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Gromit
Aug 15, 2000

I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!
My friend bought the Optimus Maximus keyboard because he loved flashy gadgets. I mean, he had a collection of every SGI desktop computer in his house as well as one of their super-computers, along with a wood-burning camp stove that could power USB devices.
He had that Powermate knob as well but no idea what he used it for.

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Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited

Tempest815 posted:

I've tried many times just now to come up with the words for that but holy poo poo.

The name makes it. That is 90s as hell, "gently caress NO YOU CAN'T USE MY COMPUTER, ARE YOU EXPERT MOUSE RATED!?".

Kensington still makes a (slightly updated) version. Just like regular mice it got updated with optics and a scroll wheel.

Tempest815
Oct 7, 2006

FALCON PUNCH!!

Yond Cassius posted:

Kensington still makes a (slightly updated) version. Just like regular mice it got updated with optics and a scroll wheel.

Wow so, that happened. Seriously are the extra buttons like back/forward or programmable (i hope)? Because I'm imagining all the poo poo I can't do because I can't fourth click.

Plinkey
Aug 4, 2004

by Fluffdaddy

Krispy Kareem posted:

Meh, those are scrubs. I was using trackballs in the 80's on my PCjr.

Speaking of failed technology:



I've had this thing for 6 or 7 years, it's currently glowing bluely on my desk. I've never found a use for it. I've only seen one in the wild and that's for kids to sign in for appointments at my daughter's orthodontist.

So cool, so pointless. I guess it's not a total failure since you can still buy them, but I have no idea what they're being used for.

That reminds me of this thing that a lot of our CAD guys swear by:



I have no idea how it works, but it looks purrdy.

Pham Nuwen
Oct 30, 2010



Yond Cassius posted:

Kensington still makes a (slightly updated) version. Just like regular mice it got updated with optics and a scroll wheel.

I have one of those at work. It seems to help my RSI-stricken hand/wrist, although the scroll ring is pretty terrible.

It's also relatively easy to switch between hands with it to give a little variety and keep from getting too sore.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

I want one. The soothing blue light and stylish brushed metal compels me.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Yond Cassius posted:

Kensington still makes a (slightly updated) version. Just like regular mice it got updated with optics and a scroll wheel.

I had one, and while the scroll ring was absolutely terrible, the ball and buttons worked well. The size and weight of the ball lent itself well to precision movement.

They make an even more updated version now, instead of the stupid scroll ring, you spin the ball itself to scroll. Pretty nifty and it looks so cool.

ubergnu
Jun 7, 2002

Failed gothic

nocal posted:

Speaking of trackballs, we had this when I was a kid:



Two questions: a) Can you just pick up the ball from the socket? b) Can you replace it with a cue ball?

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


ubergnu posted:

Two questions: a) Can you just pick up the ball from the socket? b) Can you replace it with a cue ball?

A) Yes.

B) Yes, but only on the older mechanical versions, like the one in your picture. It won't work with the newer optical ones. Also, 8-ball for maximum cool.

ubergnu
Jun 7, 2002

Failed gothic

KozmoNaut posted:

Also, 8-ball for maximum cool.

But of course!

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

Tempest815 posted:

The name makes it. That is 90s as hell, "gently caress NO YOU CAN'T USE MY COMPUTER, ARE YOU EXPERT MOUSE RATED!?".

Tangentially related, who the hell thought up the name Pepsodent Professional? It's a loving toothbrush, is it only meant for people who brush teeth for a living?

Silmarildur
Jan 30, 2005

Thats what I'm Tolkien about.
Along similar lines, I've always wondered what exactly BMW was trying to convey with this goofy name:



Clearly Audi and Mercedes need to up their game if they want in on the business music market. In the theme of the thread I'd bring up trunk mounted 6 disc changers, quite common in 90s German cars. Granted you have 6 CDs to choose from, but with buffering being virtually non-existent they tended to skip like crazy and the concept of pulling over and opening the trunk to access new music is pretty hilarious.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Silmarildur posted:

In the theme of the thread I'd bring up trunk mounted 6 disc changers, quite common in 90s German cars. Granted you have 6 CDs to choose from, but with buffering being virtually non-existent they tended to skip like crazy and the concept of pulling over and opening the trunk to access new music is pretty hilarious.

