Spiceworks Community Digest: Old tricks

In an era defined by seamless cloud integration and software-defined everything, there can be a deep satisfaction in solving a modern problem with a vintage solution. You’ve probably been there: software stack you’re about to build from scratch, only to realize that a piece of hardware from three decades ago was literally developed for this exact moment.

A recent thread on the Spiceworks Community highlighted when user Jrx had a plan to write a custom Ethernet stack for an ESP32, which lead to the rest of the community sharing how much they love old tech.

The beauty of old tech 

For many in the community, old tech isn’t just about nostalgia but rather about parts you can actually swap and systems that just keep spinning. Whether it’s using “broken” modems or keeping a 15-year-old laptop alive because it’s easy to fix, the Spiceworks crew proves that just because it’s “outdated” doesn’t mean it’s useless.

• CharlesHTN: “Plug a phone into the modem. Pick up the phone headset to take the line off hook and then have the modem dial out… I used said modem to dial into the Universities VAX system.”
• Greek-Greg: “Old Tech is still the right answer for me… It’s a back in the day laptop which means everything is modular and as things wear out and break I can just replace them. And since I don’t play games and use Linux it’s still plenty fast enough.”
• BlurryEyed: “My life’s work involves keeping old tech working… so it best not fade away too quickly.. fix, repair, test, wipe send out… hell I say keep old tech.. new old tech too.”
• HulkSmash: “My only regret is not keeping my house so I could have a basement full of old tech. Please do a tour soon!”

The real value of the outdated

Projects like these often serve as a great mental reset for many IT professionals who spend their time in virtualized environments. It’s a great reminder that at it’s core, IT is all about connectivity whether over fiber or an analog line. What is the “oldest” piece of tech you still have in your daily production or lab environment? Let us know on the Spiceworks Community.