If it ain't broke: Share your oldest working gadgets - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52965974 <comment><USER2> Apple //c from 1984 (with the original receipt!) The composite video output means I can plug it right into my 50" tv without any special hardware and everything looks great.

I removed the disk drive cable from the motherboard and plugged a floppy EMU in, and now my kids play Lemonade Stand, Dig Dug, Oregon Trail, Carmen San Diego, and dozens of other classic games. [https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy- emu/](https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/)

<comment><USER3> This is only a video quality thing, but you might consider getting an upscaler to get better quality video out of your composite output. I use this one for composite sources: [https://www.retrotink.com/product- page/retrotink-2x](https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/retrotink-2x)

<comment><USER4> The TV by itself might do it just fine! They often have good analog to digital converters built in as shown by Technology Connections: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC5Zr3NC2PY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC5Zr3NC2PY)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> My daily news source is an AM station playing on an Admiral 802 radio from 1959.

[http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~srs/Antiques/templ.php?pid=981&co...](http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~srs/Antiques/templ.php?pid=981&collection=Radios)

8 transistors! It's a family heirloom (grandpa built these at the Admiral factory in Chicago). I wouldn't let it sit silent, ever.

</comment><comment><USER6> A 5-digit Bates Numbering Machine that I use to stamp all my notebook pages like a mad person! The machine was, from all I could gather, made in the early 20th century, near when plastic was invented and replaced shellac. Each notebook page now has its own unique serial number that I shall forever be able to refer back to for posterity, or if I ever need to present evidence in court from said notebook pages.

<comment><USER7> Thank you for introducing me to the concept of a numbering machine, I have now ordered one so that I can replicate your behavior since I seem to go through a journal a month or so.

Here I was, manually writing a page number for each and every journal, and then doing it once again for the table of contents :D no wonder I never wanted to write a fresh session after doing all that, my hand was ready to fall off.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> * My HP LaserJet 1200 will turn 21 in a few months. Might have another 30 years in it.

* My NES is 33 years old this month. I've replaced the 72-pin connector, but that's it. Everything on it could be replaced, so it'll last as long as I want.

* I've a Panasonic flip clock from the very early 1980s. Still works great after carefully refurbishing it. Radio quality is still quite good.

* My father's trains I think he bought in West Germany in the late 1960s. The locomotive is still on its original motor, and may still be when I pass in 50 years.

\-----

I'm sure my father's old HP calculators are still working. He bought them in the 70s, but sold them to collectors in tight times in the mid 2000s.

<comment> mark-r Those old LaserJets were nearly indestructible. The newer ones, not so much.

I think I might have had that same Panasonic flip clock/radio as a teenager. Got rid of it long ago after a significant number of digits broke off.

<comment><USER9> The peak was the LaserJet III, after that it was all down hill.

<comment><USER10> Even so, my Laserjet 2100, which might be going on 15 years, is still cranking away.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> My trusty Zune HD is still kicking! [https://imgur.com/gallery/fq7qaHI](https://imgur.com/gallery/fq7qaHI)

<comment><USER12> The Zune HD must be the zenith of dedicated music players.

<comment><USER13> I still haven't found earbuds that I liked as much as the ones that came with my Zune. I abused those things for almost a decade before they gave out.

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Zune-Premium-Original- Headp...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Zune-Premium-Original-Headphones- Earbuds/153966354212)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> My 1984 IBM Model M is still a joy to type on. Every key still works fine, and I wouldn't trade it for any keyboard made in the last 20 years even if new ones come in colours other than beige or weigh less than 10 pounds.

<comment><USER15> I bought two Unicomp Model M keyboards and they've been great.

Do you have a USB adaptor for yours?

<comment><USER14> I have an AT to PS/2 adapter. I don't think motherboards will stop having PS/2 ports in the foreseeable future, and arguments can be made that PS/2 is still the superior connector for keyboards in terms of latency, simultaneous key presses, using hardware interrupts instead of software, and general authenticity of using a connector from the 80s to connect an 80s keyboard.

<comment><USER15> My current PC doesn't have a PS/2 port. It's a Ryzen build.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Here's the Twitter thread (that this BBC article basically copy / pastes from): [https://twitter.com/zsk/status/1269960000203563009](https://twitter.com/zsk/status/1269960000203563009)

<comment><USER17> The reporter from the BBC who started that Twitter thread is also the one who published the article.

[https://twitter.com/zsk/status/1269968388497047553](https://twitter.com/zsk/status/1269968388497047553)

<comment><USER18> This is what I've come to expect from modern journalism

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Sansui G-8700DB 160 watt receiver from the late 70s. Not the oldest, but a major favorite. I got it at a thrift store in the early 00s. Absolute unit, probably 25 kilos. The connectors are all on the side because the heat sink takes up the whole rear panel. Every switch, circuit and light bulb works perfectly.

It's hooked up to my computer via a nothing-fancy DAC and out to a pair of tidy Linn bookshelf speakers, probably 80s vintage. If this office over the garage is rockin', don't bother knockin'.

Here's a photo (not my one, but the same) - [https://external- preview.redd.it/LjSphe7ctrkecpkmC_r97bMzzgg...](https://external- preview.redd.it/LjSphe7ctrkecpkmC_r97bMzzggg2T8BXQWCze_ok1k.jpg?auto=webp&s=f3ed700d0c41dbac67d36d927d34a54fb12a69a1)

<comment><USER19> Gorgeous!! I have a Sansui g-2000 that I love. It takes 30s to power up but I just keep it on.

<comment><USER20> I don't want to be a downer, and that in parent's link sure is a beautiful unit, but have you checked what the always-on electricity consumption is for the device?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I like old gadgets and collect them to have and to use.

\- Nikon LS-IV 35mm film scanner.

\- 2007 MacBook running OSX 10.4 because 10.4 is the last version to support Classic Environment which I need to use Nikon Scan for mac. Works great but I can't access the internet securely so I don't connect it to a network.

\- Gameboy Pocket with Pokemon Red along with the Prima strategy guide.

\- Sony Play Station. The first one.

\- Xbox. The first one. No controllers though.

\- A few cameras made between 1950 and 1990 that I use regularly. All work well. Before smart phones, digital cameras and PCs were the original obsolete the day you bought it items. I've never cared for the churn and prefer film for this reason.

\- An adding machine from the 1920s. Probably my oldest gadget at the moment.

<comment><USER2> Where are you sourcing your film from, and are you developing on your own in a darkroom or sending it out to a lab?

<comment><USER22> I buy film from Film Photography Project, B&H, Adorama, and FreeStyle Photo. Most of the brick and mortar camera stores that still exist sell some film. For development I do black and white at home and send color out to thedarkroom.com because I don't shoot enough color to make the chemistry cost effective. I print black and white in my bathroom darkroom.

I'm still able to find 35mm, 120 and 4x5 film easily. I have a 127 camera that is a bit harder to find film for.