My car had this as an option as well, by virtue of being a late 90s facelift of a mid 90s design.

I use it as an AUX input for my MP3 player by virtue of a converter box, which simulates the original CD changer. As a consequence, it just keeps repeating CD 1 track 1 endlessly on the display. I can change "CDs" and "tracks" as much as I like, but it just reverts back to CD 1 track 1 after a second or so. It's wonderfully janky, but it allows me to have an AUX input on the OEM radio and use the stalk on the column to control volume.

KozmoNaut has a new favorite as of 13:21 on Oct 9, 2013

Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited

Tempest815 posted:

Wow so, that happened. Seriously are the extra buttons like back/forward or programmable (i hope)? Because I'm imagining all the poo poo I can't do because I can't fourth click.

The TrackballWorks driver allows for quite a lot of customization. They have a brief video you can check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqq1KqTI7Z0, and it will give you a good idea of how much fine-tuning they allow.

KozmoNaut posted:

I had one, and while the scroll ring was absolutely terrible, the ball and buttons worked well. The size and weight of the ball lent itself well to precision movement.

I've used one, and I thought the ring was perfectly acceptable, once I tuned it in the drivers to behave the way I liked it. Out of the box, yes, it was pretty bad.

einTier
Sep 25, 2003

Charming, friendly, and possessed by demons.
Approach with caution.

Tempest815 posted:

I've tried many times just now to come up with the words for that but holy poo poo.

The name makes it. That is 90s as hell, "gently caress NO YOU CAN'T USE MY COMPUTER, ARE YOU EXPERT MOUSE RATED!?".

The cool thing about that was that the ball was almost the exact same size as a pool ball. For years, I used mine with a real 8-ball as the roller.

e,f,b. I don't know why I thought I was the only one that did that.

Sham bam bamina!
Nov 6, 2012

ƨtupid cat
I think I might buy one of these Expert Mouse things just to put an 8-ball in it.

an AOL chatroom
Oct 3, 2002

I've seen people use those Griffin Powermate things to automate photo booth programs. All the user needs to be able to do is select between a couple of options (wheel back and forth) and tell the program to take the picture. It works quite nicely for that.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Yond Cassius posted:

I've used one, and I thought the ring was perfectly acceptable, once I tuned it in the drivers to behave the way I liked it. Out of the box, yes, it was pretty bad.

My issue with it had more to do with how ridiculously cheap it felt. The ball itself and the buttons were great and felt high-quality, but the scrollring just felt like a piece of low-rent bargain-bin gimmick hardware.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Here's a historical oddity. It's a swedish TeleGuide terminal from 1992. It was developed between 1990 and 1992 by the swedish state phone company Televerket in cooperation with IBM and Esselte. Inspired by the french Minitel system, it allowed people in the pre-internet days to connect to online services to buy tickets, read news, list stock values and so on. There were also rudimentary "hot line" chat rooms.



The terminal was rented at about $10-15 per month, and connecting to the service incurred the normal per-minute phone charge (Sweden never had flat-rate telephony like the US). Most services also charged an additional per minute fee. To access online services you used a smartcard that you put in the slot to the right, which meant that you could use any terminal and paid services would still be charged to you.

The actual hardware consisted of a 9 inch monochrome terminal with a built in 2400 bps modem. When not connected to online services you could use it a regular phone, and it had a very basic phone book. You could also connect a printer.

Unlike Minitel which was alive from 1982 until 2012, TeleGuide was a total flop and the whole system was shitcanned just 6 months after launch. While almost 15000 terminals had been distributed, the amount of regular users was miniscule, largely due to the high cost and limited selection of services.

Televerket realized that they were actually losing money on each user, and tried to renegotiate the agreement with IBM and Esselte. When they refused, Televerket pulled the plug on the whole thing. Users were told they could keep the terminals, but of course with the online services taken down it was just a big, ugly telephone.

