Rotary phone. I think I'd make the loudest "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH" if the number I want to dial is either 999-999-9999 or 000-000-0000, depending on how it is designed.
Old tech you just DO NOT miss.
- Thread starter Parasondox
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I know tearing the sides off those papers was a royal pain in the ass, but I still think those dot matrix noisy printers were a hell lot more reliable than the shitty inkjet all-in-ones of today. Nothing but continued grief from them.ThingWhatSqueaks said:
For me, it's probably just cell phones in general. Since all phones did was just call or text. The amount of information and functions they can do today is just life-changing. Of course there's the "basic" things like email, but you don't even need street directories anymore. Or notepads, or cameras, or voice recorders. Hell, even apps like auto-levelers, guitar tuners, gym interval/cooking timers, translators, are all just a quick search away.
The company I work for still uses those printers, and they are not reliable at all let me tell you. The damn things require stripping down and cleaning on at least a weekly basis and even then they still struggle to print off more than 4-5 pages at a time without either overheating or losing the paper alignmentJohnnyDelRay said:
.
I guess it doesn't help as they are older than I am and you can't get parts for them any more, the company has to salvage parts from various broken printers so you end up with a frankenprinter in most cases. Thankfully though they are getting replaced with laser printers in the next 18 months or so.
These are the offending printers. [http://www.oki.co.uk/printers/dot-matrix-printers/9-pin-sidm/detail.aspx?prodid=tcm:122-4157-16]
I'm gonna parrot the people who are glad VHS is obsolete. As a movie buff I acknowledge that it's still the only way to see a lot of movies - and that bites - but for the most part I've abandoned it with no regrets. The video quality is awful and degrades rapidly (especially if you don't regularly watch the movies), and seriously - fuck rewinding.
The ONLY thing I miss about VHS is the ability to fast-forward through trailers and commercials. I remember it being a big deal when DVD started out that DVDs wouldn't have trailers. Then after a while they did. Then those trailers started to restrict use of the fast-forward/skip scene/menu buttons. Then those unskippable trailers started to account for sometimes upwards of 20 fuckin' minutes. Blu-Ray is often just as bad. I can't stand that shit.
The ONLY thing I miss about VHS is the ability to fast-forward through trailers and commercials. I remember it being a big deal when DVD started out that DVDs wouldn't have trailers. Then after a while they did. Then those trailers started to restrict use of the fast-forward/skip scene/menu buttons. Then those unskippable trailers started to account for sometimes upwards of 20 fuckin' minutes. Blu-Ray is often just as bad. I can't stand that shit.
I had Dial up that had a flat monthly fee, so the cost wasn't so bad, but the connection was reset after an hour meaning I had to log back on, and if I was in IRC at the time, my name would still be logged in so I'd end up in my alt-name.Johnny Novgorod said:
Also, doing a mission in freespace 2 for a medal, only at least one person per run would do something stupid to screw it up... and on the perfect run I hit the hour limit just before warp out, so everyone else got the medal and didn't want to do the mission again.
Or spending a long time and fiddling to download the doom 3 demo... only to find it didn't support my OS.
The funny thing is I remember as an anime fan, looking forward to going through the trailers on dvd's as they were treated as an 'extra' in the special feature menus rather than stuck on the front to make you watch them.Tuesday Night Fever said:
The current bane of my existence is a series of A1 plotters our engineering team uses. I ahve no idea why but they are just the most finicky machines I've ever worked with.Zipa said:
For some inexplicable reason my school had three BBC computers in the science department when I started primary school.
British public education at its finest.
God knows why no one threw these sad grey fuckers (that predated Chernobyl) into a skip years before they were inflicted upon me. All I'm left with are vague, flickering, green & black memories of waiting for these bastards to do something. Maybe it was some novel way for them to teach us patience? Anyway, they finally got around to building a proper IT room with proper computers a year or so after I started (my standards for what constitutes a 'proper' computer are 'can play a load of crappy flash games'), the BBC computers were consigned to the landfill and my school leapt forwards two decades, where it's stayed ever since.
British public education at its finest.
I actually like it quite a bit when DVDs and Blu-Rays do that. When it's a bonus feature on the disc I can watch them at my leisure, and I can completely skip watching them if they're something I've already seen or something I'm not interested in.Windknight said:
No idea if anyone else has noticed this or not, but a while back I started using my PS3 as my full-time Blu-Ray/DVD player because for some reason it can skip trailers/commercials that are unskippable with other devices.
Oh yeah... I've so noticed that to the point that whenever I'm watching a DVD or Blu-Ray something off someone else's PS3, I'm the one with the remote most of the time... For some reason, everyone thinks only I can pull it off flawlessly or something...Tuesday Night Fever said:
Old keyboards that were so noisy someone can hear you type in the name of a porn site, and they'd know precisely which one you're in.
Me - *typing*
Sister - Why are you going into [insert porn site]?
Me - Damnit! Stop listening to my keystrokes!
Or those bulky CD players with the supposed "anti-skip" technology inside, but in reality did nothing when I took a step with it in my pocket.
Windows XP. Scarily enough, but about four years ago, before I permanently switched to PC gaming, I used to use that OS with a severely aged computer. Sure, it did its job well enough for its time before Windows 7, but I'm glad I never have to touch that OS ever again.
CRT TV's. Bulky, heavy, blurry... great for target practice.
Me - *typing*
Sister - Why are you going into [insert porn site]?
Me - Damnit! Stop listening to my keystrokes!
Or those bulky CD players with the supposed "anti-skip" technology inside, but in reality did nothing when I took a step with it in my pocket.
Windows XP. Scarily enough, but about four years ago, before I permanently switched to PC gaming, I used to use that OS with a severely aged computer. Sure, it did its job well enough for its time before Windows 7, but I'm glad I never have to touch that OS ever again.
CRT TV's. Bulky, heavy, blurry... great for target practice.
Oh yeah, that one is a good call. Don't miss mechanical mice at all.geK0 said:
To a lesser extent I don't miss the LED based optical ones either. I've not used an LED-based one at home in at least five years; had laser ever since. LED based ones were always finicky with glossy surfaces, something which laser ones are much better at.
Oh shit man my sympathies. I mean I thought they were okay back then, but if you're still using them up till today I imagine they must be a freakin nightmare. I don't know about Oki, but the Epson ones we had when I was a kid were great.Zipa said:
Singe-function laser printers are the way to go nowadays, I have an HP 1020 series that has been chugging along for about a decade now without a problem, cheap toner refills too. I think I'll shed tears if it ever gives up.
It's funny, I have more trouble thinking of old tech I DO miss. I guess maybe I'm not old enough to be nostalgic about stuff, although I do have nostalgia for other things from my childhood like TV shows etc.
I just don't really see technology as something you build an attachment to, it's there to serve a purpose, and generally the more time you spend thinking about it, the worse it's doing at filling that purpose.
I'll update this comment if I think of anything I actually MISS.
I just don't really see technology as something you build an attachment to, it's there to serve a purpose, and generally the more time you spend thinking about it, the worse it's doing at filling that purpose.
I'll update this comment if I think of anything I actually MISS.
Yeah the Oki printers were pretty reliable back in the day, the ones we have though have been used so much that the mechanical parts are all worn, and as I said before there are no spares any more. Thankfully though the company is getting rid of them in favour of laser printers, they just have to come up with a replacement for the 3 ply paper we use. That and they have to re write our internal software so that a modern printer will work on it.JohnnyDelRay said:
eye strain inducing? Are flatscreens easier on the eyes? I have been getting eye problems latelyThe Rogue Wolf said: