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Sten Freak posted:There's a commercial from a while back that shows the inventor of the USB walking through a room while people cheer and hi-five him in slow mo like a sports star or something. USB did do away with so much pain but I got a little irked when I saw it because of the physical design of the port itself - a connector that can fit both ways. How many times have you had to reverse a cable, particularly on a new machine or piece of hardware or if you're in IT and have to deal with racks and new configurations all the time (haven't worked with hardware in years but still)? USB's also kind of a horrorshow when it comes to implementing OS support for it. You'd think there'd be about 6 drivers you'd ever have to write: mass storage, audio, network, video, keyboard, mouse, serial. Noooope, for some reason individual USB devices need special driver support even though at the end of the day all they do is e.g. push packets out over the loving network.
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Feb 23, 2016 17:48
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Pham Nuwen posted:USB's also kind of a horrorshow when it comes to implementing OS support for it. You'd think there'd be about 6 drivers you'd ever have to write: mass storage, audio, network, video, keyboard, mouse, serial. Noooope, for some reason individual USB devices need special driver support even though at the end of the day all they do is e.g. push packets out over the loving network. Plus you get to write support for OHCI, UHCI, EHCI and XHCI controllers! Also, USB-C does finally allow you to insert either way round.
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Feb 23, 2016 18:00
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Mad Monk posted:drat, I have or had one of these things laying around, went to take a picture of it but I guess somebody took it. Anyway here's a stock image. What is that thing?
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Feb 23, 2016 18:06
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feedmegin posted:Plus you get to write support for OHCI, UHCI, EHCI and XHCI controllers! USB-C still has fragile innards in the connector right, unlike the thing on iPhones?
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Feb 23, 2016 18:09
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calvus posted:What is that thing? It's a printing terminal with a built-in modem. You dial the computer using the telephone, then stick the handset in the terminal as shown in the pic. The terminal then prints characters sent by the remote system. Anything you type gets sent over the line.
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Feb 23, 2016 18:10
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Seeing the phone base for that terminal brings another tech improvement which is a massive disappointment to mind: Phone call quality is basically steaming dung now. In the days of everyone using a land line quality was so so so so much better. AT&T claimed "Hear a pin drop" (or whatever that slogan was) and it was almost true and shows the quality of the call was a big deal pre cells or voip for everyone. and all. And I text 100x more than I talk like everyone else but goddamn I miss the days of landline quality. The quality of an audio connection apparently is not considered anymore for devices or the backbone to support them.
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Feb 23, 2016 18:43
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Sten Freak posted:
Hmm, I thought phone quality was, overall, still getting better. Just recently I was talking to someone and noticed that it actually sounded much better than it normally does, and it's been like that ever since. Maybe I'm just ~hearing things~, though.
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Feb 23, 2016 18:48
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It's more of a technical relic, but I just scored a 32" Samsung Tantus from my brother in law for free because he refused to move it lol. My xbox/ps2/GameCube look loving fantastic now and the TV has a built-in subwoofer, but god drat was that thing tough to get into my basement... I seriously about gave up. I guess it could count as a "computer" relic, since it appeared to have a DVI port? What I'm getting at is wide screen, HD, CRT TVs are abominations
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Feb 23, 2016 19:00
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calvus posted:1920x1080 isn't even that new right? I thought most people would have that by now Technically it's been a thing for about a decade but its adoption on computers was limited for a while. I remember 1680x1050 was the hot thing around 2007 or so because no one could run 1080p games because the resolution was too high. Obviously some cards existed but they were the $600 cards. These days those same cards do the dual monitor 4k poo poo, but any "high end" laptop will max out at 1080p unless it's a Macbook with a Retina Display or something like that.
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Feb 23, 2016 19:05
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Sten Freak posted:Seeing the phone base for that terminal brings another tech improvement which is a massive disappointment to mind: Phone call quality is basically steaming dung now. In the days of everyone using a land line quality was so so so so much better. AT&T claimed "Hear a pin drop" (or whatever that slogan was) and it was almost true and shows the quality of the call was a big deal pre cells or voip for everyone. Sprint's logo is still a stylized pin dropping.