My father worked at Televerket at the time and got to borrow a terminal for free. We used it a few times to ooh and aah over, then never touched it again. Unless my parents have thrown it out it's still collecting dust in their basement.

(Picture stolen from http://phantom.sannata.ru/museum/teleguide.shtml which has a bunch of more pictures and a long text about it, although it's all in russian.)

evobatman
Jul 30, 2006

it means nothing, but says everything!
Pillbug

Silmarildur posted:

Along similar lines, I've always wondered what exactly BMW was trying to convey with this goofy name:



Clearly Audi and Mercedes need to up their game if they want in on the business music market. In the theme of the thread I'd bring up trunk mounted 6 disc changers, quite common in 90s German cars. Granted you have 6 CDs to choose from, but with buffering being virtually non-existent they tended to skip like crazy and the concept of pulling over and opening the trunk to access new music is pretty hilarious.

Do you know what the alternative to the BMW Business stereo is? It's the BMW Professional stereo.

Strangelet Wave
Nov 6, 2004

Surely you're joking!

Taeke posted:

I find it even more mindblowing that they got to the moon with less computing power than the navigation system in a modern car.

This statement has always been a little irksome to me; the computer in the lunar lander was indeed less powerful than a wristwatch/microwave/car/whatever, but you can't neglect the computing power of the roomful of math PhDs back down in mission control with slide rules (speaking of obsolete technology).

EDIT: oh look, there's already been a whole page discussing this very topic. Imagine that.

Farecoal
Oct 15, 2011

There he go

Gromit posted:

My friend bought the Optimus Maximus keyboard because he loved flashy gadgets. I mean, he had a collection of every SGI desktop computer in his house as well as one of their super-computers, along with a wood-burning camp stove that could power USB devices.

Are you saying the stove had a mini-steam engine in it to generate power, or was the stove plugged in to an outlet too? please be the first

Collateral Damage posted:

He probably means a BioLite stove or one of its knockoffs. It's got a thermoelectric element that powers a small fan to fan the fire and a USB outlet for charging your phone while cooking.

Kind of cool.

Farecoal has a new favorite as of 02:47 on Oct 10, 2013

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

He probably means a BioLite stove or one of its knockoffs. It's got a thermoelectric element that powers a small fan to fan the fire and a USB outlet for charging your phone while cooking.

Collateral Damage has a new favorite as of 17:59 on Oct 9, 2013

Pham Nuwen
Oct 30, 2010



Strangelet Wave posted:

This statement has always been a little irksome to me; the computer in the lunar lander was indeed less powerful than a wristwatch/microwave/car/whatever, but you can't neglect the computing power of the roomful of math PhDs back down in mission control with slide rules (speaking of obsolete technology).

EDIT: oh look, there's already been a whole page discussing this very topic. Imagine that.

It always annoys me when people say "oh yeah that mainframe was less powerful than a pocket calculator". Well, that's definitely false for pretty much any calculator except maybe the HP-50; a System/360 from the 60s would have megabytes of memory and a 32-bit processor that would compare favorably to what's in a TI-89. I also have not yet seen a TI that can write to magtape (although some very old HPs could... sorta. barely)

Now, compared to a cellphone, a System/360 absolutely loses on memory and processor power. No contest. However, you shouldn't discount the sheer I/O capabilities of the thing, which could handle dozens of tape drives, hard disks, card readers, card punches, line printers (which could print insanely fast, sometimes the friction+paper dust would cause fires), etc.

It's not surprising we got to the moon on that. Calculating how to get to the moon is actually one of the simplest programs you could write in terms of computational resources.

Gromit
Aug 15, 2000

I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

Collateral Damage posted:

He probably means a BioLite stove or one of its knockoffs. It's got a thermoelectric element that powers a small fan to fan the fire and a USB outlet for charging your phone while cooking.

Yes, it was exactly that thing in your link.

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer

KozmoNaut posted:

I had one, and while the scroll ring was absolutely terrible, the ball and buttons worked well. The size and weight of the ball lent itself well to precision movement.

