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ynohtna posted:
My metal shop teacher taught me how to get your second decimal place from vernier calipers when I was like 14 and a few years later my physics teacher happened to be moving a decades on display slide rule to be thrown out and kinda gave me the last lesson ever taught on it before it was tossed. Seeing the physical relationship between what was previously cold digital numbers on an LCD screen was powerful and really stuck in my craw I should get a nice pair, my current set are 3 dollar plastic calipers that are more accurate than they have any right being , if a little flimsy
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Aug 16, 2020 12:46
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Slide rules are loving awesome. Whenever I see them at a thrift store or estate sale, I snap them up. I'm a math teacher and they can actually be useful for demonstrating certain concepts to students.
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Aug 16, 2020 15:57
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I want a slide rule that's also a fidget spinner/vape.
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Aug 16, 2020 15:59
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LifeSunDeath posted:I want a slide rule that's also a fidget spinner/vape. Probably already implemented in some TI-89 somewhere
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Aug 16, 2020 16:22
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Jestery posted:I have identified some very specific black holes in my mental conception of math. Things where I will mentally perform an operation or I have to convert a fraction into a decimal. I have a bunch of mental heuristics that I want to erase and have a more concrete conception. Rules Slide Rules
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Aug 16, 2020 16:37
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speaking of obsolete measuring devices, I have this pretty sweet punch card ruler. Makes for a nice straightedge in the garage!  
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Aug 16, 2020 17:41
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Wonder what "MCR INK AREA" is about.
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Aug 16, 2020 18:03
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That's where you get tattoos of Gerard Way.
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Aug 16, 2020 18:21
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Probably MICR as in the magnetic ink numbers on the bottom of a check. The right end also has some stuff about the control symbols in that line, and standard check dimensions. Banks were pretty strict about positioning and ink density for those characters, and would reject checks that could not be read by the automated equipment. the would issue fines to the initiator of those checks. I don't know what the standards are like now, with remote image capture.
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Aug 16, 2020 18:21
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Watching this vid and one of my most hated controllers ever in my life shows up: horribly unresponsive and difficult to actuate touchpad, it's basically the steam controller of nintendo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCYTUQCTraA oh this vid is great, never seen this controller before: 
LifeSunDeath has a new favorite as of 21:40 on Aug 16, 2020 |
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Aug 16, 2020 21:38
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I have the giant Quick Shot ball joystick and I have no idea what the use case is supposed to be. People back then were just trying to make the most unusual accessories to look appealing in magazine ads, I think.
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Aug 16, 2020 22:11
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Guy Axlerod posted:Probably MICR as in the magnetic ink numbers on the bottom of a check. The right end also has some stuff about the control symbols in that line, and standard check dimensions. And before the thread drifts away from sliderules, here's one of my favourites, the Post 1460:  My favourite sliderule is the Teledyne-Post 44CA-600, which is a later variant of the Post 1460 with an additional LL scale, but I don't have a pic of one handy. Sliderules are definitely obsolete technology, but if I only care about a two or three digits of precision I can still bang through most standard vector calculations on a vecterlog sliderule than I can using anything else. This is because by the time sliderules were relegated to obsolescence by the pocket calculator there had been literally centuries of engineering work put into them to adapt them to various computational workflows, and so for many common related computations you could set up the sliderule once to do one computation but then directly read additional results off other scales without having to reconfigure the rule--e.g. using two sides of a right triangle to determine the length of the hypotenuse and simultaneously being able to read the angles and/or chain additional computations off those computed values. Also: if there's anything more nerdy than the phrase "my favourite sliderule" I don't know what it is.
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Aug 16, 2020 22:12
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LifeSunDeath posted:Watching this vid and one of my most hated controllers ever in my life shows up: That video made me aware of Blaster Master for the Playstation, I didn't know they made any more after the NES game, except for the new one. Also those one handed controllers warms my heart a bit, I was thinking of people that have lost one of their hands because of an accident or something, seems like those where made for people like that.
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Aug 16, 2020 22:27
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In the early 2000's I got very excited about a company that was prototyping a Playstation 2 controller with a trackball in place of the right stick but they never got beyond the prototype phase. I suppose this is not yet failed or obsolete since there's one on Kickstarter that is for pc but i thought i was going to be owning fools with my rad trackball controller on ps2
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Aug 16, 2020 23:18
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LifeSunDeath posted:oh this vid is great, never seen this controller before: I... don't remember how it performed, but I had one.
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Aug 16, 2020 23:23
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Zereth posted:Oh man I had one of those. a friend of mine had one, I think? definitely used one at some point, I thought it was pretty bad (not 80's bad, just bad.)
