Old Tech thread

I like the line from "Hitchickers Guide To The Galaxy".
At one point Arthur Dent's right arm goes floating away when he passes through improbability space.
"How am I going to operate my digital watch now?"
This is a reference to when watches had LED displays instead of liquid crystal today.
To save batteries the face was blank until you pressed a button!
 
Dave said:
And here, thanks to Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, is the latest amazing wonder of directional wireless, which could allow London Croydon pilots to fly in a perfectly straight line, or to land, through cloud, or even at night!!! o_O
Click to expand...
Planes still use this technology. It sounds like a marker beacon used airport approaches, or a VOR before the direction needle was added.


On the calculators - I lost my nice TI calculator in the late '80s, and started taking the family Sears LED scientific to school - along with the power cord. I just started sitting in a desk next to a wall outlet. As far as I know it still works.
 
I still own 16mm, 8mm and 9.5mm film projectors. They are all in working order (at least they were the last time I used them).

The 16mm also handles sound and comes with a really bad speaker.

The Pathe 9.5mm had a worn metal belt drive, which kept slipping so I replaced it using an O Ring and a blob of superglue. Also, the bulb was blown so I replaced it with a halogen but then had to create a swinging arm for it in order that it didn't burn film when stationary. It worked perfectly when in operation (start the film moving then swing the halogen into place and off it went).

I suppose that makes it an old/new tech hybrid.
 
I mentioned this on a thread somewhere else in Chronicles, grandson came to see me and he'd brought an old slide rule to ask about it.

Maybe 18 months ago now, I grabbed it and said "Right, what you do is, er, um..... er"

I couldn't remember how to use it properly! 40 years of using a calculator has erased my old knowledge
 
WarriorMouse said:
As can I.

It was AWESOME!:)
Click to expand...

I even remember when the original Star Trek and Lost in Space where on tv as first run shows.

I can even remember forgotten Saturday morning cartoon shows.:)
 
Not only do I remember slide rules, but I still have three of them. A big one, a small one, and one made in the shape of a cylinder. (I never learned to work that last one, because by the time I inherited it, I had a calculator...)
 
I remember buying my first computer - a Sinclair ZX81. I soon got bored with it and swapped it for a Ghetto Blaster:)
 
REF: Foxbat.
I've still got mine.
But as you need a 625 line TV for display, I don't think you can anymore!
 
Foxbat said:
I remember buying my first computer - a Sinclair ZX81. I soon got bored with it and swapped it for a Ghetto Blaster:)
Click to expand...

My dad 'pilfered' a ZX80 from Napier College at some point in the early 80's.

(He was a lecturer there - he also borrowed Pet Commodores and proper lasers in the 1970s that I remember playing with at home)

We still have it. Ahh... the memories of actually running out of RAM memory (It had 1kb) and not being able to complete programs! :) (when I got the 48kb ZX Spectrum it was like the age of Aquarius had re-dawned)

Having said that it was pretty incredible what one could do with 1kb - there was a chess program with AI that, I believe, used ~800 bytes (y)
 
farntfar said:
Ah! The "were so amazingly primitive that they still though digital watches were a pretty neat idea" thread.

My first calculator was like this one.
Sinclair%20Cambridge%20Scientific_2.jpg


We were all especially impressed that you could write ShELL OIL on it if you turned it upside down.
And it was no use getting used to it, because you could only use sslide rules in exams.
Click to expand...

I remember when many calculators sold for 100 dollars or more. Now they're under 20 bucks.
 
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