|
Nocheez posted:I still remember my dad's first foray into buying RAM for our PC. It had 4x1mb chips, and there were 8 slots. He got a screaming 50% off deal on RAM, only $50/1mb so we doubled it to 8mb for the low, low cost of $200. The 8kb (yes, kilobytes) RAM expansion for our VIC-20 was $300.
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2021 23:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 08:37 |
|
|
https://www.pcgamer.com/dutch-legend-has-been-running-his-campsite-since-1986-using-an-atari-st/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LxPEz9x2fs
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2021 16:22
|
|
|
Lowen SoDium posted:I actually got a Zune from that MS site as well. I used it for a few year, it was pretty nice actually. I honestly think that everyone who poo poo on the Zune had never used one. Same, I loved my Zune. It just had the misfortune of being released during the era where owning something not made by Apple made you some sort of cultural dunce Their subscription plan in particular was ahead of its time- all the ad free access to their entire library you wanted, plus you could keep 10 completely drm free songs a month. I think I might still have some songs I got from that plan kicking around on my hard drive somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2021 18:10
|
|
|
Yeah the Zune pass was a really good deal, I remember my brother got a couple of really good albums off of that. I didn't subscribe because I didn't have a Zune.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2021 23:17
|
|
|
The databits channel has the stuff Techmoan misses sometimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kV-cR72SMk
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2021 23:58
|
|
|
Pham Nuwen posted:I think I ended up giving the Zune away, having never opened the box. Kind of wish I'd kept it so I could post it in this thread. It played music, I do not remember having much of an impression about it either positive or negative. I plugged it into my car's aux jack and it played music through the speakers, which is what I needed it for.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 07:22
|
|
|
I'd imagine WMA files contributed to the Zune's failure. Hey, remember WMA/WMV?
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 08:36
|
|
|
This thread continually makes me want to buy things. I've been looking at DAT Walkmans (walkmen?) which I obviously don't need. Relatedly-ish, are there any tiny mp3 players like the sansa clip which are still available and have preferably a micro SD slot and maybe Bluetooth for headphones (not absolutely required!)? My other half wants something maybe for Christmas so that they don't have to use their phone for this sort of thing. Seems obsolete enough to ask here, but if there a different thread I should use then I'm happy to be pointed there instead  Thanks obsolete goons!
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 13:10
|
|
|
legooolas posted:This thread continually makes me want to buy things. I've been looking at DAT Walkmans (walkmen?) which I obviously don't need. I still have a Sandisk Sansa with a micro SD card slot in it. I let my 3-year old play with it on car trips, with special kids headphones that don't get too loud. It will never die.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 13:49
|
|
|
Lurking Haro posted:I'd imagine WMA files contributed to the Zune's failure. I do. When I decided to sell all my CDs and go all-in on digital, I ripped all my CDs first - to WMA. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 14:35
|
|
|
FilthyImp posted:Remember Vista? Vista, guys... remember? 3D Megadoodoo posted:it was genuinely bafflingly bad. I don't even remember what about it was bad Nobody does and many of the complaints I heard at the time were either baby ducks quacking or people who read something stupid and repeated it as fact (my sister-in-law kept swearing to me that it would automatically delete all of your illegally downloaded music among other idiotic things). Vista does have the distinction of being the only version of Windows I ever went to a store and bought a boxed copy of. Lurking Haro posted:I'd imagine WMA files contributed to the Zune's failure. It's more the death of Personal Media Players that killed it off than anything. I owned two Zunes and never once used or was encouraged to use WMA. Also I'm sad the Zune software was discontinued because it was by far better than Windows Media Player, iTunes, or Groove Music.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 15:19
|
|
|
Lossless WMA existed and many cheapo mp3 players you wouldn't expect it from could play them back. There's a bit of useless knowledge for you.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 15:25
|
|
|
20 years ago when a 1GB HDD was "huge" it seemed like it made a difference what bitrate things got encoded at, and I think I was under the impression at the time that WMA offered a slightly smaller overall file size for a given level of quality as compared to MP3.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 15:29
|
|
|
Pham Nuwen posted:Ah, the days of easily-exploited prize sites. I don't remember the exact mechanic of it, but sometime back in early 2008 there was a Pepsi site that had a similar weakness. I got a stack of CDs, a pair of headphones, and I think a Zune because I was running out of interesting things on the site (the prizes were very limited). It wasn't even that long ago (maybe...8 years?) that I got essentially a free PS4 just from running several of those "watch videos for free points!" on old phones, tablets, and laptops. I think at the peak I had 5 old phones, 2 laptops, and a tablet running things like Swagbucks and...gently caress, I don't even remember the name of the other one that was more "mobile" based, but combined with a couple accounts doing those" Bing searches earn you points!" as well, I slowly but surely kept collecting enough points to keep cashing in for $5 Amazon GCs* and keep saving them till I had like $500 to get a PS4, a game (I want to say Uncharted 3?) and a bigger hard drive for it. *Most of those places either didn't offer any sort of discount for larger Gift Cards, or if they did I felt it wasn't worth it since my account could easily get terminated at any time, so I cashed out when I could.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 15:31
|
|
|
Rev. Bleech_ posted:Vista does have the distinction of being the only version of Windows I ever went to a store and bought a boxed copy of. For me it's OS/2 Warp 3 "blue box".
