Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Shame Boy
Mar 2, 2010

helno posted:

Going back to the nuclear chat.
That yellow pen looking thing is an old instant read dosimeter.

It is an evacuated glass tube that you apply a high voltage charge to as it gets hit by radiation the voltage drops. To read it you can look through it at a light and see a tiny needle that tells you the dose or more accurately by putting it back in the charging base and read out the voltage.

Pretty much every time someone retires at work we find those in desk drawers or lockers. They used to cost a shitload of money. They are incredibly obsolete as newer electronic EPD's have far better accuracy and can read low doses.

Working in the nuclear industry you see so much obsolete technology but I can't say I have run into much failed technology.

Here is one I would love to see go. Meet Snoopy the neutron radiation detector. It is huge and heavy and has been the standard since the 1940's. Typically used in areas were you don't want to spend alot of time lugging heavy poo poo around in.

http://www.fusor.net/board/view.php?bn=fusor_neutrons&key=1070060131



I've always wondered why neutron detectors are so goddamn huge, even pictures of supposedly modern ones I've seen have giant sphere things strapped to them. Is it just that neutrons are hard to detect so you need a big volume to get any sort of representative sample? Do they make smaller ones now that I just don't know about?

Shame Boy has a new favorite as of 02:14 on Nov 17, 2012

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

GWBBQ
Jan 2, 2005


Parallel Paraplegic posted:

I've always wondered why neutron detectors are so goddamn huge, even pictures of supposedly modern ones I've seen have giant sphere things strapped to them. Is it just that neutrons are hard to detect so you need a big volume to get any sort of representative sample? Do they make smaller ones now that I just don't know about?
The detector itself (Boron Trifluoride type) is small, but it's surrounded by attenuators and moderators that take up space. The diagrams start on page 20 of this document http://www.fusor.net/board/getfile.php?bn=fusor_files&att_id=832

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli

b0nes posted:

HitClips!! CD's are now obsolete!

I always thought this was the bastard grandchild of these.


Before VHS came about there was a market for Super 8 clips of scenes out of Star Wars.

Kind Milkman
Sep 3, 2011

Indeed.

WebDog posted:

I always thought this was the bastard grandchild of these.


Before VHS came about there was a market for Super 8 clips of scenes out of Star Wars.


I love that it only has the cantina and the Death Star explosion. If they made other scenes, I'd like to see a version of Star Wars compiled from them.

Ron Burgundy
Dec 24, 2005
This burrito is delicious, but it is filling.

Kind Milkman posted:

I love that it only has the cantina and the Death Star explosion. If they made other scenes, I'd like to see a version of Star Wars compiled from them.

I have hundreds of these. They are usually very professionally edited together 20 minute consdensed versions.

b0nes
Sep 11, 2001

Ron Burgundy posted:

I have hundreds of these. They are usually very professionally edited together 20 minute consdensed versions.

How could all of that film only be 20 minutes?

Magic Hate Ball
May 6, 2007

ha ha ha!
you've already paid for this
I think they're assuming you've seen the film already and just want to watch all the really cool poo poo over again.

Ron Burgundy
Dec 24, 2005
This burrito is delicious, but it is filling.

b0nes posted:

How could all of that film only be 20 minutes?

Super8 is 3 seconds per foot! The larger gauges (which I also collect) are even more ludicrous. Most 35mm features are about 10,000 feet long, just over 3 kilometres.

Mr. Bones
Jan 2, 2011

ain't no law says a skeleton can't play the blues

Have you ever wished that your mouse handled movement with a stiff rear end joystick instead of a ball? No? gently caress you, here's the Logitech Cyberman! I watched an interview with someone who used to do QA for Looking Glass, and he mentioned that they tested System Shock 1 with a combination of this mouse and a horrible mid-90s Victormaxx headset. He likened the experience to literal physical torture.

Geoj
May 28, 2008

BITTER POOR PERSON

Smoke posted:

However, I did come across this thing which I also recall using at one point:

You push the ball in the direction you want it to move, and the buttons are off on the side(With a left/right hand switch to select which side) Uses the same leaf switch/microswitch technology so it's pure digital, and the LEDs near the buttons light up when pushed.

