Old tech found in drawers...
Discussion
Steamer said:
CR6ZZ said:
One of these sits on the mantlepiece in my living room - it's too big to fit in a drawer... The granddaughters find it fascinating and often drag it down to do some sums.
Have you got any more info on that?Reason I ask is that I have one sat on the shelf in my conservatory - very similar - very heavy, but I know nothing about it, it was given to me as a quirky gift and acts as a very good paper-weight.
cooperd5 said:
I had one of those at BT for entering time sheets in! Used to post the chip off every week in a jiffy bag that the new one came in.
I worked in the control for engineers and used to deal with the chips coming in, IIRC you had yellow chips and mine had a blue one that let me load all your chips onto, Then had to figure out who the f
kwit was that had made a mess of theirs and screwed it all up. Stole my one when they stopped using them a short time later and used it as a diary/phone book etc.
SwissJonese said:
Not as old but this still works - old Dell Axim X51, running Microsoft Mobile V5 + BlueTooth & WiFi
Ahh yeah I forgot about these, I got one as an upgrade to the Zire72. Not sure why I still have the Zire but not the Dell Axim. Not sure which model I had but I am sure it was the top one for the time. It was pretty damn sweet! I don't recall ebaying it but I guess I must have!Skyedriver said:
Steamer said:
CR6ZZ said:
One of these sits on the mantlepiece in my living room - it's too big to fit in a drawer... The granddaughters find it fascinating and often drag it down to do some sums.
Have you got any more info on that?Reason I ask is that I have one sat on the shelf in my conservatory - very similar - very heavy, but I know nothing about it, it was given to me as a quirky gift and acts as a very good paper-weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NzmqEMpWZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ0m5uPaeXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8_tNDUDog
CR6ZZ said:
Skyedriver said:
Steamer said:
CR6ZZ said:
One of these sits on the mantlepiece in my living room - it's too big to fit in a drawer... The granddaughters find it fascinating and often drag it down to do some sums.
Have you got any more info on that?Reason I ask is that I have one sat on the shelf in my conservatory - very similar - very heavy, but I know nothing about it, it was given to me as a quirky gift and acts as a very good paper-weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NzmqEMpWZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ0m5uPaeXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8_tNDUDog
I had a quick play with mine tonight - I actually thought it was all jammed up but it seems to be working fine now. It's a muldivo calculator, but I can't recal the model number.
BuzzBravado said:
Bought this with my very first pay packet.
Used it everyday until MP3 killed off the format.
I threw one exactly like that out the other day. An old fathful bit of kit that went all over the world with me in my job as a radio journalist. It was beaten up and dented but still just about worked.Used it everyday until MP3 killed off the format.
I'd not seen it for years and found it with a bag of crap that I guess had been the contents of my desk from an offic I moved out of in 2008. It somehow ended up on the floor at the back of our shed and it was beyond saving a,one with a small Nokia phone - one of the first with a camera from I guess 2003.
Steamer said:
if you've got any of the Dizzy games for that you can be my best friend!! (The CPC was my first computer)
although I was going to say the guys with the Amigas in the loft: leave them there.
I got mine out a few years back and played Supercars / Stunt car driver / test drive / all the Lotus games... And none of them were as good as I rembered them
. Some things are best left in the loft.
Sorry Steamer, no Dizzy.although I was going to say the guys with the Amigas in the loft: leave them there.
I got mine out a few years back and played Supercars / Stunt car driver / test drive / all the Lotus games... And none of them were as good as I rembered them
. Some things are best left in the loft.Sat with daughters boyfriend last night (he's 19) playing Paperboy on it. He was transfixed, though somewhat amazed at the 15 minute load time
olderbutnotwiser said:
Still in use every day. My old Johannson measuring machine software runs on a
P.C. with a 486 dx2 processor with 66mhz clock speed, and Windows 3.1 operating system . . .
The US military is still using 8" floppy disks for their Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!P.C. with a 486 dx2 processor with 66mhz clock speed, and Windows 3.1 operating system . . .
Tech does have a short life when it is on it's own, when attached to some expensive hardware it can end up having to survive a long time. I do wonder what the advanced tech on modern cars built today are going to look like in ten or twenty years. You already see cars with built in sat navs which are essentially pointless compared to modern ones.
Recently unearthed a load of old gear from the loft that I'd forgotten about, much of it still boxed and all still functional!
Sega Master System 2, various games too.