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 16:37
|
|
|
legooolas posted:This thread continually makes me want to buy things. I've been looking at DAT Walkmans (walkmen?) which I obviously don't need. I've had a SanDisk Clip Jam for several years now. It lasts forever on a charge, takes a microSD, and even does pretty good with audiobooks (there's a separate folder & UI interface for books. I listened to the entire LotR trilogy on it) They're $30 on Amazon. There's a Bluetooth version (Clip Sport Plus) for $40, but I imagine the addition of BT tends to hurt the battery life.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 16:48
|
|
|
Lurking Haro posted:Hey, remember WMA/WMV? For millions of years In millions of homes We all had a file That everyone owned
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2021 17:42
|
|
|
legooolas posted:Relatedly-ish, are there any tiny mp3 players like the sansa clip which are still available and have preferably a micro SD slot and maybe Bluetooth for headphones (not absolutely required!)?
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 02:12
|
|
|
Pham Nuwen posted:I've had a SanDisk Clip Jam for several years now. It lasts forever on a charge, takes a microSD, and even does pretty good with audiobooks (there's a separate folder & UI interface for books. I listened to the entire LotR trilogy on it) I loved my SanDisk, but it met its demise in the washing machine. The SD card survived unscathed. When I was checking Amazon for another, the one feature I needed, a recorder, made them almost impossible to find for cheap. Ended up with a Victure, which is a pretty good player in the same $30-$40 price range. Battery life's very good and it has Bluetooth as well. Unrelated, I'm still hanging on to my Dad's childhood radio, a leather case Zenith. I've never attempted to fix it up. Not my photos. Dad used his enough that the handle is pretty much completely thick layers of tape.  Its guts, if it was still in working order.   Roughly $316 in today's money!
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 02:36
|
|
|
legooolas posted:This thread continually makes me want to buy things. I've been looking at DAT Walkmans (walkmen?) which I obviously don't need. I've had two. They are so complicated and fragile that a vintage luxury chronograph is like a Toyota truck in comparison. I never managed to get them to work consistently well, there was always some new issue popping up. One of them used 4 AA batteries, and that was enough to play a 60 minute tape, rewind it, and play it again. Then they were all empty.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 07:47
|
|
|
Walksman.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 07:58
|
|
|
The DAT format doesn't interest me, but I wouldn't say no to a regular cassette walkman in nice shape. But they go for a lot of $$$ nowadays. I also wondered, was the DAT strictly neccessary for digital tape audio, I used to store digital data on classic cassettes for my SVI 728, it's just the reader hardware that needs be capable to reading and writing digital signals from/to the tape and that technology existed. I had been wondering if that might not have been a better way to go, use the same format, make the digital players backwards compatible too so they could read older analog cassettes. Easier for the public to switch over, maybe get a little more life out of the cassette format. And you would be able to record music digitally then which wasn't something you could do with a CD at the time, at a reasonable cost anyway. I guess though that's what the manufacturers where afraid of, the public couldn't be allowed to copy digital music that easily. Maybe the DAT adressed that in some way? 