On this token...



While not exactly obsolete or failed, trackballs definitely deserve an honorable mention in this thread - having moved from a fairly common computer peripheral in the late 80s/early 90s (almost on parity with the common mouse) to a highly niche-market item only really sought after by CAD junkies or people who got hooked on them when they were more common.

m2pt5
May 18, 2005

THAT GOD DAMN MOSQUITO JUST KEEPS COMING BACK

I had a trackball like this (it didn't have the small buttons, just left and right) and I quite liked it for everything but playing games. For simple movements that don't need to be fast it's fine, for most games (especially first person shooters) it's crap.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

Geoj posted:

On this token...



While not exactly obsolete or failed, trackballs definitely deserve an honorable mention in this thread - having moved from a fairly common computer peripheral in the late 80s/early 90s (almost on parity with the common mouse) to a highly niche-market item only really sought after by CAD junkies or people who got hooked on them when they were more common.

My high school bought these for every PC in the main lab (about 100 machines) for some idiotic reason. About 3 days later someone stole every single ball from them. Quite a good investment if you ask me.

JayKay
Sep 11, 2001

And you thought they were cute and cuddly.

I still use a Logitech trackball with my laptop if I'm on the couch or bed and don't have a decent mousing surface.

Edit: This one to be exact

0dB
Jan 3, 2009

Geoj posted:

only really sought after by CAD junkies or people who got hooked on them when they were more common.

Nuh uh. They are fantastic for live performance. You can scratch music and video with one of these and the ball's inertia adds a nice bit of lag that makes it more natural than a mouse. You can also spin the ball and then follow with a delicate movement very quickly. Trackballs take up no space and are really responsive the way turntables feel.

Pocket Billiards
Aug 29, 2007
.

Geoj posted:

On this token...



While not exactly obsolete or failed, trackballs definitely deserve an honorable mention in this thread - having moved from a fairly common computer peripheral in the late 80s/early 90s (almost on parity with the common mouse) to a highly niche-market item only really sought after by CAD junkies or people who got hooked on them when they were more common.

I work in 3D CAD. Solidworks, ProEngineer, etc. Trackballs, the crazy 3D controllers that suction cup to the desktop and all that are just gimmicks. The joke is that they're always the lucky door prize at software convention, launch events for new software releases, etc.

Fuckface the Hedgehog
Jun 12, 2007

Im a CAD/GIS guy that mainly works in 2D and I've always wanted to use a trackball. Mainly because I'm working at 1:1 scale in an area the size of a city block a hell of a lot. Having said that The old as hell Digitizers from back in the day are probably more obsolete than trackballs. I think the only upgrade they may have had since 1980 is replacing the serial connection with USB.

Shame Boy
Mar 2, 2010

Did any of you ever use a light pen?



We had one at my school that was horribly inaccurate, though it was probably uncalibrated all to hell.

Count Chocula
Dec 25, 2011

WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUR ENVIRONMENT
IF YOU SEE ME POSTING OUTSIDE OF THE AUSPOL THREAD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'M MISSED AND TO START POSTING AGAIN
You want obsolete? I watch TV using a rabbit ear antenna connected to a digital set top box. I constantly need to adjust them to get a clear signal, and a few channels don't come in some days. I live alone and don't want to pay for cable, but barely any Australians have cable anyway. Everyone still watches network TV, and if you have digital you get something like 14 channels. Some of them were added in the last year! I think the whole country is switching over to digital soon. Talk about culture shock! I thought stories about only having 4 channels were made up to scare kids.

Instead of using clothes dryers most people hang clothes on 'hills hoists', spinning clothes hangers Aussies are very proud of inventing.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Geoj posted:

On this token...



While not exactly obsolete or failed, trackballs definitely deserve an honorable mention in this thread - having moved from a fairly common computer peripheral in the late 80s/early 90s (almost on parity with the common mouse) to a highly niche-market item only really sought after by CAD junkies or people who got hooked on them when they were more common.