Sony WM-FX463. Looks fairly well worn, but works perfectly; I used to take this to school daily, until I moved on to Minidisc...
... This was actually my second Minidisc walkman. First one (MZ-R700) gave up during 1st year of uni, so I upgraded to this fancy NetMD jobbie (MZ-N710). Works perfectly other than the odd little "gum stick" style rechargeable battery.
To complete the set, my Sanyo CD player, which I got in about 1997. Always found these things too bulky to be any real use as a portable; you needed big pockets!
Sega Master System 2, various games too.
Sony WM-FX463. Looks fairly well worn, but works perfectly; I used to take this to school daily, until I moved on to Minidisc...
... This was actually my second Minidisc walkman. First one (MZ-R700) gave up during 1st year of uni, so I upgraded to this fancy NetMD jobbie (MZ-N710). Works perfectly other than the odd little "gum stick" style rechargeable battery.
To complete the set, my Sanyo CD player, which I got in about 1997. Always found these things too bulky to be any real use as a portable; you needed big pockets!
Bit more retro gaming, here in the form of a Sega Game Gear. Bought second-hand when I was in my early teens, pretty battered looking and missing a battery cover. It eventually powered up after giving the battery contacts a clean but none of the buttons respond. Needs taking to bits and cleaning. As I recall it was a good way to chew through an awful lot of batteries!
The Game Gear was replaced by this Game Boy Colour, much better machine other than the lack of a backlight. That purple "thing" is an LED light that illuminated the screen just enough that you could give yourself eye strain whilst playing Mario Bros in bed. Unlike that ****ing Game Gear, this one powered straight up and worked perfectly. The AC adaptor and rechargeable pack appear to be toast, though.
Those machines above are positively modern, though, compared with the glorious old Astro Wars game! Boxed (although said box has seen better days), with manual and some period E.T. stickers, this thing is clearly made of stern stuff - despite having spent upwards of twenty years sat in my parents' loft, all it needed was a fresh set of batteries. Brilliant!
The Game Gear was replaced by this Game Boy Colour, much better machine other than the lack of a backlight. That purple "thing" is an LED light that illuminated the screen just enough that you could give yourself eye strain whilst playing Mario Bros in bed. Unlike that ****ing Game Gear, this one powered straight up and worked perfectly. The AC adaptor and rechargeable pack appear to be toast, though.
Those machines above are positively modern, though, compared with the glorious old Astro Wars game! Boxed (although said box has seen better days), with manual and some period E.T. stickers, this thing is clearly made of stern stuff - despite having spent upwards of twenty years sat in my parents' loft, all it needed was a fresh set of batteries. Brilliant!
That's the video games and personal audio done, now on to the phones...
First, the mighty 5110. The phone built to survive a zombie apocalypse. Given to me by a mate in 1999 as he'd upgraded to a 7110, this was waaay better than the Philips/Motorola cack that most of my other mates had at the time! Proper dot matrix screen, Snake, battery life measured in weeks... This thing has been untouched since 2001 and still powered up quite happily after a few minutes' charging. I let it fully charge about 3 weeks ago, tried switching it on just now and was pleased to see that it had held a charge, showing 3 bars' worth of life left in it, Not bad for an 18-year-old phone on its original battery.
This is what superseded my 5110: the Trium Mars. Still boxed with all the BT Cellnet/Genie (remember them?) marketing flannel, and a receipt for £39.99 dated 3rd Feb 2001! Sort of works, battery is utterly dead though and the charger has to be held against the port by hand as the plastic clips snapped off years ago. First phone I ever had with mobile internet - WAP, on dial up, which was just about usable for looking at football scores.
A couple of phones are missing between the Trium and this rather neat little Nokia 6510: my 8890, which was nicked when my student digs got burgled, and a Sony CMD-J7, which went AWOL on a night out never to be seen again. Being a Nokia it still works, the blue backlight still looks unusual too.
2004 I think it was before I moved on to a colour screen - and one of those new fangled camera phones, no less. A camera? In your phone? It'll never catch on... Behold the Nokia 6230, with its VGA camera and 32Mb memory card. Once again it still works flawlessly.
Sony Ericsson W800i "Walkman Phone". Came with a massive 512Mb memory card and proper Sony earbuds, as well as a fairly useful 2MP camera with LED flash/torch. Brilliant little thing, still works although the little joystick can be temperamental.
A K800i succeeded the W800i. Unfortunately all I have is the box and manuals, the phone was lent to a mate and ended up trashed. Shame, as it had a really good camera with proper optics, autofocus, and a xenon flash.
