PYF 80s Things: that exciting new canned ham we told you about in HOG EXTRA

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > PYF 80s Things: that exciting new canned ham we told you about in HOG EXTRA

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Gonz: Dec 22, 2009; "Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?"

# ? Aug 29, 2023 03:50

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 22:18

Clockwork Sputnik: Nov 6, 2004; 24 Hour Party Monster

I have some 80s things

Clockwork Sputnik has a new favorite as of 18:46 on Sep 1, 2023

# ? Sep 1, 2023 18:44

sock it to me!: Feb 7, 2010

The Armatron in that first picture gave me memory recall so powerful it might have caused a stroke.

# ? Sep 1, 2023 19:19

lobsterminator: Oct 16, 2012

Clockwork Sputnik posted:

I have some 80s things

That looks great. I had issues with having floppy drives so close to the monitor because of magnetic interference, but I was using the 1084 monitor and the newer floppy drives. Maybe they have less shielding because they are both smaller.

# ? Sep 1, 2023 19:27

stealie72: Jan 10, 2007

sock it to me! posted:

The Armatron in that first picture gave me memory recall so powerful it might have caused a stroke.

Though in the end I'm sure I would have been bored with it after an hour, the display one at the local Radio Shack was so cool. A ROBOT ARM!

# ? Sep 1, 2023 19:30

Animal-Mother: Feb 14, 2012; RABBIT RABBIT
RABBIT RABBIT

Gonz posted:

Haven't thought about that thing in a while. Did it actually work?

# ? Sep 1, 2023 22:05

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

sock it to me! posted:

The Armatron in that first picture gave me memory recall so powerful it might have caused a stroke.

A friend had one and was disappointed they couldn't quite get it turn off its own power switch.

# ? Sep 1, 2023 22:23

Clockwork Sputnik: Nov 6, 2004; 24 Hour Party Monster

stealie72 posted:

Though in the end I'm sure I would have been bored with it after an hour, the display one at the local Radio Shack was so cool. A ROBOT ARM!

It is pretty boring and limited, unless you play it like a game. Set the timer and try to stack the balls on top of the pyramids. This is made increasingly fun in adulthood where you can introduce various inebriants into the game.

lobsterminator posted:

That looks great. I had issues with having floppy drives so close to the monitor because of magnetic interference, but I was using the 1084 monitor and the newer floppy drives. Maybe they have less shielding because they are both smaller.

I think it's exactly that. I haven't had any issues with interference.

The only issue I have with it is that I had the monitor recapped and the collar around the tube is ever so slightly to the left but I don't have the necessary amount of death wish to go playing around inside it.

I'm about 2 weeks away from launching a full time Color64 BBS over IP on it. It'll run off of the original gear except for the addition of a sd2iec drive to increase speed and storage. The floppy drives will still used for modules.

The vectrex is rad and I have the cartridge that has every single game on it ever released as well as some homebrew. The only issue with it is that the "beam" that draws the text is a bit wonky. Again, I have neither the skills nor knowledge to fix it.

Apparently I really need a Colorado CRT person on speed dial.

The guitar has an interesting story:

quote:

Christmas 1986 I got my first "real" guitar (as opposed to the 300 lb off brand pawnshop Les Paul tuxedo knockoff) - A Cort Effector, a weird instrument in its own right, with built-in 'effects' as they were, some kind of Kahler/Floyd Rose knockoff trem, synthetic fretboard, imported from Korea for Sears. I loved that thing -- I learned so much on it.

In about 1990, I sold it to a friend, who later sold it to someone else, and so on.

After years of occasionally checking Ebay in vague hopes of coming across one similar but probably beat to all hell, abuse, one night in a "for no good reason" Ebay search, I found one that identical to the one I had - Which as rare as these guitars are in general -- most were made in the Explorer shape, and those in the Strat shape were typically all black, with no locking trem. Bluebursts are very rare to come by, especially in this condition, so I took a chance, and won.

When I received it, I examined it for a couple of 'tells' that would indicate that it was, in fact, my old one. It had 2 dings that I distinctly remember adding to it, but they're in common places one would expect a guitar to be dinged. It had some wood putty in the hole for the strap button on the horn, but that is also a common repair.