Trackballs are apparently really good for people with arthritis, because you can use them without gripping or flexing. I believe they also used to be recommended for people with carpal damage until the vertical mouse was introduced.

Smoke
Mar 12, 2005

I am NOT a red Bumblebee for god's sake!

Parallel Paraplegic posted:

Did any of you ever use a light pen?



We had one at my school that was horribly inaccurate, though it was probably uncalibrated all to hell.

I was an intern at a power plant for 3 months back in 2002/2003. They used light pens as one of the input methods on the power plant control system. They were reasonably accurate but considering the system they used was an 80 column/40 row 16-color system there was no real risk of misclicking.

Their entire system was glorious obsolete technology though: They had been running it for 10 years(Ever since the plant started) and when they purchased it it had been available for 10 years(Which means it's reliable!) Screens were all hefty 20" CRTs using RGB BNC connectors with lots of burn-in along with power supplies failing due to dying capacitors(I repaired quite a few of those) The original supplier no longer had parts, so they had a small batch of replacement parts and datasheets, and quite a few of the cards in the system had a nice little "Y2K Compliant" sticker on them.

To top that off, the control/edit/management software ran on 486 machines. They couldn't use anything faster because Pentiums caused it to randomly crash. Backups were done to MO disk, as well as to 3.5" 1.44MB disks(170something diskss for the entire system). The disk backups were the best part: Every week a manual backup was made, and the system informed you which disks it needed for the backup(Only changes were backed up) Along with that, every year they made a new full backup which took almost a week of regular disk swapping and sticking new labels on the disks.

When it ran, it was rock solid though. And they were excited for the new version that would have more colors and animations, scheduled to arrive when there was room in the budget.

Ron Burgundy
Dec 24, 2005
This burrito is delicious, but it is filling.

Count Chocula posted:

Instead of using clothes dryers most people hang clothes on 'hills hoists', spinning clothes hangers Aussies are very proud of inventing.

Oy! Nothing will dry your clothes like a Hills Hoist. They go a level beyond dry.

Fozaldo
Apr 18, 2004

Serenity Now. Serenity Now.
:respek::respek::respek::respek::respek:

JayKay posted:

I still use a Logitech trackball with my laptop if I'm on the couch or bed and don't have a decent mousing surface.

Edit: This one to be exact



I use this at work. I'm not a CAD person but nothing else will do. gently caress pushing a mouse around all day.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

Parallel Paraplegic posted:

Did any of you ever use a light pen?



We had one at my school that was horribly inaccurate, though it was probably uncalibrated all to hell.

Light pens do not require calibration.

Fo3
Feb 14, 2004

RAAAAARGH!!!! GIFT CARDS ARE FUCKING RETARDED!!!!

(I need a hug)

Count Chocula posted:

You want obsolete? I watch TV using a rabbit ear antenna connected to a digital set top box. I constantly need to adjust them to get a clear signal, and a few channels don't come in some days.
My bedroom doesn't have a coax wall socket leading to an external antenna, so I use a powered indoor antenna* to receive digital TV broadcasts. Works fine, better picture than what an indoor antenna could achieve with the analogue signal.

*amplified "realistic" brand that I must have bought from Dick Smith or Tandy or something in 1999.
It looks nothing like what modern indoor powered antennas look like these days, they seem to have hoops, plates and dish type shapes to them.

My old powered indoor antenna looks like this:

Fo3 has a new favorite as of 13:23 on Nov 18, 2012

Jasper Tin Neck
Nov 14, 2008


"Scientifically proven, rich and creamy."

Count Chocula posted:

Instead of using clothes dryers most people hang clothes on 'hills hoists', spinning clothes hangers Aussies are very proud of inventing.

Most countries dry clothes outside. The US doesn't because many home owners associations have rules against it on the grounds that it makes neighbourhoods look poor.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

Jasper Tin Neck posted:

Most countries dry clothes outside. The US doesn't because many home owners associations have rules against it on the grounds that it makes neighbourhoods look poor.

