Really hating this new age...

[Guytronic]

It is interesting in a way, because although some of the surveillance seems "Big Brother-ish", other aspects of the Internet seem to ensure that the Ministry of Truth from 1984 could not even exist. It would be pretty much impossible to alter news documents to make past history conform to a party line, thanks to the Internet. Once something is posted online, erasing or altering all traces is almost impossible.

This is important and for this reason I've been trying to recede from on-line time.
It may be best to go with saying take internet communications with a grain of salt.
We all hear this over and over.

 

[Paul May]

It seems to me that throughout the ages the more scientifically smarter we get the faster technology advances. There will come a plateau just like other times in the past with other technological advancements, then a major breakthrough like the microchip and another explosion of new technology that will come faster than before. There really is no stopping or slowing it down because there is to much money to be made, so lets roll with it and enjoy the ride, and new toys.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I think she means the clock speed wars.

Oh, don't remember that. Probably too young.

That was what I was referring to.

 

[jmshub]

Technology powers forward, but thugs like this have a tendency to level off. As Laura said with the CPU wars of the 90s through the mid 00s, CPU growth has plateaued. Sure, Intel releases new designs every year, and it gets better with every iteration. But major growth doesn't happen like it used to. Phones are quickly reaching this point.


I do agree that mainstream consumer encryption is no match for government spying. I wish I had a better solution for this, but the NSA is ever increasingly watching all the data out in the ether.

 

[Reflexx]

Oh, don't remember that. Probably too young.

Wow. I feel like an "Ancient" in a movie telling the main characters about the wars from long long ago.

"Yes young one. Long long ago, times were different. We were happy without worrying about technology. Then came... the Clock Speed Wars. During that time everything was full of chaos. PCs were outdated every few months, with the newest iteration of software needing the newest processors in order to run smoothly. Thousands and thousands of dollars perished during these dark times."

 

[unstoppablekem]

Wow. I feel like an "Ancient" in a movie telling the main characters about the wars from long long ago.

"Yes young one. Long long ago, times were different. We were happy without worrying about technology. Then came... the Clock Speed Wars. During that time everything was full of chaos. PCs were outdated every few months, with the newest iteration of software needing the newest processors in order to run smoothly. Thousands and thousands of dollars perished during these dark times."

Pretty scary!!

 

[Luminatic]

What also worries me about technology apart from loss of privacy is: technology moving forward faster and faster tends to make lots of users more and more dependant (= stupider in a way). Some Examples: I learnt to read maps as a teenager. Navigation tools of any kind did not exist, but still I didn't get lost more often than now. When we went out, trying a new restaurant was an adventure, there simply was no way to read reviews on some tool. You would just ask someone if he knew it or simply try. Exercising? You just went and exercised, and nothing would measure the amount if steps you took. And still,people didn't get fat because of lack of exercise.
I guess there is more involved than only technology taking over our lives in the last example, like more junk food (e.g. McDonalds didn't exist in my area when I was a teenager), and more ways of distraction while sitting down - With 3 TV channels and no electronical games to keep you from your chairs and couches, a step-meter simply wasn't necessary to make sure you moved enough. You just did, naturally.

 

[Reflexx]

Before the Clock Speed Wars really got going...

Load "*",8,1

 

[cckgz4]

I don't think tech should slow down, but I think we should slow down on providing our info on the internet so fast.

 

[hopmedic]

Pretty scary!!

But it was REAL! And those of us who lived through it are better for it!

Before the Clock Speed Wars really got going...

Load "*",8,1

YES! A fellow Commodore user!
I was an electronics student in high school, so I opened up my disk drive, and modified it. I actually took a soldering iron to it. Added four switches. Two were buttons - one reset the drive, and one reset the whole system. Two were toggle switches. One switched between device 8 and device 9 - for when I was at a friend's house with my drive, or he was at mine - so we could "share" games, if you know what I mean.... :wink:

The last switch was a three position switch connected to the IR LED and IR Transistor that detected whether there was a notch cut in the disk. One position was normal. Read and write depending on the notch. One position was read only - it disabled the LED so that even disks with notches could not be written to. The third position was read/write disregarding the notch. It bypassed the transistor so you could read or write whether there was a notch or not. Imagine writing on the backs of disks without having to cut the notch!!!

