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Suzuran
Sep 14, 2012
I picked up this a little while ago and got it working in about two hours.


This is not a ham radio or other specialist set. This was a standard (albeit high-end) communications receiver in its day.

I also have a bunch of old computer stuff. Most of it is stored such that it'd be a pain to get pictures of. At one point a friend and I were going to open a computer museum, but drama happened. I still have some of what would have been exhibits. I have a couple examples of the PDP-11 and a PDP-10.

Here's a "new" paper tape reader/punch. It was meant to use either paper or mylar tapes.


I have a PDP-11 software development kit in paper-tape form. It's 4 boxes of tapes.


The tapes are still readable. The reader uses a serial interface, so with a USB-to-serial converter you can read them. Here's one of them copied to my desktop PC.


I'll have to dig around and see what else I have pictures of.

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Inspector_666
Oct 7, 2003

benny with the good hair

WebDog posted:

Way off

NEVER - An interactive TV in every home
Despite throwing about concepts of set-top boxes in 1996 they were adamant that we'd still see the TV as our entertainment device and the computer as the information one. The article does mention at the time Apple looking into TV technology - as evidenced by the 20th Anniversary Macintosh having a TV tuner in 1997. Despite every concept thrown around actually being correct, the idea was still seen as alien.

I dunno, I think this is pretty true now. I mean, WebTV died but look at the features on set-top boxes now. Sure, I can't browse the forums on my TV, but why would I?

mystes
May 31, 2006

Inspector_71 posted:

I dunno, I think this is pretty true now. I mean, WebTV died but look at the features on set-top boxes now. Sure, I can't browse the forums on my TV, but why would I?
I think "never" may have been the year that Wired predicted, not WebDog's analysis, so WebDog is actually saying that we do now have interactive TV and Wired was wrong to dismiss the idea. (If I'm interpreting your post correct? I think you're saying that WebDog is wrong because we do have interactive TV but I'm not 100% sure.)

mystes has a new favorite as of 17:20 on Dec 21, 2012

Lowen SoDium
Jun 5, 2003

Highen Fiber
Clapping Larry

Inspector_71 posted:

I dunno, I think this is pretty true now. I mean, WebTV died but look at the features on set-top boxes now. Sure, I can't browse the forums on my TV, but why would I?

Smart TVs are becoming more and more the standard, many of them even having decent HTML 5 web browsers.

Consider that most HDTV's already have some sort of embedded CPU and firmware for image processing, TV manufacturer are more and more likely to include Apps as a "me too" feature since it most of the hardware needed to do it is already there.

Code Jockey
Jan 24, 2006

69420 basic bytes free

Suzuran posted:


The tapes are still readable. The reader uses a serial interface, so with a USB-to-serial converter you can read them. Here's one of them copied to my desktop PC.


That is so cool. :stare: I love that you can get that working on a modern PC.

Jibo
May 22, 2007

Bear Witness
College Slice

Inspector_71 posted:

I dunno, I think this is pretty true now. I mean, WebTV died but look at the features on set-top boxes now. Sure, I can't browse the forums on my TV, but why would I?

This makes me think of the time a couple of years ago where manufacturers were making a big hoopla about apps for your TV for Twitter and Facebook and poo poo. You don't really see that as an advertised feature any more, probably because it's kind of dumb.

Leon Einstein
Feb 6, 2012
I must win every thread in GBS. I don't care how much banal semantic quibbling and shitty posts it takes.

Jibo posted:

This makes me think of the time a couple of years ago where manufacturers were making a big hoopla about apps for your TV for Twitter and Facebook and poo poo. You don't really see that as an advertised feature any more, probably because it's kind of dumb.
They're still there. SmartTVs are pretty cool.

Farbtoner
May 17, 2011

by Y Kant Ozma Post
I can never take Wired seriously because my first introduction to them was a bunch of decade-old copies that my library was giving away. It's really easy to see through their starry-eyed futurism when you've seen how totally off-base they were about how today would be.

Jibo
May 22, 2007

Bear Witness
College Slice

Farbtoner posted:

I can never take Wired seriously because my first introduction to them was a bunch of decade-old copies that my library was giving away. It's really easy to see through their starry-eyed futurism when you've seen how totally off-base they were about how today would be.