No, we do it because we have natural gas infrastructure in most places, and plenty of room for a full size washer and a dryer. It also is much less work and takes about 1/10 the time of air drying.

I posit that the vast majority of housing in the US is not subject to HOA rules and still most people will use dryers rather than the air.

tacodaemon
Nov 27, 2006



I keep hoping urban hipsters will bring back those pulley-style clotheslines that were once such a symbol of city life that they made it onto this NYC postcard from 1904 (and countless Warner Bros. cartoons). I'm sure they had tons of these in Williamsburg then.

madlilnerd
Jan 4, 2009

a bush with baggage
I never understood that. If you live somewhere sunny and you're not right next to the freeway or a dusty desert or a rendering plant, it makes way more sense to dry your clothes outside. They feel fresher, it's free, it's better for the environment because you're not wasting electricity, and I think it makes your clothes last longer (although they can get sun faded).

tacodaemon posted:

I keep hoping urban hipsters will bring back those pulley-style clotheslines that were once such a symbol of city life that they made it onto this NYC postcard from 1904 (and countless Warner Bros. cartoons). I'm sure they had tons of these in Williamsburg then.



No joke I used to live in a tiny room in a flat that had no space to dry clothes or a tumble dryer and I had lines like that rigged up across my room.

Wish I could find a photo, but I can't right now.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

madlilnerd posted:

I never understood that. If you live somewhere sunny and you're not right next to the freeway or a dusty desert or a rendering plant, it makes way more sense to dry your clothes outside. They feel fresher, it's free, it's better for the environment because you're not wasting electricity, and I think it makes your clothes last longer (although they can get sun faded).

Air dried clothes always feel stiff and scratchy to me. I currently air dry, but I much prefer having a dryer.

d3c0y2
Sep 29, 2009

DNova posted:

No, we do it because we have natural gas infrastructure in most places, and plenty of room for a full size washer and a dryer. It also is much less work and takes about 1/10 the time of air drying.

I posit that the vast majority of housing in the US is not subject to HOA rules and still most people will use dryers rather than the air.

You're aware that nearly every western nation has gas infrastructure, room for dryers and you still see a lot of hanging clothes out to dry.

Before I came away to University i'd never even used a dryer, back at the family home we always hung the clothes out in the back garden most days, or on the radiators if it was poo poo outside.

madlilnerd
Jan 4, 2009

a bush with baggage

DNova posted:

Air dried clothes always feel stiff and scratchy to me.

When you're in fuel poverty and can't afford to heat your flat, getting out of the shower and drying off with a piece of sandpaper that may have once been a towel helps warm you up!

I'll admit don't like air drying in my current flat because it's cold and damp and everything takes forever, but I find it peaceful to be in my parents' garden on a summer day hanging out clothes and listening to the birds. Slipping into a bed freshly made with garden dried clothes is heavenly.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

d3c0y2 posted:

You're aware that nearly every western nation has gas infrastructure, room for dryers and you still see a lot of hanging clothes out to dry.

Before I came away to University i'd never even used a dryer, back at the family home we always hung the clothes out in the back garden most days, or on the radiators if it was poo poo outside.

Western Europe? I don't have any stats handy but there's a reason everyone has those awful solid range burners instead of gas.

I've spent a fair amount of time in a fair amount of countries, mostly in Europe, and gas infrastructure is almost non-existent. I could be wrong about the average, but I can't find any simple stats or maps in a cursory google search.

edit: It's pretty obvious if you spent 100% of your early life air drying that you would prefer it, as is the opposite case for me.

sleepy gary has a new favorite as of 14:23 on Nov 18, 2012

d3c0y2
Sep 29, 2009

DNova posted:

Western Europe? I don't have any stats handy but there's a reason everyone has those awful solid range burners instead of gas.

I've spent a fair amount of time in a fair amount of countries, mostly in Europe, and gas infrastructure is almost non-existent. I could be wrong about the average, but I can't find any simple stats or maps in a cursory google search.

edit: It's pretty obvious if you spent 100% of your early life air drying that you would prefer it, as is the opposite case for me.

