There is a generation that has not grown up with .......

Jim2007

Jim2007 wrote: »

I’m sure current and future generations will get on just fine without all the crap of previous generations. After all there are a lot of 50+ year olds that don’t know how to solder a hole in a bucket with a fire iron, or an electric one for that matter... replace a valve in a radio or fix a tv... all skill that were thought to be useful when I were a boy.

How feckin old are you??? Did they teach you how to shoe a horse as well?

Padre_Pio

Typing ringtones into a Nokia phone.
My cousin was great at it, fingers flying all over the keypad.
I remember I got the ringtone for Smooth Criminal, but I never heard the actual song and I had the tempo set way too low.

Then polyphonic ringtones came out, gamechanger.
Then, one of the lads had a phone with a voice recorder and a light. Amazing technology back then. A phone with a light! Handy.

I think it was 2005 when I my first "good" phone, a Sony Ericsson V800, which had an amazing 1.3 megapixel camera, that spun around so you could do video calls, not that I could afford a video call.

iamstop

Floppybits wrote: »

Remember upgrading to a disc man from the walkman. Jaysus the disc man ate the batteries, the strap to go over your shoulder so you bring it with you and any sort of bump and the cd would skip.

I skipped the discman and went straight to minidisc player/recorder. It was pretty nifty for about 2 years until it got usurped by the ipods.

The J Stands for Jay

iamstop wrote: »

I skipped the discman and went straight to minidisc player/recorder. It was pretty nifty for about 2 years until it got usurped by the ipods.

It's amazing how well the iPod did, despite being one of the more awkward MP3 players available at the time

CoBo55

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

With stations like "Athlone' listed on the dial.

And Hilversum, nothing was ever broadcast on Hilversum...
De diddle de de diddle diddle, Morse on shortwave.

Edgware

Floppybits wrote: »

Never knew what the A and B button did. Remember dialling long numbers on the rotary phone and some one would say something to you in the middle of it and you would forget where you were and have to start again.🤣

I don't know how many times we pushed button B
as kids and a coins came out.

ohnonotgmail

Floppybits wrote: »

Never knew what the A and B button did. Remember dialling long numbers on the rotary phone and some one would say something to you in the middle of it and you would forget where you were and have to start again.🤣

you put the coins in, dialled the number and waited for the other party to answer. you then pressed button A. if there was no response you pressed button B and got your money back. I am old enough to have used them but even by that stage they were an anachronism. There was one in an old pub across the road from where my dad worked.

cj maxx

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

you put the coins in, dialled the number and waited for the other party to answer. you then pressed button A. if there was no response you pressed button B and got your money back. I am old enough to have used them but even by that stage they were an anachronism. There was one in an old pub across the road from where my dad worked.

Does anyone remember ‘tapping’ pay phones . It’s where you literally tapped the thing where you hang up for the number ie. 7 taps for a 7 etc . It did work from time to time

Floppybits

McGaggs wrote: »

It's amazing how well the iPod did, despite being one of the more awkward MP3 players available at the time

All about the marketing that was, I cant remember any advertising for the other mp3 players on the market at the time. I know there was an mp3 player from Creative Labs. At the same time remember Nokia being huge for the mobile phones and then the Iphone came out and no more Nokia.

The Continental Op

The stove with the kettle always on the boil.

If it wasn't it could take at least 10 minutes to get a quick cup of tea.

Aglomerado

Floppybits wrote: »

All about the marketing that was, I cant remember any advertising for the other mp3 players on the market at the time. I know there was an mp3 player from Creative Labs. At the same time remember Nokia being huge for the mobile phones and then the Iphone came out and no more Nokia.

The Creative Zen was one of the best Mp3 players. I had a 6gb one, lasted for years. Never had one as good since. The case on it eventually got cracked after one too many drops. It was fairly big too and hard to lose, unlike the unbranded Chinese one I bought off Ebay that I can't find now. I'm using Spotify on my phone now instead.

ablelocks

Sardonicat wrote: »

Still one of those in the loft here

would you not think of refurbishing it and build in current tech?

Vita nova

I was recently in a hardware store looking for a shower unit and was thinking of this thread. In the 'bad old days', showers were rare and baths were more common, if you wanted a shower you could buy this all plastic attachment which looked a bit like a doctor's stethoscope, i.e. a Y-connector and 2 tubes off it that plugged unto the hot and cold bath taps (mixers were rare) and a shower head connected to the common tube.

They were never great, you had to hold the head all the time and if you tugged hard on them you could easily pull the plugs off the taps, even high water pressure would push the plug off. You can still get them but usually only in Mr. Price or Dealz type stores.

TheAsYLuMkeY

Padre_Pio wrote: »

I think it was 2005 when I my first "good" phone, a Sony Ericsson V800, which had an amazing 1.3 megapixel camera, that spun around so you could do video calls, not that I could afford a video call.

This was the first Nokia phone with a camera built in and also internet enabled, I bought this on release.

This was a really cool phone then, and still would be now, the handset used to slide up behind the screen and make it a really compact phone with just screen on view.

Don’t know where it ever went on me.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7650#:~:text=It%20was%20introduced%20in%20Barcelona,imaging%20capabilities%20was%20widely%20marketed.

ohnonotgmail

TheAsYLuMkeY wrote: »

This was the first Nokia phone with a camera built in and also internet enabled, I bought this on release.

This was a really cool phone then, and still would be now, the handset used to slide up behind the screen and make it a really compact phone with just screen on view.