<comment><USER21> Glad to see there are others on HN that are keeping film alive. The great thing about film cameras is they aren't obsolete until the film is impossible to find. Even then there are work arounds and modifications that can be made. A local shop used to sand 120 roles to fit 620 cameras for example. They also cut film to fit Minox cartridges.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Exactly this Marquardt Mini Ergo

[1] [http://xahlee.info/kbd/marquardt_mini_ergo_keyboard.html](http://xahlee.info/kbd/marquardt_mini_ergo_keyboard.html)

meanwhile modded with a ridiculously overpowered microcontroller, different switches and layout to get rid of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector) to PS/2 to USB _Adaptecmessness_

[2] [https://i.postimg.cc/tCCM3L3N/ZOMG- Adaptecmessness.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/tCCM3L3N/ZOMG-Adaptecmessness.jpg)

Assorted T6o/61Ps with LED-Backlight mods and no panels under 1600x1200, and various firmware-mods, used as _terminals_ , mostly :-)

Lamy Unic telescopic tip ballpoint pen from ca. 1990, steel [3] [https://duckduckgo.com/?q=lamy+unic+ballpoint+pen&t=ffsb&iax...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=lamy+unic+ballpoint+pen&t=ffsb&iax=images&ia=images)

USAF Flight Jacket MA-2/CWU-45 from 1984, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MA-2_bomber_jacket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MA-2_bomber_jacket), has actually been flown by me under an Atlas-16 in 1989 somewhere in Austria, _and_ later survived me catapulting about a dozen meters over a Citroen 2CV while entering a roundabout at about 60kph on a bicycle, the lame duck unexpectedly braking, my frontwheel touching its rubbered rear bumper just so slightly...

Landing on the asphalt on my back, sliding, without a scratch, _unkaputtbar_.

 _VICTORY!_

</comment><comment><USER24> I have a Leica M6 from 1985 and a Hasselblad 500 CM from the 60's that are both in incredible condition (after a recent CLA). They are wonderful machines, especially the Hasselblad (each piece removable, serviceable, swappable)

<comment><USER25> That's awesome. How cool is it that you can take a new Noctilux lens and use in on your 1985 camera!

I would love an old M film camera but I have no idea which one I'd want to get. I have a M10 and a M10 Monochrom today and love them!

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> My oldest working devices are all time keeping devices or calculators (or both!), for no particular reason that I can discern.

1\. A Westclox Baby Ben luminous dial alarm clock, probably bought in 1980. It still runs fine.

2\. A Casio CFX-20 scientific calculator watch bought sometime between 1983 and 1986. One of the side buttons is a bit flaky, and the light doesn't work well, but other than that when I put a battery in it last year it worked.

3\. A BHB chess clock, probably bought in 1982 or 1983. Still works.

BTW, adjusting an old analog clock is a lot easier nowadays than it was back then. Just record a few seconds of it ticking, import that into your favorite audio editor, and measure the time between ticks on the wave form to figure out just how much you need to adjust it.

I did my chess clock once that way, and it was way faster and more precise than the old way. The old way was to sync it with a quartz watch, wait an hour, and see how much it disagrees with the quartz watch. Adjust it, and try again.

You could probably also do this with video if you have a camera with good slow motion, assuming the clock has something obvious that moves discretely, and you have video editing software that will show you high precision frame timing. A lot of common consumer video editing software does not show such timing.

4\. A Casio FX-702P pocket computer [1]. Bought sometime around 1982.

5\. An HP-15C bought sometime in the early '80s. Also an HP-16C, a couple years later.

These are all things I bought new, except for the alarm block with I think my parents bought for me.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_FX-702P](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_FX-702P)

<comment><USER27> sliding this comment in here: I wrote a long comment to something relatively charged in reply to you: it got deleted before my comment was done. Hope you weren't downvoted or something, feel free to email me if you care to see my comment, but also, no hard feelings if not :)

<comment><USER26> I deleted that comment. The thread was about someone killed by police during service of a no knock warrant, and the reasonableness of people in those circumstances assuming the intruders suddenly violently entering their home are there to harm them and so shooting in self defense.

My comment was essentially looking at it from a game theory point of view, and I was suggesting that the optimum move (shoot or not shoot) probably depends on the number of intruders.

I think it is an interesting question, but decided it was veering a bit too far off the topic, and also could easily be misinterpreted as a "blame the victim" thing aimed at the victims in the particular shooting under discussion, and so deleted it.

<comment><USER27> Thanks for the comment! Makes sense, this place can be a mine field :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Armin Trosser coffee grinder my grandfather's brother brought back from the war. Still makes my coffee every morning. Looks like this: [https://www.etsy.com/listing/194699008/german-armin- trosser-...](https://www.etsy.com/listing/194699008/german-armin-trosser- mokka-coffee)

I wish everything I owned was like this; simple, sturdy, purposeful and around for 80+ years. There's some german word for it; I think one of their green party muckey mucks has a chain of stores along these lines (it doesn't really work, but nice try anyway). I've got a couple of antique radios which are considerably older (1920s era) and still function also, but firing them up is a special occasion.

On the semi-modern front; my X220 thinkpad feels like it could last me the rest of my career, but the new AMD chips finally have me looking sideways at new hardware.

</comment><comment><USER29> I have one of these "vintage" Snakmaster grilled cheese sandwich makers that was handed down to me from my sister's time in college in the late 1980s: [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Snakmaster- CN613-Sandwich-G...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Snakmaster- CN613-Sandwich-Grilled-Cheese-Maker- Snackmaster/372955763920?hash=item56d5e554d0:g:x44AAOSwPMpeSaxv)

It works fantastically and makes awesome sandwiches. It even survived a kitchen fire where my cabinets burned down but the snakmaster came through unscathed.

We don't use it often but I'd say every other month or so bust it out for some tasty grilled cheese sandos with tomato soup.

Here's an infomercial from 1990 featuring how you can bake rolls inside of it- lol. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JchC0nQcM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JchC0nQcM)

</comment><comment><USER30> Bit of a different gadget, but until very recently I used to have my great- grandfather's Lee Enfield Mk III (original model with the magazine cutoff) and Pattern 1907 bayonet from the Great War. Unfortunately I moved countries and it wasn't feasible to take the rifle with me, so I ended up handing it to the police for destruction, still have the bayonet though.

It was decades since it had been shot in anger (at either humans or animals), but I took it out once or twice for a shoot. I also had my grandfather's Winchester model 62 pump action .22 from the 30's and a Chinese SKS from the early 60's. All very robust firearms, although the SKS has a very finicky firing pin that needs to be kept clean.

My dad still has his first computer, a ZX-81.

<comment><USER31> > so I ended up handing it to the police for destruction

That's pretty sad. Why not sell it or donate to a museum?

I can't think of a country on earth in which you can't sell a bolt action that is legally owned. Even just for a token amount if you wanted it gone.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> • A circa 1973 Zenith clock radio with the red LED numeral display. It's in daily use.

• 1956 Rockwell 9in radial arm saw. Motor has been rewound twice now. I inherited it from my father who bought it new.

• An Argus C3 35mm film camera. Not used in many years but still appears to work. I remember it from my very earliest memories.

• A sterling silver Parker pen from about 1974 or so.

• And a really weird one from about 2001: A complete Sony Lissa component stereo system including the speakers, CD and mini disc recorder/player units that connect to the main receiver via 1394TA (Firewire) rather than audio connections. I believe it is the only one in existence that is factory set up for North America 120V/60hz. I needed it for a special project and Sony was good enough to make it for me.

<comment><USER10> My dad and my uncle took many many family pictures with the Argus C3. I later got one for myself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> A 1960 Fisher X-1000 stereo amplifier that pumps out about 50 wpc, high for a tube amplifier. I found it on the street about 10 years ago, restored it, made a new brass faceplate, and it sounds just amazing.

<comment><USER34> Fisher from that era is great stuff! That model goes for about $2k today. [https://picclick.com/Rarest-FISHER-X-1000-TUBE-INTEGRATED- ST...](https://picclick.com/Rarest-FISHER-X-1000-TUBE-INTEGRATED-STEREO- AMPLIFIER-323239342540.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Does a Martin guitar from the 1940s count?

