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It might be impossible to make a 100 year computer that's practical. If we look at other "tech" built to last, I think sewing machines. Stand mixers. Cast iron

It might be impossible to make a 100 year computer that's practical. If we look at other "tech" built to last, I think sewing machines. Stand mixers. Cast iron pans. And I'm sure lots of industrial equipment I don't know about. None of these really changed much in the past 50 years that made it useless, and I can see these being useful for the next 50 years pretty easily. The only thing I can think of is a base computer with some interface to a breakout box that can be upgraded based on how computers work. This definitely cheats the idea of a 100 year computer, but you could have a wifi breakout board. Maybe a reader for the next storage format that's popular. Neural whatsit chip that may revolutionize computing. But, again, that's cheating. And at that point just buying modern hardware makes so much more sense.

dghlsakjg 6y ago
People have been adding peripherals that allow usb and SD cards to Commodore 64s. And I believe that many of the parts for a C64 are still around.
- buran77 6y ago
  Keep in mind that the Commodore C64 is "just" 40 years old and the rate of decay is not linear. I imagine the definition of the 100 year old computer probably targets more than "survivors". The definition of the "100 year old computer" as described in the article is fuzzy and kind of a moving target. In the loosest interpretation anything can be a 100 year computer just as long as you care to maintain it for 100 years. If upgrading parts and building adapters for future technology fits that definition then you can do this with any machine, and the rest of the constraints are just artificial (like "must be offline first"). If you actually want to have as much of the original computer as possible for that century then it's no longer feasible. As I mentioned in my original comment, they simply become the ship of Theseus. Heck, my own desktop is that, starting 20 years ago with one hardware config and a Windows XP and reaching now with completely different hardware and Windows 10 with no "full reset" in between, just upgrades and updates.

dghlsakjg 6y ago

People have been adding peripherals that allow usb and SD cards to Commodore 64s. And I believe that many of the parts for a C64 are still around.

buran77 6y ago
Keep in mind that the Commodore C64 is "just" 40 years old and the rate of decay is not linear. I imagine the definition of the 100 year old computer probably targets more than "survivors". The definition of the "100 year old computer" as described in the article is fuzzy and kind of a moving target. In the loosest interpretation anything can be a 100 year computer just as long as you care to maintain it for 100 years. If upgrading parts and building adapters for future technology fits that definition then you can do this with any machine, and the rest of the constraints are just artificial (like "must be offline first"). If you actually want to have as much of the original computer as possible for that century then it's no longer feasible. As I mentioned in my original comment, they simply become the ship of Theseus. Heck, my own desktop is that, starting 20 years ago with one hardware config and a Windows XP and reaching now with completely different hardware and Windows 10 with no "full reset" in between, just upgrades and updates.