Wired is really hit or miss even today. Some times they get interesting stuff but it seems like most the time they get really sloppy and sensationalist.

Anyway, this reminded me of when we mentioned the Wired article about passwords becoming "obsolete" and that a couple weeks ago the article was the topic of an episode of the Diane Rehm show, which was pretty good and it was kind of cool for them to have Kevin Mitnick as one of the contributors. You can check it out here.

SLOSifl
Aug 10, 2002


Jibo posted:

This makes me think of the time a couple of years ago where manufacturers were making a big hoopla about apps for your TV for Twitter and Facebook and poo poo. You don't really see that as an advertised feature any more, probably because it's kind of dumb.
I load up Pandora on my TV all the time, and quick Youtube/Netflix access is handy too.

Jibo
May 22, 2007

Bear Witness
College Slice

SLOSifl posted:

I load up Pandora on my TV all the time, and quick Youtube/Netflix access is handy too.

Pandora and Netflix are pretty different from Twitter and Facebook. My post was about how companies were using Facebook access as a selling point for televisions.

SimplyCosmic
May 18, 2004

It could be worse.

Not sure how, but it could be.
Obsolete magazines? How about OMNI? :(

SLOSifl
Aug 10, 2002


Jibo posted:

Pandora and Netflix are pretty different from Twitter and Facebook. My post was about how companies were using Facebook access as a selling point for televisions.
I agree then. I thought you were talking about TV apps in general. I don't really use Facebook or Twitter though, but it's possible it serves a purpose in that context too (browsing a Facebook album with friends/family, etc).

SLOSifl has a new favorite as of 23:13 on Dec 21, 2012

b0nes
Sep 11, 2001

WebDog posted:

Access Software's RealSound? Which basically used highly compressed 6-bit audio squeezed through a PCM speaker.
Some examples here.
http://www.oldskool.org/sound/pc/#digitized

Under a Killing Moon blew me away in 1994 due to it's (then) photo realistic looking graphics and 360 degree movement around a game world.
Doom's 3D was raycasted where UAKM used texture mapped polygons.

Access Software were pretty sharp with pulling off all sorts of technical achievements such as video playback thanks to some pretty insane decompression. They also were one of the first to use DVD-Roms in 1998 when barely anyone owned one.

Yes Realsound was the company. I thought they were the first but apparently I am wrong. I didn't know the aaaauuuaauaugh from beach Head II was sampled, I thought it was synthesis.

b0nes
Sep 11, 2001

Jibo posted:

This makes me think of the time a couple of years ago where manufacturers were making a big hoopla about apps for your TV for Twitter and Facebook and poo poo. You don't really see that as an advertised feature any more, probably because it's kind of dumb.

Pretty much every TBV I see at Costco ro Best Buy has built in apps. And i think they are pretty cool. My next TV will have built in WiFi, Pandora, Netflix and whatever. Beats having to connect poo poo to your TV. My friend uses Pandora on his TV all the time, they just leave the TV on at night and listen to it.

b0nes
Sep 11, 2001
Aren't dedicated GPS units pretty much dead now if you own any kind of smartphone? I remember when they were expensive, now if you have one and it breaks it costs as much to fix it as it costs to buy a new one. I use Google Maps, Waze, and for when I don't have a data connection and CoPilot Live for its offline maps. Only people I really see using them are long haul truckers and soon they will be replaced. Eve Garmin isn't doing so good now I hear.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

b0nes posted:

Aren't dedicated GPS units pretty much dead now if you own any kind of smartphone?

Not completely, as they come with maps stored. You can get a TomTom XL with maps for all of Europe for 47. Copilot for the British Isles alone is 15, so if you're going abroad often it's still worth having the dedicated unit.

BoutrosBoutros
Dec 6, 2010
There are plenty of people who still don't own smartphones too.

BogDew
Jun 14, 2006

E:\FILES>quickfli clown.fli

mystes posted:

I think "never" may have been the year that Wired predicted.
Yeah each year was Wired's prediction and I was sort of matching up how close they'd come. I was surprised how generally accurate some it was, such as Ebooks and the death of CD roms.