<comment><USER36> I was thinking that the oldest stuff I have that I use (aside from furniture I inherited from my grandfather which I have no idea how old it is) are musical instruments. I have a ca 1969 Gibson EB-3 bass which is my oldest instrument. Of the stuff I've bought new it'd be my first guitar, a cheap classical guitar I bought for around $100 in 1986. The oldest _electronic_ item is probably the Roland D-110 module I bought used and likely was made in 1990–91 and the oldest electronic item I bought new would be my Roland A90EX keyboard which I bought in 1999. I don't think I have anything musical less than 19 years old.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Montgomery Ward shortwave radio from the 30s, a Philco AM radio from the 40s, and a handful of other tube radios from the 50s and 60s.

I've got a Kenwood TS-520 ham radio from the 70s which I use occasionally.

Also a first-gen IBM Selectric typewriter, which would place it somewhere between 1961 and 1971.

The AT&T desk phone sitting next to me has a "Warranty expires 12/87" sticker on the bottom.

All this old stuff is seriously built to last, and most of the radios either came with schematics or have a schematic glued to the inside of the case.

</comment><comment><USER38> Panasonic 12V battery drill from the days when NiMH batteries were a new exciting upgrade! Form factor the same and I could use the new batteries in my old drill. But when that drill started to fail I cut the handle/battery mount off to use in my bike lights (I still have that part... does that count?)

On that note: remember when rechargeable bike lights took 10-12 hours to charge? Using drill batteries with a 1 hour charge was revolutionary, especially for overnight bike races.

</comment><comment><USER39> My first computer, Commodore VIC-20 still working since 1983. I bought a Mega- Cart from Denial computing years ago and it makes retro computing extremely convenient. Only problem is the paddle input is jumpy. Joystick was lost years ago, but didn't have a problem buying a brand new one as it uses the same pinout as Atari.

[https://levelskip.com/consoles/VIC-20](https://levelskip.com/consoles/VIC-20)

</comment><comment><USER40> Casio FX3600P, circa 1986. The best part ? I've never changed the battery. I also haven't used it in 25 years+, but I just checked and it still works.

Oh, and I also have the manual, because I hoard those for every device I buy.

[http://www.calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BITMAP/BONUS/12180/_SMD12...](http://www.calcuseum.com/SCRAPBOOK/BITMAP/BONUS/12180/_SMD12180_XL.htm)

</comment><comment><USER41> This was fun to read. "Gadget" definitely needs definition. Does it mean: has moving parts? Requires electricity? Contains "electronics"? If here it means "surpasses its expected lifetime as an electronic device", [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W) is a strong contender for me.

<comment><USER42> That's a timeless piece, no pun intended.

I have a small collection of watches dating from the 70s onwards, all of them are mechanical except for the F-91W which I bought during a moment of nostalgia, and it regularly gets worn.

I admit I feel like a hipster when I've got it on, but I struggle to care. Such a great design.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Nintendo game and watch Octopus. Almost 20 year old Miele vacuum cleaner, still feels like brand new. ~1980 Singer sewing machine, build like a tank.

<comment><USER44> Came here to mention Singer sewing machine. But lots of folks have already added it :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor 120 film camera, I believe from 1930s, works like a charm, the only problem is lazy user to use it more frequently

</comment><comment><USER10> I have two Ashai Pentax Spotmatic SLR cameras with some Takumar lenses. The light meter used mercury batteries. Replacements are air-zinc so are legal.

I also have a couple of HP 200 LX. Which is the best thing for taking a quick note. Open the lid hit the power button and the db key macro and you are ready to enter the notes.

I also have a Drake TR 7 from the 70s. It works but badly need a refresh. The FT 1000 MP mark V is only 20 years old and is fully functional but not that old.

Also needing repair is my TEAC reel to reel tape dec but it is functional.

Also Sony disk recorder/player. Oh and a Sony hi-8 video recorder. I am in the process of transferring many family videos.

My HP 2100 laser jet doesn't really qualify here.

There is also an old dead iPod which may get repaired.

[Edit] slide rule with mahogany body and Teflon slide. Perfect condition but does not get much use.

</comment><comment><USER46> Interesting that 'modern' gadgets with few moving parts and for the most part no maintenance. And how long they'll last sitting tucked away in drawers if nothing fouls. Though maybe one day it'll be hard to actually find AA batteries.

Just before electricity became 'the norm' how complex and intricate things were. Especially with how 'rugged' they were in operation and use. [https://youtu.be/52FK1v6lErQ?t=32](https://youtu.be/52FK1v6lErQ?t=32)

Or how intricate and masterful things needed to be to accomplish 'simple' things.

>The "storage capacity" of the automaton, needed to store seven images within the machine, can be calculated as 299040 points (almost 300 kilobits).

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZiH7oF3OMM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZiH7oF3OMM)

<comment><USER47> If it becomes hard to find AA batteries, you should just be able to hook up an equivalent voltage supply.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> I have a 1914 Victrola phonograph that I occasionally amuse the kids with. What amuses me is that the windup clockwork record player is a century older than my iPhone but arguably a technological ancestor. Also, no DRM, I can play century old audio tracks from any manufacturer with the turn of a crank.

<comment><USER49> > Also, no DRM, I can play century old audio tracks from any manufacturer with > the turn of a crank.

Not that Edison wouldn't have included DRM if he could have done.

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> As much as I love tech, I love old stuff more. I'm always fascinated by more tactile items. But everything below still works.

Mac Plus, 1986 - My first computer, I gave it to my parents years ago. It still boots, and my mother still uses it to play Hoyle's Book of Games.

Der Spieler, 1969 - It's an East German pinball machine, and completely mechanical. You can still service the light bulbs.

Parker Vacumatic Fountain Pen, 1931 - It's an awful fountain pen compared to pretty much any modern fountain pen. But it works the same as 90 years ago, bleeds the same. The nib is in epic condition.

Seeburg M100B, 1950 - My grandfather bought this jukebox to play music in his shop. I always wanted one, and he gave it to me. It still works, still plays 45s. My kids use it to play Michael Jackson.

</comment><comment><USER51> My wire tracing kit consists of a tone generator I don't know the brand of because the lettering is worn off. It's black, the size of two decks of cards stacked, a slide switch for off/tone (two types of waveform)/continuity, clip leads or RJ-11, held together with electrical tape, and the battery lasts forever in it. I've sometimes forgotten to turn it off for days and still get about 5-7 years between changes.

On the other end, although I also have a newer inductive probe, I keep around a Radio Shack mini amplifier (#277-1008) with clip leads plugged in for input. It can be used as a tracer or monitor, has a headphone jack for noisy places, and packs a lot of gain in a small package.

</comment><comment><USER52> I have a Zeiss 6x9cm film camera from 1936 that works wonder still. For tech gizmos, I have a HP 16C (the programmer's one) from 1864 that I still use most days! (I bought a second one about 15 years ago, as I grew terrified it would break down)

</comment><comment><USER42> The oldest thing that I have which I think counts as "technology", and hasn't already been listed is a steam-powered car.

The Mamod S1-roadster, circa 1977:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamod#Roadster_SA1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamod#Roadster_SA1)

Fill the tank with water, light the fire, and eventually you get a car that will drive round in circles. Complete with working steam-engine. I've had a few (static) steam-engines over the years, but this was the only want that survived the move across countries.

One day I'm gonna share it with our child, but for the moment I think it'd be a little too dangerous.

</comment><comment><USER53> Random stuff i have that i use that's old and use

'68 Saab 96. Daily Driver. Runs Great. Classic!

Motorola alpha num pager (FLEX? not sure on the date) for work

A Canon A-1 35mm camera. It even automatic shooting modes! very cool An desk phone. It's not old, but it's made in the states!

iPod Classic (2005?). so many gigs of storage, it's amazing.

Smith Corona coronet typerwiter. It's electric!

my beloved n64, NES, game boy and other consoles Turns out the ones without optical disks are the ones still working. Surprise!

can't think of anything else - My purpose build devices have been supplanted by a laptop for music, video, reading, writing, learning (cooking especially!), finance tracking, everything.

