Technologies We Grew Up With That are Now Obsolete

[wendy-lebaron]

Lets not forget these PITA's had many of them in my working days.

Uhhh... I had to have one of those stupid things on me while I had my first job. -_-

LOL the write-enable tabs on the cassettes. Was often patching them with adhesive tape though. What I usually recorded wasn't good enough to stay read-only for a long time.

Um... alkaline batteries are garbage? Not the ones created during the 1990's I suppose. I thought those were bad, not the ones available today which leak easily because devices are calling far more often for size "D" and "triple-A" than anything else. A portable light with LED's takes only 20 minutes to run down three high-definition "triple-A" alkaline batteries. Sometime in 2017 this really sucked. Instead of carbon batteries where I live, the heavy-duty ones are still good for the ordinary flashlights, not the LED-equipped ones.

 

[The Duck]

Um... alkaline batteries are garbage? Not the ones created during the 1990's I suppose. I thought those were bad, not the ones available today which leak easily because devices are calling far more often for size "D" and "triple-A" than anything else. A portable light with LED's takes only 20 minutes to run down three high-definition "triple-A" alkaline batteries. Sometime in 2017 this really sucked. Instead of carbon batteries where I live, the heavy-duty ones are still good for the ordinary flashlights, not the LED-equipped ones.

Alkaline batteries made today with the ECO friendly components are garbage and leak even on the store shelf brand doesn't matter.
I remember back when you could buy alkaline batteries that would last a long time and not leak.

 

[KGIII]

Heh... Along with my collection of stuff that I've picked up along the way, I have my own tube tester. It came from a hi-fi shop that went out of business. They had a bunch of great stuff on their last weekend of business.

It was a successful going out of business sale, as I recall them taking just plain ol' cash at the end because they'd sold the register. They were going out of business because the owner was retiring and their business really wasn't doing all that great.

Remember diaper service? I just checked and there are some of 'em still around.

Anyhow, tubes are stupidly expensive these days and trying to find the correct ones can be a pain in the butt. I have a bunch of kit that requires tubes so I stock up when I can. Yeah, it means someone else goes without but I'm okay with that. Some of my kit is worth quite a bit of money and some of what I do just doesn't sound right with solid state.

 

[PuppyHome]

Black and White TV and Betamax video.

 

[Brickwizard]

Wind up gramophones

 

[tinfoil-hat]

I don't really miss the CD/DVD as for itselves, but more the possibility to own and use the media offline

 

[sphen]

Wind up gramophones

We have one of those. It an antique that my partner had before we met. I never grew up with one. She had a huge collection of 78s, but donated most of them years ago, keeping only a few of her favorites.

I don't really miss the CD/DVD as for itselves, but more the possibility to own and use the media offline

I take CDs out to the garage and play them on the cheap Walmart boombox when I am building "projects".

(HINT: Do NOT buy electronics sold by Walmart. Many of them are house brands with no documentation, no contact, and no warranty. The actual "warranty" is the 90 day Walmart return period. If it dies on the 91st day, Walmart will do nothing, and there is no recourse.)

 

[KGIII]

HINT: Do NOT buy electronics sold by Walmart. Many of them are house brands with no documentation, no contact, and no warranty. The actual "warranty" is the 90 day Walmart return period. If it dies on the 91st day, Walmart will do nothing, and there is no recourse.)

If you live in the US, odds are good that your state has a warranty of merchantability which will cover you long beyond the 90s days, you just have to know and assert your rights. In some instances, you may need to send a copy of the appropriate law, but I've never had an issue with asserting my rights.

This doesn't necessarily count when you buy stuff online. While it should, it's just not going to work 'cause they don't care and your jurisdiction isn't going to do anything about it.

Some areas are better than others, but the law you're looking for is known as 'warranty of merchantability' or very similar verbiage.

 

[ML_113]

33 1/3 Turntable.
Hi 8.

 

[darry1966]

VHS.

 

[MikeWalsh]

We have one of these, purchased in the late 60s:-

.....an original Philips EL-3300, the first ever commercially successful portable cassette player. It got used for about 2 years, then my old man had it renovated. After that, it was kept for many years in his brother's garage.....which, because my uncle was a vintage car nut, housed his own small collection of Jaguars. It was temperature- & humidity-controlled, which made it ideal for storing other things, too.

It still has the original leather carry-case, and even retains the tiny strap-mounted pouch where you keep the earphone.

