Ask Lemmy

I use a wheel almost everyday still

Stick, great for getting stuff out of holes

The wheel, rope, fire.

As physical tech:

• we have lever door handles at work and wheel and axle door knobs at home.

As digital tech:

• Comma Separated Values as a notation predates computers. Then CSV has been used as a computer file format at least since one of the Fortran variants added support in 1972.

• The implementation has changed as filesystems evolve but the basic directory/file model of data storage and the associated tools ls/dir, cd, rm/del have been around a while. ls has been known by that name since Multics in 1969, but can trace its lineage back to listfon CTSS in 1961.

Anything that predates copy/paste is doing alright.

Spoons, which predate forks, fire, and wheels by about two million years.

Fire is pretty great and I use it all the time.

Fire.

Sewing machines. I'm a professional cosplayer and sewing/embroidering is a big part of that. My newest machine is from 2008. After that, they started adding in all these different electronic features, that are garbage. The machines both break easily and are limited to the technology/software of that time. You want a machine that can sew through leather and silk with the same grace, get an older machine. If you want something newer, avoid electronics or anything with a touchscreen.

My Husqvarna Viking Emerald 118 is so strong that when sewing corsets, my needle commonly punches through the thick ZipTies, that I use for boning, like they were butter. It's a beast of a machine. If she ever breaks, I'm going to find a used one.

I often use the position of the sun to figure out what direction I'm going.

Lever. Suck on that wheel and fire people!

You need to specify whether you're taking about digital or analog technology, or some other limit on the question, because i think you're not looking for answers like "fire" or as another user replied "shoes".

I’m pretty sure I got a lever around here somewhere

God damn, none of you use toilets? Disgustan!

In computing? RS232 interfaces.

In general? Fire.

Email. Pretty much the first network-related utility.

Fire.

Bicycle

Agriculture

I eat bread, I drink beer too. Those technologies are both around 40k years old iirc. In terms of computing, probably a calendar, time, or a GBA depending on your definition of computing

I suppose SSH has been around for ages, I use that

Funny responses, but to get to what you're looking for: IRC.

Used it decades ago, and got back to it a few years ago. Surprisingly, most of the people I chat with are under 40, and it's close knit enough that:

• I play games with them
• Have met, and will meet others
• Hired someone via an IRC connection (who I am now in a channel with after we no longer work together)

I ude Emacs as my peferred text editor.

The headphone jack on the laptop is probably the oldest style computer tech I use.

The oldest physical objects I own and use daily are the iron skillets.

As far as overall, not just computer? I make sourdough bread, grow stuff in a garden. The sourdough uses electricity to cook so that part isn't old tech but the grabbing wild yeast from the air to rise it is ancient technology.

Wheel

For a computer, I recently learned there are mod kits for the game boy, so i installed a backlit screen on mine. I use rechargeable batteries with it.

IPv4? Email? Gas fireplace?

I guess if you want a real answer it's probably the terminal? I prefer terminal over GUI generally speaking.

I'd have to say the hair comb.

Inclined plane. Arguably older than fire. Used as a part of a pointy stick.

The wheel.

I use a typewriter occasionally at work.

Fire

I have a grandfather clock I inherited. It's about 100 years old.

I have a 10 megabit ethernet hub (not switch) that I still use in my homelab. It's just a super easy way to throttle devices and helpful for diagnosing network issues.

A pencil.

Knives.

A lot of medical labs still use analyzers and stuff from the '80s and only replace them when they die, so a lot of people getting healthcare might be using older tech than they think :)

Whilst I'm being cheeky, spoon and probably bowl technology remains relatively unchanged for a huge amount of time.

I guess the oldest thing I regularly use is my tractor from the '90s. I do often wish I hadn't accidentally killed my Amiga 500 as I'd likely still be gaming on that occasionally.

TCP maybe.

A Microsoft SideWinder wheel for Windows 98. Still works great on Windows 11, I use it to play Euro Truck Simulator 2.

RSS is the first app I would install on new devices if they didn't automatically migrate all my apps and data for me. That there are people who know about RSS and don't use it surprises me, somewhat.

GNU Emacs, from the 1980s

Yesterday I used an axe to chop firewood.