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Best feelie was the microscopic invasion fleet that came with the HHGTTG game  Worst was anything that served as an antipiracy measure. I think those might have already been covered in this thread.
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Sep 1, 2015 02:24
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sinking belle posted:Best feelie was the microscopic invasion fleet that came with the HHGTTG game Dear God, I know this is technically  , but I remember cracking several codewheels, so I could put them in text files and several trips to the self-serve copies at the copyshop so I could xerox entire game manuals...
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Sep 1, 2015 02:30
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Samizdata posted:Dear God, I know this is technically If cracking the decoder rings of the past counts as , by God I hope nobody discovers what the printing press can do.
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Sep 1, 2015 02:39
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Samizdata posted:Dear God, I know this is technically In this thread or another, someone pointed out how some of the colors on certain codebooks were selected in order to make it impossible to make black and white photocopies of them
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Sep 1, 2015 02:55
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Slanderer posted:In this thread or another, someone pointed out how some of the colors on certain codebooks were selected in order to make it impossible to make black and white photocopies of them And that is where cracking the codewheels/books/tables into text files comes in. Easy reading, not because you could be the first to upload it to the nearest "interesting" BBS first. Samizdata has a new favorite as of 03:25 on Sep 1, 2015 |
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Sep 1, 2015 03:13
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Slanderer posted:In this thread or another, someone pointed out how some of the colors on certain codebooks were selected in order to make it impossible to make black and white photocopies of them Used to be a Xerox scanner head would read blue, green or red (or blue/yellow/red? It's been a while) and you'd have a manual code section printed in all three. Try to copy it and you'd only get one third of the code.
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Sep 1, 2015 07:30
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Boiled Water posted:Used to be a Xerox scanner head would read blue, green or red (or blue/yellow/red? It's been a while) and you'd have a manual code section printed in all three. Try to copy it and you'd only get one third of the code. One friend at school took polaroids of each layer of those rings and cut away with scissors to make his own wheels. It was amazing, and he would always ask if you had a new game he could take photos of. Ingenious really. This was the same friend that was the first to get a CD Burner....His popularity skyrocketed at school after that. EDIT: "that friend" as a general term, there was always ONE that had his finger in a certain pie, whether it be porn, games, fireworks (illegal here), Xmen cards, etc. I noticed a pattern that those kids turned into the guy who always has drugs for sale.
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Sep 1, 2015 13:12
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Wanna buy a picture of some dank weed?
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Sep 1, 2015 13:47
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Probably already covered, but has any technology ever been rendered as thoroughly and swiftly obsolete as netbooks were by tablets? They were the biggest thing in portable technology for like three years then vanished as soon as the iPad was released. I got a HP Mini 210 a few years ago, expecting that I would take it with me everywhere and it ended up sitting on my bedside table as a YouTube machine. Once I can get my hands on one of these LG roll up keyboards to pair with my Nexus 7 I'll basically have what I wanted from the netbook. ...then I'll write that novel.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:19
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joedevola posted:Probably already covered, but has any technology ever been rendered as thoroughly and swiftly obsolete as netbooks were by tablets? They were the biggest thing in portable technology for like three years then vanished as soon as the iPad was released. I had a HP Mini 2133 (first generation of that model). Easily the worst laptop I've ever owned. The Intel Atom hadn't come out yet so it had a dog slow VIA C7 chip. I couldn't even listen to a mp3 and load a web page. I'm pretty sure I could that on my old 160mhz Compaq laptop. It was a beautiful looking device though and had a really sharp 1024x600 LCD screen. Unfortunately that 600 lines of resolution meant plenty of apps wouldn't display properly. Like menus would expend off the screen (with the necessary CANCAL or OK buttons). It was a bummer, because from an aesthetic viewpoint it was a cool machine. Yeah, netbooks sucked.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:44
