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hackbunny posted:It was perfect for playing Micro Surgeon! I can't tell how many of my patients died on the table.
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Jan 22, 2014 13:24
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WebDog posted:That phone really sucked. Even for 2003. It was cool for the spring loaded answer function, but beyond that it was lacking the ability to send text messages or bluetooth so no one really brought it. It cost $500. I unironically lusted for both of these things so very much... Ten years ago 
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Jan 22, 2014 17:36
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Quote =/ edit
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Jan 22, 2014 17:36
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 I used to have a Swatch Internet 'Beats' watch - a form of universal time to meet people on the internet. It divided every day into 1000 beats. I think Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast used it and then I never saw it ever again.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:20
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Mr. Flunchy posted:
Such a shame we have to deal with this time zone stuff, it gets so confusing... if only there were a "Universal Time" we could all use to agree on a specific point in time, then apply a delta to get our local time. The English would never go for it, though.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:25
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Pham Nuwen posted:Such a shame we have to deal with this time zone stuff, it gets so confusing... if only there were a "Universal Time" we could all use to agree on a specific point in time, then apply a delta to get our local time. The English would never go for it, though. As long as everyone can decide on their own regional delta and change it throughout the year (also at their discretion).
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Jan 22, 2014 19:59
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Croccers posted:Didn't one of the Final Fantasy MMOs have a special clock you could get that told you the time/day/moon cycles on the clock along with the normal time? You mean this thing? I almost bought one of those back when they first came out.
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Jan 22, 2014 20:06
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This is last page, I know, but it's too fascinating to leave alone. Just the idea that physical computers have been around so long is mind-boggling to me. (I know people theorized them long before, and even wrote programs for the theoretical machines, but something that actually exists is a different thing all together.) And it's so interesting looking, so sci-fi! I did some googling, and apparently punch card machines existed as early as the 1880s, at least according to Wikipedia, however much that might mean. That's pretty amazing, if true. Does anybody know much more about these older machines? The idea that people were using computers back at a time that my home town didn't even have proper electricity, and often no plumbing, is loving amazing. (I'm from the middle of nowhere, btw, so that would be why.)
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Jan 22, 2014 21:07
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Curta mechanical pocket calculator: quote:The Curta is a small, hand-cranked digital mechanical calculator introduced by Curt Herzstark in 1948. It can be used to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and (with more difficulty) square roots and other operations. Numberphile episode about the Curta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDn_DDsBWws My father had to use one on his first job.
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Jan 22, 2014 21:49
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Has this been posted? I had one, it still seems like some kind of sorcery. You'd type in phone numbers and reminders into a program and then just hold the watch up where it could see the screen(in any orientation!!) and it would flash barcodes and program it. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Pzxmq-JLM It broke :[
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Jan 22, 2014 22:17
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DicktheCat posted:I did some googling, and apparently punch card machines existed as early as the 1880s, at least according to Wikipedia, however much that might mean. That's pretty amazing, if true. Hole card storage goes back a long way, predating computers. I think one of the oldest uses was the Jacquard Loom from 1801 that used punch cards for patterns. The first mathematical computer was probably Babbage's difference engine. He never built a working device in his lifetime due to lack of funding though. Using his original blueprints one was built for the London Science Museum in the 1990s. It's a thing of beauty in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiRgdaknJCg
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Jan 22, 2014 22:21
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AlternateAccount posted:Has this been posted? I just looked it up, that's actually a really impressive piece of technology when you consider when it came out.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:25
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DicktheCat posted:This is last page, I know, but it's too fascinating to leave alone. Just the idea that physical computers have been around so long is mind-boggling to me. (I know people theorized them long before, and even wrote programs for the theoretical machines, but something that actually exists is a different thing all together.) And it's so interesting looking, so sci-fi! So the Hollerith cards were used in the 1880s for the US Census. I actually saw a bunch of the equipment at the Computer History Museum last weekend. Basically, you'd punch certain holes to indicate each person's age, occupation, etc. Then you could run the cards through a machine that would tabulate the contents of specified fields. So if you wanted to know how many farmers over the age of 40 there were, you'd set the machine to increment the counter every time the "farmer" occupation was indicated and the age was over 40. They weren't proper computers as we know them. The modern computer is an electronic, digital, stored-program devices with Turing-like capabilities. The census equipment was special-purpose, meaning it could do a great job counting people but it couldn't run a program to do your taxes. We didn't get proper programmable electronic computers, the kind you might actually recognize as akin to a modern computer, until the 1940s. Punch cards were used for many computers for decades because they were relatively easy to create and work with. You'd write your program on paper, then go to a card punch and enter the code, one line per card. You'd then take your stack of cards to the computer, which would be loaded with a compiler. You'd feed in the cards, the compiler would interpret the source code and either run your program right away or write the machine code to a tape or more punch cards. Before modern timesharing systems, this meant that users would prepare their programs completely independent of the computer and only use valuable computer time when running the code. Often, you'd hand your cards over to an operator, who would put them in a queue of jobs to run; you could pick up your results printout tomorrow. This is actually how many supercomputers still operate today, although the operator has been replaced with a computer-based scheduler. I strongly, strongly urge you to check out the Computer History Museum if you're ever in the Bay Area. It'll blow your mind.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:31
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Sham bam bamina! posted:The Japanese MSX computers of the mid- to late '80s are probably the most cyberpunk-looking things that I can think of: Those msx computers look super cool.  EDIT: quoted the wrong post.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:42
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Sham bam bamina! posted:Cool, so it wasn't just me. Add me to that list too.
