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I've been watching the old history series Connections, and the first five minutes or so of this episode (video is put together in an irritating way to avoid copyright claims) helpfully explains the excess of polyester fabric and woodgrained plastic of that era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PMtny1XiD8 Basically, people thought of plastic as cheap crap, so it was "made to look like other things" to get people to buy it. Hence (I assume), WOODGRAIN. Plastic clothing was futuristic, I guess like how neon colors were in the late 80's early 90's. Even if I'm wrong about my assumption it's a great series and everyone should watch it.
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Feb 5, 2017 20:59
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Clothing that doesn't breathe at all must feel fantastic. I think somebody posted some sort of new and insane accelerator for an 8 or 16 bit computer in this thread but now I can't find it. Anyone remember what that was? Casimir Radon has a new favorite as of 23:55 on Feb 5, 2017 |
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Feb 5, 2017 21:30
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doctorfrog posted:I've been watching the old history series Connections, and the first five minutes or so of this episode (video is put together in an irritating way to avoid copyright claims) helpfully explains the excess of polyester fabric and woodgrained plastic of that era. Connections is The poo poo and I wish I could find a usa region dvd set of them all
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Feb 6, 2017 02:09
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Regular Nintendo posted:Connections is The poo poo and I wish I could find a usa region dvd set of them all I had to go to the library, and they have the full set, but none from Connections 2 :-( Speaking of tech relics, libraries are great (mine lets you borrow laptops and tablets and hook into some dealie that lets you borrow ebooks and e-audiobooks), and so are books, but that's kinda outside thread scope.
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Feb 6, 2017 02:25
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doctorfrog posted:I've been watching the old history series Connections, and the first five minutes or so of this episode (video is put together in an irritating way to avoid copyright claims) helpfully explains the excess of polyester fabric and woodgrained plastic of that era. It's also the fact that "$thing used to be rare and expensive, but now anyone can get it!" So wood paneled rooms used to be really expensive, and so were seen as luxurious, until wood panelling came along, then everybody was able to have one. Once everyone had one, it became cheap and tacky. See also the popularity of wall to wall carpeting, then hardwood floors.
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Feb 6, 2017 02:38
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Skeuomorphic design. Also common in building and objects design where the look of wooden beams or finishes were replicated in stone. It also crossed over to pottery with handles that mimicked the look of rope or rivets that held the object together. Granted it's use as a way to communicate how something works via imitating a familiar style, such as a kettle that might be electric but looks like a stove-top, is one form of design. Technically buttons fall under this, if only because they once were seen as a sign of wealth or indicators of status, such as giving pearl buttons as a reward in lower classes, so if you ever seen a historical drama where they appear to have lots of excessive buttons hanging off their coat tails or on lapels, that's just them showing off. This sort of still is around in things like suit cuffs where buttons are usually sewn in and can't be undone.
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Feb 6, 2017 05:46
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Suit coats are full of little oddities like decorative pockets and the lower front button, which seems to exist solely for the purpose of being taught never to use it.
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Feb 6, 2017 14:27
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Kelp Me! posted:Suit coats are full of little oddities like decorative pockets and the lower front button, which seems to exist solely for the purpose of being taught never to use it. I've never quite understood the suit button thing - it's the same look you get if the pillowcase is too small for the pillow. I still leave it open (since the cut makes closing it look weird - and marks you as clueless). It seems like an artifact of suit design suddenly freezing more than it being the best possible choice - there seems to be a lot of weirdness in formal men's clothes up to it suddenly stopping at the suit. Computer viking has a new favorite as of 18:43 on Feb 6, 2017 |
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Feb 6, 2017 18:39
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Computer viking posted:I've never quite understood the suit button thing - it's the same look you get if the pillowcase is too small for the pillow. I still leave it open (since the cut makes closing it look weird - and marks you as clueless). It seems like an artifact of suit design suddenly freezing more than it being the best possible choice - there seems to be a lot of weirdness in formal men's clothes up to it suddenly stopping at the suit. The story goes that King Edward VII was too fat to button the bottom one and nobody wanted to say anything so everyone started doing it. It's not that far-fetched of a story but it makes me wonder why 1-button jackets haven't caught on.
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Feb 6, 2017 18:54
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Kelp Me! posted:The story goes that King Edward VII was too fat to button the bottom one and nobody wanted to say anything so everyone started doing it. It's not that far-fetched of a story but it makes me wonder why 1-button jackets haven't caught on. I see them enough. They're just the third most popular I think.
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Feb 7, 2017 00:41
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Sometimes Always Never Sometimes Always What about 1-button?
