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Pope Guilty posted:All I can see is obsolete copy protection. Why would you post that and not dial-a-pirate  Haha there's a working web version here that you can click on to turn: http://www.oldgames.sk/docs/Dial-A-Pirate/
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May 21, 2015 22:57
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Zaphod42 posted:Why would you post that and not dial-a-pirate I never had any Lucas Games as a kid.
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May 22, 2015 03:58
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Pope Guilty posted:I never had any Lucas Games as a kid. I borrowed The Eidolon from a class mate and couldn't make heads or tails out of it.
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May 22, 2015 08:56
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The era where CD burners had become widespread but Steam hadn't completely caught on yet was a hell of a thing. I bought Hitman Contracts on launch day and the CD check wouldn't pass on my PC. To get it working I had to image the CD, mount it in a virtual drive, and install some special software for tricking SecuROM. Each time I wanted to play, I had to shut down and physically disconnect my optical drives or else the copy protection would still freak out. I put up with this for about a week until I just downloaded a warez release off Usenet that worked without hassle and thought "Well, at least the box looks nice." There was basically a span of several years where you were punished for buying a game instead of pirating it, with the publishers whining about piracy killing them all the while.
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May 22, 2015 10:57
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A FUCKIN CANARY!! posted:There was basically a span of several years where you were punished for buying a game instead of pirating it, with the publishers whining about piracy killing them all the while. See also DVDs with unskippable adverts and studio logos, while the torrented rips take you straight to the movies. also blurays with 50 pages user agreements and updates, just to play a Disney movie.
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May 22, 2015 11:21
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There was also Region Coding Enhancement which attempted to stop discs being played in multi region players. If you did try to play the disc in a multi-region player, it would display a picture of a map with some text explaining how you were a bad person for buying a product. I only encountered it once (one of the early seasons of Always Sunny, I think) and fortunately my multi-region player didn't give a poo poo and played it anyway. I didn't buy any of the following DVDs though.
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May 22, 2015 16:43
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spog posted:
I personally dislike that blu-Rays update trailers etc one of the great things about revisiting old VHS movies is watching the old trailers. It's part of the charm.
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May 22, 2015 17:14
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BattleMaster posted:Does that still happen? I thought (hoped) that Starforce and its ilk were obsolete and failed technology. I don't think it does anymore, no, thank god. Definitely obsolete, and definitely failed technology. e. in fact, say what you will about piracy, but I've always had a certain respect for the cracking community. I've always loved those cracks that were released / announced before software even went retail - or cracks that launched the same day as the games/applications themselves. It makes me imagine grand schemes where trenchcoated nerds exchange pre-released copies of software in empty parking garages in the middle of the night, to go home to a dimly lit apartment, hunched over a workstation, working away at getting out that 0-day crack.  And of course, being a C64 junkie, the intros were completely freaking awesome. I remember groups doing similar stuff with Windows releases, but it just never had quite the same charm [great music though] Code Jockey has a new favorite as of 17:29 on May 22, 2015 |
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May 22, 2015 17:15
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I remember that in the late 90s-early 2000s walkie-talkies became really popular for families to as a way to keep in contact in large public areas like theme parks and the like. I don't think that they worked that well, and they were quickly replaced by cell phones, but it was a neat concept.
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May 22, 2015 17:28
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Hell, for a brief period some cell phones had a walkie-talkie function. I'm not sure if anyone actually used it, or how it worked, but it was advertised heavily in commercials.
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May 22, 2015 17:54
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Code Jockey posted:I don't think it does anymore, no, thank god. Definitely obsolete, and definitely failed technology. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/27/the-man-who-broke-the-music-business
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May 22, 2015 17:57
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Konstantin posted:Hell, for a brief period some cell phones had a walkie-talkie function. I'm not sure if anyone actually used it, or how it worked, but it was advertised heavily in commercials. Walkie-talkie functionality and AM/FM tuners are two features that every cell phone should have but they don't because the cell phone companies want our money  loving kills me. Worst part is most phones could do both with existing hardware but its disabled in software. Digital Walkie-Talkies could actually give you a pretty good signal, I bet. Anybody ever make some of those? All the old ones were analog and so had some pretty bad interference.
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May 22, 2015 17:59
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Gann Jerrod posted:I remember that in the late 90s-early 2000s walkie-talkies became really popular for families to as a way to keep in contact in large public areas like theme parks and the like. I don't think that they worked that well, and they were quickly replaced by cell phones, but it was a neat concept. I used to see a lot of international tourists using PMR446 walkie-talkies inside malls, parks, etc Hell of a lot cheaper than paying for international roaming on a pair of phones.
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May 22, 2015 18:17
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spog posted:I used to see a lot of international tourists using PMR446 walkie-talkies inside malls, parks, etc construction guys too since the phones that included those features were usually huge plastic tanks
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May 22, 2015 18:27
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Konstantin posted:Hell, for a brief period some cell phones had a walkie-talkie function. I'm not sure if anyone actually used it, or how it worked, but it was advertised heavily in commercials. I worked at a construction company 2006-2008 and our engineers used it constantly.
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May 22, 2015 18:32
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Bobby Digital posted:I worked at a construction company 2006-2008 and our engineers used it constantly. My work still insist on having phones with a ptt function. It severely limits the phones they can choose from and no one uses it anymore anyways. They just send text messages. I opt out and just get a iphone on my own dime.
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May 22, 2015 18:58
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There was a was a period of time where you could identify a group of douchebags without looking, just by hearing a cluster of those Motorola walkie-talkie chirps. Though I still use a walkie talkie on the reg at work, I'm in retail and they use them instead of a PA system.
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May 22, 2015 19:23
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Konstantin posted:Hell, for a brief period some cell phones had a walkie-talkie function. I'm not sure if anyone actually used it, or how it worked, but it was advertised heavily in commercials. In my area it seemed like there was a period of time when treating phones like walkie talkies was huge. I could go almost anywhere and you'd hear people having conversations back and forth because somehow everyone treated it like it was essentially a speakerphone. The strange thing is that in the years since I still see people on modern phones and plans doing to same speakerphone conversations. They hold the phone out about a foot or so from their heads and shout conversations for everyone to hear. It's not like they're in a group and WANT other people to hear. It'll be people in a grocery store by themselves, or in a McDs or just walking down the street. Amusingly, most the conversations I hear this way seem like things you WOULDN'T want strangers to be privy to.
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May 22, 2015 19:39
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Our family had an intercom system in our house for when my dad was out drinking and working on his car in the garage and my mom wanted to yell at him to stop
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May 22, 2015 19:47
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Gann Jerrod posted:I remember that in the late 90s-early 2000s walkie-talkies became really popular for families to as a way to keep in contact in large public areas like theme parks and the like. I don't think that they worked that well, and they were quickly replaced by cell phones, but it was a neat concept. The special system that allowed PTT functionality was Nextel's claim to fame in the cellular world. Lots of companies had sizable contracts with Nextel for that feature. Others tried to emulate it through GSM or whatever but there was apparently a latency issue.
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May 22, 2015 19:48
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Zaphod42 posted:Walkie-talkie functionality and AM/FM tuners are two features that every cell phone should have but they don't because the cell phone companies want our money Zello, mang. I play Ingress, and especially for events it's how we keep in touch between and inside each team, as well as coordination with City Central - Using a Bluetooth headset or earphones and Zello.
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May 22, 2015 20:25
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A FUCKIN CANARY!! posted:The era where CD burners had become widespread but Steam hadn't completely caught on yet was a hell of a thing. I bought Hitman Contracts on launch day and the CD check wouldn't pass on my PC. To get it working I had to image the CD, mount it in a virtual drive, and install some special software for tricking SecuROM. Each time I wanted to play, I had to shut down and physically disconnect my optical drives or else the copy protection would still freak out. I put up with this for about a week until I just downloaded a warez release off Usenet that worked without hassle and thought "Well, at least the box looks nice." There was also the wonderful joy of CD keys. I'm pretty sure those were placed in a way that practically guaranteed you'd lose them. When games quit coming in plastic cases and started coming in paper sleeves the key would often be on the sleeve. Others were on manuals that tended to get misplaced. Upgraded your computer and needed to reinstall everything? Lol good luck, bro. You might suddenly be unable to play your favorite game.
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May 22, 2015 20:37
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Exit Strategy posted:Zello, mang. I play Ingress, and especially for events it's how we keep in touch between and inside each team, as well as coordination with City Central - Using a Bluetooth headset or earphones and Zello. That's cool but its kinda silly to pay your carrier to communicate through their towers or require public wifi when your hardware should absolutely be capable of communicating ad-hoc.
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May 22, 2015 20:37
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Zaphod42 posted:That's cool but its kinda silly to pay your carrier to communicate through their towers or require public wifi when your hardware should absolutely be capable of communicating ad-hoc. Except that it's a feature that few people want, so even if chipsets support it, the carriers aren't going to write the software to support it.
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May 22, 2015 20:57
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Slanderer posted:Except that it's a feature that few people want, so even if chipsets support it, the carriers aren't going to write the software to support it. Carriers have to write their own firmware? Do they also have to run the cellphones through a printer by themselves to brand them? I only expected them to provide a theme and preloaded programs to the manufacturer.
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May 22, 2015 21:51
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Slanderer posted:Except that it's a feature that few people want, so even if chipsets support it, the carriers aren't going to write the software to support it. I don't think my iPhone-sized hardware is capable of communicating ad-hoc across five miles of oak forest, for instance. It'd be an exceptionally nice functionality in dense urban environments, though, except when you need to call 911 at two in the morning and nobody is on the streets except your assailants. e: Carriers need to write their own radios, to talk to their networks. Those are software-defined.
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May 22, 2015 23:20
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ArcMage posted:I don't think my iPhone-sized hardware is capable of communicating ad-hoc across five miles of oak forest, for instance. So iPhones have the necessary software for any carrier worldwide loaded? You know there are cellphone standards like GSM or UMTS? Compatible cellphones only need a valid SIM to connect to them, no custom radios.
