3 ms·

I remain amazed at how long some of these old products last. My last 2 phones (Pixels) have died right around the 2 year mark. Meanwhile, I have a Tektronix DMM

I remain amazed at how long some of these old products last. My last 2 phones (Pixels) have died right around the 2 year mark. Meanwhile, I have a Tektronix DMM 252 from the early 1990s (which I now realize is a rebranded APPA 105), and a Fluke 8060A meter (labeled IBM) from the early 80s (1). For the Fluke, you can, today, get the schematics online in the user manual (2). For the Tek, not so much (3). Regardless, they have outlasted my phones by 15-20x. Oh, and while I'm on my old electronics worship soapbox, let's mention the HP 48G, one of the greatest calculators ever made, which runs Reverse Polish Lisp (4) and still has an active community (5), 17 years after production ended and 27 years after release, and emulator apps for iPhone (6) and Android ( (1) https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/fluke_digital_multimeter_8060a.html https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/fluke_digital_multimeter_8060a... (2) http://assets.fluke.com/manuals/8060a_3vimeng0200.pdf http://assets.fluke.com/manuals/8060a_3vimeng0200.pdf (3) https://www.arc.ro/userfiles/docs/APPA/multim%20digitale/APPA%20103N-105N-106%20-%20manual.pdf https://www.arc.ro/userfiles/docs/APPA/multim%20digitale/APP... (4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPL_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPL_(programming_language) (5) https://www.hpcalc.org/ https://www.hpcalc.org/ (6) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/i48/id329454950 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/i48/id329454950 (7) https://www.androidmeta.com/keyword/hp48 https://www.androidmeta.com/keyword/hp48

robomartin 7y ago
> My last 2 phones (Pixels) have died right around the 2 year mark. See my post on this thread about the "mutually assured destruction" (as I sometimes call it) brought to us by those who pushed for a transition to lead-free solder. This is a real and massive problem that might come home to roost in a major way within the next ten to twenty years. Here's the link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22220799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22220799
jayd16 7y ago
If its any consolation, all of my Android gear (every nexus/pixel) has stayed in working order with the Nexus 7 tablet. I think the issue with that one was something like no TRIM support ruined the SSD. That said, I doubt anything with a battery will last anywhere close to old tech.

robomartin 7y ago

> My last 2 phones (Pixels) have died right around the 2 year mark. See my post on this thread about the "mutually assured destruction" (as I sometimes call it) brought to us by those who pushed for a transition to lead-free solder. This is a real and massive problem that might come home to roost in a major way within the next ten to twenty years. Here's the link: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22220799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22220799

jayd16 7y ago

If its any consolation, all of my Android gear (every nexus/pixel) has stayed in working order with the Nexus 7 tablet. I think the issue with that one was something like no TRIM support ruined the SSD. That said, I doubt anything with a battery will last anywhere close to old tech.