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Feb 7, 2017 00:52
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You just button the one button
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Feb 7, 2017 00:58
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Sometimes E: it's also known as the suit you buy if you don't want to risk being able to do it wrong
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Feb 7, 2017 00:59
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At least "unbutton your jacket when seated, always" is pretty common sense although I have seen at least 2 people forget and pop the button right off their jackets 
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Feb 7, 2017 00:59
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Metal Geir Skogul posted:Sometimes Well that will guarantee that it'll be; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4dx42YzQCE
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Feb 7, 2017 03:24
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New video by State of Electronics! As with the people in the video I got my start with electronics with the books and it's always interesting seeing some of my old employers talking about them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKAqALa3sJI
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Feb 7, 2017 05:50
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Found this today at the Goodwill Bins. NEC PC-8300 circa 1985. Boasts ~16 hours of operational time from 4x AA batteries. Running software from ROM. 
super nailgun has a new favorite as of 08:07 on Feb 9, 2017 |
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Feb 9, 2017 05:25
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super nailgun posted:Found this today at the Goodwill Bins. NEC PC-8300 circa 1985. Boasts ~16 hours of operational time from 4x AA batteries. Running MS-DOS from ROM. Computinghistory UK posted:still in use today by a surprising number of people.  Well now I am even more intrigued. I guess this would be like the most extra way of taking a quick digital note. Though I of course immediately wonder if you can play any DOS games on it (40 columns text-only display...hmm, maybe some terrible Rogue knockoff?)
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Feb 9, 2017 05:59
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Dr. Quarex posted:I guess this would be like the most extra way of taking a quick digital note. Like an AlphaSmart, except you can 10 PRINT "LOL" 20 GOTO 10 if you feel like it.
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Feb 9, 2017 06:01
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Platystemon posted:Like an AlphaSmart, except you can 10 PRINT "HOME 20 PRINT "SWEET" 30 GOTO 10
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Feb 9, 2017 09:41
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Dr. Quarex posted:I guess this would be like the most extra way of taking a quick digital note. Though I of course immediately wonder if you can play any DOS games on it (40 columns text-only display...hmm, maybe some terrible Rogue knockoff?) I've often considered getting an older machine with a proper keyboard for writing long things while on the move: perhaps writing my Great American Novel at last. Sadly, most of these can't be synced to modern computers any more as they use obsolete connectors and software.
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Feb 9, 2017 10:41
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spog posted:I've often considered getting an older machine with a proper keyboard for writing long things while on the move: perhaps writing my Great American Novel at last. It's well known that George R. R. Martin uses an old computer with DOS and Wordstar. My theory on the delays is it fucks up occasionally and he loses chapters that he has to re-write.
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Feb 9, 2017 10:59
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Platystemon posted:Like an AlphaSmart, except you can 
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Feb 9, 2017 11:11
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Humphreys posted:It's well known that George R. R. Martin uses an old computer with DOS and Wordstar.
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Feb 9, 2017 14:24
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spog posted:I've often considered getting an older machine with a proper keyboard for writing long things while on the move: perhaps writing my Great American Novel at last. Actually, this particular computer and its brother the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 should be very easy to transfer to/from using a serial-to-USB converter. super nailgun posted:Found this today at the Goodwill Bins. NEC PC-8300 circa 1985. Boasts ~16 hours of operational time from 4x AA batteries. Running software from ROM. This thing is awesome  I've been stalking ebay for a good one at a good price but they tend to be Buy It Now just out of what I'm willing to pay
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Feb 10, 2017 00:31
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Pham Nuwen posted:Actually, this particular computer and its brother the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 should be very easy to transfer to/from using a serial-to-USB converter. I had a computer teacher in junior high school who biked to work with a trs 80 in a side basket every day. The lab was all Apple IIe (with the odd IIc here and there), but he was a Tandy guy. I honestly have no idea what he did on it all day. I mostly played Conan and Bard's Tale on the IIe.
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Feb 10, 2017 01:49
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Pham Nuwen posted:Actually, this particular computer and its brother the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 should be very easy to transfer to/from using a serial-to-USB converter. What on earth does it do? Like what's it for?
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Feb 10, 2017 03:02
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DicktheCat posted:What on earth does it do? Like what's it for? Well, I'm pretty sure it ships with a basic text editor, spreadsheet, address book, terminal emulator, and a few other basics (including BASIC). It was apparently quite popular with reporters, who could write up a story and send it in via the built-in modem from their hotel room.
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Feb 10, 2017 04:36
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spog posted:I've often considered getting an older machine with a proper keyboard for writing long things while on the move: perhaps writing my Great American Novel at last. Challenge accepted. I imagine that in a number of cases you could get a serial-to-USB adapter and a funky serial cable to attach things, and in the worst case maybe you have to use DOSBox to run some old software to convert file formats. I'm sure most portables would have had ways to get their data onto PCs, and there are ways to get most old PC software emulated on new PCs and most old PC connectors hooked up to new PCs. Of course if it came with a proprietary ISA adapter you might need a bit of an older PC (and hence OS) for that Maybe you don't want to carry around a serial-to-USB adapter + a gender changer + a 9-to-25-pin adapter + some other weird adapter though, but that PC-8300 doesn't look too small itself!