I like purpose driven devices though, I think I'll find some more

<comment><USER54> I'm jealous about the Saab. Worst mistake I did was getting rid of mine (I loved that car but GM was going bankrupt and wouldn't sell it to me off lease for a reasonable price).

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> I still have my ZX Spectrum+, released in 1984, making it 36 years old. I don't use it daily, but last time I checked, it worked fine. There's a simple mod to get composite video out, so it can be plugged into a modern TV.

</comment><comment><USER56> This is going to sound strange...but I bought a pen from the company store of the telecom that I worked for back in 2005 (NuVox). It's my best pen. It still works and I've never refilled it.

I have no idea how or why it hasn't run out of ink yet.

<comment><USER42> There used to be a comedy-show in the UK named "The Fast Show". Lots of memorable small sketches.

Here's a topical video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7iiOF10gz8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7iiOF10gz8)

<comment><USER56> Nice

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER57> \- Pison Organizer II (first PDA!) \- Timex LED clock from 1979 \- 1970's LED watches and 1960's electo-mechanical watches \- 1947 Philco radio \- TI-59 calculator. Sony Sobax (nixie + delay line) calculator. \- I'm assuming the Kaypro, Sol-20, & TRS-80 4P all work but haven't tried in a while. \- Sega Genesis (just play w/it w/my son last weekend) \- My favorite, my Textronix 4051 & flat-bed plotter finally succumbed to entropy, helped along by water damage in my garage due to the fact that even w/two people the thing was a PITA to move

</comment><comment><USER58> I have a ice cream scooper from the 1960's that was used in my grandfather's restaurant. It's built like brick. I also have his hammer that is at least 50 years old. Beautiful wood. His 1970's Robot Coup food processor is still used to this day by my mother. I also still have his Mac SE complete with it's M0116 keyboard and mouse. It's a shame I'm too afraid to resolder the CRT back onto the main board. But that M0116 does still work with an adapter. It's just incredible to me how all these things have kept working after all this time.

<comment><USER29> > I have a ice cream scooper from the 1960's that was used in my grandfather's > restaurant. It's built like brick.

That is pretty cool! Not only is it a useful tool that won't wear out, but a family heirloom with an interesting story that can be passed down for generations.

And, complimentary username to post subject matter to boot!

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> My espresso machine, a Mini Gaggia from 1974 (I was born that year too!)

I make 2-3 espressos everyday since I bought it, 2012

[https://imgur.com/a/e7AbqzR](https://imgur.com/a/e7AbqzR)

<comment><USER60> Nice! I bought a (new) Rancilio Silvia, precisely because it seemed that it should last: simple, spare parts availability, community of people modding & repairing; but I'm still impressed at nearly half a century!

<comment><USER61> Excellent choice. After I wore out my first crappy espresso machine I did some research and brought a Rancilio Silvia. That was about 14 years ago, it still gets daily use and hasn't missed a beat.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER62> My Carver C-1 stereo amplifier has been playing music all day every day since I bought it in 1981 or so.

I've kept several of my computers from the 80s and 90s and 00s, but they won't power up any more.

</comment><comment><USER63> Strangely enough, the two gadgets I can think of are from the same year 1979:

\- A Sharp MZ-80K computer (my first computer). Granted, I don't use it every day but as long as the original Basic SP-5025 cassette can be read, I know I can write some funny programs full of INPUT A$ and GOTO and GOSUB.

\- An Olympia Express Maximatic espresso machine (serial no. from 1979) I bought two years ago and had repaired. The spare parts are easy to find because the current version of that machine is almost the same as the original design from the mid-70s. I use it everyday.

Both are very sturdy constructions.

</comment><comment><USER64> I have a vintage fx-82 calculator [1] that still works. My father bought it when he started working after his engineering, which was passed on to me for my engineering, which was then passed on to my brother for his engineering - which ended 12 yr ago. Last checked the thing a few months ago, it works barring a few problematic keypresses. I am nearly convinced it's alien technology at this point.

[1] not mine, but this model: [https://www.ebay.com/i/123734880177](https://www.ebay.com/i/123734880177)

</comment><comment><USER65> Pentel PS513 and PS535 automatic pencils. First manufactured in the 70s, they're the mechanical pencil equivalent of 13" and 15" macbook pros. By random fluke, Pentel found a box of 535s in the back of a warehouse and sold them on Amazon a few years ago. The reviews are unreal

[https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Sliding-Sleeve-Mechanical- PS53...](https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Sliding-Sleeve-Mechanical- PS535/dp/B00007JQQU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8)

</comment><comment><USER66> The oldest thing I have that I still use daily is my bedside clock radio. It's from 1983, when I got it as a birthday present to help me wake up for 1st grade. It says on the bottom that it was "proudly made in Malaysia".

It was my primary alarm from 1st grade through high school and college and much of my adult working life, until about 12 years ago when I switched to using my cell phone.

But we still use it as our primary clock in our bedroom to this day. It keeps time better than most modern clocks.

</comment><comment><USER67> 1938 Frigidaire. Restored with new insulation, wiring, and finish but the compressor and refrigerant are still original - the sealed system has not been opened since it was made.

<comment><USER68> We have a Singer sewing machine from I think the 1930s that runs fine.

Also a bakelite radio from I think the 1940s that worked fine about 15 years ago but hasn't been used since. I haven't reworked any of it but I think someone else did before we got it in the 1990s.

</comment></comment><comment><USER69> I've got a PDP-8/e with a 1978 date code that still runs. Sadly I sold my Collins S-Line transmitter (Amateur Radio bands). I think it was made in the late 60's.

</comment><comment><USER70> I have an Ericsson MC16 (rebadged HP 360LX) WinCE device from 1998. Was given it circa. 2003 when I was five/six. Despite abusing it for years, it still works today.

<comment><USER71> I remember admiring these back when they were new in the stores. A tiny laptop! With a start menu and everything! How cool!

Are you still using it in 2020? If so, what have you found it to be useful for?

<comment><USER70> It was never really anything more than a hobby and its now stored away as a sentimental value piece. When I was younger I regretted losing the serial cable for it and ruining a Dell tower that would have allowed me to sync it to a PC, this was back when I couldn't freely just buy stuff off eBay and space in the house was at a premium. I had a penchant for poking the original box with the stylus so that got tossed eventually.

A couple years ago I got an HP 2133 netbook and although the chipsets have a habit of frying themselves every once in a while (forcing the purchase of new motherboards) the form factor is close enough that it can take over the functions than the old WinCE handhelds and Psions had.

I like the 'robustness' of a lot of tech product designs from the early 2000s and prior. Plastic parts in particular seem to have become rather thin in the years since.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER72> My IBM Model F keyboard (83 key XT) is probably the oldest gadget I engage with daily. I've tried every keyswitch under the sun and nothing comes close to the smoothness and tactility of the capacitive buckling springs. It makes basically all other keyswitches feel like flimsy chinese garbage. Also, it's indestructable and quite heavy. As in, you could bludgeon someone to death with it.

</comment><comment><USER73> * Atari Portfolio from 1989, still runs great and has some ok games. Extention cards are flaking out though and i should get myself a serial or parallel adapter. Never any luck with an ATM either ;)

* original Gameboy from around the same time, could use a refurbishment or at least a good scrub. And some more/new games.

* iMac G4, The Lamp, works perfectly but I don't really know what to do with it. Still, even powered off a thing of beauty so thats ok.

<comment><USER74> I got that Terminator 2 reference

</comment></comment><comment><USER75> [https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife/)

</comment><comment><USER76> PC keyboard that I bought in 1992. Still works like a charm.

