UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 21st Feb 2021, 11:03 am   #21
stuarth
Heptode
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Heysham, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 665
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Some technologies, including mobile phones, sd cards, GPS and many others, demonstrate Arthur C Clark’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Stuart
stuarth is online now  
Old 21st Feb 2021, 11:59 am   #22
CambridgeWorks
Nonode
 
CambridgeWorks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Spalding, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Posts: 2,851
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

The new fangled SMS used a morse code of sms to alert you. Not sure if that was progress?
Rob
__________________
Apprehension creeping like a tube train up your spine - Cymbaline. Film More soundtrack - Pink Floyd
CambridgeWorks is online now  
Old 21st Feb 2021, 12:06 pm   #23
mole42uk
Nonode
 
mole42uk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Resolfen, Wales; and Bristol, England
Posts: 2,588
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, oldschool or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scimitar View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by duncanlowe View Post
They had a system they called 'barcodes' where goods in a shop could be marked with a series of stripes, and the checkout could simply scan them using a clever laser and mirror system. I wonder what ever became of that?
It was then used to replace colour patches in the identification of individual sheep.
Up North, we trained to hand-paint the codes onto sheep. Quite hard to get them to stay still.....
__________________
Richard

Index:
recursive loop: see recursive loop
mole42uk is offline  
Old 21st Feb 2021, 12:30 pm   #24
SiriusHardware
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,485
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

I actually thought the paint splodges on sheep were a low-tech way of knowing which ewes have been 'serviced' by a visiting ram (they paint the underside of the RAM with a non-drying paint first). ...Or did I just make that up?
SiriusHardware is offline  
Old 21st Feb 2021, 1:25 pm   #25
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

#23 reminds me of this "Punch" cartoon from 1988
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	20210221_121510-1.jpg
Views:	194
Size:	35.7 KB
ID:	227268  
emeritus is offline  
Old 21st Feb 2021, 1:30 pm   #26
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

That's a bahhhhh code then.
 
Old 21st Feb 2021, 2:19 pm   #27
Richard_FM
Nonode
 
Richard_FM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,000
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by stuarth View Post
Some technologies, including mobile phones, sd cards, GPS and many others, demonstrate Arthur C Clark’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Stuart
Sound's like my friend's gran when her grandson in law demonstrated his tablet to her!

She wasn't good at technology, once her TV accidentally turned on at night & she called the police because she thought someone was breaking into the house.

Before smart phones came along I was hoping mobile phones would become small enough to become wearable on the wrist like Dick Tracy.
__________________
Hello IT: Have you Tried Turning It Off & On Again?
Richard_FM is offline  
Old 21st Feb 2021, 10:33 pm   #28
OscarFoxtrot
Heptode
 
OscarFoxtrot's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Edinburgh, UK.
Posts: 805
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
I actually thought the paint splodges on sheep were a low-tech way of knowing which ewes have been 'serviced' by a visiting ram (they paint the underside of the RAM with a non-drying paint first). ...Or did I just make that up?
Tup raddle.

You can also buy coconut oil whitening shampoo to make your ewes look even more desirable
OscarFoxtrot is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2021, 10:44 am   #29
duncanlowe
Nonode
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Stafford, Staffs. UK.
Posts: 2,529
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard_FM View Post
Before smart phones came along I was hoping mobile phones would become small enough to become wearable on the wrist like Dick Tracy.
Yes, I remember having a similar conversation when someone saw how 'small' a Motorola Microtac phone was (this was back in the analogue days). They said it won't be long before you can get one that you wear on the wrist. I confidently said it wouldn't happen as the batteries you would need would be too big. This was based on the said Microtac having a battery life of barely eight hours on standby, without any calls. I still have that phone, along with many others.

Of course 5v logic moving to 3.3v and then even lower, and Lithium batteries replacing NiCd or NiMH are just two of the things that made it possible.

Not only has the size come down but so has cost. OK, don't expect anything great, but you can buy a working GSM watch with BT, a camera, for around £20.
duncanlowe is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2021, 11:36 am   #30
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,801
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

But maybe the TV programme is wrong? It won't make you look like Dick Tracey, it'll make you look part of a different Tracey family.... "Thunderbirds"

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline  
Old 22nd Feb 2021, 11:46 pm   #31
Hybrid tellies
Nonode
 
Hybrid tellies's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,965
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Back in the 1970’s when I started as a TV engineer there was excitement about switch mode power supplies and later the self oscillating power supplies which were starting to be used in some of the new generation all transistor colour televisions of the time.

Now they are found everywhere you will struggle to find a good honest linear power supply.
__________________
Simon
BVWS member
Hybrid tellies is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 11:56 am   #32
GW4FRX
Pentode
 
GW4FRX's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 149
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Does anyone still use fax? All the rage in the 1990s, almost sunk without trace now.
GW4FRX is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 12:18 pm   #33
CambridgeWorks
Nonode
 
CambridgeWorks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Spalding, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Posts: 2,851
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

What about the Psion organiser? Back then, my young daughter had a friend who was very bossy and always telling her what to do. I nicknamed her "Psion"!

