Post the very best in obsolete and failed technology

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Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

You'd have those in optical "WORM" jukeboxes, where a robot shuffles disks in and out as needed. Back in the 90s, the Plan 9 guys wrote a filesystem which periodically flushed blocks out to such a jukebox, where they'd be sequentially written onto the current WORM disk. Then your "filesystem" living on the hard disk was just a collection of pointers to blocks on the jukebox. Since it's write-once, nothing ever truly gets deleted, so they would also snapshot the current state of the filesystem every day. You could access old versions of the file tree in /n/dump, and there were convenience tools to get a list of all previous versions of a file, e.g.:

code:

% history /adm/users
May 14 15:29:18 EDT 2001 /adm/users 10083 [adm]
May 14 15:29:18 EDT 2001 /n/dump/2001/0515/adm/users 10083 [adm]
May 11 17:26:24 EDT 2001 /n/dump/2001/0514/adm/users 10481 [adm]
May 10 16:40:51 EDT 2001 /n/dump/2001/0511/adm/users 10476 [adm]

It was a very cool concept that was most effective during that small window of time when optical media was huge and hard disks were small. Within a few years, WORM jukeboxes were passe and everybody was just running the filesystem on disks... but you still couldn't delete anything, so if you're inattentive and let a bunch of huge temporary files get archived, well, you're boned.

# ? Mar 3, 2022 01:49

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 13:07

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

Conceptually similar to zfs with automatic snapshots - if you let a huge file get snapshotted once, that space is in use until the last snapshot it's in finally cycles out. (Which takes a year, in our case).

# ? Mar 3, 2022 09:35

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

https://twitter.com/mediarchaeology/status/1499494500896415746?s=20&t=H5iNPUXhsAHvtrk7Nulzsw

https://twitter.com/mediarchaeology/status/1499495992906842114?s=20&t=H5iNPUXhsAHvtrk7Nulzsw

# ? Mar 3, 2022 22:29

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

https://mobile.twitter.com/nanoraptor/status/1421410848497496065

Not real but :eyepop:

# ? Mar 4, 2022 03:30

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

That account is a good follow.

# ? Mar 4, 2022 04:35

Rap Game Goku: Apr 2, 2008; Word to your moms, I came to drop spirit bombs

Dick Trauma posted:

https://twitter.com/mediarchaeology/status/1499494500896415746?s=20&t=H5iNPUXhsAHvtrk7Nulzsw

https://twitter.com/mediarchaeology/status/1499495992906842114?s=20&t=H5iNPUXhsAHvtrk7Nulzsw

Ha RPN. I never got into HP calculators despite having a TI-81 ears before I knew what I could do with it.

# ? Mar 4, 2022 17:10

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

There was an 8-bit micro called the VTech Laser 200 from 1983. Not hugely popular worldwide, but it apparently had a following in some spots.

I thought it sounded pretty standard for the era... until I found out there were freaking cyberpunk briefcase configurations out there. I mean look at this amazing thing:

To be fair, I don't know if it was sold this way or if someone did a bang-up job creating a housing for it. Either way, :stwoon:

More pics, but no more info, here.

# ? Mar 5, 2022 01:49

Nocheez: Sep 5, 2000; Can you spare a little cheddar?; Nap Ghost

VTech made some cool kids stuff in the 80s. The lovely pre-computer I had could run BASIC programs and stuff. It definitely fueled my interest as a youngin'.

# ? Mar 5, 2022 01:53

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Adrian Black just got a Laser 200 in the mail and should be doing a repair video on it soon, this is the unboxing and teardown: https://youtu.be/DXOP0uP5P60

# ? Mar 5, 2022 02:39

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

https://twitter.com/body_games/status/1499910432290754566?s=20&t=HkpSunEJPQpJ5o_k98RFVg

# ? Mar 5, 2022 12:57

LifeSunDeath: Jan 4, 2007; still gay rights and smoke weed every day

Dick Trauma posted:

https://twitter.com/body_games/status/1499910432290754566?s=20&t=HkpSunEJPQpJ5o_k98RFVg

owns

# ? Mar 5, 2022 15:40

Wasabi the J: Jan 23, 2008; MOM WAS RIGHT

Molly's dad is really fuckin' rad
Molly's dad is really fuckin' rad

Molly can't you see
That bitchin' rear end pc?
I know that it's bad
But I'm in love with Molly's dad's computer

# ? Mar 6, 2022 00:53

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

Look at this lovely Swedish Z80 PC. Looks like a Windows 95 icon.

