Apparently old electronic devices don't age well

[Brian Austin]

 

[1972coronet]

[Classicgas]

1 hour ago, 1972coronet said:

 

I remember those very well. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

"Well...like...if you have any tech over 2 years old you're just an old fossil living in the past anyway, and you should just die and get out of the way so all the cool hot hip happening folks who make everything better can get on with saving the planet and destroying all the oppressive systems like actual physical work and personal responsibility that have made Western Civilization a living hell."

EDIT: Seriously, none of this stuff was ever really built to last. The disposable consumer society has been a thing for as long as I can remember, and though my parents' generation railed against "planned obsolescence" when I was a kid, it's gradually been accepted as the core business practice that keeps the economy humming along.

I've been angered at the deterioration and failure of random plastic bits under the hoods of vehicles and in many of my older electronic devices, but it's just the way it is. Plastics are employed in many applications they're simply not suited for over the long term, but again, nobody ever expected anyone to try to keep any of this stuff running forever anyway, so you get what you get. And electronic bits, capacitors in particular, tend to deteriorate and fail over time. Nothing new there, and I've had to replace innumerable caps in all kinds of machines over the decades.

But there was a time things were manufactured with repairability in mind, and that concept is rapidly becoming as dead as the dodo. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[stavanzer]

20 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

"Well...like...if you have any tech over 2 years old you're just an old fossil living in the past anyway, and you should just die and get out of the way so all the cool hot hip happening folks who make everything better can get on with saving the planet and destroying all the oppressive systems like actual work and personal responsibility that have made Western Civilization a living hell."

Amen, Brother.

That group will sure be surprised when the Sewers stop running because nobody wants to do "icky" work......

[1972coronet]

36 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

But there was a time things were manufactured with repairability in mind, and that concept is rapidly becoming as dead as ther dodo.

Precisely. Serviceability is gone, and has been for some time. 

But, hey, let's keep those existential landfills happy with 5 year old electronics that're unserviceable.

[Ace-Garageguy]

16 minutes ago, stavanzer said:

That group will sure be surprised when the Sewers stop running because nobody wants to do "icky" work......

Can't you just fix sewers and stuff with a phone app?

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

...But, hey, let's keep those existential landfills happy with 5 year old electronics that're unserviceable.

And ban the production of petrochemicals the plastics in the replacement devices will need to be made from.

A brave new world is coming...

[Rob Hall]

Reality is complex.

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

Reality is complex.

Yup.

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

Yeah, that was the standard I/O form back when I had programming classes at Tech.

And before this goes off the rails with the typical "old man shouting at clouds" memes, just let me say for the hundredth time I think much of today's technology is great.

At the level of computing represented by the photo above, it would probably take a building the size of Lockheed's largest assembly area to house the power of one modern smart-phone...and it would run a helluva lot slower.

Today's tech lets us do some stuff quicker and more conveniently than was even imaginable in those days, but it's also led to an over-reliance on machines to do a lot of our thinking for us, and makes it possible to get so inundated with the trivial and the just plain stupid, that we're losing much of our face-time with the real world and each other...while often sneered-at physical skills that are necessary to keep 'civilization' functioning simply disappear.

Some of the thinkers among us have realized the wisdom of "all things in moderation" since the beginnings of recorded history. They just might have been on to something.  

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[ctruss53]

I collect old mechanical computer keyboards from the 1980s and 1990s because I like how they feel to type on.

I like them so much that I brought one to work to use. And I have 3 more in a box in case that one breaks.

Sometimes after I type something like this I think "Holy H E Double Hockey Sticks, Chad. You sound like you are 100 years old."

I'm only 45. I'm not even a baby boomer.

Edited March 23, 2023 by ctruss53
I didn't think H-E-L-L would be sensored.

[peteski]

I also have some older tech.  Vectrex Video Game from the '80s and several Casio calculators from the '70s,  They are perfectly serviceable.  Too bad I didn't keep the original Pong game - that would be worth some money.

My favorite Casio calculator (um, a "micro computer") is MQ-2  It can perform calculations on dates too.  Like you if you want to know the date some x number of days in the past or future,  or if you want to see how many days there are between two dates. It is cool!