Actually I prefer the dryer, it keeps everything lovely and warm and my fabric softener fragrence stays on my clothes and sheets stronger than if they've been drying naturally outside.

I cant speak for the rest of Europe, but I've only ever lived in one place that didn't have gas, and that was student dorms a few years ago. Ofcourse this is totally anecdotal, but i'd be surprised if Britains gas statistics where particularly low.

Pocket Billiards
Aug 29, 2007
.
Maybe I'm daft, I didn't grow up in a place with natural gas supply, but I am living in one now. What the hell does 'natural gas infrastructure' have to do with drying your clothes? The gas only seems to be used for stoves, oven and hot water systems.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

Pocket Billiards posted:

Maybe I'm daft, I didn't grow up in a place with natural gas supply, but I am living in one now. What the hell does 'natural gas infrastructure' have to do with drying your clothes? The gas only seems to be used for stoves, oven and hot water systems.

Because natural gas is a far cheaper source of heat energy to dry clothes. In the US, in places where natural gas is available (almost eveywhere), nobody in their right mind would choose an electric dryer.

The unpopularity of gas (my claim) in Europe leads to the almost complete lack of availability of gas dryers, which is why you can't comprehend that gas can be used for more than heating water and food.

For what it's worth, I looked at an apartment recently that was in a rare spot of the city (central europe) that has natural gas lines. Even there, they had electric dryers in the community laundry room.

sleepy gary has a new favorite as of 15:23 on Nov 18, 2012

Pocket Billiards
Aug 29, 2007
.
So gas powered clothes dryers?

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

DNova posted:

Because natural gas is a far cheaper source of heat energy to dry clothes. In the US, in places where natural gas is available (almost eveywhere), nobody in their right mind would choose an electric dryer.

Last time I had a dryer, it was electric. When they deregulated natural gas in Georgia, the prices went through the loving roof.

You Are A Werewolf
Apr 26, 2010

Black Gold!

Geoj posted:

On this token...



While not exactly obsolete or failed, trackballs definitely deserve an honorable mention in this thread - having moved from a fairly common computer peripheral in the late 80s/early 90s (almost on parity with the common mouse) to a highly niche-market item only really sought after by CAD junkies or people who got hooked on them when they were more common.

I'm using this same exact trackball right now to scroll down and mouse around on this very page. I never thought about them back when, I don't play games or work extensively in CAD, but I do work in Photoshop and Illustrator beautifully with this thing, and I only recently bought it at Goodwill about two years ago on a whim after my wrist was getting arthritic. My wrist has never felt better.

re: gas dryers. Gas dryers seem to have been a thing for a lot of older homes here (I'm thinking 1940s to the 1960s), but 1970s and up homes seem to use electric dryers exclusively. My folks' home that was built in 1973 has always had an electric dryer, even though the rest of the house uses natural gas. Gas water heater, gas house heater, and gas stove. What's weird about the house is behind the stove, there's a 240 volt hookup so you can have the option of an electric or gas stove, but there is only a hookup for an electric dryer in the washroom and no capped gas valve. Dumb.

TShields
Mar 30, 2007

We can rule them like gods! ...Angry gods.

Pocket Billiards posted:

I work in 3D CAD. Solidworks, ProEngineer, etc. Trackballs, the crazy 3D controllers that suction cup to the desktop and all that are just gimmicks. The joke is that they're always the lucky door prize at software convention, launch events for new software releases, etc.

Ugh, yeah, gently caress using a trackball in AutoCAD. I can see how it would work if you got REALLY good with it, but I'll take a nice high DPI mouse any day.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Kwyndig
Sep 23, 2006

Heeeeeey


TShields posted:

Ugh, yeah, gently caress using a trackball in AutoCAD. I can see how it would work if you got REALLY good with it, but I'll take a nice high DPI mouse any day.

Yeah since trackballs are basically similar designs to the old ball mouse (which has been completely supplanted by the optical except in places where people haven't bought a computer mouse in ten years) except a little more accurate, I can see trackballs used to be popular for stuff like AutoCAD. But now there's no reason not to use a high DPI optical.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply