Post the very best in obsolete and failed technology

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Iron Crowned: May 6, 2003; by Hand Knit

Powered Descent posted:

I took a photography course in high school in the mid-90s (yes, yes, ). I was never anything special at the artistic parts like shot composition, but I loved the hell out of developing the 35mm film and making prints in an enlarger. Partly because there was something so wonderfully chemical about the whole thing, and partly just because the darkroom was a cool place to hang out.)

Same, I got so good at it, the other kids in my class would give me their film because I could get it out of the canister and into the developing container thingy fast.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 13:19

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 15:48

Aix: Jul 6, 2006; $10

Collateral Damage posted:

Speaking of prepaid cards, Sweden had a hilarious fiasco on that subject 20 years ago. The four major banks banded together and launched something they dubbed the "Cash Card" in 1997. It was a simple, unauthenticated prepaid chip card that intended to replace cash for small transactions, while being much faster to use than a traditional Visa/MC. At the time most stores still had dial-up card terminals that could take up to a minute to process a credit card.

You added money to the card by using terminals that were installed near ATMs, in shopping areas, in grocery stores etc, and you could at most store 1500 SEK (about $170 at today's rate) on the card. Using it was similar to using a chip and pin card today except you didn't need to enter a pin, you just hit a green OK button to confirm the purchase. At the time it was much faster than using a regular card.

The whole thing fell flat for a variety of reasons. I had one and can probably count on my fingers the amount of times I actually used it.

The main one was that the banks got greedy and charged fees both by the consumer and the retailer. For the consumer there was a fee when you added money to the card, and for the retailer there was a per transaction fee which was counterproductive to the goal that Cash Card should be the favored method of payment for small purchases.

Because of that, it was only ever adopted by a few large grocery and gas station chains. So even if you had a Cash Card it was hard finding a place where you could use it. The banks never attempted to market or integrate it in places where an alternative to coins would be welcome, such as parking meters or vending machines.

Adding money to the card was annoying and time consuming, and the terminals you had to use often broke down or threw errors. You also couldn't get money back off the card after it was loaded.

The final nail in the coffin was always-online card terminals becoming more common which process a regular credit card in seconds, removing the only advantage of the Cash Card. The entire system was shitcanned in 2004, although by then it had been pretty much dead for a few years.

They had that in germany as well. I used it once to buy cigarettes, cause i only had 4� in my account and you couldnt withdraw less than 5� but you could charge any amount you wanted to that card (cigarettes were 4� per pack back then). Thought it was stupid as gently caress because you had to go to an ATM to charge your card and no place except for McDonalds and cigarette vending machines accepted it so you might as well just get cash while youre at the atm

# ? Mar 17, 2017 13:31

JayKay: Sep 11, 2001; And you thought they were cute and cuddly.

Platystemon posted:

I used MP3 CDs for a good while.

Better than early flash MP3 players, IMO.

iRiver SlimX superiority. The combo of the SlimX and my Sony CD-MP3 headunit was awesome in college.

I still have my SlimX in a box somewhere, along with a few MiniDisc players, a Creative Zen, and a iRiver H320. Edit: And both a Zune and ZuneHD

JayKay has a new favorite as of 14:04 on Mar 17, 2017

# ? Mar 17, 2017 13:57

Elias_Maluco: Aug 23, 2007; I need to sleep

The Fuzzy Hulk posted:

The very first thing I ever bought from Amazon was an 80gb iPod. I filled it with music and got a cord to hook it to my car deck, it was incredible (for ten years ago). My girlfriend would pick songs while I drove and I even put some shows on it for my son to watch during car trips. I remember thinking that I would keep it forever.

10 years later and it's been 100% replaced with my phone almost as an afterthought. Now I just get in my car, say "hey Siri play Colin Hay" and it does it like I own KITT.

My second MP3 player (after that archos broke) was an ipod 5 with rockbox installed (https://www.rockbox.org/), because I refused to use itunes. Wth that on, it was the best player Ive ever had

# ? Mar 17, 2017 14:03

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

I tried Rockbox but the interface was so drat clunky and I never ended up using FLACs anyway. Same reason I prefer Winamp over Foobar, I guess.

My original Amazon account was tied to my high-school-provided email address so it's loooong gone, the earliest Amazon purchase I can find on my current account is from 2009 when I bought a hold switch/headphone jack assembly to fix my 5G iPod.

e: I could have repaired the iPod that Fuzzy Hulk bought for his first purchase!