They basically stated that the "interactive TV" wasn't going to really happen while listing off all of the things that were to come. They were adamant we'd still have the TV as our entertainment device while on the other hand speculating that if we could overcome technological hurdles we could have on-demand content over the internet as all of the groundwork existed in 1996.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

BoutrosBoutros posted:

There are plenty of people who still don't own smartphones too.

Also, most phones use "Assisted" GPS which means that they have weaker GPS receiver chips/antennas but make up for that with extra data from the cell network (like the atomic-clock-accurate current time and the nearest tower's precise location). This doesn't matter if you're in an area with a cellular signal, but if you go outside that area the "assisted" part of the GPS reception stops working and it will take your phone much longer to figure out where it is than a dedicated unit would require (up to 13 minutes).

Jibo
May 22, 2007

Bear Witness
College Slice

Mr.Radar posted:

Also, most phones use "Assisted" GPS which means that they have weaker GPS receiver chips/antennas but make up for that with extra data from the cell network (like the atomic-clock-accurate current time and the nearest tower's precise location). This doesn't matter if you're in an area with a cellular signal, but if you go outside that area the "assisted" part of the GPS reception stops working and it will take your phone much longer to figure out where it is than a dedicated unit would require (up to 13 minutes).

I don't know if it's from a lack of a signal or what but when I'm in Chicago my phone's GPS takes a poo poo any time I'm driving around under or around the L. I do a lot of traveling and I have definitely had more luck using a dedicated GPS but you can get by well enough with a smart phone so I don't even bother any more.

bongwizzard
May 19, 2005

Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"
Grimey Drawer

Jibo posted:

I don't know if it's from a lack of a signal or what but when I'm in Chicago my phone's GPS takes a poo poo any time I'm driving around under or around the L. I do a lot of traveling and I have definitely had more luck using a dedicated GPS but you can get by well enough with a smart phone so I don't even bother any more.

I was in Chicago last month and my phone was constantly trying to tell me I was a block or two away from my actual location. It is the only city in the USi have ever noticed that happening in.

Farbtoner
May 17, 2011

by Y Kant Ozma Post
I just got a TomTom GPS a few months ago for work because I don't have/can't afford a smartphone and an unlimited data plan, and it's fantastic compared to how my friend's smartphone GPS is: it takes me a few seconds tops for the satellite to sync up while he has to spend minutes, my unit lasts a lot longer on one charge than a smartphone, I'm not dependent on cell signal or anything. I just type in an address (or search for one), it pops up, and I'm on my way.

If I already had a smartphone I don't think that I would buy a GPS seperate, but for someone without a smartphone it's pretty useful.

Pilsner
Nov 23, 2002

b0nes posted:

Aren't dedicated GPS units pretty much dead now if you own any kind of smartphone? I remember when they were expensive, now if you have one and it breaks it costs as much to fix it as it costs to buy a new one. I use Google Maps, Waze, and for when I don't have a data connection and CoPilot Live for its offline maps. Only people I really see using them are long haul truckers and soon they will be replaced. Eve Garmin isn't doing so good now I hear.
It might work fine in the US, but imagine travelling around Europe, from country to country... the bill for the data transfer would be insane. You get totally raped on data in foreign countries even if they're in the EU.

I also believe dedicated units are much faster to start up, find the path and better to operate in general.

Arrath
Apr 14, 2011


bunnielab posted:

I was in Chicago last month and my phone was constantly trying to tell me I was a block or two away from my actual location. It is the only city in the USi have ever noticed that happening in.

This happened to me in downtown Seattle. I just figured it had something to do with buildings blocking out the sky.

Back it up Terry
Nov 20, 2006

Someone post the fridge with the touchscreen that can get on Facebook and twitter.

The Taint Reaper
Sep 4, 2012

by Shine
Here's an entire TV series made in the 1980's about life after the year 2000, it was called "Beyond 2000".

