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Older technology you have used


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Older Technology Survey  

37 users have voted

  1. 1. Have you ever used a 5 1/4 Floppy disk? (Large bendable one)

    • Yes
      15
    • No
      22
  2. 2. Have You ever used a 3 1/2 Floppy disk?

    • Yes
      28
    • No
      9
  3. 3. Have you ever printed something on a DOT MATRIX printer?

    • Yes- Dzzz Dzzzzzzz Dzzzzzzzz...Dzzz Dzzzzzzz Dzzzzzzzz...
      12
    • No
      17
    • No- and I don't know what that even is
      8
  4. 4. Have you ever used a Record Player? (Think Vinyl Scratch here)

    • Yes
      24
    • No
      13
  5. 5. Have you ever recorded on a cassette tape? (aka making a music mix tape)

    • Yes
      28
    • No
      9
  6. 6. Have you ever used a computer that you had to push the power button AFTER shutting it down?

    • Yes
      22
    • No
      11
    • I don't know what you mean? (This means NO you probably haven't)
      4
  7. 7. Have you ever recorded a TAPE of a TV show with a VCR?

    • Yes
      32
    • No
      5
  8. 8. Please be kind- Rewind ;-)

    • Yes
      36
    • No
      1
  9. 9. Have you ever used Dial up internet through the phone line (with the connection noise)

    • Yes
      16
    • Yes- and I'll never forget that crappy noise or get that wasted life back (Possibly HOURS in total) >:-(
      10
    • No
      11
  10. 10. Have you ever used a Laserdisc Video Player? (kind of like a GIANT DVD)

    • Yes
      7
    • No
      27
    • ????
      1
    • YES and with the little barcode scanner thingy too!!
      1


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I had an old RCA VCR until it stopped working entirely. My first TV was a 7" B/W that I played my NES on, then my next TV was a 13 channel nob TV. First computer I ever had was an Acer with a Pentium II, MMX graphics chip, and 512 mb RAM. Although, the first computer I ever used was an Apple II GS, playing Oregon Train, some weird typing shit, and learned Q-Basic on.

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I've used record players, tape recorders, and somewhat-old game consoles.

I've played on NES, SNES, and N64 systems. I don't think anything newer really counts.

As for portable consoles, I own an original Game Boy (and a Game Boy Camera!) and a GBA. I've owned a Game Boy Color in the past.


By the way, I've owned a 5 1/4" floppy, but I never had a drive to use it in. It came with the Sid Meier's Train Tycoon retail box. I just used the 3 1/2" floppy instead. (This was a couple of years ago, not "back in the day." I got it at a yard sale.)

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If you want to get technical, we've all used paper.  That was invented around 200 B.C.  But you could start picking at a lot of things like that.  Wheels, fire, knives, etc.

 

I still use a lot of old school tech today.  There's outdated, and then there's retro, or old school.  Retro is something that is still fun to use today, something that you can always go back to, like Super Nintendo, whereas outdated is something you never want to go back to, like dial-up modems.  I still have lots of old game consoles (though I just use emulation for anything SNES or older), and I also still have a large library of VHS tapes, and a tried and true VHS DVD combo player that still works great.  It's not like it's very easy or cost effective to just replace dozens or even hundreds of movies every time a newer media type comes along.  I usually just start buying the newer media for any new movies I get, but I don't necessarily replace old ones.  It's just too much.  What I don't use at all anymore is cassette tapes.  I never had that many to begin with, so it wasn't hard to replace them.  And actually, I really wasn't old enough to have much of a music collection by the time CD's came around, so getting rid of cassette tapes wasn't hard.  Now, like most people, I don't even use CD's anymore, but it was easy to migrate CD's to hard drives, because it's already a digital format.  Can't stick a cassette tape in your computer and rip it.

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  • 6 years later...

I have used everything on that list and I still use a lot of those things. I still occasionally record VHS tapes or audio cassettes (or reel to reel tapes) and I listen to a lot of cassettes (especially in my car or outside, using a walkman) and r2r tapes. I have a somewhat good record collection and about 120 titles on laserdisc and 3 players. The thing with laserdiscs is that I bough them after they went out of fashion.

I actually have a dot matrix printer (made in GDR, I think), but not really use it.

I have a few old PCs and use one (486) for old DOS and Windows games and some others (slightly newer CPUs) for other things.

 

My place looks anachronistic. Imagine a large plasma TV with a laserdisc player, a VCR, record player and a reel to reel tape deck right next to it.

 

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Yes on pretty much all of it, I even remember getting my fingerprints saved to a floppy disk. Always rewind vhs tapes :]

Though at my work they use a paper insert machine that's from the 70s and it's so awful to use 😞 

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16 hours ago, Retro*Derpy said:

Always rewind vhs tapes :]

This always puzzled me. Normally you want to store tape as "just played" or, for 2 track reel to reel tapes, "tails out", because it is wound more evenly and with even tension. However, everyone recommends rewinding VHS tapes before storing them. I understand doing that for rental tapes (the next customer doe not want to have to rewind the tape), but not for tapes I own. The only reason I can think of is to not have the tape "in the middle", since they are rarely recorded right to the end (unlike R2R tapes).

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  • 1 year later...

I used VHS tapes/players for years. Other than that, I've used old computers and old gaming consoles like the NES and Mega Drive.

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(edited)

1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. Yes (if listening to one while visiting a family member counts)
5. Yes
6. No
7. Yes
8. Yes
9. Yes
10. No

And since typewriters were mentioned, we had an electronic one when I was a kid. :D

Edited by Tacodidra
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2. I've used a 1.44 MB floppy disk

4. we did have that thing in the house but the machine was probably broken

5. probably not, but I played the tape so hard that it broke sometimes

6. Oh yes, computers from 98

7. Yes, I did have a VCR before

8 I rewinded all of my video tapes, it wasn't so difficult

9. I don't think I did, the only time when I used the internet was when I was a teenager, and back then people had cable anyway

10. No who needs that when a PlayStation device can do anything

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1) Nope.
2) Not yet, but I'm pretty "into" old computers, so I wouldn't be surprised if I do.
3) Nope,  not that I know of
4) Just yesterday, I listened to some Weird Al!
5) I've actually recorded a couple mixtapes with some Weird Al and a few My Little Pony fan songs.
6) Nope
7) Nope
8) Always rewind your Blu-Rays and DVDs.
9) Nope
10) Nope, but given my fascination with old A/V equipment, I wouldn't be surprised.

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On 2016-03-18 at 11:15 AM, Fluttershutter said:

I'm old. I've done all of that except for laser disks. I went right from tape to dvd.

Same here. I'm actually quite proud of the fact. Old tech may have been clunky but I still prefer it over most modern stuff. 

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8 hours ago, Dreambiscuit said:

Same here. I'm actually quite proud of the fact. Old tech may have been clunky but I still prefer it over most modern stuff. 

It depends. I like convenience but it seems like so much technology is for the convenience of the company that makes it, not for the people who buy it and use it.

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