this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
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My work runs some scientific instruments on Windows 3.1 and Windows 98 still. The equipment is from the 80s and cannot be upgraded. To buy a new one costs 5 million dollars. Ironically, when parts break on it now, it's super expensive to fix because of rarity of parts. Luckily the computers are not on the internet.
No problem with using ancient machines so long as they're properly air gapped. But, yeah... continuing maintenance is going to get increasingly difficult as time continues to pass.
What type of instruments?
Dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometers, or D-SIMS for short. It's an analytical tool to measure very low concentrations of elements in materials. We use it to help mining companies find gold that's wrapped up in various minerals like pyrite.
I feel like on the scale of mining industry you would benefit from just getting a new instrument to be honest. Also from what I've read SIMS is only surface sensitive, why don't you use something that analyzes the bulk? In my lab (mineral-adjacent chemistry) we use ICP-OES for elemental analysis and get sub-ppm easily.
Why can't you use a VM with a pci serial, etc?