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 08:38
|
|
|
bitrate on audio cassette is very low, they're relatively crackly so the analog audio has to be slow and redundant it's kind of the same principle as an analog internet signal over telephone line vs cable
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 13:21
|
|
|
e: nvm
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 13:41
|
|
|
Peanut Butler posted:bitrate on audio cassette is very low, they're relatively crackly so the analog audio has to be slow and redundant
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2021 22:24
|
|
|
3D Megadoodoo posted:For me it's OS/2 Warp 3 "blue box". I think I still have a couple of those, still wrapped in cellophane. I remember buying Windows 95 retail and Windows 2000 retail. I still have the laptop bag with the Win2K logo on it that they gave me as a freebie.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2021 00:31
|
|
|
His Divine Shadow posted:I also wondered, was the DAT strictly neccessary for digital tape audio, I used to store digital data on classic cassettes for my SVI 728, it's just the reader hardware that needs be capable to reading and writing digital signals from/to the tape and that technology existed. I had been wondering if that might not have been a better way to go, use the same format, make the digital players backwards compatible too so they could read older analog cassettes. Easier for the public to switch over, maybe get a little more life out of the cassette format. And you would be able to record music digitally then which wasn't something you could do with a CD at the time, at a reasonable cost anyway. I guess though that's what the manufacturers where afraid of, the public couldn't be allowed to copy digital music that easily. Maybe the DAT adressed that in some way? You're kind of describing DCC, Philips' more consumer oriented DAT alternative. It used the same 0.15" tape as normal cassettes, and the players could play either type. However, the DCC cassettes were a new design with a diskette style sliding cover. Basically the same external dimensions, though. It used the same sort of "stationary head, narrow parallel tracks" system as normal cassettes, instead of a VHS style rotating head (like DAT), but somehow managed to cram 9 narrow tracks in each direction onto there. What they could not do was record digital audio onto the old cassettes - I don't know if DCC specced better tape chemistry, or had more precise tape positioning, or if it was just to make a clear delineation and drive some sales.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2021 09:24
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:You're kind of describing DCC, Philips' more consumer oriented DAT alternative. It used the same 0.15" tape as normal cassettes, and the players could play either type. However, the DCC cassettes were a new design with a diskette style sliding cover. Basically the same external dimensions, though. It used the same sort of "stationary head, narrow parallel tracks" system as normal cassettes, instead of a VHS style rotating head (like DAT), but somehow managed to cram 9 narrow tracks in each direction onto there. According to this website: https://www.dcc-faq.org/philips/dcc.html It used the same tape as video tapes. Not typical analog cassette tape.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2021 14:36
|
|
|
I went to a yard sale last weekend, and actually saw two CEDs in the wild for the first time. Thought about buying them, but they had no price tag, and going off if the rest of the stuff there and the prices on thighs, it seemed to be a generic 'pop culture' guy selling random stuff, so I feel like he would have asked too much. Lots of overpriced old figurines, posters, etc... By my cursory research, those seem to be some of the most prolific CED titles, and both can be had for sub $20 from eBay right now.
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2021 18:11
|
|
|
ive had people recommend pro-level dcc decks as those can play regular tapes and have great digital output while being very cheap as the format flopped hard. great if you need to archive some cassettes... id bet those have gotten a bit more expensive now with techmoan and the like getting very popular though
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2021 09:17
|
|
|
Wasabi the J posted:For millions of years Is it goodtimes.wmv or whatever that music video was called on the Windows 95 CD? It started off "you don't even have to tRYYYYYYYYY" fake edit: there was also a Weezer video in the same place
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2021 01:14
|
|
|
Also hover.exe, a surprisingly good game for an easter egg.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2021 03:43
|
|
|
Wasabi the J posted:For millions of years I tried to sing this inside my head to CANYON.MID
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2021 05:56
|
|
|
barbecue at the folks posted:I tried to sing this inside my head to CANYON.MID no no they said millions of homes, not millions of LGR views
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2021 06:23
|
|
|
-- 8<---- stuff moved to tech relics thread ----8<--- So, with that out of the way, let us all praise the transputer. The what? The Inmos Transputer was a UK development - the idea was there was a very simple stack-based processor with on-chip ram (4K) that had built-in serial interconnects (4x20mbit, which in the days when 10mbit ethernet was "fast" was a big deal). It was basically supposed to be the next big thing - parallel task-based message-passing architecture - but pretty much sank without a trace. I recall an anecdote that they had a symposium or whatever themed around the transputers and someone went to the trouble of going round and asking all the presenters how many transputer nodes each of them had and none of them had more than two, so that might have had something to do with it. http://people.cs.bris.ac.uk/~dave/transputer.html) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdK3PXKvYgs thepopmonster has a new favorite as of 04:57 on Oct 17, 2021 |
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2021 02:05
|
|
|
Wasabi the J posted:For millions of years David Byrne - Like Humans Do This plus Windows Media visualization blew my loving mind.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2021 02:25
|
|
|
thepopmonster posted:So, with that out of the way, let us all praise the transputer. These ended up being put to very weird uses, but usually just as fast single processors, never as the multiprocessing networks they were designed for. The Quantel Paintbox (a very advanced 1980s system for adding graphics to broadcast video) used a Transputer chip to control its floppy drive, and they occasionally show up doing calculations in industrial gear.
|
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2021 12:01
|
|
|
thepopmonster posted:I know there are a few retrobuilders in this thread, if anyone wants any or preferably all of: The first company I ever did a job interview at was building PC plugin cards with transputers that did… something. I don’t remember anything else, except that they asked me if I would be OK with having cats in the office. Oh hey, found an old (German) article about it. It was one transputer, and the board was a SCSI controller.
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2021 01:00
|
|
|
Cats, in a computer office? Were they at least MS certified?
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2021 01:08
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 08:37 |
|
|
Kwyndig posted:Cats, in a computer office? Were they at least MS certified? Not sure, but I'd imagine everyone would gave to use a trackball right?
|
|
#
?
Oct 16, 2021 23:00
|
|