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joedevola posted:Probably already covered, but has any technology ever been rendered as thoroughly and swiftly obsolete as netbooks were by tablets? They were the biggest thing in portable technology for like three years then vanished as soon as the iPad was released. I was sad to see netbooks fall so fast. They were inexpensive, relatively portable, had an amazingly quick startup time, and had insane battery life. I joined the future and put my little Asus netbook away when I bought a tablet, but ended up digging it back out when the tablet and I didn't get along. Turns out I missed having a physical keyboard and the ability to plug in more than one device at a time a bit too much. Plus, the thing seemed fragile as hell. The trusty ol' netbook can get bonked around in my bag all drat day, already has a keyboard, and I can charge it, use a mouse, and read from a jumpdrive, all at the same time  Krispy Kareem posted:I had a HP Mini 2133 (first generation of that model). Easily the worst laptop I've ever owned. I picked up two of those goddamn things at a yard sale last year thinking they'd be great little Netflix machines, figured out that I was a sucker, and now I can't get rid of them to save my life 
GOTTA STAY FAI has a new favorite as of 17:58 on Sep 1, 2015 |
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Sep 1, 2015 17:55
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:I was sad to see netbooks fall so fast. They were inexpensive, relatively portable, had an amazingly quick startup time, and had insane battery life. And they were all poo poo.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:56
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:I was sad to see netbooks fall so fast. They were inexpensive, relatively portable, had an amazingly quick startup time, and had insane battery life. I mean, they still basically exist, they're just the super low end of the convertible market. You can get HP's and Acers that are basically netbooks where you can yank the screen off.
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Sep 1, 2015 17:59
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Last Chance posted:And they were all poo poo. Do I come into your house and make fun of hardware that you have an unnecessary and completely unjustified nostalgic fondness for?
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Sep 1, 2015 18:02
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:Do I come into your house and make fun of hardware that you have an unnecessary and completely unjustified nostalgic fondness for? Yeah dude, like last week 
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Sep 1, 2015 18:07
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:Do I come into your house and make fun of hardware that you have an unnecessary and completely unjustified nostalgic fondness for? No, but I suppose you could. I have a lot of it. But I have no issues calling it all poo poo.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:17
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Krispy Kareem posted:It was a beautiful looking device though and had a really sharp 1024x600 LCD screen. Yeah, the 210 had a really nice look too, but I wasn't fortunate enough to get the kind that they made to specifically show HD video, so it's uses were limited.  As much as it pains me to admit it, Steve Jobs was right, netbooks weren't better at anything.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:32
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Elliotw2 posted:I mean, they still basically exist, they're just the super low end of the convertible market. You can get HP's and Acers that are basically netbooks where you can yank the screen off. Things like the HP Stream 11 are essentially still netbooks without that particular label. Slow processor, small amount of RAM, small amount of onboard storage, cheap as hell. Ticking just about all the netbook boxes to me.
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Sep 1, 2015 18:43
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My dad still uses a 10" Asus Eee PC for programming 2-way radio systems when he's away from his workbench. It's small, cheap, runs Windows and has USB ports. It even runs Windows 7 quite well, despite being nearly 7 years old at this point. It cost ~$250 back in 2009, so that's pretty good value for money.
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Sep 1, 2015 19:07
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GOTTA STAY FAI posted:I picked up two of those goddamn things at a yard sale last year thinking they'd be great little Netflix machines, figured out that I was a sucker, and now I can't get rid of them to save my life I traded mine in for $50 off a Chromebook for my kid. I was never so happy to get rid of a piece of electronics. Of course Chromebooks will probably be this hardware generations Netbooks. At least they know their limitations.
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Sep 1, 2015 20:09
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Johnny Aztec posted:Yeah dude, like last week Look, man, a leisure suit is just not appropriate to wear to a wedding in 2015. I don't care how good you look in it.
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Sep 1, 2015 20:51
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Netbooks are good SSH terminals. They can barely handle running a modern browser but as a very small Linux box to do SSH, it's decent. I used mine as a jukebox for years too. Originally bought it as part of a wearable computing school project.