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May 22, 2015 23:41
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Zaphod42 posted:That's cool but its kinda silly to pay your carrier to communicate through their towers or require public wifi when your hardware should absolutely be capable of communicating ad-hoc. Push to talk went through the providers network too though - the only reason it cost less than a proper call was the provider decided it should.
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May 22, 2015 23:44
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Taerkar posted:The special system that allowed PTT functionality was Nextel's claim to fame in the cellular world. Lots of companies had sizable contracts with Nextel for that feature. I worked on the Nextel contract when i was still doing call center work. The reason their ptt was king poo poo came down to a couple things: the network was built around the service. Like they originally only did direct connect (the name for their service) and added cell later on. And the phones were loving indestructible. A coworker got a call from a guy who wanted a new shell for his phone (not a case, the actual housing), the reason he needed a new one is because his phone had been struck by lightning. This caused it to launch off the roof he was on and punch a hole in the door of his truck. The thing still worked. The iden network was garbage for non ptt voice, data, and text messaging. But it had almost no latency, even internationally. Everything went to poo poo when they were acquired by sprint. They tried these godawful "hybrid" phones that coupled a cdma transmitter with the iden one. The net result was phones that did both, just less than half as well as they would separately. Also they were a nightmare to program and provision. First gen activations could take an hour phone call and 8 hours of waiting.
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May 23, 2015 00:14
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Was gonna post the same link after reading Code Jockey's comment. Good article.
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May 23, 2015 00:44
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Taerkar posted:The special system that allowed PTT functionality was Nextel's claim to fame in the cellular world. Lots of companies had sizable contracts with Nextel for that feature. FWIW, Sprint tore down the iDEN hardware that was on the towers but you can still set a channel and use the phones in point to point mode.
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May 23, 2015 05:11
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Is it weird that the word 'Walkie Talkie' sounds like a childish nickname for it but it isn't - that's what they are called? Or is there some early, arcane word for them that was simplified/bastardized into "Walkie Talkie"
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May 23, 2015 05:18
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lt_kennedy posted:Is it weird that the word 'Walkie Talkie' sounds like a childish nickname for it but it isn't - that's what they are called? Or is there some early, arcane word for them that was simplified/bastardized into "Walkie Talkie" A more formal name would be "handheld transceiver" or "two-way radio." Apparently the first model nicknamed "Walkie talkie" was big enough that it was worn as a backpack with which you could, well, walk and talk. A subsequent handheld model was nicknamed "handie talkie," but I guess that didn't stick as well.
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May 23, 2015 05:34
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Toast Museum posted:A more formal name would be "handheld transceiver" or "two-way radio." Apparently the first model nicknamed "Walkie talkie" was big enough that it was worn as a backpack with which you could, well, walk and talk. A subsequent handheld model was nicknamed "handie talkie," but I guess that didn't stick as well. Yet it sounds so much more appealing somehow.
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May 23, 2015 06:54
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lt_kennedy posted:Is it weird that the word 'Walkie Talkie' sounds like a childish nickname for it but it isn't - that's what they are called? Or is there some early, arcane word for them that was simplified/bastardized into "Walkie Talkie" "Two-way" was what most people I knew in various communities that used them called them.
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May 23, 2015 07:34
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wasn't two way pagers a thing for a while in the US? in Europe everyone was already using text messages by that time.
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May 23, 2015 08:40
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Toast Museum posted:A subsequent handheld model was nicknamed "handie talkie," but I guess that didn't stick as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39EPz2JsbUk
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May 23, 2015 08:45
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axolotl farmer posted:wasn't two way pagers a thing for a while in the US? in Europe everyone was already using text messages by that time. That was how RIM got it's start wasn't it? Two-way pagers in the mid 90s? If I recall they invented it, competed with SkyTell for a while and slammed the door shut with the first Blackberry (2000. maybe?) which was a two-way pager with push email from Exchange. If you were issued one of those in the 90s you were King poo poo. (I know I could probably verify all that with a visit to Wikipedia, but I don't feel like opening another tab)
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May 23, 2015 08:46
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I don't know if I've (or someone else) already mentioned this or not. Peek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peek_%28mobile_Internet_device%29 A mobile email device that launched about 7 years ago and apparently came to an end of life about 3 years ago. A small little thing that would let you send and receive email through mobile without needing a phone and you could even pay a one-time lifetime service plan.
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May 23, 2015 08:56
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ToxicSlurpee posted:There was also the wonderful joy of CD keys. I'm pretty sure those were placed in a way that practically guaranteed you'd lose them. When games quit coming in plastic cases and started coming in paper sleeves the key would often be on the sleeve. Others were on manuals that tended to get misplaced. Upgraded your computer and needed to reinstall everything? Lol good luck, bro. You might suddenly be unable to play your favorite game. I solved this by writing the CD-keys directly on the CDs. On darker CDs I'd write with a white paint marker, which worked great until I put the disc in too soon after writing the key on it and created spin-art in my optical drive.
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May 23, 2015 09:43
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