Old and obsolete tech you know how to use - (and that for some reason insist on using)

[AmpleApricots]

I wear a cheap casio watch with an armband that actually fits my wrist and is comfortable. The upside with wearing such a watch is that nobody will want to steal it from you and if you scratch it to hell or break it otherwise (I do a lot of DIY stuff) you can just buy a new one without feeling bad about the money. The battery lasts about 8 years and is replaceable. Sometimes you have to readjust the time but at least no silicon valley company will track how often you jerk off or wethever or not you use no-no words in daily conversation.

 

[White Devil]

I wear the same Casio dive watch I've had forever, with a NATO strap. Still looks stylish and classy imo, I just need to get it relumed.

 

[Kheapathic]

I see less and less people with analog wrist watches now. Everyone has a fuckin smart watch. I can't imagine having to charge my watch every couple of days.

I have two watches; one is for those rare events where I have to dress up, the other is my daily driver which I haven't taken off in... I don't know how long. Got it back in 2005 at Wal-Mart for $20. Even if it's off by a minute or so is whatever and I don't even adjust Daylight Saving's Time for it. I replace the battery when needed and that's it. The last time the strap fell off, a long time ago. I'm just one of those old fags who like technology to be what it's made for. Sure it's cool to have a wrist watch that can see how many steps you've taken, your heart rate, when you've taken a shit, that works as a bluetooth mic/speaker for your actual phone, and more. But I'm gonna have a watch to tell time, to stop me from pulling my phone out to see the time. And speaking of phones, sure all the cool shit that comes with a smart phone is cool and useful when you need it; but outside of the occasional need to check for an important email and shit like that, my phone is a phone, it sends and receives calls... and if it wasn't practically required to have one in today's society and workplace, I'd have a landline, with an answering machine, and I'll get back to you on my time.

 

[Stasi]

I'm with Douglas Adams and think analog watches are infinitely more expressive than digital watches. I wear a simple diving watch myself, not a diver though I do use the bezel regularly, mostly as a cooking timer. Don't see myself ever wearing a digital watch and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing an apple watch or one of those other 'smart' monstrosities.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Terminals I guess, they're a bit strange to most people. It worked like sheets of paper or work orders, you signed in the right place. That meant using the arrow keys to navigate to the exact right spot(s) to enter commands, f39 entered at that exact X and Y coordinate, putting an 's' at that place, you know 'k' is a command so it goes in there, then there's the routing....

Ok, it all looks good and in the right place, let's send it - a terminal is like sending signed papers in.

...the modern processing program isn't catching anything coming from the queue... why... oh shit I have to call Gothenburg.

I sort of know terminals.

 

[SmokeyMcRunFast]

View attachment 1661409

Yes I'm well aware that they are still very common, especially in small shops but the CNC revolution has made them obsolete for large scale manufacturing.

It’s still an art knowing how to do precision work on a manual mill and lathe. I used to do precision bearing work and can hit +/- 0.0001 on a lathe. It is a dying art especially with CNC getting cheaper.

I can think of two things:
Punch card operated musical boxes (These seem to start to become oddly popular recently).
"Carousel" projectors. I know how to give them maintenance, prepare the slides and load em up, this has never been useful in my life, not even once.

I too can do that. Especially since my dad has a bunch of pictures that were only developed into slides.

Do people even still use kerosene heaters anymore, or they all electric?

I remember growing up we had one that was broken out every winter. Not every gas station sold kerosene, but there was a nearby Hess that did. I think sometime back in the mid nineties they changed the law and required all kerosene canisters to be blue due to fires caused by people using the wrong fuel. So my parents just sprayed painted the red one we had been using. And then they'd use a siphon to fill up the heater, light it with a match and voila, cheap heating.

Don't know why I randomly remembered that.

They still sell them in some places. I keep one along with a few kerosene lanterns for emergencies.

Mine would be the ability to bring a boiler to pressure and run a steam engine.

 

[Mr. Skeltal]

I was trained on how to use a quadrant compass in college. An azimuthal heading like 045° (due northeast) instead reads N45E on a quadrant compass. A little quirk about this style of heading is reporting when you change quadrant. 089° and 091° both point roughly east but are reported as N89E and S89E respectively. East has no north/south component so 090° reads as 90E. North and south are both 0's, so the close you get to due north or due south the lower the reading's number is and the due headings are reported as N0 or S0. It's quirky but is strangely much more intuitive than azimuthual headings when in the field.

Retracing a survey in the lab is much easier with quadrant field notes than with azimuth.

 

[XYZpdq]

I don't use a regular watch. Most circumstances I have where Time is important I have a few different displays blasting it at any moment.
But I've had a Smart Watch for years that I got from a buddy who got it free when renewing his cell phone plan but then he never used it, and I've similarly never used it.
I'm not into having crap strapped to my wrist and so far the best thing I've heard it can do for me is display like the guy's watch from Big O. Which I'll admit is kinda cool but isn't really a thing I've been unable to live without.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I still play an old Sega Genesis (Mega Drive outside of Burgerland) now and then.

The only connection to the display is that antenna out thing, which the display picks up on channel 3 or 4. Reception can vary from decent to shimmering patterns (which works with an underwater game like Ecco).

 

[Luminous47]

I still like to use my brother’s windows 7 laptop ever since I got a new charger for it. The big thing still works and I prefer it over my other laptop anyday. I also enjoy the GBA SP too for Pokemon games.

 

[Kiislova]

I still play an old Sega Genesis (Mega Drive outside of Burgerland) now and then.

The only connection to the display is that antenna out thing, which the display picks up on channel 3 or 4. Reception can vary from decent to shimmering patterns (which works with an underwater game like Ecco).

There are mods to get composite/rgb out from Megadrives. Some models even have a DIN connector with the outputs ready to use.

 

[Kosher Dill]

There are mods to get composite/rgb out from Megadrives. Some models even have a DIN connector with the outputs ready to use.

Megadrive/Genesis is such a trainwreck hardware-wise that it's better to just buy an Analogue Mega Sg rather than spending a red cent on modding it.

 

[Toolbox]

I still play an old Sega Genesis (Mega Drive outside of Burgerland) now and then.

The only connection to the display is that antenna out thing, which the display picks up on channel 3 or 4. Reception can vary from decent to shimmering patterns (which works with an underwater game like Ecco).

The funniest thing about all these consoles having only RF out is that you can turn your console into a tv station with the right hardware.

The guy starts messing with this concept at around 14:00 (most of the video is going over the details).

 

[Kiislova]

The funniest thing about all these consoles having only RF out is that you can turn your console into a tv station with the right hardware.

The guy starts messing with this concept at around 14:00 (most of the video is going over the details).

Is a bit too late to go full Max Headroom with that. All analog TV seems gone for good.

 

[Toolbox]

Is a bit too late to go full Max Headroom with that. All analog TV seems gone for good.

Surprisingly not as dead as you'd think. Some smart TVs even still come with antennas. (Optionally)

 

[heyitsmike]

Some smart TVs even still come with antennas.

I think you mean tuner, not antenna. But all televisions sold in the US are required to have a TV tuner, smart television or no.

A few years back Vizio came out with a few 'tuner free displays.' They had to call them displays because they weren't legally allowed to call them televisions without an ATSC/NTSC tuner.

 

[Pickle Dick]

I think you mean tuner, not antenna. But all televisions sold in the US are required to have a TV tuner, smart television or no.

A few years back Vizio came out with a few 'tuner free displays.' They had to call them displays because they weren't legally allowed to call them televisions without an ATSC/NTSC tuner.

lol gay

the only cord i should need to watch tv should just be the antenna, i dont want any nasty external turner

 

[WarJams]

One of those old timey manual credit card slide carbon copy imprinters. I learned how to use one and it came in handy a few times when the fucking communication lines would go down, but people still needed to pay for things immediately and didn't have any cash money. It's not a huge deal, and it's not even complicated, I just got to thinking about it 'cause I went into a Wendy's recently and their computers were down, and they literally don't know how to even function at that point. They might as well bolt the doors.

 

[Kheapathic]

One of those old timey manual credit card slide carbon copy imprinters. I learned how to use one and it came in handy a few times when the fucking communication lines would go down, but people still needed to pay for things immediately and didn't have any cash money. It's not a huge deal, and it's not even complicated, I just got to thinking about it 'cause I went into a Wendy's recently and their computers were down, and they literally don't know how to even function at that point. They might as well bolt the doors.

Nothing against fast-food or retail (I did my time at Jack's and Wal-Mart); but if you're not a kid who's using it as a stepping stone, I don't agree with all the livable wage shit. Some tech is ancient so yeah, it probably never gets used when the tech we have now goes down; but I've watched people struggle to make change without the computer running the numbers for them. If I see a "System is down, Cash Only" sign, I don't go in; nothing against them, but if I have to correct someone on how to make change, I'm gonna turn into a spergy idiot and will just save both parties a lot of time.

 

[Kiislova]

[...] if I have to correct someone on how to make change, I'm gonna turn into a spergy idiot and will just save both parties a lot of time.

Even the most retarded fast-food employee can use the calculator on their shiny iPhones, right?
... Right!?