It wasn't until I brought it to a local tech to have the trem blocked and professionally set up, and we took the pickup mounting plate off, and discovered a tiny bit of white and yellow paint left over from when I'd "embellished" it with some non-permanent paint (as one does) that we were able to confirm that it was, with 99.999% certainty, the very one I had let go as a kid.

I've since sent it to my tech in LA and done away with the original cheap, dull sounding pickups to custom Bare Knuckle pickups, All the buttons and cheeseball 80s onboard effects now work, and all the pots replaced. Also, if you look closely the top button has been replaced with a micro 3-way pickup selector switch. It's also had new generation Schaller strap locks added, the action lowered, intonation and truss rod adjusted, everything else given a good going over and plays like butter!

Also note the strap made from the seat material of a 1985 Volkswagen GTI!

The clock is from a store in the Beverly center called Heaven. I've converted it from florescent to UV LED

And the red phone was one of my COVID hobbies where I converted it to Bluetooth. When it's on, and someone calls my cell, it rings and acts just like a landline. When you pick up the receiver you get a dial tone and can use the keypad to dial or press the * key and access Google assistant and voice dial or turn off lights, etc.

EDIT: I forgot about this;

Accutrac +6 turntable.

Absolutely the most ambitious piece of 80s tech. You can stack up to six records on the spindle, and tell it via keypad or remote (the silver orb is the IR receiver), you want to play track 4 on record 2, and then track 3 and 6 on record 5 then all of record 1, etc. I believe it can store up to twenty five commands.

Watching it work is amazing. That little silver pedestal raises up from the center and closes little arms on the spindle releasing the desired record (and those below it, leaving the remaining ones suspended, slowly descends back to the Platten and the arm scans the record for the spaces between tracks and returns to the selected track.

It is EXTREMELY amazing to watch. And very very fickle.

Clockwork Sputnik has a new favorite as of 02:07 on Sep 2, 2023

# ? Sep 2, 2023 01:26

Phy: Jun 27, 2008; Fun Shoe

Clockwork Sputnik posted:

One of my dentists in the early 90s had a Vectrex in his waiting room. Absolute highlight of the trip.

# ? Sep 2, 2023 01:56

Neito: Feb 18, 2009; 😌Finally, an avatar the describes my love of tech❤️‍💻, my love of anime💖🎎, and why I'll never see a real girl 🙆‍♀️naked😭.

Animal-Mother posted:

Haven't thought about that thing in a while. Did it actually work?

It was one of those things taht could be helpful but didn't need to be done as often as people think. VHS was an analog signal with no error correction, so dirt could theoretically affect the signal quality.

# ? Sep 6, 2023 15:11

LimaBiker: Dec 9, 2020

Dirty heads definitely have an effect. Colors will start smearing first, then the picture starts breaking up, more lines and dropouts appear, and color is lost. But typically, video tape doesn't shed oxide as quickly as audio tape does. Many recorders from the 90s also had a built in tape cleaner (which by now is disintegrating because it's made out of foam).

If you don't have a cleaning tape, you can reach the head drum very easily - you only need to remove the screws that hold the metal cover and lift it off. To clean, you can tear off a strip of printer paper (coffee filter paper is also OK), soak it in isopropanol or ethanol, and hold it against the head drum completely still. Then with your other hand, spin the drum, while only pushing the paper very slightly against the heads. Just enough to feel the heads pass along the paper. You'll probably find a faint mark on the paper after one revolution. After 2 or 3 it should not leave a mark anymore.

Don't use paper towels, cloth, and especially don't use cotton swabs. With cotton swabs it's very easy to break off the highly fragile heads.

# ? Sep 6, 2023 16:07

Sekhmnet: Jan 22, 2019

LimaBiker posted:

Dirty heads definitely have an effect. Colors will start smearing first, then the picture starts breaking up, more lines and dropouts appear, and color is lost. But typically, video tape doesn't shed oxide as quickly as audio tape does. Many recorders from the 90s also had a built in tape cleaner (which by now is disintegrating because it's made out of foam).

