This Ancient Laptop Is The Only Key To The Most Valuable Supercars On The Planet

[FlyingPenguin]

http://jalopnik.com/this-ancient-laptop ... 1773662267

This is a Compaq LTE 5280 laptop from the early 1990s, running a bespoke CA card. In 2016, McLaren Automotive—one of the most high-tech car and technology companies on the planet—still uses it and its DOS-based software to service the remaining hundred McLaren F1s out there, each valued at $10 million or more.

[normalicy]

I hope that companies start to learn not to base their stuff too heavily off hardware eventually.

[FlyingPenguin]

My Dentist ran into this issue. The first gen XRay sensors were PCMCIA based. My dentist had to nurse along a bunch of old PCs with PCMCIA card slots that only supported XP for a while until they upgraded to USB based sensors. Keep in mind these sensors cost $5K a piece so it's not a cheap upgrade.

[Err]

My Dentist ran into this issue. The first gen XRay sensors were PCMCIA based. My dentist had to nurse along a bunch of old PCs with PCMCIA card slots that only supported XP for a while until they upgraded to USB based sensors. Keep in mind these sensors cost $5K a piece so it's not a cheap upgrade.

It would be well for Microsoft to subsidize upgrades for the medical communities. I know it's not the bulk of their business but it would give them a better public image.

Before OBD II, I believe most car manufactures had their own specialized equipment for diagnosing cars. Cars have come a long way. Now with a 30 Bluetooth adapter and $5 Torque software, you can figure out the majority of problems yourself.

[Losbot]

That's what happens when you build shit correctly and it runs for decades. The downside to it is that they're dependent on that old tech. Hope they can update it.