Yes, younglings, we did used to do crazy things like this with our computers....

Oh - and there was once a day when if you wanted to add memory to your computer, it came in the form of IC chips, matched, that would be sold in an anti-static "tube" shaped to fit the chips......

You could even build your own computer from a kit if you wanted to!

 

[unstoppablekem]

But it was REAL! And those of us who lived through it are better for it!

:shocked:

 

[hopmedic]

:shocked:

ROFL!

Imagine, if you will, life with an iPhone that doesn't have a touch screen to dial with, but a DIAL!!! THE HORROR OF IT! Yes, young Padwan, many of us even learned to dial with a phone that had a broken dial, by repeatedly tapping the cradle - the button that hangs up the phone - to dial the phone. Tap it once for a one, wait a sec, then twice for a two.... ten times for a zero.... And imagine this - having to memorize the phone number for the local fire department because there was no 911!!!!!

Some of you can't even imagine a phone without the internet on it..... :shocked:

 

[unstoppablekem]

ROFL!

Imagine, if you will, life with an iPhone that doesn't have a touch screen to dial with, but a DIAL!!! THE HORROR OF IT! Yes, young Padwan, many of us even learned to dial with a phone that had a broken dial, by repeatedly tapping the cradle - the button that hangs up the phone - to dial the phone. Tap it once for a one, wait a sec, then twice for a two.... ten times for a zero.... And imagine this - having to memorize the phone number for the local fire department because there was no 911!!!!!

Some of you can't even imagine a phone without the internet on it..... :shocked:

Must of been a hard time!!

 

[xzb6np]

But it was REAL! And those of us who lived through it are better for it!



YES! A fellow Commodore user!
I was an electronics student in high school, so I opened up my disk drive, and modified it. I actually took a soldering iron to it. Added four switches. Two were buttons - one reset the drive, and one reset the whole system. Two were toggle switches. One switched between device 8 and device 9 - for when I was at a friend's house with my drive, or he was at mine - so we could "share" games, if you know what I mean.... :wink:

The last switch was a three position switch connected to the IR LED and IR Transistor that detected whether there was a notch cut in the disk. One position was normal. Read and write depending on the notch. One position was read only - it disabled the LED so that even disks with notches could not be written to. The third position was read/write disregarding the notch. It bypassed the transistor so you could read or write whether there was a notch or not. Imagine writing on the backs of disks without having to cut the notch!!!

Yes, younglings, we did used to do crazy things like this with our computers....

Oh - and there was once a day when if you wanted to add memory to your computer, it came in the form of IC chips, matched, that would be sold in an anti-static "tube" shaped to fit the chips......

You could even build your own computer from a kit if you wanted to!

I loved my Commodores! Started with a Vic 20 with a tape drive for storage in collage. Saved up a lot of money to get a 1541 5.25" floppy drive. Had the puncher to make the disks double sided. At the end I had a C=128 with the expanded graphics memory (I put in) programming in Basic 8 and running GEOS 128 for desktop publishing and other Office app stuff. By them I had a 1771 3.5" floppy drive, mouse, 80 column color RGB monitor, etc. I had all the programming manuals, magazines (Ahoy, Computes Gazzette, Commodore, Run). Good days. Everything was advancing so fast and exciting. About 10 years ago someone came and bought it all for $250. It was a pretty sad moment. But I still got my Timex Sinclair 1000 with 16k memory expansion, joystick interface and Sinclair Magazines in a box!!!

 

[hopmedic]

I loved my Commodores! Started with a Vic 20 with a tape drive for storage in collage. Saved up a lot of money to get a 1541 5.25" floppy drive. Had the puncher to make the disks double sided. At the end I had a C=128 with the expanded graphics memory (I put in) programming in Basic 8 and running GEOS 128 for desktop publishing and other Office app stuff. By them I had a 1771 3.5" floppy drive, mouse, 80 column color RGB monitor, etc. I had all the programming manuals, magazines (Ahoy, Computes Gazzette, Commodore, Run). Good days. Everything was advancing so fast and exciting. About 10 years ago someone came and bought it all for $250. It was a pretty sad moment. But I still got my Timex Sinclair 1000 with 16k memory expansion, joystick interface and Sinclair Magazines in a box!!!