https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1500500669073031168?s=20&t=JmCmh5Q_COGYPAxpAUSwTQ

# ? Mar 6, 2022 17:01

LifeSunDeath: Jan 4, 2007; still gay rights and smoke weed every day

Dick Trauma posted:

Look at this lovely Swedish Z80 PC. Looks like a Windows 95 icon.

https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1500500669073031168?s=20&t=JmCmh5Q_COGYPAxpAUSwTQ

must be the lighting but it looks like one of those miniature computer replicas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9LLI0sJyQY

# ? Mar 6, 2022 17:11

LostCosmonaut: Feb 15, 2014

Friend found some obsolete technology sitting in the back of a random small town museum. Guess somebody donated it at some point.

# ? Mar 6, 2022 19:43

Lurking Haro: Oct 27, 2009

LostCosmonaut posted:

Friend found some obsolete technology sitting in the back of a random small town museum. Guess somebody donated it at some point.

Please do not touch, I got the station dialed in just right.

# ? Mar 6, 2022 20:27

LimaBiker: Dec 9, 2020

Hey! I got that exact record cutter!
I have been struggling to build a fitting record cutting head for it. The original is very small, so the usual DIY options with tweeter drivers aren't an option.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 00:41

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

Ha, I have an ABC 80 - it was what they used in the computer labs at the community college my grandfather taught programming at. They replaced them in 1991, and I got one of the leftovers for Christmas. It sits at my parents house, and I haven't powered it on for some years, sadly. It's probably a big part of how I ended up with a programming career.

I remember the "learn computer programming with BASIC" books it came with being fairly decent - which makes sense, it was part of a program to teach kids programming, much like the BBC micro in thhe UK.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Foone/status/1500501026746482689

Computer viking has a new favorite as of 01:53 on Mar 7, 2022

# ? Mar 7, 2022 01:46

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

I love both of those. They are absolutely computer.bmp.

And I know the "everything is a cake" meme is long gone, but I absolutely wouldn't be surprised if either of those were cake.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 01:59

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Trabant posted:

There was an 8-bit micro called the VTech Laser 200 from 1983. Not hugely popular worldwide, but it apparently had a following in some spots.

I thought it sounded pretty standard for the era... until I found out there were freaking cyberpunk briefcase configurations out there. I mean look at this amazing thing:

To be fair, I don't know if it was sold this way or if someone did a bang-up job creating a housing for it. Either way,

More pics, but no more info, here.

My first computer was a Dick Smith VZ300, which was a rebadged Laser 310. I remember hating it cos I wanted a C64.

I found it again around 2016 when cleaning out dad's house, still in its original box. Gave it to a friend as I still thought it sucked.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 05:04

Wipfmetz: Oct 12, 2007; Sitzen ein oder mehrere Wipfe in einer Lore, so kann man sie ueber den Rand der Lore hinausschauen sehen.

I cannot image getting work done on a device called "Dick Smith".

# ? Mar 7, 2022 06:47

Bargearse: Nov 27, 2006; 🛑 Don't get your pen🖊️, son, you won't be 👌 needing that 😌. My 🥡 order's 💁 simple😉, a shitload 💩 of dim sims 🌯🀄. And I want a bucket 🪣 of soya sauce☕😋.

Anyone else remember the �Dicks Big Package� catalogues? They used to really lean into the dick jokes.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 07:00

Trabant: Nov 26, 2011; All systems nominal.

Wipfmetz posted:

I cannot image getting work done on a device called "Dick Smith".

What is you worked at a dildo factory?

# ? Mar 7, 2022 07:02

Bargearse: Nov 27, 2006; 🛑 Don't get your pen🖊️, son, you won't be 👌 needing that 😌. My 🥡 order's 💁 simple😉, a shitload 💩 of dim sims 🌯🀄. And I want a bucket 🪣 of soya sauce☕😋.

That would make it a job title, not a piece of equipment.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 07:06

coldpudding: May 14, 2009; FORUM GHOST

You Am I posted:

My first computer was a Dick Smith VZ300, which was a rebadged Laser 310. I remember hating it cos I wanted a C64.

I found it again around 2016 when cleaning out dad's house, still in its original box. Gave it to a friend as I still thought it sucked.

I keep forgetting to scan and upload this silly thing to archive.org.