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Aug 17, 2020 03:02
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Guy Axlerod posted:Probably MICR as in the magnetic ink numbers on the bottom of a check. The right end also has some stuff about the control symbols in that line, and standard check dimensions. I work for the finance department of my company, and we routinely print paper checks for some of our payments. Holy poo poo MICR line validation is strict, and it's also pretty dumb. The bank we deal with in the US has been happily processing checks for years now. We recently needed to update something else in our check format, not touching the MICR line, and had to go through the bank to get the check format signed off by them. They came back with a pile of problems, like this character is 1/16" off, this one overflows into space it shouldn't, the line itself is too close to the perforation line on the check, etc. We went through, made all the little tweaks and adjustments we needed to, and we verified the alignment of everything using a transparent MICR line ruler / gauge that lines up key elements and shows you if everything is exactly where it should be. It was. One of our senior treasury guys, my project manager and I all looked at that gauge and said yep, poo poo's all lined up. We submitted a batch of sample checks to the bank, waited a week or so, and they came back and failed us for like three other new things. We took out the gauge, checked, and... yyyyeah, fine, okay, I guess that character is a little close to the edge of its box, and I guess the line is a little close to the perforation line, but drat it come on! We fixed that, submitted and got signed off, finally. All for poo poo that's been there for years (we verified this - the only thing that we changed was a slight tweak to our signature line, which didn't shift the MICR line in any way) Meanwhile, the Canadian bank signed off first try. 
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Aug 17, 2020 07:49
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Anyone vaguely interested in adding machines/Napier's bones/slide rules should subscribe to Chris Staecker on YouTube. He makes entertaining videos explaining these objects work.
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Aug 17, 2020 08:44
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Wasn't sure which thread to put this in, but my AD29 Region bypass adaptor-cart arrived today: Sure becoming an ugly grey tower:   It is kinda funny that the only part of my SNES that has yellowed is the offical part... Humphreys has a new favorite as of 09:01 on Aug 17, 2020 |
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Aug 17, 2020 08:59
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Humphreys posted:Wasn't sure which thread to put this in, but my AD29 Region bypass adaptor-cart arrived today: why do you need that thing? i ordered the same cart, is it not region free? i actually have this region bypass thing, i picked it up from a flea market when i was a kid, i use it to play pal games on my sufami so they run faster
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Aug 17, 2020 09:09
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Humphreys posted:Wasn't sure which thread to put this in, but my AD29 Region bypass adaptor-cart arrived today: Super jealous of your copier. I still want one of those things, I am kicking myself for not picking up an N64 copier I saw at a retro shop years ago, but I've always had my heart set on an SNES/SFC copier.
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Aug 17, 2020 09:27
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Shibawanko posted:why do you need that thing? i ordered the same cart, is it not region free?
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Aug 17, 2020 09:31
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Pretty good posted:I think their whole Thing is accumulating janky sketchy unauthorised console addons and it rules Pretty much this too. I have 2 MORE things enroute to appease your needs. I would start a youtube channel on all these things but I don't do 'efame' and gently caress talking to a camera. Code Jockey posted:Super jealous of your copier. I still want one of those things, I am kicking myself for not picking up an N64 copier I saw at a retro shop years ago, but I've always had my heart set on an SNES/SFC copier. I LOVE it, some demosceners loved when I loaded up their demos on it. I REALLY want an N64 one but don't see it happening any time soon as I literally cannot find them for sale. Shibawanko posted:why do you need that thing? i ordered the same cart, is it not region free? I just happened to have my flashcart installed as a test. I bought it cos it was available cheap and one more thing in the chain of isolating an issue with some bootleg carts I'm making.
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Aug 17, 2020 11:13
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LifeSunDeath posted:Watching this vid and one of my most hated controllers ever in my life shows up: But it was the only controller that prevented "numb thumb" Kamrat posted:
If I remember right, those were not marked for disabled people, but to play rpg games one handed. Yeah...
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Aug 17, 2020 12:56
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Cojawfee posted:Oh man, the day I discovered that our console TV had a little door on it with knobs inside that let me mess with the colors. I had a Luxor TV set a few years older than me. The turn of the millennium saw a real boom in new TV broadcasting licenses so every year at least once I had to open the door and turn a knob to tune into a new channel. Then I ran out of knobs to turn because the thing only had eight channels and 8 was for the VCR and console. So I got a TV set that was like five years younger than me. It even allowed me to discard the Long Stick because it bad a remote control. And automatic tuning!
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Aug 17, 2020 13:06
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LifeSunDeath posted:horribly unresponsive and difficult to actuate touchpad, it's basically the steam controller of nintendo. hell yeah, had that Epyx 500XJ for the Apple II and everyone with a C64 had it.
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Aug 17, 2020 13:31
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SubG posted:In the '70s and '80s if you wanted to spend all Saturday watching kung fu and monster movies on TV, UHF was where it was at. In Houston at the time there were two UHF stations, channel 26 and channel 39, and on a good weekend you could catch a horribly dubbed version of Five Deadly Venoms (1978) about eight times between Friday night and Monday morning. One time in the late '80s I was stuck in bed in east Texas with a fever and a malfunctioning AC, and the only TV station I could get any reception on was a local UHF channel playing Behave Yourself! (1951), a dreadful romantic comedy about gangsters chasing a dog, on endless loop. I still hear its theme song in my nightmares. Hey, 20 was also good for a weekend bad kung fu dub or cheesy western, and I also think that was the station that aired Speed Racer back in the mid 80s. But aside from that I do recall 39 and 26 being far superior.
