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The Sounds of Tech Past

itwbennett writes "If you're of a certain generation, the screech of a modem, the stuttering song of the dot matrix printer, and the wet slap of a mimeograph machine can transport you to simpler (or at least slower) times. JR Raphael has rounded up 20 tech sounds on the brink of extinction for your listening torture. We're only sorry we don't have smell-o-vision to bring you that sweet mimeograph scent."

7 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Comment follows by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It wasn't the sound of a mimeograph machine, it was the SMELL of a new math or history test -- with purple ink.

  2. Re:Comment follows by pdboddy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not just the whoooom, but the LSD-like-hazy-wobble of the screen coming into focus. I sort of miss that too.

    --
    Julie Moult is an idiot.
  3. Re:Whoa, whoa, whoa... by ae1294 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Just shut the fuck up. No one here cares about your crapware. Go dive into a vat of acid already.

  4. Re:Comment follows by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's hell to get old, isn't it?

  5. Re:Comment follows by wvmarle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And interestingly they add the dot-matrix printer, while that's one of the technologies that just doesn't go obsolete.

    Sure you don't use them at home anymore, but try to print any pressure form - like invoices, order forms, and many more of such uses. One of the few old technologies that's likely to stay with us forever.

  6. Re:hands up! by Phreakiture · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That has to be at least 56k. I remember they distinctively had that double fading ping while the modems were calibrating the line level, because the server-side modem would send 5-7 bits per sample by simply encoding the sample to the bit sequence. The receiving modem had to have a valid map of the bits to the line voltages, and that double ping was caused by levels being tested, starting at the outermost and working inward.

    --
    www.wavefront-av.com
  7. Re:Whoa, whoa, whoa... by ae1294 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And I say: ..go.. ..fuck.. ..yourself...