They make an even more updated version now, instead of the stupid scroll ring, you spin the ball itself to scroll. Pretty nifty and it looks so cool.

The scroll ring had a lengthy break-in period for some stupid reason. After using it for a couple of days it'd suddenly go from crappy to pretty decent. Why they didn't just develop an extra step in the manufacturing process to spin the ring around a couple of hundred times I have no idea.

I loved my expert trackball. Eventually the buttons started screwing up and I haven't been willing to spend another $100 on a new one.

Skeleton Ape
Dec 21, 2008



Plinkey posted:

That reminds me of this thing that a lot of our CAD guys swear by:



I have no idea how it works, but it looks purrdy.

I had the same thought. I once got put at a workstation that had just the knobby part, something similar to this— http://www.creationengine.com/html/p.lasso?p=15244

They called it a "spaceball" and it's basically a 3D mouse. The base was really heavy so you could push, twist, tilt, and even pull straight up on the top part without it moving around on the desk. It was awesome for stuff like manipulating 3D models and getting around in Google Earth.

Skeleton Ape has a new favorite as of 03:28 on Oct 10, 2013

tribbledirigible
Jul 27, 2004
I finally beat the internet. The end boss was hard.

Skeleton Ape posted:

I had the same thought. I once got put at a workstation that had just the knobby part, something similar to this— http://www.creationengine.com/html/p.lasso?p=15244

They called it a "spaceball" and it's basically a 3D mouse. The base was really heavy so you could push, twist, tilt, and even pull straight up on the top part without it moving around on the desk. It was awesome for stuff like manipulating 3D models and getting around in Google Earth.

This reminds me, wasn't there a sort of game controller that came out 2006-2007 that was basically a suspended armature- it came with a default knob for basic movement, but you could attach a pistol grip for playing shooters.

carry on then
Jul 10, 2010

by VideoGames

(and can't post for 10 years!)

The Novint Falcon

Cassius Belli
May 22, 2010

horny is prohibited

tribbledirigible posted:

This reminds me, wasn't there a sort of game controller that came out 2006-2007 that was basically a suspended armature- it came with a default knob for basic movement, but you could attach a pistol grip for playing shooters.

Yeah, that's the Novint Falcon. I understand that it's still stubbornly clinging to life, less as a game controller and more as a custom input device for specialized, high-end software. The most recent game add-on pack in their store is Diablo III, and the Novint Falcon site still says "copyright 2012", but they have an "End of Summer 2013" sale going on, so they're around, but just barely.

GWBBQ
Jan 2, 2005


I have a Novint Falcon, it's pretty neat but takes up a lot of desk space. I don't have the pistol grip so it's not nearly as much fun for FPS games. Since it's capable of in-out motion, I searched out of morbid curiosity and sure enough some guy attached a fleshlight to it and wrote drivers to make it thrust :dong: I kept mine away from my genitals, played through Half Life 2 with it, and now it's back in the box. I'm probably going to end up selling it soon, you can get a decent price on eBay (this means if you want one PM me and we'll talk,)

Plinkey posted:

That reminds me of this thing that a lot of our CAD guys swear by:



I have no idea how it works, but it looks purrdy.
I have one of these at work, it's awesome for 3D modeling and Google Earth. I use Sketchup to do classroom layouts and designs for furniture, and it saves a lot of time. Basically, you have an X, Y, and Z axis, and for each axis you can move along the axis or rotate around it. You can lock control to an object and manipulate it in three dimensions, or lock control to a camera and fly around it (camera mode is what you use in Google Maps and is awesome.)

Krispy Kareem posted:

Meh, those are scrubs. I was using trackballs in the 80's on my PCjr.

Speaking of failed technology:



I've had this thing for 6 or 7 years, it's currently glowing bluely on my desk. I've never found a use for it. I've only seen one in the wild and that's for kids to sign in for appointments at my daughter's orthodontist.