It's glorified pamphlet for dick smith's rebadged trs80 knock off the video genie.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 10:31

ynohtna: Feb 16, 2007; backwoods compatible; Illegal Hen

From the title credits of an episode of Tales of the Unexpected:

# ? Mar 7, 2022 11:13

George RR Fartin: Apr 16, 2003

You Am I posted:

My first computer was a Dick Smith VZ300, which was a rebadged Laser 310. I remember hating it cos I wanted a C64.

I found it again around 2016 when cleaning out dad's house, still in its original box. Gave it to a friend as I still thought it sucked.

We had a Laser 128ex, which my dad was very proud of but we lost in a basement flood fifteen years ago. It was an Apple IIc clone, and for some reason, if you booted it with a disk in the drive, it would format it. So you had to turn it on, wait for the DOS 3.3 prompt, then insert your disk in the side and soft-reboot. Ira, the fellow who sold dad the computer, later sold him a 1 megabyte RAM upgrade, which dad insisted meant we could now write novels. It cost $1000 and every now and again I think of what a prick Ira was to push that on my dad.

Every so often I check ebay for the 128ex, and every time it's way too much and I remember I have a MiSTer that does Apple II emulation just fine without having to dedicate a whole desk to it.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 12:10

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

coldpudding posted:

I keep forgetting to scan and upload this silly thing to archive.org.

It's glorified pamphlet for dick smith's rebadged trs80 knock off the video genie.

Those Dick Smith System 80s look cool due to the size of them and the laminate wood sides

# ? Mar 7, 2022 12:20

axolotl farmer: May 17, 2007; Now I'm going to sing the Perry Mason theme

Dick Trauma posted:

Look at this lovely Swedish Z80 PC. Looks like a Windows 95 icon.

https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1500500669073031168?s=20&t=JmCmh5Q_COGYPAxpAUSwTQ

There is a user club for ABC computers that was started in 1980. They're still around an an old-skool ISP that provides a BSD shell account, an ABC.se e-mail address and a VPN service.

https://www.abc.se/index.html

Mad people have also made a couple of sick demos. This is on a computer that does not have a graphics mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkN7iTgf55E

# ? Mar 7, 2022 12:36

LifeSunDeath: Jan 4, 2007; still gay rights and smoke weed every day

ynohtna posted:

From the title credits of an episode of Tales of the Unexpected:

# ? Mar 7, 2022 17:36

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

Re the ABC80:

Of note, the sound chip can only do certain predefined noises - I think you set a few bits for "white noise on/off", "steady or oscillating", a few different notes, and the speed of the oscillation. Getting anything vaguely music-like out of it is an impressive effort.

E: IIRC you push an (8-bit) int to to it, and the low bit is sound on/off, so you're left with 128 possible combinations.

Computer viking has a new favorite as of 17:45 on Mar 7, 2022

# ? Mar 7, 2022 17:38

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

ynohtna posted:

From the title credits of an episode of Tales of the Unexpected:

I now realize that I am obsolete and failed technology. Dick Smothers was a famous American comedian in the 1960s; he and his brother Tom had a show, called unimaginatively The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. They got cancelled for making too many political references.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 18:01

TITTIEKISSER69: Mar 19, 2005; SAVE THE BEES
PLANT MORE TREES
CLEAN THE SEAS
KISS TITTIESS

# ? Mar 7, 2022 20:20

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

Don't forget Dick Smith's fun way into Electronics! In Australasia they taught a whole generation of future engineers and electricians. IIRC the first volume was set up not to require any soldering.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:16

LifeSunDeath: Jan 4, 2007; still gay rights and smoke weed every day

Jaguars! posted:

Don't forget Dick Smith's fun way into Electronics! In Australasia they taught a whole generation of future engineers and electricians. IIRC the first volume was set up not to require any soldering.

was Dick Smith like Bob the god of slack?

???

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:23

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

I guess? If anything, you were more likely to see Dick Smith's grinning mug beaming down on you from at least one building in every town you passed through.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 21:33

Gromit: Aug 15, 2000; I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

In the 80s he organised an event where they jumped 16 motorcycles with a double-decker bus, so he's alright.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:11

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

That book rocks and that Dick Smith was an absolute legend in the business.

# ? Mar 7, 2022 22:56

Cyril Sneer: Aug 8, 2004; Life would be simple in the forest except for Cyril Sneer. And his life would be simple except for The Raccoons.

coldpudding posted:

I keep forgetting to scan and upload this silly thing to archive.org.

It's glorified pamphlet for dick smith's rebadged trs80 knock off the video genie.

Why is Gary Numan's head floating around in the top corner?

# ? Mar 7, 2022 23:37