My friend has milling machine made sometime in 1920-1930 and small lathe from before 1900. All work just fine.

</comment><comment><USER77> I hooked up a Commodore 64 to an old CRT 21 incher at a party with a few families. The kids (8-12y) were glued to the screen for hours playing Archon.

</comment><comment><USER78> I have a Logitech usb optical mouse from 1999 or so..

One of these:

[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c1/c6/d6/c1c6d6c43a9bfd3dd452...](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c1/c6/d6/c1c6d6c43a9bfd3dd452ed0ade809420.jpg)

Works ok. Was still using it a few months ago, but the wheel has started to stick a little in one direction, so I replaced it and now use it as a floater.

</comment><comment><USER79> This is why I go out of my way to make my websites compatible as far back as I can, including Mosaic, Netscape, and IE.

I myself have several old iOS devices, which I still enjoy using. Two of them belonged to my grandmother, and I like to leave them just the way they are, no OS upgrades.

I also used to have an iPhone which was jailbroken, and I didn't want to deal with the process of upgrading the OS.

</comment><comment> amiga-workbench Amazingly, my IBM 5170 still works. I'm shocked the power supply still hasn't given up yet. The CMOS battery went bad years ago and has been replaced with some AAA's, luckily no leaks.

[https://files.home.mos6581.com/Pics/5170/2018.jpg](https://files.home.mos6581.com/Pics/5170/2018.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER80> My HP Scanjet IIcx scanner is about 30 years old and still works fine. SCSI interface.

I did have to replace the scanner top with a white piece of solid plastic. The original top was very thin plastic veneer bonded onto a foam rubber base which of course by now has self-destructed.

How did HPE and HP fall from the top of the industry in respect to the bottom over those 30 years?

<comment><USER81> As tech companies get bigger, older and stop innovating, the management team changes from engineers and entrepreneurs to bean counters.

</comment></comment><comment><USER82> Leica M2, serial 1144389 dates it back to 1966.

<comment><USER36> Oh man, I used to use my grandfather's Leica M-series camera when I was in high school. That was some seriously good glass that he had. It was really great for doing sports shots since looking through the rangefinder, I could see what was outside the frame of the telephoto lens to catch the full action.

<comment><USER82> I'm a photographer for my school's newspaper and I do the same with my Fuji X-Pro2. The optical finder lets me monitor when the action is coming into the frame, and there's even a small electronic finder in the corner to show me exactly what the sensor sees.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER62> Mine is my 1972 Dodge. I drive it once a week.

</comment><comment><USER83> The other day I found a guitar digital delay pedal ([https://reverb.com/p/ibanez-soundtank-dl5-digital- delay](https://reverb.com/p/ibanez-soundtank-dl5-digital-delay)) that I've had since I bought my first guitar in 1992, and is still working fine.

<comment><USER84> I still have an EPS-16+ Digital Sampler with 4 whole megabytes of RAM, but unfortunately its floppy drive hasn't survived the decades, so I can't boot it.

[http://www.vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/ens_eps16.php](http://www.vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/ens_eps16.php)

<comment><USER83> That was my first sampler as well! I have no idea how I got rid of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER85> Swinger sewing machine from the 60s built into a sewing table, inherited from my grandmother-in-law. Beautiful machine.

<comment><USER86> I picked up a 60s-era Singer secondhand many years ago and it has served me very well. It was clearly once built into a table, which is the only awkward thing about it. I keep meaning to build a box mount for it, but, well, projects....

<comment><USER85> This one is slanted. It's pretty neat and definitely has a different feel from the 90s craft sewing machine we also have.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER87> I am listening to an old Philips valve radio from 1952 which has FM and a wonderful rich sound. I am still using an HP-25 LED calculator I bought back in 1977. My oldest piece of software is Microsoft Money from 2002 which now has transaction and investment histories dating back nearly 20 years.

</comment><comment><USER88> _Thinkpad T40. I bought it used about 9 years ago,I think it 's about at least 15 years old. Still runs as the day it was made.And the keyboard! They don't make them so comfy anymore. _ Body thermometer with mercury. It's got to be at least 30 years old.

<comment><AUTHOR> I daily one ThinkPad X220 (2011), keep another one sterile for travel, and over time have bought a dozen more for family and friends. Simplifies my tech support chores. Fast enough, parts available, sturdy, good battery life, great keyboard, $100.

</comment></comment><comment><USER89> Casio CM-100 computer math calculator, circa 1984. It has sat beside my keyboard as I learned BASIC on a Commodore 64... and earned a BS in CS on a NeXT workstation... and as I wrote my doctoral dissertation... and as I wrote inverse kinematics code for a space robot.

</comment><comment><USER90> Masport push reel mower, would guess somewhere between 1930s and 1960s. It's the most pleasant mower to use, and all it cost was an evening cleaning it up plus an annual visit to the sharpeners.

If electricity is a prerequisite: 1966 Bulova Accutron 214 that I wear most days.

</comment><comment><USER91> I have a desk fan made in 1912 that I use regularly and the telephone in my kitchen is from 1954.

<comment> frosted-flakes Do you use the phone? We have a dial phone from the 60s-80s that's still hooked up in the living room and rings (I don't know how old it is, but it works perfectly). Very handy when the cordless phone gets left in the basement. I can't say that it gets used much, except during power outages. My folks still use the landline phone quite a lot, and so do I sometimes (poor cell reception in the house).

<comment><USER91> I do, although these days its connection to the outside world is a SIP trunk via Asterisk. Works just fine as long as I don't need to interact with an IVR which requires asterisks or pound to do stuff (looking at you, Google Meet). Audio quality is better than a cell phone, and I can hear it ring from the back yard.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> Sony shortwave/FM radio. Purchased in 1988. I think it's jumped continents at least 5 times. The contacts are a tad corroded, and the antenna is held on with a safety pin, but it still works fine and I use it every single day.

</comment><comment><USER92> My SNES (from when it was launched in Europe around 1992 iirc) still works, controllers and all.

</comment><comment><USER93> I have an OG iPod that I still use to this day (replaced the battery and storage).

Still works and looks great!

</comment><comment><USER94> Sort of off-topic, but I have a New-in-box, sealed from the factory, never opened Sun Sparc 20 pizzabox.

Someone was selling new-old-stock on ebay about five years ago and I bought two of them ... one of them I unboxed and have running and one of them remains NIB.

</comment><comment><USER95> My daily use phone is a Motorola Razr from 2005. Works great and actually fits in a pocket.

<comment><USER96> Mine too! (Updgraded from a monochrome Nokia a couple years ago) Although the battery isn't so great anymore. And reception is bad in certain places, I'm assuming due to the limited spectrums it can use. I haven't found any potential replacements that I'm too excited about.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> My Bosch hammer drill will be 30 years old in September, still going strong although there is a slight wobble on the chuck.

Mostly though I don't keep old stuff kicking around, if I get a new computer for instance then the old one goes on eBay straight away.

</comment><comment><USER97> A Video Sphere black & white television, black [they came in white and orange as well].

It's a simple matter of having digitally broadcast TV signals come in via a digital signal converter instead of the onboard analogue antenna.

</comment><comment><USER98> I've got a radiometer which I bought 50 years ago in second grade. It's my single longest-term possession. The bulb is encased in a cube of clear resin, which is probably the only reason it's survived this long.

</comment><comment><USER99> A 1958 Hermes Rocket. Are use it all the time to type letters and thank you notes

</comment><comment><USER100> I still have my grandfathers axe. It's had two new heads and three handles!

</comment><comment><USER101> Not the _oldest_, but certainly the most _useful_, hands down: Apple TiG4 667 Mhz laptop with Adobe Creative Suite 2.

