Good stuff:
There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing (http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/the-moon-landings-fact-not-fiction/) for one. But Moore’s Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law) and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks.
That is, of course, unless we tell them all about the good old days of modems and typewriters, slide rules and encyclopedias …
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About | GeekDad | Wired.com (http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/100-things-your-kids-may-never-know-about?npu=1&mbid=yhp)
Some favs of mine:
26. Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
I remember having a tape drive with my Commodore 64 :doh:
30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
I also remember jamming another cart on top of the game you were playing to get it to work
TheMalcolmConnection
07-29-2009, 01:48 PM
So funny how everyone had their special technique to loading NES games...
KLHJ2
07-29-2009, 02:05 PM
So funny how everyone had their special technique to loading NES games...
Yep, blow it out, push the cartridge all the way to the left and then down.
Once the Game Genie came out it was easy to get NES games to load. Even if you didn't want to enter a cheat code you could just use the game Genie and it would load correctly every time.
http://www.consoledatabase.com/images/accessories/nes/camericagamegenie/gamegeniecart.jpg
SmootSmack
07-29-2009, 02:11 PM
Wow. Some really good stuff here
3. # Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a Walkman to today’s teenager.
When I was a kid, I used to stay up past my bedtime to watch tv by hiding under the covers and turning on my...Watchman.
8. #8-track cartridges.
My parents' house actually has an 8-track system built into the house. Based out of the master bathroom. The idea, 30 years ago, being that who wouldn't want to blast their 8-tracks all over the house?
9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
I still have a bunch of my vinly records. I especially loved getting singles and b-sides. And then speeding the song up to 45 or even 78 rpms.
30. # Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
Rite of passage for all kids of the 80s/90s. Who didn't do this?
57. # Typewriters
Big moment when my dad taught me how to use the Brother typewriter so I could start hammering out college applications. Kids today have it soooo much easier when it comes to filling out college applications
64. Answering machines.
Who here remembers those old commercials promoting catchy messages? Nobody's Home...Nobody's Home (to the tune of Beethoven's Fifth)...Just wait for the beep!
86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.
This was a big deal in elementary school, learning how to use the card catalog. And what about actually using the physical copy of the Encyclopedia Brittanica to get information?
Long before MP3's I would record songs off the radio, or even worse I would hold my tape recorder up to the TV to record songs from MTV. LOL it was always a challenge to get a clean recording without a DJ cutting in.
57. # Typewriters
Big moment when my dad taught me how to use the Brother typewriter so I could start hammering out college applications. Kids today have it soooo much easier when it comes to filling out college applications
64. Answering machines.
Who here remembers those old commercials promoting catchy messages? Nobody's Home...Nobody's Home (to the tune of Beethoven's Fifth)...Just wait for the beep!
86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.
This was a big deal in elementary school, learning how to use the card catalog. And what about actually using the physical copy of the Encyclopedia Brittanica to get information?
-I thought I was so cool showing up for college in '91 with my own fancy typewriter. Not everyone had one and people would frequently borrow mine. I mean really, what a joke now, LOL.
-Oh man I totally forgot about those commercials, good call!
-I wonder if they still teach the dewey decimal system in school, what a dinosaur that is now.
mredskins
07-29-2009, 02:37 PM
I use to use this cleaning kit that had an alcohol swap piece at the end seemed to work. Remeber when the first Zelda came out with the battery to save it built in the catridge, I always feared it would die.
SmootSmack
07-29-2009, 02:46 PM
I sometimes wish tv remotes were still as simple as this
http://www.electronichouse.com/images/uploads/zenith_space_command.jpg