So cool, so pointless. I guess it's not a total failure since you can still buy them, but I have no idea what they're being used for.
We also have one of these in a presentation rehearsal room, literally all it's there for is a customizable USB button. For video editing I go with a ShuttlExpress
http://retail.contourdesign.com/?/products/22

Pilsner
Nov 23, 2002

Silmarildur posted:

Along similar lines, I've always wondered what exactly BMW was trying to convey with this goofy name:



Clearly Audi and Mercedes need to up their game if they want in on the business music market. In the theme of the thread I'd bring up trunk mounted 6 disc changers, quite common in 90s German cars. Granted you have 6 CDs to choose from, but with buffering being virtually non-existent they tended to skip like crazy and the concept of pulling over and opening the trunk to access new music is pretty hilarious.
My new (used) BMW from '97 actually has a 6-CD changer in the back, and it functions flawlessly without skipping. It just plays all CDs from start to end and you never notice the pauses.


(box at the bottom left)

However, I've just bought a device that can play MP3s from an SD card and replaces the CD changer, so yeah, obsolete. gently caress optical discs.

It also has a 7" (ish) 16:9 monitor for navigation, driving computer, settings, music control, etc. There's something cool about old integrated screens in cars - how many cars from '97 do you know has that? I find it fascinating how the software is all completely custom written, solely made for a very narrow generation of models for a single brand. It's also out-of-this-world stable when you compare it to a typical modern computer program that can crash left and right. That's a no-go in a car.

What's most absurd is that you can press a button to make it flip down the whole ordeal, revealing a tape deck (crappy image):



Or how about the original 5-slot tape storage for the centre console?



It's even powered, so it shows a light if there's something in a separate slot.

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

Pilsner posted:



It's even powered, so it shows a light if there's something in a separate slot.

Opels used to have a similar thing but instead of a light it would just be an orange bit of plastic that would show up if a tape cassette was present in a slot.

Mescal
Jul 23, 2005

Pilsner posted:

What's most absurd is that you can press a button to make it flip down the whole ordeal, revealing a tape deck (crappy image):





Oh horrors. The only thing worse than a stock car stereo is a fancy car stereo. I'd say that stereo is from New York Gypsy Audio Emporium but those knobs are unmistakable 90s BMW.

Every car stereo is obsolete or failed technology.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Pilsner posted:

However, I've just bought a device that can play MP3s from an SD card and replaces the CD changer, so yeah, obsolete. gently caress optical discs.

Which one did you get? If I could get a SD card MP3 player instead of my AUX in, that would be awesome.

Flipperwaldt
Nov 11, 2011

Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?



Uh...



I thought it was maybe because I was blocking javascript or whatever, but unblocking didn't make any difference, so :shrug:

edit: sorry, I'll timg in case any of you are at work.

Flipperwaldt has a new favorite as of 11:21 on Oct 10, 2013

u fink u hard Percy
Sep 14, 2007

Be glad it said visualisation!

u fink u hard Percy has a new favorite as of 11:38 on Oct 10, 2013

Sham bam bamina!
Nov 6, 2012

ƨtupid cat

Flipperwaldt posted:

Uh...



I thought it was maybe because I was blocking javascript or whatever, but unblocking didn't make any difference, so :shrug:
It's supposed to say "analysis", but the site's badly-coded and covers up part of the word. Here's how it looks for me:



Ctrl+V: Analysis, Modeling & Visualization, Telerobotics and Product Marketing here.

an AOL chatroom
Oct 3, 2002

My 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix had the tape holders as well:


Everything on that car was a trip. Door handles built into the the window frame, a combination lock on the glove box, LCD readouts for everything, pushbuttons everywhere. Heavy as hell, though.

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DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

Pilsner posted:

I find it fascinating how the software is all completely custom written, solely made for a very narrow generation of models for a single brand. It's also out-of-this-world stable when you compare it to a typical modern computer program that can crash left and right. That's a no-go in a car.

Well, yeah. When you have a set number of hardware models the software is used on, it's much easier to create a stable platform. You can literally test every single hardware configuration to ensure it's stable on all models. Same reason that Apple OS's are, on average, much more stable than Windows (or Android in the phone world.)

That's changed a bit in recent years for PC's, for phones iOS is still pretty rock solid because, again, very limited number of hardware models.

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