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​

@sphen :-

I remember Heathkit. And Tandy, AND RadioShack.

My other uncle, who was a POW at Sing-Sing during the Second World War, was an amateur radio ham. Like @kc1di , in fact. He used to build all his own transceivers, from diagrams in radio ham magazines, buying all his components in from many different places, including the above-named firms. Even had his own 50-foot mast in the back garden.

He taught me how to build my very own "cat's-whisker"-controlled crystal detector, when I was quite young. Simplest possible radio; only had about half-a-dozen components. You couldn't really GO wrong with it..!


Mike.

 

[kc1di]

We have one of these, purchased in the late 60s:-

.....an original Philips EL-3300, the first ever commercially successful portable cassette player. It got used for about 2 years, then my old man had it renovated. After that, it got kept for many years in his brother's garage.....which, because my uncle was a vintage car nut, housed his own small collection of Jaguars. It was temperature- & humidity-controlled, which made it ideal for storing other things, too.

It still has the originl leather carry-case, and even retains the tiny strap-mounted pouch where you keep the earphone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
​

@sphen :-

I remember Heathkit. And Tandy, AND RadioShack.

My other uncle, who was a POW at Sing-Sing during the Second World War, was an amateur radio ham. Like @kc1di , in fact. He used to build all his own transmitters, from diagrams in radio ham magazines, buying all his own components in from many different places, including the above-named firms. Even had his own 50-foot mast in the back garden.

He taught me how to build my very own "cat's-whisker"-controlled crystal detector, when I was quite young. Simplest possible radio; only had about half-a-dozen components. You couldn't really GO wrong with it..!


Mike.

Yes, I have built a fair amount of Heathkit equipment over the years. Miss them. My first commercial Transmitter was a Knightkit T-50 Was a good rig. Built from kit also.

Put out about 25 to 30 watts.

 

[The Duck]

Yes, I have built a fair amount of Heathkit equipment over the years. Miss them. My first commercial Transmitter was a Knightkit T-50 Was a good rig. Built from kit also. View attachment 16368
Put out about 25 to 30 watts.

Just for you @kc1di enjoy.

https://w8dyy.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Heathkit-AGuideToTheAmateurRadioProducts.pdf

 

[dobeshow]

Computer stores. It's nice to be able to touch stuff before buying. On the other hand, less impulse purchases save a lot of money

 

[dobeshow]

View attachment 16364
I don't really miss the CD/DVD as for itselves, but more the possibility to own and use the media offline

Yea, i was really sad when they ditched the caddies. I really don't like the overall roundness of the discs...

 

[darry1966]

Quote "(HINT: Do NOT buy electronics sold by Walmart. Many of them are house brands with no documentation, no contact, and no warranty. The actual "warranty" is the 90 day Walmart return period. If it dies on the 91st day, Walmart will do nothing, and there is no recourse.)"

Don't the US have a Consumer Guarantees Act??

 

[dobeshow]

Quote "(HINT: Do NOT buy electronics sold by Walmart. Many of them are house brands with no documentation, no contact, and no warranty. The actual "warranty" is the 90 day Walmart return period. If it dies on the 91st day, Walmart will do nothing, and there is no recourse.)"

Don't the US have a Consumer Guarantees Act??

2 years here in the EU...

 

[Brickwizard]

HINT: Do NOT buy electronics sold by Walmart. Many of them are house brands with no documentation,

not just the USA,
I should have known better, when we were in lockdown,our TV gave up so I ordered a JVC smart tv, it is a load of crap, the onboard android board needs to be cold started every other day or it goes into a loop, the case is so thin it vibrates and buzzes on certain tones.. it turns out JVC haven't made TV's for years, they just licence out the name to different retailers across the world, with no control to uniformity or quality. Many known computer names are the same, acer own several brands, but licence them out to retailers and Asus the same, buying an old known brand is no longer a guarantee of anything.

2 years here in the EU...

Not quite the same in the UK, in our sale of goods act it states must be fit for purpose , it takes some fighting as you have to prove it, what is the life expectancy of a laptop, 90 days, a year, longer? you can argue in court that laptops can realistically last for 15/20 years, but you will not get far, but if a main component fails at say just 15 months you can argue that its not fit.

 

[darry1966]

The way it works in NZ with some stores either they will replace with another or you have to give them the chance to repair the item. Same fault happens then money back.

 

[xlbooyahlx]

your state has a warranty of merchantability

Are all states as vague as mine???