Don’t know where it ever went on me.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_7650#:~:text=It%20was%20introduced%20in%20Barcelona,imaging%20capabilities%20was%20widely%20marketed.

this was the phone to have back in the day. Flicking it open answered a call and closing it ended the call. totally cool. I left mine in the back of a taxi when i was absolutely flutered. I dont think I ever got over that

CoBo55

Wap... The mobile phone version of dial up, absolutely dreadful.

Padre_Pio

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

this was the phone to have back in the day. Flicking it open answered a call and closing it ended the call. totally cool. I left mine in the back of a taxi when i was absolutely flutered. I dont think I ever got over that

Is that from the Matrix?

ohnonotgmail

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Is that from the Matrix?

well now, it is and it isn't. He does use a phone like that in The Matrix BUT the one in the movie flicks open. the real one had to be opened manually. The 7710 looked a bit like it and that did flick open and it is usually called the Matrix phone but is not the one used in the movie.

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

Edgware

"a Quinn Martin production"

ohnonotgmail

Edgware wrote: »

"a Quinn Martin production"

like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mijBMpnS3a4

iamstop

Aglomerado wrote: »

The Creative Zen was one of the best Mp3 players. I had a 6gb one, lasted for years. Never had one as good since. The case on it eventually got cracked after one too many drops. It was fairly big too and hard to lose, unlike the unbranded Chinese one I bought off Ebay that I can't find now. I'm using Spotify on my phone now instead.

For me the MAJOR thing I had against 'i' products was that they forced you to use itunes, which I hated.

I bought a little 2GB Philips mp3 player and when I got it home it didn't have drag and drop like I had thought it would. I even asked the guy in the shop who said it was. I was raging. They accepted the return any way and I stuck with my minidisc for another while until I eventually got the Galaxy S. Still have it and it still works, even if it is painfully slow! Lol. I've the S9+ now with 512GB. Don't think there is any going back to using anything besides the phone as a music player.
Having said that, very sad Google Music shutdown and 'turned into' Youtube Music. Absolutely AWEFUL app altogether. I had a great library on GM that was great for listening to whenever I'd go travelling (remember travelling?)
RIP Google Music

AndrewJRenko

Vita nova wrote: »

I was recently in a hardware store looking for a shower unit and was thinking of this thread. In the 'bad old days', showers were rare and baths were more common, if you wanted a shower you could buy this all plastic attachment which looked a bit like a doctor's stethoscope, i.e. a Y-connector and 2 tubes off it that plugged unto the hot and cold bath taps (mixers were rare) and a shower head connected to the common tube.

They were never great, you had to hold the head all the time and if you tugged hard on them you could easily pull the plugs off the taps, even high water pressure would push the plug off. You can still get them but usually only in Mr. Price or Dealz type stores.

The real fun was when one or other plug pulled off and you were either chilled to the bone or scalded with 1st degree burns.

km991148

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

well now, it is and it isn't. He does use a phone like that in The Matrix BUT the one in the movie flicks open. the real one had to be opened manually. The 7710 looked a bit like it and that did flick open and it is usually called the Matrix phone but is not the one used in the movie.

Great phone. I can still feel the solid thunk of the slider.

CoBo55 wrote: »

Wap... The mobile phone version of dial up, absolutely dreadful.

Imagine using a WAP phone as a modem for online access.. that was slow alright!

whysobecause

Going to a shady video rental shop and getting a couple of "blue movies"

The Continental Op

Getting to the end of a CAM copy on VHS only to find its been tapped over a blue movie and that you have some embarrassing extra material.

riclad

Trying to use a browser on a windows mobile os phone, it was awful
going to a video rental store,looking thru a book with 1000s, of adult xx films .
the films were not on display, you just picked one from the list.

i still use a small mp3 player .
If my phone battery is low.
Installing games on old pc,s , some games came on 4 cdrom discs before dvd
drives were standard
i read about wap, i never saw anyone using a wap website .
it was the web on phones before smartphones were invented .

Capt'n Midnight

Deleted User wrote: »

Changing jumpers on a motherboard or hard drive

Plug n' pray

The Continental Op

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Plug n' pray

Or as some one once out it

Plug n' play may arse.

Capt'n Midnight

bullpost wrote: »

Banging side of tele (When they had a side) fixed 99% of problems with it.

Ah but the trick was to know where to bang it.

On a VT52 there's a small microswitch near the seam on the middle of the right hand side. Meant you always got a free terminal. The person in front you would be banging every which way.

When they'd given up you could sit down and 'tap' the sweat spot when they weren't looking.


From back when a Ford Model T cost $300-$400
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/

Ford, whose electrical engineers couldn’t solve some problems they were having with a gigantic generator, called Steinmetz in to the plant. Upon arriving, Steinmetz rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil and cot. According to Scott, Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad for two straight days and nights. On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side. Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed to perfection.

Henry Ford was thrilled until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill.

Steinmetz, Scott wrote, responded personally to Ford’s request with the following:

Making chalk mark on generator $1.

Knowing where to make mark $9,999.

Ford paid the bill.

AndrewJRenko

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

On a VT52 there's a small microswitch near the seam on the middle of the right hand side. Meant you always got a free terminal. The person in front you would be banging every which way.

When they'd given up you could sit down and 'tap' the sweat spot when they weren't looking.

They were some poxy yokes, the VT52s with the tiny screen and the fixed keyboard!

riclad wrote: »

.
Installing games on old pc,s , some games came on 4 cdrom discs before dvd
drives were standard

Sheer luxury. Young people today don't know how lucky they are.

You haven't lived until you've installed MS Office on a production line of office PCs from 23 x 1.44" floppy discs.