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Sep 1, 2015 20:54
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Now you guys got me into thinking about UMPCs, particularly the Sony Vaio UX series. Sure it was bulky, heavy, slow, had poor battery life, had an operating system that was poorly suited to work and run on a small screen even with various optimizations, and was absurdly expensive with a price of $1800 when it was released in 2006 but drat did it look cool with the slide out keyboard and external antenna. It's amusing that about 5 years later technology would advance to a point where the same kind of product could be made smaller, lighter, faster, with better battery life, and cheaper. Still as impractical as they were, there's something (nostalgically) charming about UMPCs that modern smartphones and tablets lack to me. Now I want to get a bricked UX, replace the mainboard with something more modern and faster like doner from a Windows tablet or an Intel Compute Stick, upgrade the screen with a higher resolution and a capacitive touchscreen, and add in whatever microcontrollers and electronics to make the keyboard, buttons, lights, switches and other doodads to work. It should be feasible since the main body is about 1.25 inches thick which should have adequate room to stuff everything in.
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Sep 1, 2015 21:02
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Krispy Kareem posted:I traded mine in for $50 off a Chromebook for my kid. I was never so happy to get rid of a piece of electronics. Too bad the limitation is "needs to always be connected to the internet and god help you if you need anything outside of googles box".
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Sep 1, 2015 21:44
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Considering that "box" is the entire Internet, it isn't really all that limited. Sure, you can't run Windows applications, and it'll never be a development workstation or gaming PC. What you do get is a browser, 10+hour battery life in a lightweight form factor, near-instant boot even from completely off, and a streamlined OS where you never have to worry about updates or drivers messing something up. Don't try to make it more than it is. It's a portable browsing machine with a keyboard and touchpad, and it's drat good at it.
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Sep 1, 2015 22:19
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Can't you just install Ubuntu or whatever on those things?
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Sep 1, 2015 22:47
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Yeah the original one came with a version of Xandros. Most usually swapped it out with a ripped down version of XP or NetBuntu. I'm the owner of one of these and it did serve it's purpose as an excellent laptop for study as you had no room on any of the little swing out desk tops and unlike everything else at the time it was light and easy to carry around and didn't need massively bulky power chargers. Perfect for note taking once your fingers got used to the tiny keyboard and the trackpad could be given multiple finger control. Nowadays it's handy enough as basic wordprocessor and browser with just enough grunt to be a basic media player.
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Sep 1, 2015 23:45
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Krispy Kareem posted:I had a HP Mini 2133 (first generation of that model). Easily the worst laptop I've ever owned. The Intel Atom hadn't come out yet so it had a dog slow VIA C7 chip. I couldn't even listen to a mp3 and load a web page. I'm pretty sure I could that on my old 160mhz Compaq laptop. I won the HP 2140 and it's a neat looking unit, if a bit heavy and chunky, but the <1.5hr battery life really kills it. Happy to have got it for nothing, but it didn't have any real use that I could see.
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Sep 2, 2015 00:29
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sinking belle posted:Can't you just install Ubuntu or whatever on those things? I run Mint on my Wind U100. Works great and is a hell of lot easier to type on when I'm on the BART than my tablet is.
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Sep 2, 2015 01:48
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Yeah netbooks never went away, and fill a different niche to what tablets do.
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Sep 2, 2015 01:57
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KozmoNaut posted:My dad still uses a 10" Asus Eee PC for programming 2-way radio systems when he's away from his workbench. It's small, cheap, runs Windows and has USB ports. It even runs Windows 7 quite well, despite being nearly 7 years old at this point. It cost ~$250 back in 2009, so that's pretty good value for money. I still have this exact model, got it for $200 refurbished in 2010. I immediately installed Ubuntu on it, almost only used it for college work, and it was solid for those 4 years. It definitely shows its age when I try to start Chrome, and the screen has this weird flickering when I hold it at any more than a 30 degree angle, and it totally whites out. So it's hardly even functional because of that, but it was a good tool for the time. 
