What's the oldest piece of technology you own and actively use? What would you like to have? What do you appreciate about it?I've been using picrel more recently. It's obviously a bit of a gimmick in the age of digital music, but recording my own tapes and playing them back feels fun. And there is a certain intentionally to it, when I know that making a new tape takes 90min of recording + selecting all the songs.It was pleasant how easy it was to fix the few problems I had with it. Most modern devices you're just fucked if they break, this one was easy to take apart, find the issue and get some replacement parts (lucky there's a community of dedicated dorks still manufacturing some of them)
>>109264161Also got some old cameras and they're a treat to shoot. This one is a cheap piece of trash, but I love her still. Got it for 50 bucks and probably already paid more for film alone.Mine was made in '82 but the design itself goes way back to interwar Germany. As a fun fact, those famous D-Day landing pictures you know, were all shot on the camera that this is a copy of. It's a good pick if you want to try out a rangefinder, without breaking the bank
>>109264161>What's the oldest piece of technology you own and actively use?Nokia Asha 503>What do you appreciate about it?Small, light, 4:3 screen, and the default apps feel incredibly polished (outside the fact half are hardcoded into light mode and half are hardcoded into dark mode). I essentially treat it like a PDA>Calendar>Alarms>Music>Video (mostly old anime)A few months ago my answer would've been a CRT I was using as a second screen, but it broke and I'm waiting for some specialty gloves to fix it
>>109264161I like to digitize old tapes that people get rid of. Sometimes there is some neat stuff on there. Still haven't struck gold though.
Use case for filling your home with e-waste trash?
>>109264161That would be my 50 year-old alarm clock, a Panasonic RC-6551. I just like split-flap displays, and I have a small collection of these clocks. Next oldest thing I actually use regularly would be my Denon turntable ca. 1986.
This bad boy from 1959. The rangefinder is iffy though still focuses correctly. It's a brick and a half but feels satisfying to shoot.
>>109264447Use case for filling your home with newer e-trash when older tech does the job as well?
>>109264392Neat. I sometimes wonder if I should switch to a dumb phone, but to be honest I barely every use my phone to actually call someone, mostly communicate through messengers and shit like maps is just overall really useful>>109264447That's why I specified "actively use">>109264440Neat, I've recently found my dad's old Hi8 cam in my parents basemen. It has some old tapes of me as a kid and even my parent's wedding on one of them. Shit made emotional as fuck, seeing my parents so young was crazy.Not quite sure what to do with the camera though, thinking of using it for some sort of film project maybe.Also that webm is kinda hilarious, especially out of context, is that one of yours?>>109264456That's cool as fuck fuck>>109264507Canon P, init?I'm actually thinking of getting that or a VT maybe, if the Kiev ever breaks (it inevitably will). Switching from my Minolta SLR to a rangefinder was amazing. I still love the SLR, but the Kiev is just so much smaller ad lighter, I can practically wear it around my should all day and take it wherever I go.
>>109264555>I've recently found my dad's old Hi8 camThats how I got into it. Certain models can go for a good price online.>webmI'ts an mp4, but yes! I just found that an hour ago. There were two more takes on the tape but the rest was blank. No idea what it was used for. Fucking around with analog video sure is fun.https://videos.scanlines.xyz/w/6Ey8dYtWV5zBHdGwtUtKZ6
>>109264179>>109264507Nettar 515/16 here.Also got a Kodak Retina IIa and other old cameras.
Olivetti Letter 25 that belongs to my mother.She actually thaught me how to touch type using it. Since I live in another town I like to use it when I write sort stories because of the memories.The only practical advantage is the lack of distractions, but an electrical typewriter would be a better choice objectively.
>>109264888Oh nice.My childhood typewriter story is that a friend I had in school had a typewriter at home (this was early 2000s I think) and I came home saying I wanted one too and my parents got me one from some thrift store probably. Looking back as an adult now I realize how incredibly cool that was of my parents, as a kid I was grateful but I didn't quite appreciate how it was a bit of an odd request and and probably not trivial to find.I found it at their place and took it to my apartment not too long ago. Unfortunately it's not quite distraction free, because the mechanism seems to have a quirk where occasionally it inserts a whitespace where you don't want one. But I use it to write letters to friends sometimes (which is another somewhat gimmicky hobby, since I could just text them, but it's fun)>>109264655>I'ts an mp4I keep forgetting you can do that now, lel>No idea what it was used forwonder if it was just some dudes fucking around. Somehow it's so much more endearing when it's on tape though, compared to a phone video, where you can just record whatever you want without a second thought
>>109264161>What's the oldest piece of technology you own and actively use?I hammered a post into the ground with a rock, so do I count this technology as billions of years old, or only from the dawn of hominid tool use?
