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Forgotten Electronics of the 70s and 80s

Ant writes "This is where you can find photos of those unusual items which somehow missed our keen attention in the 70s and 80s. Be it a specialty product, electronic novelty or an utter boondoggle from a major electronics outfit of the day, we'll dig 'em up and talk about 'em."

15 of 531 comments (clear)

  1. Re:N-Gage by FlipmodePlaya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, because a cell-phone that plays games is horribly unusual... The NGage is a flop, not a novelty.

  2. Color Computer II by xgecko · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't see my old Radio Shak Color Computer II

  3. Nostalgia by Octagon+Most · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It took me a long time to realize that my nostalgia for old electronics is really based on memories of the fun times. The toys and games really were not that fun in retrospect. They were just all that was available. Fortunately I didn't spend too much money on eBay learning that lesson. It is fun to browse them and go down memory lane though.

  4. Digital watch a step backwards by MajorDick · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I was young (about 7) in say 1976 or so my father bought a NEW digital watch , you know red LED that lit up when you presses a button, we were sitting at my grandfathers kitchen table, my grandfather was a watch maker, not some repairman he actually MADE watches from scratch at a rate of about 3 a year.

    Anyhow my father being very proud of his $800 new invention showed it to my grandfather, who looked very carefully at my fathers watch, he sat back, sipped his coffe and said "How is that progress when now it takes 2 hands to tell time, one for the watch and another to press the button to make it show time ?" My father kinda sank into his seat his bubble being burst instantly, I dont think he ever wore it again.

    1. Re:Digital watch a step backwards by Molt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think on the whole with 'scrap parts' it'd probably be easier to build something to 'power your Casio' than to act as a reliable watchspring.. after all, the oscillation frequency of the timing crystal won't change.

      On the other hand (Slight pun intended) it'd be easier to jury rig a cunning waterwheel mechanism to wind your existing spring-watch than charge your existing electronic gizmo.

      --
      404 Not Found: No such file or resource as '.sig'
    2. Re:Digital watch a step backwards by sydsavage · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bah. My father had what I believe to be the first digital watch, a Pulsar. While indeed, pushing a button would illuminate the digits, it also had a shock sensing mechanism, so you could just flick your wrist, and it would light up for five seconds or so. No need to use your other hand, unless you wanted to check the date, which was displayed by pushing a seperate button.

    3. Re:Digital watch a step backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Off the top of my head......

      Immediate technical progress:
      1. More accurate timekeeping.
      2. Does not need to be wound up.
      3. Components may not wear out so quickly.
      4. May not require skilled watchmaker to produce.
      5. May be manufactured more quickly ("3 a year"?!).
      6. Suited for use in the dark (without causing phosjaw).
      7. Eye appeal? Maybe not today but in 1976? Far out man!

      Longer-term considerations which may make it a better design:
      1. Falling cost of components.
      2. Better suited to factory production.

      And not to forget GADGET APPEAL. Just because it doesn't represent technical progress, it doesn't follow that there is no commercial progress involved. It's a narrow view to say that practicality is the only yardstick of progress.

      Check the watch on your wrist is - it analogue or digital?

  5. Re:ThinkGeek by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comment is funny, but insightful. Spend your money wisely people.

    Amongst those devices that I hope will be on the list of forgotten electronics of the 20's is the internet aware toaster.

    If we're really lucky people will forget about that one before it happens, but I'm not holding my breath.

    KFG

  6. Re:N-Gage by NevermindPhreak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    no, but a portable console system that makes phone calls is. n-gage was a horrible idea to begin with, mainly because they were more focused with the hype than the system itself.

  7. Re:My dad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, your dad's a geek. You're the tool

  8. Re:Super 8mm Home Projector by nyseal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think it would just be best to let professionals handle it (but give them guidelines to adhere to). Memories are just too precious to not follow up with a format that will be here for a while and most likely be easily transerrable in digital format (like DVD). The cost may sting a little now but I don't think you'll regret it.

    --
    [SIG] Remember Mattel handheld games?
  9. Re:N-Gage by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's marketed as a portable console system that makes phone calls.

    while it is just a series60 phone with the pad placed for better game playing, as such it's not bad actually(and tony hawk is not bad, while the other titles may suck). why they're limiting the games marketing just to n-gage I don't get though(if taken into consideration while programming, and provenly otherwise as well, the games will run fine for example on 6600 and on the rare occasion when 3650 has enough memory free on them as well). though it's not like that it hurt Nokias downline if it flopped anyways(they had a pretty good year according to the numbers released today, 5.3e billion of reported profit, total 179 million of phones - what matters is that they need to be moving constantly to not fall off the edge).

    look, smack it all you want but it's the cheapest phone you can get a port of putty for(also happens to have more ram than 3650/7650 so opera is less of a hurdle to actually use, and also happens to play mp3&aac decently - not just through the standard 8/16khz output provided for normal apps). With the decent irc client installed it makes for a quite good gradewrecker. also I happen to dig the series60 user interface big time, multitasking goodness.

    intrestingly enough chicks dig Rayman 3.

    apples newton could already be on this list.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  10. Re:the calculator watch.. by Sage+Gaspar · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Touche. But truly exceptional people have porno watches.

  11. Re:the calculator watch.. by Bitsy+Boffin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, while the other guys got to gome home, put thier feet up and generally relax, your dad kept working.

    Who is the smart one again?

    --
    NZ Electronics Enthusiasts: Check out my Trade Me Listings
  12. Re:the calculator watch.. by Pope · · Score: 3, Insightful
    What was their reason for expelling a student with a portable machine that did arithmetic?

    Because there's a hell of a difference between understanding what math is and how it works, and typing numbers into a machine to get an answer.

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    It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.