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Feb 23, 2016 20:04
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Data Graham posted:Sprint's logo is still a stylized pin dropping. Well I'll be damned
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Feb 23, 2016 22:15
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There's no point, I'm already halfway dead. I can feel my neurons dying little by little every day. I can't remember names for poo poo! E: wrong thread. Keeping it here anyway
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Feb 23, 2016 22:16
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Gimbal lock posted:There's no point, I'm already halfway dead. I can feel my neurons dying little by little every day. I can't remember names for poo poo! 
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Feb 24, 2016 05:30
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:Hmm, I thought phone quality was, overall, still getting better. Just recently I was talking to someone and noticed that it actually sounded much better than it normally does, and it's been like that ever since. Maybe I'm just ~hearing things~, though. Cellphones have recently started doing voice over data in better quality, under assorted branding. Availability depends on phone / network / country /signal strength, but it's apparently much better when it works. You can also get a similar experience with any VoIP app, e.g. Skype.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:54
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Computer viking posted:Cellphones have recently started doing voice over data in better quality, under assorted branding. Availability depends on phone / network / country /signal strength, but it's apparently much better when it works. You can also get a similar experience with any VoIP app, e.g. Skype. I actually prefer to make calls via the Signal app instead of the regular phone-call way. Come for the paranoid encryption, stay for the superior sound quality...
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Feb 24, 2016 18:09
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I've read somewhere that in early days of digital telephony telcos used to artificially inkect noise into the line, because people were thinking that line has dropped.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:09
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Makes sense because complete dead silence is rather unnatural and disconcerting, especially when they probably apply some sort of floor filter in order to reduce the bandwidth but ends up cutting out all of the natural noises you'd normally get like breathing, wind/movement and other background noises.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:50
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Powered Descent posted:I actually prefer to make calls via the Signal app instead of the regular phone-call way. Come for the paranoid encryption, stay for the superior sound quality... It's not bad. I think Skype might have better sound, but signal has better privacy and I already use it for messaging - so yes. I seem to remember hearing that cellphone sound quality is typically even worse in the US than Europe, but I haven't had the opportunity to compare. Any international travellers that have noticed a difference?
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Feb 25, 2016 03:05
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Doctor Bombadil posted:I've read somewhere that in early days of digital telephony telcos used to artificially inkect noise into the line, because people were thinking that line has dropped. I'm pretty sure that's still done.
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Feb 25, 2016 09:07
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While we're on the subject of cell phones, tell me if I'm crazy, goons... It seems like way too often, if I'm listening to a phone interview on the radio, or just if I'm talking to someone, if at any point one of the people using a cell phone either yells a certain way or makes a long sound, almost like singing a musical note, I've noticed that a number tone is triggered. Has anyone else noticed this? At first, of course, I just thought that it was them accidentally hitting a number, but time after time, I've noticed it, always under the same circumstances... Person yells loudly or creates a 'tone' with their voice, usually in speech', and then I'll hear "beep". I'd be able to predict it, but it always happens so fast. I'm never surprised anymore when it does though.
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Feb 25, 2016 11:32
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Don't fool yourselves kids, a cell call or VOIP will ALWAYS sound monumentally mud compared to a pure landline connection. It's not even a contest and despite whatever advances mobile carriers claim it's always poo poo and it's always constant. tl;dr: Yer phone loving sucks.
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Feb 25, 2016 12:09
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Good the less people call me the better.
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Feb 25, 2016 12:11
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thathonkey posted:Good the less people call me the better. Unfortunately, I work in a place where the phones are VOIP and they ring off the hook anyways. C.B. radio would be a better communication medium than what I'm dealing with. Add in some mobile phone jackoff that feels asking technical questions with their background noise resembling a Showbiz Pizza Parlor or a circus midway and I just give up. Phone etiquette is completely nonexistent anymore.
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Feb 25, 2016 12:23
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Robnoxious posted:Don't fool yourselves kids, a cell call or VOIP will ALWAYS sound monumentally mud compared to a pure landline connection. Not always the case. Where I work we switched from a traditional landline setup to a VOIP setup when we moved offices about 5 years ago. Pretty much everyone had this same experience on answering a phone call from someone else in the building for the first time, "Holy poo poo, you sound like you're right next to me." The call quality is excellent and the best I've ever experienced, and I'm a guy that really liked to "mess around with" phones in the 80s and 90s.
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Feb 25, 2016 14:00
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use FaceTime namaste
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Feb 25, 2016 14:33
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Quantum of Phallus posted:use FaceTime namaste Seriously, I can't remember the last time I actually called my parents with a phone (when I was home). These video phone thingies are great! Long live the video phone! It's happened! For anyone who doesn't have Facetime/an apple device, while Skype works, so does Facebook chat, and it's surprisingly ok. Probably easier for your parents to figure out than Skype, to be honest.
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Feb 25, 2016 14:37
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Robnoxious posted:Don't fool yourselves kids, a cell call or VOIP will ALWAYS sound monumentally mud compared to a pure landline connection. Haha no. VoIP is no more or less than streaming low-latency mono audio. As a best case, imagine using uncompressed 16bit/44.1kHZ "CD quality" audio. That's a perfectly manageable 88 kB/sec each direction, and if you think analogue phone lines (with their bandpass filters and silence detection and multiple levels of amplification) will end up sounding better than that, you will have to come up with a very good argument. Of course, VoIP doesn't use uncompressed audio. That doesn't mean it has to sound much worse - if we look to mp3 for an estimate, even a very manageable 24 kB/sec (192kbit) will sound quite good, and that's on music and in stereo; I expect the dedicated mono voice codecs will do equally well with even less. Land lines handsets tend to have better speakers and microphones than cellphones, though - I'll give you that.
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Feb 25, 2016 15:18
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thathonkey posted:Good the less people call me the better. I remember when we had dialup our phone lines were so lovely that someone calling you would kill the connection. We eventually got a second line for internet-only. Now that I think about it it was probably related to call waiting, but we weren't smart enough to disable that apparently.
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Feb 25, 2016 15:43
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Mak0rz posted:I remember when we had dialup our phone lines were so lovely that someone calling you would kill the connection. We eventually got a second line for internet-only. If it weren't for work I wouldn't even be using a landline now
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Feb 25, 2016 15:53
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Feb 25, 2016 16:22
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Quantum of Phallus posted:use FaceTime namaste Only one even close to an old land-line Protip - audio only is great
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Feb 25, 2016 16:37
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Mak0rz posted:Now that I think about it it was probably related to call waiting, but we weren't smart enough to disable that apparently. Look at this scrub who can't *70.
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Feb 25, 2016 16:52
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Is wi-fi calling audio quality better than regular on an iphone 6? I can get that through my carrier now i wonder if it is as good as facetime audio only.
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Feb 25, 2016 16:54
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thathonkey posted:Is wi-fi calling audio quality better than regular on an iphone 6? I can get that through my carrier now i wonder if it is as good as facetime audio only. If the person you're talking to is also using wifi calling, at least in my experience. It's the best phone call quality I've ever heard.
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Feb 25, 2016 17:07
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stubblyhead posted:Look at this scrub who can't *70. Just dial 10-10-220
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Feb 25, 2016 17:17
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Computer viking posted:That's a perfectly manageable 88 kB/sec each direction, and if you think analogue phone lines (with their bandpass filters and silence detection and multiple levels of amplification) will end up sounding better than that, you will have to come up with a very good argument. Maybe a local call back in the days of mechanical switches when it basically was just connecting two wires, but, yeah, modern codecs are capable of much better quality at lower data rates than the ancient G.711 codec.
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Feb 25, 2016 17:38
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Data Graham posted:Just dial 10-10-220 Oh jeez, these 10-10 numbers. John Lithgow's 10-10-321 commercials.
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Feb 25, 2016 18:52
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Honestly, at this point I've been using headphones and natural aging so long that everything sounds like poo poo so now music out of 150$ sounds the same as out of 15$ headphones, regardless of encoding! Soon my eyes will go to crap and I can enjoy 720p resolution on a 4K screen! Life Hack!
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Feb 25, 2016 19:14
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Cojawfee posted:Oh jeez, these 10-10 numbers. John Lithgow's 10-10-321 commercials. Just dial down the middle: 800 C-A-L-L A-T-T! Save a buck or two or three!
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Feb 25, 2016 19:29
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Arkanomen posted:Honestly, at this point I've been using headphones and natural aging so long that everything sounds like poo poo so now music out of 150$ sounds the same as out of 15$ headphones, regardless of encoding! Soon my eyes will go to crap and I can enjoy 720p resolution on a 4K screen! Sounds like a good way to save money tbh.
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Feb 25, 2016 19:40
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