# ? Mar 17, 2017 14:33

Mousepractice: Jan 30, 2005; A pint of plain is your only man

Haha all that MP3-CD player talk from the last page had me nostalgic, but I couldn't remember which model I used to have. Then I decided to look it up on Amazon!

What the gently caress is Dioneer

# ? Mar 17, 2017 15:02

3D Megadoodoo: Nov 25, 2010

Mousepractice posted:

Haha all that MP3-CD player talk from the last page had me nostalgic, but I couldn't remember which model I used to have. Then I decided to look it up on Amazon!

What the gently caress is Dioneer

Dioneer GD Blayer bretty gud

DDDD

# ? Mar 17, 2017 15:04

TITTIEKISSER69: Mar 19, 2005; SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS

Dioneer? Probably from this shop:

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Mar 17, 2017 15:26

0toShifty: Aug 21, 2005; 0 to Stiffy?

My work is full of obsolete technology

This computer is turned on 24/7 and somehow doesn't crash. All we use it for is programming microchips. It's a Packard Bell Legend. Same model as my first PC. Runs Windows 95. Packard Bell Navigator is still installed! Got a 75MHz Pentium and 8mb of ram.

The keyboard connected to it is even more interesting. It's an IBM Model M - made in USA. This one says November 1989 on the back. Some hipster would die to have this. But to us it's just an old keyboard.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 15:45

axolotl farmer: May 17, 2007; Now I'm going to sing the Perry Mason theme

Keith Atherton posted:

My best friend in junior high had an Atari 2600 but my dad was loyal to the Magnavox store in town

So for Christmas in 1981 we got this:

I have this in my basement with basically every game cartridge that came out for it.

This is a cool system.

Take it out of the basement, boot it up and post pics!

# ? Mar 17, 2017 16:16

Collateral Damage: Jun 13, 2009

0toShifty posted:

The keyboard connected to it is even more interesting. It's an IBM Model M - made in USA. This one says November 1989 on the back. Some hipster would die to have this. But to us it's just an old keyboard.

The best part about Type M keyboards (apart from the keys) is the thick, solid steel plate it sits on, so if you're ever in a hostage situation you can use it as improvised body armor.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 18:10

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

Model Ms are responsible for a bad habit of mine because I spent my entire childhood knowing that I could slam the keyboard as hard as I wanted when I lost a game and it would shrug it off.

I actually slammed it so hard once, the mousepad on my cutting-edge-at-the-time, 3-button optical mouse bent. It was one of these:

# ? Mar 17, 2017 18:24

0toShifty: Aug 21, 2005; 0 to Stiffy?

Kelp Me! posted:

Model Ms are responsible for a bad habit of mine because I spent my entire childhood knowing that I could slam the keyboard as hard as I wanted when I lost a game and it would shrug it off.

I actually slammed it so hard once, the mousepad on my cutting-edge-at-the-time, 3-button optical mouse bent. It was one of these:

Hah! We have one of those optical mouses on one of the sparcstation 5s. If you turn the mousepad 90� the mouse won't work.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 18:34

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

0toShifty posted:

Hah! We have one of those optical mouses on one of the sparcstation 5s. If you turn the mousepad 90° the mouse won't work.

You could also print out a new mousepad on a laser printer if yours got hosed up or lost.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 18:41

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

Yup, apparently they were using a basic image sensor to read x/y coordinates embedded in the mousepad, so even rotating it 90� throws it off entirely.

Nowadays you kids have those crazy dark field LED mice that'll work on glass or mirrors or whatever

# ? Mar 17, 2017 18:42

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

I also want to mention that it's kind of funny how some parts of PC technology are following small little cycles. We went wireless and membrane on our peripherals, but now pro gaming and poo poo is popularizing wired kb/m and mechanical switches in keyboards again.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 18:43

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

chitoryu12 posted:

There was still drop-in thanks to 126 and other cartridge film.

Oh man 126 was what I used with my first camera! I had a little case with a strap and I wore it everywhere when I was a kid. With enough film and flashcubes there was no stopping me.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 19:13

chitoryu12: Apr 24, 2014

Dick Trauma posted:

Oh man 126 was what I used with my first camera! I had a little case with a strap and I wore it everywhere when I was a kid. With enough film and flashcubes there was no stopping me.

I'm still disappointed that nobody has started remaking 126 yet, because there's tons of working Instamatics out there for bargain bin prices but all the cartridges are expired and dwindling. I don't want to have to spool 35mm into a cartridge in the dark just to shoot with my $15 cheapo Kodak.