Got my first proper job and was issued with this Sony V600i. Felt a bit cheap and basic compared with the older W800i and the K800i that I had around the same time, disappointing camera, was pretty reliable though. Still working.
This little Nokia 6300 was a free upgrade that I didn't really need, as by this point (2007 I think) I was using an XDA Orbit for my personal phone. But the Nokia was such a neat, slim little phone I swapped my work SIM card into it from the V600i. I used it up until 2009, when the "official" company phone was upgraded to a 6303 Classic. It turned out that the 6303 wasn't actually as pleasant to use as the 6300, oddly.
That XDA Orbit is still rattling around in the loft somewhere; I managed to break the digitiser, so although it powers up and shows a display it's only usable via the little trackball rather than the touchscreen. It seemed impressive at the time but once I moved on to Android phones it was glaringly obvious that Windows Mobile was doomed.
Wonder when the early Android stuff will become "retro"; I still have a fully functional Sony Xperia Mini Pro with its neat little slide-out keyboard, and I still wish they would make a modern equivalent!
First, the mighty 5110. The phone built to survive a zombie apocalypse. Given to me by a mate in 1999 as he'd upgraded to a 7110, this was waaay better than the Philips/Motorola cack that most of my other mates had at the time! Proper dot matrix screen, Snake, battery life measured in weeks... This thing has been untouched since 2001 and still powered up quite happily after a few minutes' charging. I let it fully charge about 3 weeks ago, tried switching it on just now and was pleased to see that it had held a charge, showing 3 bars' worth of life left in it, Not bad for an 18-year-old phone on its original battery.
This is what superseded my 5110: the Trium Mars. Still boxed with all the BT Cellnet/Genie (remember them?) marketing flannel, and a receipt for £39.99 dated 3rd Feb 2001! Sort of works, battery is utterly dead though and the charger has to be held against the port by hand as the plastic clips snapped off years ago. First phone I ever had with mobile internet - WAP, on dial up, which was just about usable for looking at football scores.
A couple of phones are missing between the Trium and this rather neat little Nokia 6510: my 8890, which was nicked when my student digs got burgled, and a Sony CMD-J7, which went AWOL on a night out never to be seen again. Being a Nokia it still works, the blue backlight still looks unusual too.
2004 I think it was before I moved on to a colour screen - and one of those new fangled camera phones, no less. A camera? In your phone? It'll never catch on... Behold the Nokia 6230, with its VGA camera and 32Mb memory card. Once again it still works flawlessly.
Sony Ericsson W800i "Walkman Phone". Came with a massive 512Mb memory card and proper Sony earbuds, as well as a fairly useful 2MP camera with LED flash/torch. Brilliant little thing, still works although the little joystick can be temperamental.
A K800i succeeded the W800i. Unfortunately all I have is the box and manuals, the phone was lent to a mate and ended up trashed. Shame, as it had a really good camera with proper optics, autofocus, and a xenon flash.
Got my first proper job and was issued with this Sony V600i. Felt a bit cheap and basic compared with the older W800i and the K800i that I had around the same time, disappointing camera, was pretty reliable though. Still working.
This little Nokia 6300 was a free upgrade that I didn't really need, as by this point (2007 I think) I was using an XDA Orbit for my personal phone. But the Nokia was such a neat, slim little phone I swapped my work SIM card into it from the V600i. I used it up until 2009, when the "official" company phone was upgraded to a 6303 Classic. It turned out that the 6303 wasn't actually as pleasant to use as the 6300, oddly.
That XDA Orbit is still rattling around in the loft somewhere; I managed to break the digitiser, so although it powers up and shows a display it's only usable via the little trackball rather than the touchscreen. It seemed impressive at the time but once I moved on to Android phones it was glaringly obvious that Windows Mobile was doomed.
Wonder when the early Android stuff will become "retro"; I still have a fully functional Sony Xperia Mini Pro with its neat little slide-out keyboard, and I still wish they would make a modern equivalent!
Jonny_ said:
The Game Gear was replaced by this Game Boy Colour, much better machine other than the lack of a backlight. That purple "thing" is an LED light that illuminated the screen just enough that you could give yourself eye strain whilst playing Mario Bros in bed. Unlike that ****ing Game Gear, this one powered straight up and worked perfectly. The AC adaptor and rechargeable pack appear to be toast, though.
Ah, good old worm lights! I had one for my GBA, still absolutely st in poor light though
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