I started with Apple ][+ computers at school, but a couple years later, the Vic 20 came out. I, too, had a tape drive - man was that thing slow. Some of these kids have NO idea what slow is! I don't remember how long we had the Vic, with it's whopping 8K of RAM (5K used by the OS), but we got a C=64 and a 1541 floppy drive, and a few months later, a printer (don't remember the model, but I don't think it was from the MPS series). Who here misses pin-feed paper and the ability to make banners???

I had all the mags, too - Computes Gazette, Commodore, don't remember other names... I think it was Gazette that had the code in the back over a couple months to create a BBS. I put a lot of time into plugging in the code, so I could build a BBS, but in the end, it was Dad who said, "No, we're not getting a second phone line or a modem." Who remembers acoustic couplers??? *raises hand*

When I graduated, I went into the Navy, and while I was gone, my dad sold the Commodore. I was saddened beyond belief to learn that.... I don't think I touched a computer the whole time I was in the Navy (4 years). But when I got out, Dad had a 286, and until I was able to pick up my own computer, I was over there using his all the time.

Whoda thunk that while I was gone in the Navy, my dad, who had NEVER touched my C=64 or the Vic 20, would have picked up a PC and started playing with DOS in his 40s????

 

[Reflexx]

But it was REAL! And those of us who lived through it are better for it!



YES! A fellow Commodore user!
I was an electronics student in high school, so I opened up my disk drive, and modified it. I actually took a soldering iron to it. Added four switches. Two were buttons - one reset the drive, and one reset the whole system. Two were toggle switches. One switched between device 8 and device 9 - for when I was at a friend's house with my drive, or he was at mine - so we could "share" games, if you know what I mean.... :wink:

The last switch was a three position switch connected to the IR LED and IR Transistor that detected whether there was a notch cut in the disk. One position was normal. Read and write depending on the notch. One position was read only - it disabled the LED so that even disks with notches could not be written to. The third position was read/write disregarding the notch. It bypassed the transistor so you could read or write whether there was a notch or not. Imagine writing on the backs of disks without having to cut the notch!!!

Yes, younglings, we did used to do crazy things like this with our computers....

Oh - and there was once a day when if you wanted to add memory to your computer, it came in the form of IC chips, matched, that would be sold in an anti-static "tube" shaped to fit the chips......

You could even build your own computer from a kit if you wanted to!

Oh man, you were hardcore. You didn't have to cut a notch in the diskette to make it double-sided? Remember seeing "double-sided" diskettes being sold for a lot more money than single-sided disks? lol

The most I ever did was take apart broken joysticks and put parts together with a soldering iron, some cutting, and glue to create custom joysticks with more buttons.

 

[Reflexx]

ROFL!

Imagine, if you will, life with an iPhone that doesn't have a touch screen to dial with, but a DIAL!!! THE HORROR OF IT! Yes, young Padwan, many of us even learned to dial with a phone that had a broken dial, by repeatedly tapping the cradle - the button that hangs up the phone - to dial the phone. Tap it once for a one, wait a sec, then twice for a two.... ten times for a zero.... And imagine this - having to memorize the phone number for the local fire department because there was no 911!!!!!

Some of you can't even imagine a phone without the internet on it..... :shocked:

Or using a tape recorder/player to play dial tones to the fancy touch tone phones. Call the number just using the sounds. (I think you probably could still do this?)

Or playing a certain tone combination on some public pay phones... :angel:

My first cell phone would make the 1520 look tiny. Hell... before they were cell phones they were mainly referred to as car phones. And the "portable" ones had a base unit as big as the XBOX ONE that you carried around with a strap.

 

[squire777]

This thread brings back some memories. Some thoughts

- I knew a guy that would use a tape player to simulate tones in payphones in order to make free calls

- Had a cousin that had a Commodore 64 with a tape deck. I remember how you would have to put the tape in and then let it load for anywhere from 5-10 minutes before you could play. Then you would just hope it didn't crash or have any problems along the way.

- Remember writing down all your phone numbers in a phone book?

- We would often record songs off the radio or even off the tv. I remember I made a contraption out of cardboard so that the sound from the tv speakers would go into the mic on the tape player and also keep out outside noises. Then you would trade cassettes with others to let them record whatever songs you wanted.

 

[Guytronic]

Amazing how the smartphone has replaced all these devices of the future :grin:

 

[hopmedic]