I'm amazed every time that machine starts up and shows me early OS X or, haha OS 9 emulation.

</comment><comment><USER102> I recently replaced my 14 year old iPod Nano 2nd gen. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6md9pY- PLQU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6md9pY-PLQU)

</comment><comment><USER103> Violin, 103 years old

Korg MS-20, 32 years old

MXR phaser pedal, 41 years old

Serving spoon, 300 years old

Irish flute, about 200 years old

All in current use

</comment><comment><USER104> I have a digital alarm clock from about 20 years ago. i think it's JVC. it still works, even though I stepped on it about 5 years ago, once.

Amazingly, it's still on the original battery!!!!

</comment><comment><USER105> Selmer Mark VI tenor from the 60s. Needs some playability adjustment, though.

Also ASKO washer from the 90s, still in heavy use. The mechanical computer driving the programs is a marvel.

</comment><comment><USER106> Casio scientific calculator from the 80s that (the last time I checked, I stumble on it once a year or so) still turns on and works _with the original battery_.

</comment><comment><USER107> TI calculator from 1991 that I still use weekly and a Makita cordless drill (NiCDs are tired) from 1995. Before we moved my car was a 1988 Toyota.

<comment><USER108> Yeah, but did you move in 1989?

<comment><USER107> Heh, 2015.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER109> Mac Colour Classic made in 1994. Still has HyperCard working last time I checked.

If anyone can tell me how to get Dark Castle running on it, I'd be grateful

<comment><USER51> Off the top of my head, you may just have to set the screen to B&W. Another option would be to boot in System 6 which may give it less trouble than System 7. Can you be specific about what happens when you try to run it? Though it occurs to me I had Beyond Dark Castle on my Macintosh, not the original.

</comment></comment><comment> Jean-Philipe My lomo LCA. I played with it when I was a child and found it again later, had to have it repaired once but it still takes gorgeous pictures.

</comment><comment><USER110> I have a HP41CV calculator from around 1983. It will not turn on. Any repair suggestions?

Edit: Oops. Forgot about the "working" constraint.

</comment><comment><USER111> My parents had what is now a 50 year old can opener. It looked new because my mom would always, always always clean it after using it.

<comment><USER112> We have a manual can opener that is at least that old. It is superior to any such that I can find in stores today.

</comment></comment><comment><USER113> Probably my PlayStation 2 (non-slim version). I'm currently playing 'Shadow of the Colossus' for the first time.

</comment><comment><USER114> Some inherited model trains from the 1930s. Those things are going to last far longer than I will.

</comment><comment><USER115> Blackberry Playbook from 2009-ish. Yeah not that old, but it's a rare sight :)

</comment><comment><USER116> iPhone 7 used by my daughter since she broke her P30.

2014 vintage Latitude E6440 work laptop that simply refuses to die and since I am a SAP developer on ECC 6 there is no justification for giving me anything more modern.

</comment><comment><USER117> I have an super old Toshiba Satellite laptop that runs Windows 95!

</comment><comment><USER118> Has anyone found a kettle that lasts more than couple of years?

</comment><comment><USER119> I've still got my iRiver H140 which is about 18 years old

</comment><comment><USER120> HP 42s from 1989. Used regularly, couple of times a week.

</comment><comment><USER49> Do straight razors from the 1830s count?

</comment><comment><USER121> * 2nd Generation iPod (firewire, 5GB)

* Handspring Treo PDA

* Nintendo NES

* iPod Nano 1st Gen

</comment><comment><USER122> iRiver 20gb mp3 player. Amazing device.

<comment><USER24> I had one in college. My roommate did too and clipped it to his Grado GR80's, which was a bogus sight: All the music on a little piece of tech strapped to large headphones. Great little MP3 player!

</comment></comment><comment><USER123> A (working afaik) BBC Micro.

</comment><comment><USER124> My TRS 80 is rocking.</comment>


Show HN: ClarifyJs – Overcoming Limits of JavaScript Method Chaining - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/omidh28/clarifyjs#### <comment><USER2> The example with the message could just be msg('hello everyone').to( list).except('John').send().then... where send() returns a promise. That is, the message creates an object that is getting modified until it hits the send method and then it is done.

Maybe it is just a too simple example to get a point across, but I would want to see an example where this would not work.

<comment><USER3> My impression is the goal of this library is to make it a little cleaner than the builder pattern because you don't need the `.send()` at the end. Arguably, it's nice to make the syntax a little more concise if the library is there to hide all of the complicated details from you.

That said, I get uneasy when reading code like the example

      send('hello everyone!').to('friends').except('john');

since it doesn't follow my mental model of how programs execute. It's shorter than the builder pattern, but, at least to me, less understandable because there's more magic going on.

<comment><USER4> I liked it because it reminded me of Ruby's more English like syntax, however someone else made the same comment where I work about it being a source of possible confusion so that is probably true.

I guess otherwise it would need to be something like send('hello everyone').to('friends', 'John'); but now you don't understand what 'John' does unless you read the code - which,I know, realistically people don't always make their methods match the names so you don't really know that except('John') does what you might assume until you read it as well.

But in a theoretical world that was as we would like it to be you could reason from the method name to what the method actually does.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Interesting intellectually but I'd say the problem it's trying to solve as illustrated in its readme is just poor application design.

Streams, events, etc have all solved this problem without repurposing existing syntax to "fix" a round peg by making it square.

Clever though.

</comment><comment> d--b Oof... syntactic sugar at the cost of obfuscation and configuration.

How is this clearer than normal method calling, when you have to look for a priority number in the config to know which method executes before the other one?

Sorry but I think this is a really bad idea...

<comment><USER6> I don't think you should apologize. I too think it's a terrible idea. And the irony it's that the author called the library "clarify".

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The example the author gives is a domain specific language-like expression.

I think DSLs are, as their name says, domain specific. I do not think there's a one size fits all solution.

</comment><comment><USER8> Could see this work nicely for testing :) Does make it a bit tricky to reason about code if the execution order is not clear

</comment><comment><USER9> Yet another layer to go through when debugging. Wonderful! /s

<comment><USER10> I don't know why you're being _fight club_ ed, this is a serious concern.

The places where this comes in handy are already prime candidates for bug hiding locations. Adding this in might remove some of those, but if the cost is that debugging what remains is significantly more difficult, then is it really worth it?

<comment><USER3> I think the point about debugging is legitimate, and the downvote was because of the sarcastic tone. Someone put a lot of time into this project, so it's nice for feedback to be straightforward and, if possible, constructive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> If it meets the guidelines, this might make a good 'Show HN'. Show HN guidelines: [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)

<comment><USER12> Thanks! We've updated the title, which we're happy to revert if the submitter objects.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Looking for a good short web pub platform. - <AUTHOR>

I'm a big fan of http://tidypub.org/, but I'd like the option to add links, and maybe an image.
What are your favorites?
Thanks in advance. <comment><USER2> <http://pen.io>

<comment><AUTHOR> Wonderful. Thanks!</comment></comment>


GopherJS - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/gopherjs/

<comment><USER2> I'm somewhat disappointed this has nothing to do with Gopher.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29)

<comment><USER3> I'm not disappointed but I agree the name is misleading / poorly chosen.

<comment><USER4> "Go" wasn't a particularly bright name to begin with, when it comes to googleability.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just finished writing a Gopherjs binding for the chrome API so you can now write chrome extensions and Chrome apps in Go: [https://github.com/fabioberger/chrome](https://github.com/fabioberger/chrome)

</comment><comment><USER6> I used this once to port some math-heavy Go and both amazed and aghast when I saw how int64 values were handled in the resulting javascript.