I bought a Sony CDP-209ES made in 1990 for my living room, I usually just stream music from my Jellyfin server but sometimes I do want to just pick up a CD off the shelf without having to turn the TV on to navigate through Jellyfin.
>>109264996>another somewhat gimmicky hobby, since I could just text themPerfect example of soul vs soulless. Writting letters is cool.
>>109264996>>109264888The Smith-Corona I have needs more attention from me but the thing is loud as fuck. I want to use it more since OCR is now something any ai can do, some better than others. I also have a electro voice microphone that is a model from the 1960s, another tech that reach the top decades ago and hasn't had the need for improvement.
My IBM Model M from the late 80s. I love the fact it basically set the standard for the layout and comes with the PS/2 connector which still exists on plenty of motherboards, meaning it's still usable on the average modern PC without any modifications/converters. I love the fact that it's older than me despite me being an oldfag and that it will most likely outlive me. There is a certain purposeful authority to it all.
>>109265036Oh for sure, I didn't mean it in a dismissive way. It definitely is fun.It's the same as recording and listening to my own mixtapes or taking analog photos, it serves no "functional" purpose, it's just fun to do, especially in a world where everything is geared towards consumption, constant availability and instant gratification.Sitting down for 30-60min to write a letter, walking to the nearest mailbox with it and then waiting until it arrives is a lot of fun
>>109264161My monitor is from 1999. I have older stuff, but I don't use it that often.
>>109264161My clip+, the physical buttons allow me drive and listen to music without having to look at a screen. I also use a VCR but mostly as a clock, I haven't watched any tapes if a few years.
>>109265544>the physical buttons allow me drive and listen to music without having to look at a screenI still burn MP3 CDs for the same reason.
>had a bunch of old stuff>stereo component systems with 8-track and cassette players, with 8-tracks and compact cassettes to play on them>original speakers too>bunch of old VCRs, all shitty mono ones though>some DVD players (painful knowing those are old now)>bunch of old CRTs>even more radios>old sewing machine>ancient motorized well pump>had to move for work>lost all of that cool shit forever and it's probably in a dump thanks to who owns the house now
>>109266343Fuck man, that sucks, my condolences.I'm a massive hoarder, so I'm glad that so far I've never been put in a situation where I have to leave a bunch of stuff behind.A good friend of mine is a two times refugee from a warzone and I find their stories about having to leave home and most of their stuff behind so incredibly gut wrenching.
>>109264440what equipment do you use? obviously a vcr, but what interface do you use to digitize it? id love to also start digitizing stuff, but id prefer to buy something decent right off the bat.
>>109264440Years ago I found an old VHS tape in my dad's things titled discover the ocean or something.He must've thrown it away I can't find it anymore. I'll never know what the ocean looks like.I can't remember the last time I even saw a VCR.
>>109267393vcr > roland v3ex > VRCapture. Its really ok. You can also convert hdmi to composite.
>>109264161An alarm clock from the 70s(?) kinda loud but i'm getting used to the alarm. Saw from some article i read a few months back that there was a model with a green display but i've yet to find it (not even on ebay) and the one i bought has a broken battery cable so it's plugged in most of the time
>>109264161Off the top of my head I dont have anything older than 20 years. Most electronics don't last that long.I have a 16yo Genius gamepad and had a 15yo kindle but that died. Oh and I guess an old laptop hdd, that's also about 17yo or so, seagate surprisingly though I don't use it regularly.
my great grandfathers Pentax KM, its in absolute mint condition and takes super nice photos.
>>109270017>20 years. Most electronics don't last that long.Most electronics from the last 20 years don't last that long.
yall too stupid to know what this is
>>109270155mc never felt so claustrophobic
>>109270155I'm glad we have oled evfs these days, look at this thing
>>109270155ive got a few old broadcast cameras that have these tiny lcds in them and id love to take them out and play with them, but id rather keep the cameras intact since theyre the only viewfinders they have on them. what voltage are you driving that thing at and what kind of current does it draw?
>>109270212err, tiny crts. also just noticed its a twitter picture.