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Jan 22, 2014 22:59
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We had one of these Panasonic VCRs that used barcodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqs3kMW1caA It's a simple barcode scanner you need to move across the barcode, instead of the stuff they use in shops which scans the entire barcode at once. Often needed a few tries to make it scan correctly. You needed to move the scanner across at a constant speed too. For a short period of time, the TV guide had barcodes in it for this system. See a movie you want to tape? Just scan the barcode and everything is set. Later these barcodes were replaced with a short numerical code that you could send to your VCR. It was smaller to print in the TV guide, and just as easy. WebDog posted:Almost every device ends up becoming a form of ambient lighting to guide you around the house at night. I have an air humidifier which has those kinds of blue LEDs. They added a feature that lets you turn them off, in case you use these in your bedroom and prefer total darkness.
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Jan 22, 2014 23:04
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WebDog posted:Everything nowadays is black and silver with piercing blue LED's that need several layers of electrical tape. I just picked up a used subwoofer that I'm extremely happy with, apart from the piercing blue LED on the front. It can light up my entire living room by itself! At least that one is pointing down towards the floor, the indicator lights on my TOSLINK switch are even brighter and they point straight ahead. I had to put 5 layers of tape over them to dim them down to an acceptable level. From looking at my current stack of electronics in the living room, I have a bunch of LEDs always on, some of them even fade in and out. And that's with everything off or on standby! There are a whole bunch more if I turn everything on, enough to be a distraction if I want to turn the lights down and watch a movie. Why can't everything have dim diffused green, orange and red LEDs like in the old days?  Stick Insect posted:Later these barcodes were replaced with a short numerical code that you could send to your VCR. It was smaller to print in the TV guide, and just as easy. Oh yeah I remember those, they were called ShowView codes here. Combined with a program-sensing VCR they actually worked pretty well.
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Jan 22, 2014 23:17
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KozmoNaut posted:Oh yeah I remember those, they were called ShowView codes here. Combined with a program-sensing VCR they actually worked pretty well. Here's a Wikipedia article on them.
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Jan 22, 2014 23:27
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KozmoNaut posted:Oh yeah I remember those, they were called ShowView codes here. Combined with a program-sensing VCR they actually worked pretty well. From way back in the thread: Krispy Kareem posted:Speaking of failed technology:  The PowerMate Bluetooth. 
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Jan 23, 2014 00:13
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Collateral Damage posted:I remember my aunt had one of those and when I was 9 it felt like The Future. I just read the whole description on the website and I still have no loving idea what it's supposed to be. Is it some kind of wireless volume knob?
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Jan 23, 2014 00:52
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Pneub posted:I just read the whole description on the website and I still have no loving idea what it's supposed to be. Is it some kind of wireless volume knob? It's a universal knob! Which I think is also a British insult.
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Jan 23, 2014 00:54
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Pneub posted:I just read the whole description on the website and I still have no loving idea what it's supposed to be. Is it some kind of wireless volume knob? You can spin it and you can click it. And you can use several of them at the same time for controlling different stuff.
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Jan 23, 2014 00:56
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Pneub posted:I just read the whole description on the website and I still have no loving idea what it's supposed to be. Is it some kind of wireless volume knob? I'm hard pressed to come up with a use case that justifies spending $60 too, but apparently enough people have that it's kept the corded version for sale for almost a decade. But it's shiny! Collateral Damage has a new favorite as of 01:02 on Jan 23, 2014 |
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Jan 23, 2014 01:00
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KozmoNaut posted:I just picked up a used subwoofer that I'm extremely happy with, apart from the piercing blue LED on the front. It can light up my entire living room by itself! At least that one is pointing down towards the floor, the indicator lights on my TOSLINK switch are even brighter and they point straight ahead. I had to put 5 layers of tape over them to dim them down to an acceptable level. It won't help with the lights when powered on but I bought a nifty Belkin power strip that senses when the item in the master socket is in standby mode and powers off everything else, so I no longer have a blu ray, amplifier, subwoofer and whatever else sitting there lit up when the tv is off. Lucy Heartfilia posted:You can spin it and you can click it. And you can use several of them at the same time for controlling different stuff. I want to get six and put them all over my office desk with labels vaguely alluding to dangerous functionality. Powerful Two-Hander has a new favorite as of 01:05 on Jan 23, 2014 |
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Jan 23, 2014 01:03
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I used a pair of the Belkin dials to prototype an :oldkrad: display I worked on. Would have worked better as an electronic etch-n-sketch.