Then there were the early cordless phones. Two frequencies, one around 49MHz , the other 1.7MHz or thereabouts.
My younger son soon twigged on as to how I could listen in with a MW portable tuned around 800KHz or whatever the image frequency was. Did that create an argument when his twin sister, chatting to her school friend about her latest boyfriend, later on heard him discussing the conversation with his older brother!
Rob
__________________
Apprehension creeping like a tube train up your spine - Cymbaline. Film More soundtrack - Pink Floyd
CambridgeWorks is online now  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 12:52 pm   #34
GMB
Dekatron
 
GMB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: near Reading (and sometimes Torquay)
Posts: 3,086
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Back in the 70's I went to a demo of a new kind of cooker hob. This was made of a ceramic material with the heating wires embedded in it so it was smooth and flat and thus easy to clean. The material was said to be a spin-off from inter-continental ballistic missile development - being the material used for the nose cone so the warhead would stay cool during hypersonic re-entry.

A few years later it was in the shops and we bought one! The claim was that it was so tough that it would last for ever.
A claim that has proved as true as one could expect, as about 40 years later we still have it in daily use and the hob top looks pretty much the same as the day we bought it!

This particular technology seems to have had a short life as it was quickly replaced by the halogen hobs which I guess were cheaper to make and had the extra advantage that the surface didn't get quite so hot.
GMB is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 1:38 pm   #35
cheerfulcharlie
Heptode
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 708
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew2 View Post

And quickly followed by DOOM, another classic from ID.
Yes, ID were simply amazing weren't they.

I recall another which had floating monks (complete with chanting LOL)
that would attack you - I think it was 'Hexen' or something?

I looked them up on game purchasing sites ..Doom you can still get but the spec requirements go along with the likes of needing an i7 and a graphic card with 'GT' and lots of digits in the title...I don't remember needing all that, you still had a fun game with a 486 with puny graphics..
cheerfulcharlie is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 2:26 pm   #36
stuarth
Heptode
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Heysham, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 665
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

I still use a Psion 3a!

The Agenda (diary) app seems unparalleled in any current device (even the Psion 5 version is inferior!). It allows all sorts of timed and untimed "reminders", useful for birthdays, bill payment reminders, etc. And which other electronic device would you use for a Passport renewal reminder, 10 years from now?

I use it to store all sorts of information, including word processor files to develop ideas for long term projects, spreadsheet files for valve and other component stocks, finance tracking, etc, data files for my phone book (fully searchable on any of the fields, including notes on each entry), etc. When I first got it, I even used the spreadsheet to calculate clock distribution parameters for a high speed (almost 400MHz) chip design.

I now have several, they can be picked up very cheaply, and backing up files from one machine to another is very easy using Psion memory cards. It's my "take anywhere" notebook (one of the word processor files is my travel packing list), and the main loss if one goes astray is any data entered since the last backup.

It is much smaller than the other common "technology" of the time, the Filofax, so much more likely to be with you when inspiration strikes, and unlike the Filofax, confidential files can be hidden and/or password protected in case it falls into evil hands.

Stuart
stuarth is online now  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 6:05 pm   #37
P.Pilcher
Pentode
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Lichfield, Staffs, UK.
Posts: 150
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

When I was at University (reading electronics) MOS transistors were criticised becaure their parameters drifted like crazy. Several years later I overheard a conversation between two collleagues of mine at the research centre of a (now defunct) manufacturer of car electrical fittings where I was working. It described the fact that this problem had been discovered to be a chemical reaction between the silicon dioxide insulating layer on the top of the integrated circuit and the aluminium layer in to which the interconnections were etched. The addition of a further sputtered layer had cured the problem and this discovery opened the door to produce the huge I.C's with millions of transistors with which we are familiar today.

P.P.
__________________
"Ohm's law rules here" - Oxygen free speaker cable not required! (Quote: Quad Service lab)
P.Pilcher is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 6:48 pm   #38
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Talking of sheep, my first 'commercial' product was a digital weighbridge/datalogger for use at cattle-auctions/slaughterhouses.

A waterproof 'farm-friendly' diecast box containing a 6502 microprocessor, some A/D converters connected to the scales, a 6-digit display using Monsanto MAN3M 7-segment LEDs, and a slew of battery-backed CMOS RAM to store the per-pig/per-sheep data along with a farmer-specific code assigned by the auctioneer.

1981 - it really freaked-out the competition, who were still hand-recording weights from the scales on paper forms and sending them away to be transcribed to 80-column punched-cards for subsequent processing [and payment-by-cheque at the end-of-the-month].

These days you can buy a strain-gauge bathroom-scales with LCD and historic memory-of-your-weight for £10.
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 24th Feb 2021, 7:51 pm   #39
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by GW4FRX View Post
Does anyone still use fax? All the rage in the 1990s, almost sunk without trace now.
Apparently the NHS is the UK's largest ongoing user of FAX.
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 25th Feb 2021, 2:57 am   #40
Graham G3ZVT
Dekatron
 
Graham G3ZVT's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,676
Default Re: 'New' technology of the day, that is now mainstream, old school or even vintage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by GW4FRX View Post
Does anyone still use fax? All the rage in the 1990s, almost sunk without trace now.
Apparently the NHS is the UK's largest ongoing user of FAX.
At the point when I retired from the pharmacy IT support industry three years ago, pretty much every community pharmacy had a fax machine in daily use.

Also, on each installation we provided a US Robotics dial-up modem even though the sites had broadband (NHS N3) connectivity for some considerable time. There was still a few drug wholesalers who had yet to embrace the 21st C

It was said that Panasonic extended the production of new KX-P2023 dot-matrix printers, so UK pharmacies could continue to print traditional 3-part "carbon" copy Medication Administration Reports for nursing homes, but they had mostly gone over to laser printing when I left.
__________________
--
Graham.
G3ZVT
Graham G3ZVT is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:31 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.