If you don't have a cleaning tape, you can reach the head drum very easily - you only need to remove the screws that hold the metal cover and lift it off. To clean, you can tear off a strip of printer paper (coffee filter paper is also OK), soak it in isopropanol or ethanol, and hold it against the head drum completely still. Then with your other hand, spin the drum, while only pushing the paper very slightly against the heads. Just enough to feel the heads pass along the paper. You'll probably find a faint mark on the paper after one revolution. After 2 or 3 it should not leave a mark anymore.

Don't use paper towels, cloth, and especially don't use cotton swabs. With cotton swabs it's very easy to break off the highly fragile heads.

In the 80's I'd run the head cleaner every few months but we rented movies constantly; and the fabric or whatever was in the cleaner tape that you put the alcohol or whatever on would get pretty dirty. I'm guessing few others were regularly cleaning their head.

# ? Sep 6, 2023 19:52

Powershift: Nov 23, 2009

In 1980s-early 90s Alberta, pretty much every single oilfield company handed out stickers for advertising with their logos and stuff like the ones in the top left, and they used to be everywhere. Pretty much every drive-thru window in oilfield towns were plastered with them.

One of the big events each year, the local chambers of commerce would put on a trade fair, where a bunch of companies in town would have a booth to show off what they do. There would be food stands and random carnival type games and demonstrations of different stuff and every booth would have swag and everybody would just go around collecting random poo poo to basically take home and throw out.

I don't know if that was a thing everywhere or just in small town Alberta. It's not quite a County fair type thing, as we had one of those as well.

Powershift has a new favorite as of 20:58 on Sep 12, 2023

# ? Sep 12, 2023 20:51

Gonz: Dec 22, 2009; "Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT_QRKfv8H4

# ? Sep 12, 2023 22:26

PainterofCrap: Oct 17, 2002; hey bebe

Powershift posted:

In 1980s-early 90s Alberta, pretty much every single oilfield company handed out stickers for advertising with their logos and stuff like the ones in the top left, and they used to be everywhere. Pretty much every drive-thru window in oilfield towns were plastered with them.

I had a double-sided version of that same case. Held sixty cassettes, every one a 90-minute Maxell UD-XLII.

Some fucker stole it out of my '69 Cutlass in 1991.

# ? Sep 13, 2023 01:08

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

https://i.imgur.com/Va1HxzD.mp4

# ? Sep 16, 2023 20:00

uber_stoat: Jan 21, 2001; Pillbug

https://twitter.com/1980sRewind/status/1703151377533243414?s=20

# ? Sep 17, 2023 01:07

Cartoon Man: Jan 31, 2004

They turned Grand Theft Auto: Vice City into a TV show?!

# ? Sep 17, 2023 01:38

root beer: Nov 13, 2005

And a movie! But they called it Scarface? Weird

# ? Sep 17, 2023 15:40

huh: Jan 23, 2004; Dinosaur Gum

Phy posted:

One of my dentists in the early 90s had a Vectrex in his waiting room. Absolute highlight of the trip.

We had a Vectrex in '84 or so. Some of the games were surprisingly fun and challenging. Cosmic Chasm and Mine Storm in particular. And four buttons on the controller!

# ? Sep 22, 2023 23:46

maybeadracula: Sep 9, 2022; by sebmojo

These definitely belong here

# ? Sep 23, 2023 23:20

Vincent Van Goatse: Nov 8, 2006; Enjoy every sandwich.; Smellrose

maybealabia posted:

Can confirm this is accurate.

# ? Sep 24, 2023 02:14

CitizenKain: May 27, 2001; That was Gary Cooper, asshole.; Nap Ghost

Vincent Van Goatse posted:

Can confirm this is accurate.

Just needs a haze of cigarette smoke.

# ? Sep 24, 2023 05:18

wesleywillis: Dec 30, 2016; SUCK A MALE CAMEL'S DICK WITH MIRACLE WHIP!!

The walls in the "what it was actually like" picture were originally white.

# ? Sep 24, 2023 15:31

SecretOfSteel: Apr 29, 2007; The secret of steel has always
carried with it a mystery.