This episode covers(now outdated) Mototrcyles and the birth of what would be called the Veggieburger.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLdiF1zZnE
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCGmxk3H44g
Part3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ic0JAH8rco

Sagebrush
Feb 26, 2012

Mr.Radar posted:

Also, most phones use "Assisted" GPS which means that they have weaker GPS receiver chips/antennas but make up for that with extra data from the cell network (like the atomic-clock-accurate current time and the nearest tower's precise location). This doesn't matter if you're in an area with a cellular signal, but if you go outside that area the "assisted" part of the GPS reception stops working and it will take your phone much longer to figure out where it is than a dedicated unit would require (up to 13 minutes).

This isn't quite right. Cell phone GPS chips aren't any "weaker" than those in other receivers. There isn't even a "weaker" or "stronger" that makes sense, really -- it's a digital signal. Either you receive enough data that it works perfectly, or you get nothing usable. Without getting into too much detail, the first time you try to get a GPS fix your receiver (or phone) needs to know where the satellites currently are, so that it can triangulate your location. It does this by downloading orbital data directly from the satellites it can see. This data is coming from outer space over a narrow channel, so it takes a very long time to receive -- 12.5 minutes for the full message. All receivers without A-GPS take the same amount of time to get a fix because they need to download the almanac (as it's called) from the same source.

Basically, all that A-GPS does is send this data to you over your data connection instead of the GPS stream. The almanac is quite small, and can arrive in seconds over a 3G/4G data link -- and once your phone has it, it can compute a fix in seconds. A-GPS also allows your phone to receive corrections for things like ionospheric conditions (space weather), which might otherwise distort the signal and decrease accuracy; and it can allow your phone to combine data from multiple sources, such as known wi-fi networks and their relative signal strength at different positions, to increase accuracy even more.

Don't confuse this with the fake "GPS" that the wifi iPads and early iPhones have -- they don't actually have a GPS chip at all, and instead try to triangulate your location from the nearest wifi networks in Apple's database. The only reason this works is because all iPhones will occasionally send Apple their geographic location and a list of all the network SSIDs they can see (starbucks, AT&T, your personal network, etc), and their relative signal strengths. Wifi iPads then access this database, compare it to the networks they can see at that time, and try to estimate roughly where they are. Fascinating, huh?

Samswing
Jan 8, 2009

:dukedog:

SimplyCosmic posted:

Obsolete magazines? How about OMNI? :(

Funny that OMNI came up. I was acquainted with one of the former writers of that magazine until she died tragically.

My girlfriends mother was related to Kathleen Stein somehow, and being the closest family to her she was around quite a bit during the holidays and on weekends. I don't know much about what she wrote in OMNI but I did read her book Genius Engine and understood that she was deeply invested in neuroscience research for most of her adult career.

She was a odd duck though, one time I spoke (and drank) with her before she died she was really excited to be writing a book about how storage units encourage the hoarding behavior.

Kind of off topic but I was excited to see OMNI pop up.

b0nes
Sep 11, 2001
I used to stay up on Saturday night just to watch Beyond 2000. I also had a subscription to Omni magazine.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Farbtoner posted:

my unit lasts a lot longer on one charge than a smartphone

You mean there's someone who uses their phone for GPS without having it drawing power from the lighter socket?

Sargs
Aug 15, 2001

Poyekhali!

Jedit posted:

You mean there's someone who uses their phone for GPS without having it drawing power from the lighter socket?

Yes, about half the bloody customer base of my employer's mobile tracking and lone worker protection product (we started out doing vehicle tracking with dedicated units and offered mobile as a sideline). We have this weird thing where some of the older platforms like Symbian and BlackBerry will outperform the newer ones in terms of battery life. Android was painful to develop and we have to do lots of clever things like switching off GPS when the local wifi ids aren't changing just to get the battery life to something acceptable. On BlackBerry or old Nokia smartphones, you could bang away with GPS all the time and still get eight hours out of the battery, easy.

Just as well; like I said, customers seem to have religious objections to lighter socket chargers and cradles.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Sargs posted:

Yes, about half the bloody customer base of my employer's mobile tracking and lone worker protection product (we started out doing vehicle tracking with dedicated units and offered mobile as a sideline). We have this weird thing where some of the older platforms like Symbian and BlackBerry will outperform the newer ones in terms of battery life. Android was painful to develop and we have to do lots of clever things like switching off GPS when the local wifi ids aren't changing just to get the battery life to something acceptable. On BlackBerry or old Nokia smartphones, you could bang away with GPS all the time and still get eight hours out of the battery, easy.

