Old Tech thread

[Biskit]

Here is the program card from my hoover "Keymatic" washing machine. It is about 4 inches across and double sided so 8 washing programs were available. It was a basic motor and microswitched relay system. No semiconductors.
The machine went 30 years ago but I kept the key because I knew that one day I would need it for a sci-fi and fantasy forum thread

View attachment 65446

That actually looks familiar - I think Mum must have had one, possibly the successor to the twin-tub that had to be hauled out and set up next to the sink.

 

[-K2-]

It wouldn't be a real arcade unless the floor was sticky. It just needs a couple of teens with weedy moustaches smoking in front for that authentic je ne sais quoi.

Arcade+sticky floor... I think you guys are starting to drift into my end of the pool; bookstore movie arcades and the like. Although, the history of that technology is fascinating, actually, genius.

K2

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: Astro Pen.
The good old Hoover Keymatic, we had one of those for years and years, once it needed its brain changing, it was a good sized transparent plastic box filled wires, switches and levers ect. that the program tablet plugged into, you got one program per edge in the tablet so eight in total, wish I'd kept the old brain, it was completely electro-mechanical.

 

[Ursa major]

I remember us (i.e. my parents) having a keymatic. As BigBadBob141 says, there were eight programs (although I don't recall us ever using all eight of them).

 

[Pyan]

Couldn't resist this, if only because it must qualify for the laziest attempt at a snappy slogan ever...

 

[-K2-]

The only can opener you'll ever need... The P-38 & P-51:

K2

 

[Vertigo]

The only can opener you'll ever need... The P-38 & P-51:

K2

They don't last long before they blunt though which is why you used to get a new one in every pack of rations! But agree it's about as compact and simple as you can get. Lethal, though, if you brush against the cut edges!

 

[HareBrain]

I wouldn't use a P-51 or a P-38 to open a can. A can is a very small target to hit on a strafing run, and if you are accurate, those 20mm cannon aren't going to leave much left.

 

[Vince W]

The original multi-tool.

 

[Elckerlyc]

The original multi-tool.

Yep, beats everything.

 

[Parson]

Yep, beats everything.

I'm not sure of that, but it is a smashing success.

 

[Pyan]

The original multi-tool.

I thought it was this one:

 

[Astro Pen]

My 'Man from Uncle' era 16 mm minolta pocket camera. It would probably dispense knockout gas if I knew the button combination. It has a tiny holder that you can hand load film into in the darkroom.

 

[Ursa major]

I thought it was this one:

View attachment 65607

Someone's been boning up (or is it down) on their (film) history....

 

[mosaix]

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

This is precisely why I get so irritated with the ‘we never landed on the moon because the computers weren’t powerful enough or didn’t have enough memory’ crowd.

Modern computers use most of their processing power supporting bloated operating systems that incorporate functions that most of us will never use.

I spent most of my early programming career (during the period when people DID land on the moon) programming complicated commercial systems on a machine that had a 2.4k character (not byte) memory. With a little inventiveness we could work miracles - just like NASA did when they landed on the moon.

*end of rant*

 

[Foxbat]

Talking of moon landings, I remember software (on cassette) I had for my ZX81 about landing on the moon. You had to direct a ‘B‘ to land on a row of ‘A’s using that strange little keyboard. Took about twenty minutes to load the cassette into memory.
Maybe that’s why I swapped it for a boombox

 

[Dave]

Talking of moon landings, I remember software (on cassette) I had for my ZX81 about landing on the moon. You had to direct a ‘B‘ to land on a row of ‘A’s using that strange little keyboard. Took about twenty minutes to load the cassette into memory.

I didn't have a ZX81 myself but I do remember playing that on one.

 

[Astro Pen]

Like @Venusian Broon I had a 4k Commodore PET to play with at work. A wonderful monochrome machine to learn basic programming and control external devices with. True computer adulthood came a little later in the shape of an Olivetti M24, (a PC clone)

 

[Vince W]

Like @Venusian Broon I had a 4k Commodore PET to play with at work. A wonderful monochrome machine to learn basic programming and control external devices with. True computer adulthood came a little later in the shape of an Olivetti M24, (a PC clone)

I used one of those for years at school, first with a tape drive and then floppy disc. Great machine.

 

[Starbeast]

I had a Switchblade cell phone a while back. The idea wasn't popular, so it faded out.