<comment><USER7> Its primary goal is to follow the Go spec correctly, including simulating overflow/underflow on int64 type. Implementing that in JavaScript will have overhead.

So if you don't care about that, you can use int type instead, it will be faster.

But if you do care, I agree, using Go types is much much more pleasant and GopherJS takes care of that for you!

<comment><USER6> I needed int64s and expected the js not to work in all cases. I was amazed at the ingenuity of the gopherjs team and aghast at the state of integer math in javascript.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Whilst I think projects like this are cool, it's a real shame that browser vendors don't make embedding other engines easier.

<comment><USER9> It's plenty easy to embed another engine into a browser... see: VBScript, Dart, NaCl, etc...

The problem is that in the end, you won't see consensus on a secondary language from multiple browser vendors, in the end something that breaks down into JS/asm.js is probably more practical.

To me, getting webworkers to a better position of usability is a far better goal. As it stands, you have to write your worker completely detached from your main script/code... separate build target, separate calls, different model from node's IPC which reduces reusability. This is mainly in that I feel a bigger issue with JS performance for critical tasks in the browser will be alleviated by better channels with web-workers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Any information on [https://tardisgo.github.io/](https://tardisgo.github.io/) ? They target Haxe, so I guess they have a bit more ambition, but it does mean a lot more moving parts. It looks like GopherJS is more mature, though.

<comment><USER11> Hi, I'm the author of TARDISgo.

Yes, GopherJS is not only more mature, it is also a really great project. If you want to target JS today, you should use it.

By contrast, TARDISgo not only targets JS, it also targets C++, C# and Java (plus some other minor languages). In addition it gives access to the rich Haxe cross-platform development ecosystem.

I am actively developing the project, but that work is not yet visible on GitHub because of breaking changes in the Haxe compiler. The project will get a major upgrade once it is stable with the new version of Haxe (3.2.0). This upgrade will raise the number of standard packages which pass their tests (for at least one target language) to 80.

Major announcements about TARDISgo will appear on twitter @TARDISgo. Please stay tuned!

<comment><USER12> I am pleasantly surprised to find a Chinese sentence on the TARDIS Go website :) That sentence - "请发送一份汉语的电子邮件到作者" \- is a perfectly comprehensible, but you can sound more Chinese. For the amusement of the Chinese-illiterate, I have included a word-by-word English translation of each sentence.

* Put the preposition phrase before the verb, which is the usual order. That turns "请发送一份汉语的电子邮件到作者" (please send a Chinese email towards author) into "请向作者发送一份汉语的电子邮件" (please towards author send a Chinese email). I have also changed the preposition from "到" to "向".

* Drop the unnecessary quantifier and "的". Chinese defaults on "a" most of the time, and "的" is often not needed for noun phrases. That turns "请向作者发送一份汉语的电子邮件" into "请向作者发送汉语电子邮件" (please towards author send Chinese email).

* Use "写" (write) instead of "发送" (send). The latter is a direct translation from English and not very native. Also "电子邮件" (email) can just be "邮件" (mail), especially when on-line. That turns "请向作者发送汉语电子邮件" into "请给作者写汉语邮件" (please towards author write Chinese mail). I have changed the preposition again, from "向" to "给".

* Prefer composite verb phrases over adjectives for describing means (here, the mail is written in Chinese). That turns "请给作者写汉语邮件" into "请用汉语给作者写邮件" (please use Chinese towards author write mail).

That's pretty it. Actually, "请用汉语给作者写邮件" is how I would write the sentence, and I figured out a path from your version towards mine :)

PS1. About the preposition changes - yes, "到", "向", and "给" all mean "towards" in this case, and I cannot really explain why I changed them. I can probably point to some literature if you are interested...

PS2. Another tiny detail: since you are already using the Chinese period mark "。" I recommend you also to use the Chinese question mark "?" in the previous sentence for consistency.

<comment><USER11> Wow xiaq, thank you for your kind explanation of how I can improve one of my Chinese sentences. I am always impressed by the way that well-written Chinese is so short - Mandarin is a wonderful language!

I have changed the web-site to use your revised wording. Thank you again for giving me such excellent and complete feedback.

When TARDISgo is fully ready, I hope you will give it a try, then write to me in Chinese to tell me how you get on!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Most recent major GopherJS news:

\- 29 days ago, the support for blocking calls became default, without needing to mark with `//gopherjs:blocking`. This was the last "not-really-Go" thing you needed to do previously. [0]

\- There's a 1.0 milestone now, so Richard is getting closer to a 1.0 release. [1]

\- Also recently, added support to make GET, POST requests via "net/http" (in browser) by providing a `net.Transport` implemented on top of XMLHttpRequest. [2]

\- There's recent work on a "gopherjs serve" command to make development more convenient. [3]

I'm using GopherJS a lot.

Most recently, I ported google/gxui Go package to run in the browser [4]. You can try it here [5].

I've done some 3D stuff that works both on desktop and in browser by leveraging GopherJS. Here's a mini demo of that [6]. Hold down left mouse button and drag mouse to look around.

Here's a live markdown editor (and formatter) in browser, it uses existing Go packages. [7]

I gave a talk about GopherJS at previous GoSF meetup [8], which included some of these demos, and described the most common questions/concerns (debugging, file size, performance, general experience, advantages and disadvantages).

Previous discussion from 6 months ago [9].

[0] [https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/89#issuecomment-...](https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/89#issuecomment-76564310)

[1] [https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/milestones/1.0](https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/milestones/1.0)

[2] [https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/commit/fdbe407578d08ab7...](https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/commit/fdbe407578d08ab76f9150277f68d01e45ee5f16)

[3] [https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/121](https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/121)

[4] [https://twitter.com/shurcooL/status/579395628683259905](https://twitter.com/shurcooL/status/579395628683259905)

[5] [http://dmitri.shuralyov.com/projects/gxui- tree/](http://dmitri.shuralyov.com/projects/gxui-tree/)

[6] [http://dmitri.shuralyov.com/projects/Terrain- Demo/](http://dmitri.shuralyov.com/projects/Terrain-Demo/)

[7] [http://dmitri.shuralyov.com/projects/live-markdown/live- mark...](http://dmitri.shuralyov.com/projects/live-markdown/live- markdown.html)

[8] [https://www.hakkalabs.co/articles/getting-started- gopherjs](https://www.hakkalabs.co/articles/getting-started-gopherjs)

[9] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8454604](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8454604)

<comment><AUTHOR> The gxui package is super ugly. It has me wondering why they aren't implementing something for material design.

<comment><USER7> If you're truly wondering, you're in luck. Someone already asked that question and it was answered:

[https://github.com/google/gxui/issues/65](https://github.com/google/gxui/issues/65)

<comment><AUTHOR> I saw that, and I found the answer unsatisfactory.

<comment><USER7> Feel free to comment on the issue explaining why, or make a PR.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I've used GopherJS. I actually gave a talk just this past week about full- stack Go[0] (ie, using Go for native mobile/desktop, and client-side web development in addition to server-side), and GopherJS was, unsurprisingly, a bit part of that.

GopherJS works surprisingly well; the biggest issue for most people will be the unminified file size. But based on my initial profiling, between minifiers, caching, and the fact that many websites are serving large assets (images) already, it's less of an issue than I had anticipated it would be.

The second biggest issue is the fact that almost nobody writes raw Javascript anymore these days in the browser. Most people use not only JQuery (or a similar tool), but something to structure client-side code, like React.js or Angular.js.

GopherJS has an implementation of JQuery[1], which works about as well as JQuery itself does - that is, it does the job, but can get unmaintainable when there is a lot of client-side code. There is a GopherJS implementation of Angular.js, though I haven't used it.

Until a month ago, there was a lingering quirk with the way GopherJS handled asynchronous code (calls to blocking functions had to be specially marked with comments, which meant that parts of the standard library couldn't be used be used without modification). They just fixed this a month ago[2], which is a huge milestone for the project.

React is a bit trickier, given the way that React applications are structured, and the way that React interacts with Javascript-specific features (namely the "this" keyword). It's currently usable, but with insane filesize[3]. I think this could be slimmed down, since almost no work has been done optimizing this so far, but React-on-GopherJS is certainly not production-ready yet.

That said, that's only looking at compiling existing Javascript code to Go. My hope is that the next client-side MVC/MVVC/etc. framework will be written in Go from the start. Go is a great language for structuring client-side code; the only bottleneck (until now) was that there was no way of actually running the code! But now that GopherJS is in a working state, it's a completely green field - very exciting time.

[0] [https://chimeracoder.github.io/full-stack-go-client- slides/#...](https://chimeracoder.github.io/full-stack-go-client-slides/#1)

[1] [https://github.com/gopherjs/jquery](https://github.com/gopherjs/jquery)

[2] [https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/89](https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/89)

[3] [https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/118](https://github.com/gopherjs/gopherjs/issues/118)

<comment><USER14> > My hope is that the next client-side MVC/MVVC/etc. framework will be written > in Go from the start.

A friend and I are working on exactly that! It's called humble: [https://github.com/soroushjp/humble](https://github.com/soroushjp/humble). We took a lot of inspiration from backbone and react. Still in an experimental phase and hasn't been touched much since we built it for the Gopher Gala, but we have plans to work on it a lot more in the future. There is also [https://github.com/gowade/wade](https://github.com/gowade/wade).

<comment><USER15> There's also Wade[1], maybe you can merge efforts?

[1]: [https://github.com/gowade/wade](https://github.com/gowade/wade)

edit: I've just seen that you already mentioned it. I hadn't drunk my coffee then, sorry!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This also open the door to use ios7 JavaScript bridge from, right? Would be possible to write a iOS native app with go today?</comment>


Ray Dalio interview on Bridgewater and fake news - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/ray-dalio-interview-henry-blodget-1-2017 <comment><USER2> Dalio sounds like Tom Cruise talking about the Church of Scientology.</comment>


15,000 illegal adoptions in Ireland, mothers told babies had died - <AUTHOR> https://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/illegal-adoptions-ireland <comment><USER2> This article was really frustrating to read. It never actually explained what illegal adoption entails. It said some mothers were told their babies had died. So, what, these adoptions took place without consent of the birth parents? I wouldn't call that illegal adoption, I'd call it kidnapping.

<comment><USER3> > I wouldn't call that illegal adoption, I'd call it kidnapping.

Taking the children from their birth parents under false pretenses is kidnapping, adopting the kidnapped children out is illegal adoption. They aren't mutually exclusive acts.

<comment><USER4> I don't think that was GP's point though.

<comment><USER2> Yeah. My main point is that, if these babies were really being taken without consent, then calling it "illegal adoption" is like calling bank robbery "speeding" because the robbers broke the speed limit in their getaway car.

The term "illegal adoption" carries connotations of (intentionally or otherwise) misfiled paperwork, not kidnapping.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I agree with point made by 300bps - concrete information is necessary, but such 'tolerated' behaviour by the institutions affiliated with the Irish government is not unknown. This is not necessarily down to vice, but to a bizarre fastening to a cultural dysfunction that is rampant and "normal" in the Irish government if you were to accept their duplicity. No-one can get fired, there is no accountability, their stance on life and well being is well out of line with most modern Irish people (which thankfully voted yes recently), and intergenerational guilt prevents them from separating the catholic church from state. To be clear, I say this as an Irish atheist and with an already exiting intention to leave. Apart from the amount of hurt and pain that these absolutely unfounded "traditional" practices have, they serve no valid purpose and there is no one to blame. Such a duplicitous culture. Such an island of backwards savages if you were to assume the government represents the people who actually live here. Apologies for ranting. I hope the human beings that have had their identities distorted have the courage to find themselves and to accept themselves unconditionally.

<comment><USER6> This strikes me of Ireland's version of Snowden, in that we essentially knew about it all along, but it's taken the arrival of wide-spread evidence for anything to actually happen.

The good news is that it is actually happening. I don't actually think we're going to see anyone punished, but we are seeing change, which is much more important. Ireland's progressed a long way from so narrowly accepting divorce, in an astonishingly short amount of time. It's become quite clear that the current generation aren't going to allow the Church free reign anymore.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> From the article, there are 126 known cases. The 15,000 figure is from a quote note directly attributed in the article which said:

 _"I suspect every single adoption agency in the country is involved, that's 150,000 babies, it would be amazing if at least ten percent of them were not illegal."_

</comment><comment><USER8> This article is about a related scandal and may provide more context: [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/mass-grave- of-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/mass-grave-of-babies- and-children-found-at-tuam-orphanage-in-ireland)

Ireland had a practice of shaming and pressuring unmarried women to give up their babies for adoption. This pressure came from families, church, and the broader society. These babies were treated as second-class citizens in orphanages. Some (many) of them died, others were adopted. So while the entire practice was abhorrent, these children were taken through coercion, not kidnapping.

<comment><USER9> This article is terrible and seems to have been flagged off the front page, but how do you know that it didn't happen exactly like they say?

The Reddit thread I linked below had corroborating witnesses showing up to say that is exactly how it happened. Some children were shipped overseas with their mothers' coerced consent, some parents were shown dead babies and their children were never heard from again.

Some were left to die and tossed down a hole without a funeral, some were made to work as slaves in the orphanage... and it's not the only primarily Catholic country where this scam was prevalent; if the stories are to be believed this was an order of magnitude more common in Spain around the same time.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8ppl72/comment/e...](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/8ppl72/comment/e0d8zhe)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> _"I suspect every single adoption agency in the country is involved, that's 150,000 babies, it would be amazing if at least ten percent of them were not illegal."_

Clickbait. Misleading.

</comment><comment><USER11> This sort of thing also ties in nicely with the rumors/conspiracy theories around Chief Justice Roberts.

</comment><comment> purple-again This was a major plot point in Sons of Anarchy almost a decade ago.

Life imitating art, or art imitating life?

<comment><USER12> _The 126 established cases were registered by St Patrick's Guild adoption society between 1946 and 1969._</comment></comment>


Understanding the Benefits of Google Apps for Business - <AUTHOR> http://www.thechromesource.com/understanding-the-benefits-of-google-apps-with-jim-mcnelis/ <comment><USER2> How about the massive downside of their existing outside the main GOOG infrastructure? Why is there not feature parity between my free Google account and the Apps for Domain that I pay for? RIDDLE ME THIS, GOOGLE!</comment>


Cambridge Analytica Just Shut Down All Its U.S. Offices - <AUTHOR> https://gizmodo.com/cambridge-analytica-just-shut-down-all-its-us-offices-1825698536?rev=1525282485519 <comment><USER2> They aren't gone. They will reform, brand differently, and perhaps execute a bit differently.

However, the heat level associated with the current entity is, apparently in their judgement, too high to work through and past.</comment>


The case for Tau in Python - <AUTHOR> http://bugs.python.org/issue12345 <comment><USER2> I think it's interesting that Guido went from being opposed in June 2011 [0] to supporting it in August 2016 [1] without any real indication of why he changed his mind, and bringing the issue back over three years after the last message to do it. Does anyone know of a reason why he changed his mind?

[0] [http://bugs.python.org/issue12345#msg139338](http://bugs.python.org/issue12345#msg139338)

[1] [http://bugs.python.org/issue12345#msg272287](http://bugs.python.org/issue12345#msg272287)</comment>