensed copy of windows and in a week or so you'll get a watermark in the bottom right corner telling you to activate that you cant get rid of. There are methods out there to temporarily remove it but it always comes back after a few hours.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by jd1020

That's not a licensed copy of Windows. It's basically a trial that never ends but gives you a full featured copy of Windows. You just wont get any support from Microsoft until you activate it with a licensed copy of windows and in a week or so you'll get a watermark in the bottom right corner telling you to activate that you cant get rid of. There are methods out there to temporarily remove it but it always comes back after a few hours.

Na, I've done it that way on a half dozen laptops. They all show fully activated and have never gotten the prompt.

I don't really know why Microsoft still tries to pretend like the free period ended when they continue supporting the same process.

[FlintHillsChiefs]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Actually I think that expired a few months ago?

I need to upgrade though so if it’s still free let me know!

The secret is to download a Win10.iso and install it with a USB stick. Then use the Win7 key to activate it. Installing Windows 7 first, then upgrading won't work.

[FanXiche]

Originally Posted by Richard L. Morris

Microsoft stopped the free upgrade to Windows 10 a long time ago?Is that true?Why did i find a free method (Windows Media Creations Tool) to upgrade to Windows 10?

I can even find a Win 10 upgrade method,as what jd1020 jd1020 said,that's not a licensed copy of Windows,but it still works.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Na, I've done it that way on a half dozen laptops. They all show fully activated and have never gotten the prompt.

I don't really know why Microsoft still tries to pretend like the free period ended when they continue supporting the same process.

Well Windows is hardware locked so if you used the Media Creation Tool on a computer that had a licensed copy of Windows installed it should automatically activate once it's installed. Now I'm not sure on anything related to upgrading from 7 or 8 but that's how it worked when I did a fresh install of 10 on my old computer. I built a new computer that never had a licensed copy ever installed and I'm using the ”trial” version with the watermark right now on it. I'll eventually license it but for now I'm just fine without it. There are tricks for customizing it outside of the control panel options so I've got it set up how I like and I just don't feel any rush to go spend money on Windows just to dump the watermark.

[htismaqe]

I have a Dell laptop that I bought in 1998 running Lubuntu as a lab machine. I don't use it much. Most of the older stuff, I've thrown away but since this was a laptop, it was a space saver.

[scho63]

Still works great......

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by FanXiche

I can even find a Win 10 upgrade method,as what jd1020 jd1020 said,that's not a licensed copy of Windows,but it still works.

Go here...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...llficdwo3ydj00

Follow these instructions...

2. Under Create Windows 10 installation media, click Download tool now and Run.

3. Choose Upgrade this PC now, assuming this is the only PC you're upgrading. (If you're upgrading a different machine, choose Create installation media for another PC, and save the installation files.)

4. Follow the prompts.

5. When the upgrade is complete, go to Settings Update & Security > Activation, and you should see a digital license for Windows 10.


I did an old PC with windows 7 on it with this method about 2 weeks ago, working fine with no prompts.