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Feb 11, 2017 09:43
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spog posted:I've often considered getting an older machine with a proper keyboard for writing long things while on the move: perhaps writing my Great American Novel at last. What you want is an Alphasmart(already mentioned once on this page)  It's basically a keyboard with a bit of memory and an LCD screen. You type up your notes/novel/whatever, then connect it to your computer and hit send. Then it retypes it into whatever word processing software you want to use on your computer. The later models(3000/NEO) are USB compatible(though you might not have the right cord, I think it's USB-B instead of a more common connector). Earlier models use the old Mac standard keyboard connector, so you might need an adapter for current computers. It's all powered by a couple of AA batteries, and they last forever between recharging(long enough you could probably make do with non-recharagables) I bought mine on Amazon from a third party seller for about 15 bucks. They were big in education back in the late 90s, early 00s; mine still had students' assignments on it. My favorite was the story of how Micheal Jordan had to turn to a 12 year old basketball coach to get over a slump.
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Feb 11, 2017 23:09
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Anyone who owns a printer is going to have a USB B cable.
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Feb 11, 2017 23:48
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torgo posted:What you want is an Alphasmart(already mentioned once on this page) Even as someone with a PC and a bunch of games on it, I wanted something without distractions, dedicated to writing, way back in the early 00's. Weren't they kinda expensive for what they were? For some reason I'm thinking like $300.
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Feb 12, 2017 06:33
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They are about 25 dollars now.
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Feb 12, 2017 16:53
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doctorfrog posted:Even as someone with a PC and a bunch of games on it, I wanted something without distractions, dedicated to writing, way back in the early 00's. Weren't they kinda expensive for what they were? For some reason I'm thinking like $300. They were being sold as educational technology for students who couldn't write. Before tablets they had that market pretty much locked up. Being a de facto institutional standard lets you charge a high price. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoGl8-Wc-L0 VideoTapir has a new favorite as of 17:40 on Feb 12, 2017 |
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Feb 12, 2017 17:37
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My dad correctly thought overpaying for a TI was stupid so for high school Analysis/Calculus I used a Casio graphing calculator. It had a color screen and a better refresh rate (aka it was better for games) and I had no less than 3 people offer to trade their TI-89/84+ Special Titanium or Whatever Edition for my $40 POS. my dad also collects HP Voyager calculators and is legitimately good at using RPN tho so I'm glad I didn't follow all his advice Snow Cone Capone has a new favorite as of 17:49 on Feb 12, 2017 |
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Feb 12, 2017 17:47
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Cojawfee posted:They are about 25 dollars now. I have impulse control issues; I just ordered one.
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Feb 13, 2017 07:09
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doctorfrog posted:I have impulse control issues; I just ordered one. Same, I ordered one yesterday when I realized how cheap they are. Went with a Neo 2.
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Feb 13, 2017 07:13
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I almost ordered one. My wife's mentioned needing a distraction free way to write since she's been wanting to focus on writing for a long time. Then I remembered I had a EEE PC (netbooks are practically tech relics seeing how quickly tablets appeared and killed them off) that's been sitting unused on a shelf for years. I installed FreeDOS and MS Word 5.5 (MS has a free download on their site these days). Edited the autoexec.bat to launch it on startup so all my wife has to do is hit the power button and start writing. Files can be saved as RTF and transferred back and forth to her laptop via a USB drive. It doesn't last 700 hours on a single charge, but you can see more than six lines at a time and it has 147GB of free drive space!
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Feb 13, 2017 21:33
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Its a shame those things had the noisiest fans in creation.
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Feb 13, 2017 21:38
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GI_Clutch posted:I almost ordered one. My wife's mentioned needing a distraction free way to write since she's been wanting to focus on writing for a long time. Then I remembered I had a EEE PC (netbooks are practically tech relics seeing how quickly tablets appeared and killed them off) that's been sitting unused on a shelf for years. I installed FreeDOS and MS Word 5.5 (MS has a free download on their site these days). Edited the autoexec.bat to launch it on startup so all my wife has to do is hit the power button and start writing. Files can be saved as RTF and transferred back and forth to her laptop via a USB drive. It doesn't last 700 hours on a single charge, but you can see more than six lines at a time and it has 147GB of free drive space! Hah, I have that exact netbook. Bought it in college for a project, then used it as my daily driver after that until I graduated, plugged it into a stereo to act as a media box for a couple years. It was pretty drat solid although I seem to recall installing Debian was a hassle. Battery is still good for hours after all these years; I sometimes still grab it for a quick ssh frontend or when I just need to hook up a USB-serial adapter.
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Feb 13, 2017 21:41
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