how long will our Amigas be with us?

[paalrosen]

One thing is certain, nothing lasts forever.
.
will our Amiga die with our generation,

or will they last?

changing caps is of course a life extender, but what about garry, paula, romships etc etc

our machines are 20 years old +

can they do 20 more?

 

[fitzsteve]

In 20 years there will be a lot less for sure, but some will certainly be working.

And many of us have children that enjoy using them, even if they stup using them in their teens I bet they get the retr0 bug at some point

Hopefully I'm still here in 20 years using my Amiga's

Like anything old, if you look after it, service & maintain it then it should last

 

[Bryce]

Most ICs are given an expected lifespan of 30 years (not to be confused with manufacturers shelf-life which is usually only 6 months*), but this is really only to cover their ass. ICs that get hot will obviously not last forever, but ICs that are used within their specs should at least manage the 30 years. The other small logic stuff is usually well under it's specs, never gets hot and should last a lot longer than the stated 30 years. Unused ICs (ie: spares that you have in a box) might have some oxidation on their pins, but otherwise they don't age and theoretically would last a lot longer than the user

* The shelf life refers to how long the component is suitable for industrial soldering. Wave soldering doesn't contain flux, so oxidised pins won't solder properly. Because of this, the manufacturer only gives a six month window to use the parts. For hobbiests this isn't an issue, the solder we use is so aggressive that easily solders even badly oxidised pins.

Bryce.

 

[AndyLandy]

Frankly, the biggest threat to retro computers is the trashcan. Far too many people still throw out perfectly good machines because they're "old"

So long as you take care of your retro computer, there's no reason it shouldn't keep going as long as you do. Capacitors may need replaced from time to time, but if you're careful, most of the rest of the bits should keep going.

 

[paalrosen]

good news

When talking about throwing machines, I have been in contact with nearly everyone, where I grew up. hey, do you have your vintage amiga anymore.?

answer is generally, no. i throwd it some years ago

 

[57Chevy]

I learned in school that power on/off states cause electrons to move metal ions along the trace eventually thinning one end and bulking up the other (called ion-migration). Also heating and cooling of components cause expansion and contraction of joints, sockets, and connections. We were told that the longest life of an electronic device is one that stays on at one temperature. The longest life you get from a chemical device is one in a freezer.

When asked how to get the longest battery life from a laptop battery, an dealer said to take out the battery, put it in the freezer and use the plug in power supply.

 

[Boom]

I'm hoping I can keep an Amiga and a Spectrum going until i'm and old grandad. When my grandchildren come to visit, i'll be boring them showing them what computers were like "in the good old days!"

Eventually when they grow older, they'll learn to appreciate them and keep them going until they're old and so on

 

[Caratacas]

@Boom

Lets keep the Amiga flag flying in South Yorkshire buddy

 

[Templar]

30 years? If you take care of her, she will accompany you forever.

 

[CrazyC]

I'm hoping I can keep an Amiga and a Spectrum going until i'm and old grandad. When my grandchildren come to visit, i'll be boring them showing them what computers were like "in the good old days!"

Eventually when they grow older, they'll learn to appreciate them and keep them going until they're old and so on

This is my plan too!

Sent from my HTC One X.

 

[Boom]

@Boom

Lets keep the Amiga flag flying in South Yorkshire buddy

haha! Absolutely! I'm originally from South Yorkshire but moved to Spain but up here now collecting Amiga stuff to take back. I've sent you a message on it anyway But I'm after mouse/joypads and PSU

 

[80sFREAK]

Q: How long our amigas be with us?
A: Forever
/thread

 

[AndyLandy]

Q: How long our amigas be with us?
A: Forever
/thread

Agreed. Time for thread closed?

 

[tlosm]

How long?

How long?

Umm interesting question...
MY c64 is with me from exactly 30 y and is full working.
The same is MY amiga 4000d 20 years ...
With a pup is fully usable right now with os 4.1 and owb you can browse the HTML 5 sites...incredible think a machine old like this can do slowly something modern.
With Amiga you can write,you can calculate,share on lan and can play something old but fun no halo4 ok but I play alien breed 3d ii
I think in future we will do te same... Write, calc, print and something incredible with an old machine

Mery Christmas my friends!

 

[jammarob]

Actually, the biggest enemy to most old Amigas (the ones that have survived the trash can up to this point) is the NiCAD battery.

Even if people keep their machines and tuck them away in storage, the clock battery slowly leaks and disintegrates, rendering the motherboard and surrounding components inoperable.

Unfortunately, hobbyist intervention is required to recognize the problem and repair it, and I doubt there are any original batteries that have not started to disintegrate.

God bless the CR2032!

 

[sputnik]

I guess in future a lot of emulation, FPGA will become the only way to enjoy certain machines. Just imagine how powerful and small the little RPi type boards will be in 10 years.

That said, I'm actually far more concerned about my vintage CRTs than the ICs themselves. Hoping that some future display tech can offer a convincing emulation for when they become really hard to obtain.

(I realise you were talking about Amiga, sorry!)