>>109264161>What's the oldest piece of technology you own and actively usemy sgi indigo2 (xz)>What would you like to have?any of the unix superminis>What do you appreciate about it?I've been working on some graphics demos and game ports (see picrel), and while it's "just" opengl, the lack of hardware acceleration for most modern creature comforts (including textures) really makes you think about where you're spending your graphics/computation budget. Not really something you can experience working with modern machines, and it's a nice paradigm shift as a zoomer who has always had immense computing power at my fingertips. Pretty proud of the fact that the demo in picrel runs at ~12-15fps despite everything.
>>109270212yeah i stole this pic, but because i was researching, i found a camera with a monotole crt like this that i am trying to get to work, its not as nice as thisi am using a 2005 cellphone charger, 5V and like 200mA, turns on no issues, took forever to figure out voltage and ground, but i have no RCA signal output anywhere, cant get my stupid raspberry pi 4b to output analog signal, so i left it alone for now>>109270186kek, idk bro, people on youtube showed CRT having much superior picture quality in modern games, like theres no need for smoothing etc
>>109270225>my sgi indigo2 (xz)Funny coincidence, since I have an SGI Granite keyboard that I use regularly and works fine. It looks like picrel.
>>109270245ive also got a 4b kicking around that im planning to use for it. they depart from earlier models by not having a dedicated composite video output, and instead have a custom 3.5mm 4pole composite av port.https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/legacy_config_txt.html#composite-video-modehttps://pip-assets.raspberrypi.com/categories/545-raspberry-pi-4-model-b/documents/RP-008345-DS-1-raspberry-pi-4-reduced-schematics.pdfthe datasheets for the 4b are especially lacking compared to things like the pico/pico2. it seems like youve either gotta set the flags in /boot/firmware/config.txt, or use raspi-config and enable composite output, both of which will disable hdmi video output. i dont currently have a display that lets me play with this, but id imagine it still works. ive been having a complete fucking bitch of a time finding a crt that isnt $700 for even some dogshit because of retards who think theyre sitting on gold.
/boot/firmware/config.txt
raspi-config
>>109270361oops i forgor to edit before posting again. its not custom, its TRRS, with left audio on the male tip, right audio on the first ring after that, then ground, then composite video out on the last ring.
>>109270351I wish I had one, but it works great with just any random PS/2 keyboard or mouse thankfully. I've just been using a VAIO keyboard identical to picrel, and some HP mouse. I think it would be more of an issue if I weren't on IRIX 6.5.22 (particularly with the mouse)
>>109264161i need to get a new tape player theyre comfy. i have some sony cd player that lets you record directly to tape used it for a bit before my tape player died
>>109270155nice onahole bro
>>109264161A broomI love to shove it up a college bitches ass after a nice long sesh of analThey typically oblige after a few stiff cocktails and smoking a joint
>>109269965Why don't you get one with a radio? Wake up to that instead of obnoxious beeps.
>>109273215not him, but i can think of few things that would make me more suicidal than being woken up by an advertisement followed immediately by imagine dragons
>>109273215>>109273264Makes me nostalgic for when my mom was on a trip for some reason and dad set up my CD player as an alarm clock. Woke up to my Deep Purple CD for school every day
I still use my old iPod while doing yard work and in my year 2000 pick-up truck.
>>109264447>use case for using e-waste?>now excuse me, I have to go exchange my goyphone 26 for the new goyphone 27
>>109273215Because i already have a radio that's also a cassette player albeit not vintage but i have been thinking of getting an alarm clock with one but none of the designs i've seen so far pique my interest
>>109264161Technics SL-D3. A lot of older vinyl players are going to be superior to many modern players because modern players are often made to a lower spec and price point unless you get into the really expensive stuff.Seeing as vinyl is currently very popular and its quite easy to get all sorts of vinyls at libraries, book stores, and even at Walmart, its nice to have a solid piece of equipment to play them.
>>109264456For a short time my brother got into buying old alarm clocks and repairing them. They have a certain quality and feel to them that's awesome.Especially the combined radio/alarm clocks. Those are so cool, and some are quite capable radios.
>>109269965My mom had one of those until recently (like in the past three years), I don't know if she sold it or it finally died. Great piece of equipment to have lasted like nearly 40 years.
>>109269965>>109273215>>109273264Ditto on radio alarm clocks, I have one and set it up to a station that plays music I DON'T enjoy listening to, anything else I can sleep right through, I don't understand how people can use phones as their alarm clock, the speakers are quiet on full volume+the default alarms aren't intense enough
Olivetti Lettera 32. First produced in '63, although Idk when the one I have was actually made. It's fun to type out the shopping list and other small notes.I wish I had one of those big paddle clocks from the '60s, but they're eye watering expensive, and contemporary chinkshit models are ugly as sin.