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Aug 17, 2020 14:01
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A hotel I stayed in in Canton had a TV where two channels showed only kung fu movies. Neither had subtitles or dubs in any language I understand but I still watched. E: also a channel with a programme that taught you how to build a brick oven.
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Aug 17, 2020 14:07
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Lowen SoDium posted:If I remember right, those were not marked for disabled people, but to play rpg games one handed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77UNjkgzGRA
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Aug 17, 2020 15:50
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KozmoNaut posted:Reminded me of this. Peak of British comedy. For those who are not old enough to remember this if a riff off of the old "Outer Limits" TV show introduction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CtjhWhw2I8
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Aug 17, 2020 16:10
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ReidRansom posted:Hey, 20 was also good for a weekend bad kung fu dub or cheesy western, and I also think that was the station that aired Speed Racer back in the mid 80s. But aside from that I do recall 39 and 26 being far superior.
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Aug 17, 2020 22:17
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Speaking of obsolete Texas technologies from the '70s: the Drive Friendly sign (not my photo): These used to be all over the place until they started getting covered with Don't Mess With Texas decals in the mid to late '80s. They're actually square/diamond-shaped warning signs folded in half. The bottom edge is hinged, and you can see the catch at the top point of the triangle there. In Brazoria County most of them seemed to be "Watch For ICE on Bridge" signs that were basically never needed--I think I spent a decade living in the area before the first time I saw a Drive Friendly sign opened up to reveal what it said inside. Up in the hill country the kind I saw the most was on low water crossings, but I forget the exact wording.
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Aug 17, 2020 22:29
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We used to have "Bridge may be icy" signs here in SE MI, and though I giggled at them in summer, they were actually pertinent in winter once upon a time. I took it as concrete evidence of climate change when they were recently replaced with "Bridge ices before road" signs.
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Aug 17, 2020 22:46
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devmd01 posted:speaking of obsolete measuring devices, I have this pretty sweet punch card ruler. Makes for a nice straightedge in the garage! My mom had something similar, I'm not sure what it was for, but it wasn't for punchcards. Maybe something for stained glass or stencil art? But my dad tried to teach me how to use a slide rule and he might as well of been teaching me to code in Ancient Norse because I could not even make heads nor tails out of anything. My brain just does not like math outside of the most basic. LifeSunDeath posted:Watching this vid and one of my most hated controllers ever in my life shows up: What the hell is that? That is what you play video games in hell with. You get there and Satan is like "now you must play WWE2k20 for all eternity with this controller!" That second one kind of reminds me of those disks that came with the, I think the Colecovision? Or was it the Intellevision?
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Aug 18, 2020 08:50
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LifeSunDeath posted:oh this vid is great, never seen this controller before: There were LOADS of stupid gimmicky joysticks in the 80s/90s. They were all terrible, but manufacturers sure weren't afraid to experiment. Stuart Ashen has a video about old joysticks on his Youtube channel. E: https://www.youtube.com./watch?v=GbQajuuX6mM Sweevo has a new favorite as of 10:53 on Aug 18, 2020 |
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Aug 18, 2020 10:48
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I really wanted the grenade joystick but I never even saw it in the shops. I know it was imported because it was in magazines but never seen one  Also my Wico Ergostick has a seam in the rubber just where it annoys me the most.
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Aug 18, 2020 11:45
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twistedmentat posted:
Coleco had the phone pad controller with the joystick sticking upward and two side buttons. It's crazy that it actually was playable.
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Aug 18, 2020 12:39
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Always wanted to try out a Datahand keyboard. I really thought they were going to be the future of typing but they weren't.   The keys were supposed to require almost zero movement of your fingers to actuate and therefore be more comfortable and efficient. You could mount them in weird places too:  
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Aug 18, 2020 13:31
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Nocheez posted:Coleco had the phone pad controller with the joystick sticking upward and two side buttons. It's crazy that it actually was playable. Intellivision:  Colecovision:  Coleco Adam:  Atari 5200:  And even when the phone pad was dropped, you still had awkward fuckin' things like the Atari 7800 controller:  Everybody's favourite bad console controller is the Jaguar. And I mean yeah it's bad, but it's easy to forget just how loopy controller design used to be. One of the reasons why this is so weird is that the original Atari VCS/2600 was a super durable and usable controller design. It wasn't the first home console controller, and it wasn't the best, but it was waaaaay the gently caress better than a multitude of controllers that followed it.
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Aug 18, 2020 15:02
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SubG posted:The idea that a game controller should be a phone handset with a joystick at one end and waist buttons was a remarkably durable one: The thing is I can forgive this design choice, at the time no one had any experience with what kind of controller would be ideal for home use. It was sort of a throw poo poo at the wall and see what sticks kind of thing. Early consoles are fairly interesting in that Atari managed to poison the well very effectively, and it does make me wonder if that controller style would have continued to evolve in another timeline. I suspect there's also a very different timeline where Nintendo failed to launch after the Atari debacle, which would be very interesting, as I'm sure eventually something else would have filled that console hole, but I'm not even sure what, or even what it would look like.
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Aug 18, 2020 15:23
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