I have a radio from the late 30s, though not in working condition. And a radio from 1961 that I use regularly
atari vcs (from before it was rebranded to atari 2600)
oldest electronic
Electronic WHAT!?! Choose a noun, son.
1950s oscilloscope
So many old computers & calculators here.
I have an Apple IIe, but at the moment it’s at my friend’s place. What I have with me are a bunch of Thinkpads: a barely working X60, a fine X200 with busted battery, and a combination of 20 and 30 series ones I am currently using.
May I insert some additions of analog here?
I got a Rotel RA-04 audio amp from 2006 from my dad that I am currently using, and I’m sure there are older stuff where it’s from.
Aside from that, a Yaesu FT-60 FM transceiver made in 2004 still running strong.
My husband has a collection of obsolete technology. The oldest thing he’s got in there is a VT100 terminal.
I believe it’s my Atari 2600! I can’t think of anything older that I’ve got that runs on electric juice.
Game Boy Advance with a Pokemon Sapphire cartridge that I don’t think has been removed in over a decade. Every time I turn it on I always wonder how I spent so many hours staring at a screen with no backlight.
I have a bunch of mid-century Roberts radios that I’ve convert to smart speakers (using the original speakers and, where possible, the amplifiers) if that counts.
Either my TI-99/4A, or if it still works, the IBM 7072 that I got from NYIT for $200 in 2000.
One of the Play it Loud Game Boys (the red one), it’s as old as I am
My original gameboy colour
1962 fender brownface pro-amp
I have a battery operated tube radio from mid to late 1940’s. It even works, but the battery it uses is getting rare and quite expensive. And my country doesn’t really use AM radio broadcasts anymore, so it’s more of a curiosity nowadays.
I also have a lot of working stuff from the 1950’s, mostly radios and amplifiers. Great gear, and much easier to service than their modern counterparts.
I still have my original Pikachu gameboy color, and it works. Somehow the battery on my Pokemon Red hasn’t died but there’s nothing useful on it.
Not electronic, but I have a pre-WW2 era windup clock that still works. It’s loud af and built like a tank
The first generation Pokemon games all used significantly less power to maintain their RAM battery saves than Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal by virtue of not having a real time clock constantly ticking the power away. RBY saves only needed to maintain the power for the save itself and did no additional work on top of that.
Original GSC cartridges would last about 10-15 years, whereas RBY could last 20-30 years. We’re currently in the span of time where many RBY cartridge batteries will be failing but it’s still possible to find ones with functional original saves on batteries just barely holding on.
Many people like to try using physically larger batteries when doing replacements, but most of them don’t realize the batte ries aren’t losing charge at the end of those many years because they’re drained and out of power. RBY saves use so little power from the battery in the cartridge that they won’t fully drain it after 30 ish years. Instead the battery saves fail because the batteries themselves fail after 20-30 years. Picking the larger button cell batteries won’t help since they’ll still have the same total lifespan and will still lose charge at almost the same rate as the spare batteries that weren’t installed in your cart ridge of choice.