All of my cameras are not only functioning, they have film still being made. It's amazing that a Brownie from 1909 uses the exact same film as a $35,000 Mamiya made yesterday.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 19:27

0toShifty: Aug 21, 2005; 0 to Stiffy?

Since all the mp3 player chat is dying down - I thought I'd drop this bomb on you.

Only Sony would make something like this. This is a portable CD-RW drive that is also an mp3 CD Player. It uses a lithium camcorder battery. AND IT STILL WORKS! Doesn't have buffer under-run prevention, burning at 4x over USB1 is scary.

The other thing those same batteries fit was the Mavica Digital camera. Max picture resolution was 640x480. Could fit like 25 pictures on a floppy.

2x Floppy Drive, yo! This thing still works too.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 19:30

IUG: Jul 14, 2007

0toShifty posted:

Since all the mp3 player chat is dying down - I thought I'd drop this bomb on you.

Only Sony would make something like this. This is a portable CD-RW drive that is also an mp3 CD Player. It uses a lithium camcorder battery. AND IT STILL WORKS! Doesn't have buffer under-run prevention, burning at 4x over USB1 is scary.

I had this one! I think I used it more as a CD burner than as a mp3 player. This held me over until Apple made the first iPod, since I was (and still am) a Mac user at the time. I also didn't want to swap cards, but I was fine swapping mp3 CDs for some reason.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 20:07

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

0toShifty posted:

Doesn't have buffer under-run prevention, burning at 4x over USB1 is scary.

So... shut down all applications, disable internet access, don't touch the mouse, and there's still a 75% chance it'll fail?

# ? Mar 17, 2017 20:13

Lowen SoDium: Jun 5, 2003; Highen Fiber; Clapping Larry

Trabant posted:

So... shut down all applications, disable internet access, don't touch the mouse, and there's still a 75% chance it'll fail?

poo poo, the screen saver came on...

# ? Mar 17, 2017 20:40

The Fuzzy Hulk: Nov 22, 2007; ASK ME ABOUT CROSSING THE STREAMS

I just made a thread in GBS for people to post the very first thing they bought on Amazon.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3813780

I'm mentioning it here because it already has some relics like S-video cables and 256mg gaming cards.

I remember when S-video was the best way to hook anything to my 55 inch rear projector TV.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 20:44

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

0toShifty posted:

Since all the mp3 player chat is dying down - I thought I'd drop this bomb on you.

Only Sony would make something like this. This is a portable CD-RW drive that is also an mp3 CD Player. It uses a lithium camcorder battery. AND IT STILL WORKS! Doesn't have buffer under-run prevention, burning at 4x over USB1 is scary.

I think I might be able to beat you on this. I still have an old portable 4x CD-ROM drive somewhere at my parent's place. It still worked as a cd player when I tried it a while ago, but I haven't seen the PCMCIA card and cable. My dad had a laptop from work back in the day and I was blown away when we got this to play some CD based games. Looks exactly like this:

mobby_6kl has a new favorite as of 21:18 on Mar 17, 2017

# ? Mar 17, 2017 21:16

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

why wouldn't you want a glorified Sega Genesis with a CD player built in?!

# ? Mar 17, 2017 21:33

Johnny Aztec: Jan 30, 2005; by Hand Knit

0toShifty posted:

The keyboard connected to it is even more interesting. It's an IBM Model M - made in USA. This one says November 1989 on the back. Some hipster would die to have this. But to us it's just an old keyboard.

Bout an 80 dollar keyboard, give or take.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 21:58

RC and Moon Pie: May 5, 2011

RC and Moon Pie posted:

Weekly syndicated packages for newspapers, from what I can find.

It's c. 1995-96. Perhaps it's an interface for accessing an FTP or some kind of binaries database. That's the only thing that makes sense to me as to why there would be several different versions.

Everything like that now is a simple PDF. I can only imagine how horrendous it would have been then.

I'll bring the disk home and see if it's still readable.

Update: Batman disk is not working with my USB disk drive.

It was a syndication package, but looking at the disks' covers (none are working), it appears it wasn't any kind of gateway or ftp. It looks like a regular ol' subscription service. As odd as it sounds, I would believe that these would be snail mailed at intervals. The packages themselves would probably be so general that they could be tossed in at just about any time and not be out of date.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 02:00

Last Chance: Dec 31, 2004

0toShifty posted:

The other thing those same batteries fit was the Mavica Digital camera. Max picture resolution was 640x480. Could fit like 25 pictures on a floppy.