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Sep 2, 2015 02:45
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:I run Mint on my Wind U100. Works great and is a hell of lot easier to type on when I'm on the BART than my tablet is. I was given an MSI Wind U100 by my neighbour and I still use it for various things where I want something small and light that I don't particularly care about if it dies. I boot it with a persistance USB nix distro which I cannot remember right now. It really has taken more abuse than my Toughbook which I seem to baby around due to how expensive it was - even though it can (and has survived) being run over by my car when I forgot where it was in the garage. Back when Netbooks were coming out, the store I worked at sold the original EEE PCs and they were honestly very hard to sell to the types of customers we had walk through the door. I've never seen soo many grey beards screw up their faces at something running Linux. I desperately wanted a Sony Vaio P when it was announced:  but had no money and ended up finding through some dodgy chinese wholesale site a knockoff version. It worked surprisingly well even though a number of news outlets shat on it like it was the worst thing ever designed.  http://gizmodo.com/5164237/vaino-is-like-a-fat-sad-sony-vaio-p-knock-off
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Sep 2, 2015 10:04
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I got the original Eee PC when I was a college freshman, and that thing was super convenient for taking to class with me. I used it mainly for browsing SA and typing up the occasional assignment for other classes, but the keyboard was hard to use for serious typing. But once I got an android phone (and a decent mobile web browser), I stopped using it. It did come in handy a few years later when I needed a lightweight laptop to carry around while monitoring readings from a bunch of mobile sensors. With a stripped-down version of XP installed, it served as well as an expensive specialized piece of equipment.
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Sep 2, 2015 10:15
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I still Cr-48 that is used exclusively as an interface computer between my car and the VAG-com. I put Windows 7 on it almost immediately when Google sent it to me. It's pretty awful at being a Windows computer but it's excellent for what I use it for.
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Sep 2, 2015 10:57
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The only thing Netbooks had going for them is that they were dirt cheap. Which of course meant that they were family-support hell. My mother bought some lovely Asus or Acer netbook without consulting her more computer savvy offspring, and had nothing but issues with it. I eventually bought a macbook for her just to get out of having to support that accursed thing.
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Sep 2, 2015 11:40
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Collateral Damage posted:I eventually bought a macbook for her just to get out of having to support that accursed thing. Hahaha. I did the same for my parents when I had one too many calls to support their windows box. Dad: "The computer is acting weird? Can you..." Me: "OK, you're going to get an email in about 5 to 10 minutes. Take it to the apple store and pick up your new computer" No more support calls. It was worth every penny.
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Sep 2, 2015 12:39
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The only support I've had to give my parents with their Mac mini is printer issues. Which affect everyone; just ask SH/SC. 
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Sep 2, 2015 12:45
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flosofl posted:
The support hell I've been through with my family is amazing. It ranges from: Grandma telling me she can't dial numbers on her mobile phone anymore and me assuming the app isn't showing the numpad screen, only to find out she has worn the numbers off the physical numpad on her Nokia brick phone by staying up all night playing Snake. Mum sending me the free PS3 slim that she got by buying a Sony TV with some deal, and attaching a letter to the package asking which Blu-ray player to buy. Grandma again, calling me saying the new computer she got from her neighbour won't start up and the screen has nothing on it. Turns out she didn't have a laptop, but was sitting in front of a monitor and keyboard, sans tower. My parents condo complex has ethernet jacks and mum trying to connect her dialup modem and complaining that the phone cable is too thin to stay in the port and doesn't get a dial tone and the screeching sounds. Sometimes I love being 1000km from family, other times if I was local I could have saved myself a lot of effort by just driving past each family members house once a week to put out every tech fire before it becomes a major issue.
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Sep 2, 2015 13:41
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TinTower posted:The only support I've had to give my parents with their Mac mini is printer issues. Which affect everyone; just ask SH/SC.
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Sep 2, 2015 15:36
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It's because while most everything else in computing is clean and neat with purely electronic innards, printers are finicky electromechanical beasts that get greasy and dirty and have things that can go out of alignment. Then add the fact that printer consumables and spare parts is a cash cow for the manufacturer and you end up with a device that everyone in IT hates.
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Sep 2, 2015 15:46
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