The earlier version of that device (MQ-1) was used as a prop in the original Star Wars movie and when they show up on eBay that fetch some good money.

Edited March 23, 2023 by peteski

[1972coronet]

6 hours ago, Classicgas said:

I remember those very well.

Me mum worked for the local -  one of the regional - telephone company ( G.T.E. , now Verizon, et alia ) , so she used to bring home old/blemished/etc. punched cards for me to draw on. Those and Tele-Type paper (ends of the scrolls and torn pieces of them). 

To this day I mention Punched Cards and Tele-Types to these kids who complain about their fill-in-the-blank electronic  leashes devices : "Maybe you need a new punched card for updates. Go to the store and enquire about a new punched card for updates and jailbreak controls."

[webestang]

I still use one of these..............

 

I also still shoot film and watch VHS tapes. 

[1972coronet]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

Vectrex Video Game

Those were so awesome ! A well-heeled friend of mine had one in c.1983; a very expensive gaming system (somewhere in the low-mid hundreds) for its time. 

IIRC, it included acetate sheets for screen overlays which were subjective and exclusive to the specific game being played. 

Very cool.

[1972coronet]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Today's tech lets us do some stuff quicker and more conveniently than was even imaginable in those days, but it's also led to an over-reliance on machines to do a lot of our thinking for us, and makes it possible to get so inundated with the trivial and the just plain stupid, that we're losing much of our face-time with the real world and each other..

 

[Classicgas]

7 minutes ago, webestang said:

I still use one of these..............

 

I also still shoot film and watch VHS tapes. 

Didn't know you could still buy it. Must be hard to find.

[SSNJim]

10 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

They make pretty nice wreaths, too.

Edited March 23, 2023 by SSNJim

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Classicgas said:

Didn't know you could still buy it. Must be hard to find.

Ribbons are available from several sources. Here's one:     https://www.typewritercollector.com/collectible/ribbons.htm

Edited March 24, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[Classicgas]

Actually I was thinking of film, but I didn't know about typewriter ribbon either.

[Rob Hall]

I do have some older tech at home—various pieces of stereo equipment—but some older technology doesn’t just doesn’t work well with modern technologies—a VHS tape looks really bad playing on a modern large HDTV for example.  I couldn’t imagine using my laptops from the 90s or 00s today—too slow, too limited in storage, incompatible with current software, etc...or my cellphones from 10-25 years ago.   I used a typewriter in high school in the 80s, but once I started using computers with word processing software, there was no point in going back to a typewriter.  Once digital cameras came about, I was done with film.  

 As someone that works in tech, I’m always about moving forward and building on past knowledge with new and emerging technology to build stuff for the future.. so many products (hardware and software) become obsolete pretty quickly...

Edited March 24, 2023 by Rob Hall

[webestang]

3 hours ago, Classicgas said:

Didn't know you could still buy it. Must be hard to find.

I have about 14 typewriters in my collection. Just found another 3 weeks ago at a thrift shop for $12. Lucky for me here in St. Louis there is still

a typewriter repair shop.  

2 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

Actually I was thinking of film, but I didn't know about typewriter ribbon either.

For me it's easy to get, I work at a brick/mortar camera store/lab. We stock all the current films being made. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

16 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

Actually I was thinking of film, but I didn't know about typewriter ribbon either.

Yeah, quite a few black-and white films and color print and slide films are readily available. The old-school photography movement is going strong.

Right off hand, I don't know if anyone still makes new VHS tapes, but there seems to be plenty of new-old-stock still out there.

https://www.amazon.com/new-vhs-tapes/s?k=new+vhs+tapes

Edited March 24, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[Brian Austin]

My father and grandfather were both involved in computer programming.  I grew up with reams of blue-and-white printout paper to draw on, and the rather brittle plastic flow chart templates they brought home.  Boston was a hub of early computer development, and there used to be a computer museum around here with mainframes and such on view.

In regards to the video, I don't think the manufacturers anticipated a movement of crazy electronics collectors hanging on to their devices decades past their Use By date.  🙂