2x Floppy Drive, yo! This thing still works too.

Ohhh we had this in our middle school lab thing. At the time I thought building a floppy drive into a camera was ingenious.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 02:19

Vanagoon: Jan 20, 2008; Best Dead Gay Forums
on the whole Internet!

Last Chance posted:

Ohhh we had this in our middle school lab thing. At the time I thought building a floppy drive into a camera was ingenious.

In the days where flash memory was still ruinously expensive, i'd say it was a pretty good idea.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 02:25

RoyKeen: Jul 24, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Here's a teardown of the Sony Floppy Camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jPcYCcaHv0

# ? Mar 18, 2017 02:56

0toShifty: Aug 21, 2005; 0 to Stiffy?

mobby_6kl posted:

I think I might be able to beat you on this. I still have an old portable 4x CD-ROM drive somewhere at my parent's place. It still worked as a cd player when I tried it a while ago, but I haven't seen the PCMCIA card and cable. My dad had a laptop from work back in the day and I was blown away when we got this to play some CD based games. Looks exactly like this:

PCMCIA interface :hellyeah:

Panasonic made some interesting stuff back then too. I took on the job training at my first job (burger king lol) on a Panasonic CD-i system.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 03:20

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

The only training videos from any job I remember is Radio Shack, because they used the same public-domain music as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and that made them hilarious.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 04:23

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

Trabant posted:

Oh hell yes, that thing was fantastic. Had that exact model and it saved my sanity on many Rochester-NYC train rides in 1998/9.

I would like to correct myself because the "first Amazon purchase" thread made me realize I bought it in 2000.

A useless update, but being off by 2 years was bothering me :downs:

# ? Mar 18, 2017 04:30

Humphreys: Jan 26, 2013; We conceived a way to use my mother as a porn mule

Kelp Me! posted:

why wouldn't you want a glorified Sega Genesis with a CD player built in?!

Because it's also a Mega-CD/Sega-CD not just a CD-R player? A must have for Marky Mark fans!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJXMi-h2nXo

# ? Mar 18, 2017 04:49

monolithburger: Sep 7, 2011

0toShifty posted:

My work is full of obsolete technology

This computer is turned on 24/7 and somehow doesn't crash.

I'd put good money on this baby making GBS threads the bed in a big way if it's ever powered down.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 04:55

Light Gun Man: Oct 17, 2009; toEjaM iS oN
vaCatioN; Lipstick Apathy

That packard bell looks familiar as hell. I think that, or a similar model, was one of the first PCs I had actually in my own house!!

# ? Mar 18, 2017 05:10

JnnyThndrs: May 29, 2001; HERE ARE THE FUCKING TOWELS

Light Gun Man posted:

That packard bell looks familiar as hell. I think that, or a similar model, was one of the first PCs I had actually in my own house!!

I had one too, but I think it had a P-150 non-mmx processor in it. Bought it at Costco, IIRC.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 05:16

Proteus Jones: Feb 28, 2013

Collateral Damage posted:

The only time I hear about prepaid cards nowadays is when people are talking about scams.

I don't know if it's common in the US, but prepaid cards got obsoleted by virtual cards here (). I just log in to my online bank and generate a temporary card that draws from my regular account up to a chosen limit.

Sony's Playstation wallet occasionally shits itself. I pretty much just buy digital prepaid PSN cards from Amazon these days. I just make sure I have a balance to cover my PS Vue sub and top it off with extra when I want to buy a game or two.

But that's mostly the extent of my pre-paid card stuff. I do still see racks of that poo poo for just about every store and service under the sun at drug stores and convenience stores.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 06:14

1000 Brown M and Ms: Oct 22, 2008; F:\DL>quickfli 4-clowns.fli

I used a prepaid card in Japan once, but that's because I was buying something that wouldn't accept foreign credit cards and it's very difficult for a foreigner to get a Japanese credit card unless you're a permanent resident. I have seen them marketed as something for people who want to get subscriptions to porn sites or whatever but don't want it to show up on their regular credit card statement

# ? Mar 18, 2017 06:36

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 15:48

Grumbletron 4000: Nov 30, 2002; Where you want it, bitch.; College Slice

I recently came across this little beauty...

It appears to work and I could still get film for it but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. I'm probably still going to try it though.

# ? Mar 18, 2017 07:25

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