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Jan 23, 2014 01:27
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Pneub posted:I just read the whole description on the website and I still have no loving idea what it's supposed to be. Is it some kind of wireless volume knob? I would use the poo poo out of this for DAW control.
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Jan 23, 2014 01:33
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Thanks for all the information regarding old "computers"! I have no actual content. I am sorry.
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Jan 23, 2014 01:57
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:I want to get six and put them all over my office desk with labels vaguely alluding to dangerous functionality. I want to get two and operate my computer Etch-A-Sketch style.
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Jan 23, 2014 02:18
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Pham Nuwen posted:Punch cards were used for many computers for decades because they were relatively easy to create and work with. quote:I heard this story from someone
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Jan 23, 2014 02:19
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WebDog posted:They also didn't sit well with customs.
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Jan 23, 2014 02:27
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Trick for keeping your punchcard deck in order in case it gets dumped out of the storage box: set them in the box, pack them together nicely and slide them all so one end is against the side of the box. Now use a straightedge to draw a line diagonally down the tops of all the cards. If they get dumped, just put them all in the box with the marks at the top and sort them till it makes a diagonal line again. There's your obsolete tip on how to handle obsolete technology. To keep your paper tape in order, don't store it in your hamster's cage.
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Jan 23, 2014 02:29
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Pham Nuwen posted:Punch cards were used for many computers for decades because they were relatively easy to create and work with. You'd write your program on paper, then go to a card punch and enter the code, one line per card. You'd then take your stack of cards to the computer, which would be loaded with a compiler. You'd feed in the cards, the compiler would interpret the source code and either run your program right away or write the machine code to a tape or more punch cards. Before modern timesharing systems, this meant that users would prepare their programs completely independent of the computer and only use valuable computer time when running the code. Often, you'd hand your cards over to an operator, who would put them in a queue of jobs to run; you could pick up your results printout tomorrow. This is actually how many supercomputers still operate today, although the operator has been replaced with a computer-based scheduler. I used them in 1985 when I took computer programming - RPG (Report Program Generator). God, I hated that language. I liked COBOL74 a lot better despite its wordiness. Unfortunately, I was never able to use what I'd learned.
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Jan 23, 2014 02:29
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The punch card story originated here. It almost reads as STDH from back in the days when computers were mysterious collections of circuits.
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Jan 23, 2014 02:36
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Collateral Damage posted:I remember my aunt had one of those and when I was 9 it felt like The Future. Argh, I want one of these knobs so much. It looks perfect for fixing the poorly-designed proprietary UIs at work. I would pay the sixty bucks for that bullshit knob in a second if it weren't mac only. Imagine if that design had made it into the standard keyboard layout how much happier we would all be.
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Jan 23, 2014 03:49
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m2pt5 posted:I want to get two and operate my computer Etch-A-Sketch style. You could emulate the old Apple ][ paddle games. I've yet to find a superior platform and controller for Brickout.
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Jan 23, 2014 04:16
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Pneub posted:I just read the whole description on the website and I still have no loving idea what it's supposed to be. Is it some kind of wireless volume knob?
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Jan 23, 2014 04:42
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GWBBQ posted:Intensity control for your turbo encabulator. Specifically it modulates the damping frequency of the reciprocating girdle-spring 
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Jan 23, 2014 06:10
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DicktheCat posted:Thanks for all the information regarding old "computers"! The slightly newer stuff, like the PDP-11 (1970 and onwards) is also rather fascinating. The first models are very obviously a box full of separate transistors and such wired up, and yet you could turn one on and run a prehistoric Unix on it ; add an interactive terminal and it would probably feel ever so slightly familiar. Later versions moved to integrated chips, which suddenly feels more modern (and looks way more 80s to me) - but there's something magic about that time frame when computers were still unfamiliar-to-me heaps of wire but the software was relatable.
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Jan 23, 2014 11:01
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WebDog posted:I kinda miss that computers don't try and look futuristic in some shape or form - usually at the cost of ergonomics and usability. You miss the days when your stereo was completely black with almost no indication of what is going on so you can impress your mates with a remote control! From what I've seen from HP, white LEDs are the new blue LEDs. My laptop has two bright white power LEDs(One on the button, one on the side for when it's closed), one white LED to indicate that it's charged up(It's red when charging) and a nice white one on F12 to indicate that the wireless is on(Turns red when off) Capslock has a white LED too, and mute has its own little red LED. I'm almost glad Numlock doesn't have its own indicator, since that'd be on at all times too. Their desktops have the bright white LED thing going on too. I also have a Canon wireless printer with a nice bright blue lit up WiFi logo on the front to indicate that it has WiFi. It serves no purpose other than that, and I am grateful it doesn't blink on activity or anything stupid like that.
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Jan 23, 2014 14:42
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Yeah, my current case also has white LEDs. What's the history of fashionable LED colors? I think it is like red > green > blue > white?
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Jan 23, 2014 14:50
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