>>109275146In my case i used my tablet with a custom alarm set.
>>109275424Are tablet speakers considerably louder than phone speakers? In my experience they tend to be about the same
>>109273355I had a similar thought recently. I just got this Denon turntable, a fully automatic marvel of Japanese electronic engineering. I love it, hope to enjoy it for a long time, but the unobtanium IC inside will probably fail at some point. My next turntable will probably be a Technics SL-1600. Still fully automatic, but largely mechanical and much easier to fix.
>>109276573>ICIt's more likely caps will die first, maybe pop some fuse. If the plate is belt driven or there's some rubber part in the kinematic chain that will degrade first. Replace those and it will be good for another half century.
>>109264456>Panasonic RC-6551These look cool. Would you recommend them as a daily driver in the year of our Lord 2026?
>>109264161Old Nintendo handhelds in bed. Gameboy Micro and 3DS
>>109276573Absolute sex of a machine anon. My SL-D3 is cool but its definitely got some cosmetic ware on it (some of the buttons have oxidation, the plastic cover is scratched hard and just broke a hinge tab yesterday).Still, it sounds great, and I've already gotten some very good and surprisingly affordable audio equipment to go with it. People shit on ebay but there's still some gems out there for more niche markets.
>>109264440I just got rid of a bunch because we're moving and noone wanted them... Old television and such. I kept some old home movies and stuff that I found because it's like a mini documentary about a strangers life.
>>109278752I have been mulling a pre-emptive recapping. I'm hesitant to mess with it while it's still working perfectly, though I'll happily do it at the first sign of misbehavior.>>109279902I couldn't recommend any of these Panasonic clocks with an old Copal II motor. They all have one gear inside that will inevitably fail. I would guess 99% of "for parts" clocks on ebay have this problem. I've swapped several of these from donor clocks over the years. Prices have also gotten a bit crazy in the 10-20 years since I bought my collection.
I have this panasonic NV GS280I do occasionally use it to film my friends drift sessions.I also use it to digitize tapes via firewire on my pc.but it doesnt get much use.I only digitized 2 tapes recorded 1 sesh and took few photos during car show.I also got nokia 8800 id use it as my daily phone but the battery is toast.
>>109280346What would you recommend instead?
>>109280632Maybe a Sony Digimatic. They seem to be cheaper on ebay and perhaps more reliable, just judging by the quantities of working vs. non-working clocks for sale.
>>109281107Thanks, anon.
>>109280346The good thing now is that with a caliper and a little CAD knowledge you can easily design a replacement gear and then use some resin 3D printing service to get a perfectly executed new one.
>>109264440they used to do this on Letterman in their hallway with office chairs and fire extinguishers
>>109264456handsome
>>109264161 The oldest technology I have is an Ives O-gauge electric locomotive from 1914 and an American Flyer O-gauge wind-up steam locomotive from 1910, and they both run.
I've still got a lot of old tech, but the oldest thing I still use is probably my 8track player from the 70s. I used to work at a record store and some 8tracks came in with a bunch of LPs that the store didn't want so I took them home and bought this player on ebay to check them out. I keep it in the bathroom for shower time, I was listening to it just a few minutes ago. the cassettes are finicky and a few of my cool ones quit working, unfortunately.I have an 80s Techninics SL-D2 automatic for the stereo and two Tech 12s for djing.if you consider the media itself to be tech, then some the LPs that I listen to a lot are older than the 8track player and tapes.
>>109283242HOWEVER, if we're talking oldest that I used to use every day when I was in college but not anymore, I still have my mom's old Nikkormat SLR. it's this one but mine's a little more beat up. I was a huge darkroom rat for several years and I carried the camera, a 50 and a wide angle lens (I think it was a 28?) a telephoto, and lens cleaning kit, cable release and etc everywhere I went. I was great but without cheap, easy access to a darkroom, there's no point anymore; unless you're a professional photographer and getting paid, I guess.
>>109283285>I was great*it was great.my photographic prowess is in the eye of the beholder but I got pretty good if I do say so myself
>>109281756neat
>>109264161I still have my first PC hanging around here somewhere (Compaq Deskpro)
I really do miss when tech was cool and you could actually get your hands on. Now days whenever there is fucking anything cool you have 99999 fucking zoomers rush to just buy the thing even if they don't even know what it is or they have one thats only slightly older.