CitizenKain posted:

Just needs a haze of cigarette smoke.

Definitely. Also a bookcase where the edges of the pages (up to 1cm) are yellow from absorbing those cancer sticks.

# ? Sep 24, 2023 16:40

Phy: Jun 27, 2008; Fun Shoe

maybealabia posted:

These definitely belong here

With bonus Robot Dad!

# ? Sep 25, 2023 20:09

DrBouvenstein: Feb 28, 2007; I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

maybealabia posted:

I don't recognize what the lower-left is.

# ? Sep 25, 2023 20:29

Killer robot: Sep 6, 2010; I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!; Pillbug

DrBouvenstein posted:

I don't recognize what the lower-left is.

The Secret of NIMH, Don Bluth's first animated feature. It had some creepy and intense stuff.

# ? Sep 25, 2023 20:37

root beer: Nov 13, 2005

I�ve never seen NIMH or Watership Down but I still can�t watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit? because of that scene. Well, I�d have to fast forward through it.

# ? Sep 25, 2023 22:18

F_Shit_Fitzgerald: Feb 2, 2017

Killer robot posted:

The Secret of NIMH, Don Bluth's first animated feature. It had some creepy and intense stuff.

I haven't seen NIMH but Bluth definitely reused that animation for the Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-A-Doodle.

# ? Sep 25, 2023 22:24

Captainsalami: Apr 16, 2010; I told you you'd pay!

F_Shit_Fitzgerald posted:

I haven't seen NIMH but Bluth definitely reused that animation for the Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-A-Doodle.

Thanks for the brain blast from my childhood there.

# ? Sep 25, 2023 22:35

fartknocker: Oct 28, 2012; Damn it, this always happens. I think I'm gonna score, and then I never score. It's not fair.; Wedge Regret

F_Shit_Fitzgerald posted:

I haven't seen NIMH but Bluth definitely reused that animation for the Grand Duke of Owls in Rock-A-Doodle.

Long after the names of all my family have faded from my mind, I'll be sitting and giggling and mumbling "adequate pipe" from a movie I probably last watched in like 1994.

# ? Sep 25, 2023 23:53

JnnyThndrs: May 29, 2001; HERE ARE THE FUCKING TOWELS

I will argue that The Plague Dogs is more traumatizing than the Dip scene and Watership Down combined. It�s been nearly forty years and I still flinch at reading the Wikipedia summary.

# ? Sep 26, 2023 02:05

feedmyleg: Dec 25, 2004

Secret of NIMH has some all-time cobweb animation.

# ? Sep 26, 2023 02:56

SecretOfSteel: Apr 29, 2007; The secret of steel has always
carried with it a mystery.

Perhaps not as traumatizing as some, but definitely baby's first "Game of Thrones"...

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Sep 26, 2023 09:07

madeintaipei: Jul 13, 2012

Vincent Van Goatse posted:

Can confirm this is accurate.

This whole house used to look like that. Bathrooms, garage, closets, even the finished part of the attic. This room and the garage are the only rooms where they didn't paint over the wood, change out the doors, and replace the wood blinds.

# ? Sep 26, 2023 13:33

madeintaipei: Jul 13, 2012

The real tragedy is that they replaced all the brass carriage light sconces with ceiling tits.

Bonus whole-house combination radio and intercom hole. Extra bonus swiveling telecom plug. That's the exit for in-wall conduit with (right now) two wire telephone line running through it. The Google Fiber installers were able to use some of that conduit to run fiber-optic.

Notice the newer (shuttered!) power plugs. Those are there because most of the house was originally wired with aluminum. Hence, the removal of the intercom.

# ? Sep 26, 2023 13:43

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2LTL8KgKv8

# ? Sep 27, 2023 15:00

Gonz: Dec 22, 2009; "Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?"

Circa 1989:

# ? Sep 27, 2023 18:42

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 22:18

Grassy Knowles: Apr 4, 2003; "The original Terminator was a gritty fucking AMAZING piece of sci-fi. Gritty fucking rock-hard MURDER!"

Gonz posted:

Circa 1989:

gently caress i thought those stores were so classy

# ? Sep 27, 2023 18:45

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