Just as well; like I said, customers seem to have religious objections to lighter socket chargers and cradles.

Thinking about it, I expect a lot of them will be using the lighter socket for the lighter. Not something I think of, as nobody in my family smokes and nicotine gives me violent migraines so when I drive with a smoker they usually forbear for my sake.

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Jedit posted:

Thinking about it, I expect a lot of them will be using the lighter socket for the lighter. Not something I think of, as nobody in my family smokes and nicotine gives me violent migraines so when I drive with a smoker they usually forbear for my sake.
The latest car I've used doesn't even have the lighter part, and labels the socket as being for power.

UnfortunateSexFart
May 18, 2008

𒃻 𒌓𒁉𒋫 𒆷𒁀𒅅𒆷
𒆠𒂖 𒌉 𒌫 𒁮𒈠𒈾𒅗 𒂉 𒉡𒌒𒂉𒊑


Zereth posted:

The latest car I've used doesn't even have the lighter part, and labels the socket as being for power.

Same with my 2011 Mazda 2. Complete with an aux port right beside it for audio.

GPS technology still amazes me. I drove to a part of town that I get lost in every time with my Samsung GS3 navigation yesterday and it was pinpoint accurate the entire trip. Even helped me cross a bridge I didn't even know existed to save five minutes.

Just wish I could use my data plan in the US without racking up four figure bills. I don't usually need it anywhere I can drive in Canada.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer

b0nes posted:

I used to stay up on Saturday night just to watch Beyond 2000. I also had a subscription to Omni magazine.

I had a big crush on Solodad O'Brian at the time.

Ninja Toast!
Apr 22, 2009
I have an iPhone 4 and a new garmin with traffic, the garmin blows phone GPS out of the water, and the traffic thing is easily the coolest part. Oh, hey, looks like there's an accident 5 minutes up the road, lets swing around this way and save you 10 minutes. Thanks, computer bro! Plus it will actually last a whole trip on battery if you want it to for whatever reason.


Only thing that works better on the phones occasionally is finding addresses in a few awkward rural areas. That depends on what app you're using of course.

I do use the phone one still when on foot and looking for something, but that's mostly because I have it already.

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light
Here's an oldie, but a not-goodie: Polaroid's Polavision instant movie system.



It created instant movies. Great, huh? Oh, wait. The movies only lasted 2.5 minutes. And were silent. And required a special player.

Here's a commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLXfhMI7B5Q

And a sample movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2pclBwpeBs

This came out at about the same time as VHS/Beta video cameras. While those cameras were bulky and expensive, they did offer sound and a substantially longer recording time. Not to mention the tapes could be re-used.

Nice try Polaroid.

Laserjet 4P
Mar 28, 2005

What does it mean?
Fun Shoe

Sagebrush posted:

This isn't quite right.

:words:

Fascinating, huh?

Yes. Thank you for taking the time to explain this.

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UnfortunateSexFart
May 18, 2008

𒃻 𒌓𒁉𒋫 𒆷𒁀𒅅𒆷
𒆠𒂖 𒌉 𒌫 𒁮𒈠𒈾𒅗 𒂉 𒉡𒌒𒂉𒊑


Ninja Toast! posted:

I have an iPhone 4 and a new garmin with traffic, the garmin blows phone GPS out of the water, and the traffic thing is easily the coolest part. Oh, hey, looks like there's an accident 5 minutes up the road, lets swing around this way and save you 10 minutes. Thanks, computer bro! Plus it will actually last a whole trip on battery if you want it to for whatever reason.


Only thing that works better on the phones occasionally is finding addresses in a few awkward rural areas. That depends on what app you're using of course.

I do use the phone one still when on foot and looking for something, but that's mostly because I have it already.

My phone GPS accounts for traffic too. Shows red/yellow/green depending on severity and avoids red areas if possible (not possible here).

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