Scientists Fixing Hubble Contend With Antiquated Computers

People seem amused by the "antiquated" computers, but there are a lot of reasons to select a computer no bigger than needed for a job like that. Low power, cooler, big manufacturing process (rugged, maybe more resistant to gamma rays), lower errata count, simpler architectures are easier to validate, etc.

Often people scoff at not having 2gb of ram and 2ghz CPUs, but a little perspective is in order: probably every major protocol on the internet today (except the P2Ps, Bittorrent in particular) are largely unchanged since the 486 was a supported (if not current, mind you) CPU.

One thing I've not read but am quite curious about is what the failed CPU is. For all of the news about OMG 486 BACKUP, it would be interesting to know what the main one is.