Forgotten Technology

[Tsutarja]

Is there a piece of technology that existed at one time that nobody talks about anymore to the point where it's just forgotten?

An example that I can think of is mobile pagers; who remembers those?

 

[MKGirlism]

VHS. (T_T)
So many Childhood Memories, and I can't open them anymore, because VHS Recorders/Players no longer exist.

 

[Alfieri]

I'd have to go with Betamax. That's pretty much ancient if VHS's are becoming extinct.

 

[Legobricks]

CRT televisions, monitors, etc. Nothing wrong with the technology, even better in some ways than its replacements, and yet in the First World it has become extremely difficult to find any such devices.

Steam power is a pretty nice thing I think we've neglected more than we should. Tree farms are quite a bit more sustainable than oil fields, for one.

 

[Dustmop]

I came in here half-expecting jabs at 'failed' technology, like the Virtual Boy. But Zach's mention of mobile pagers reminded me of those old PalmPilot/PDAs that smartphones and tablets have pretty much rendered useless. And extinct.

CRT televisions, monitors, etc. Nothing wrong with the technology, even better in some ways than its replacements, and yet in the First World it has become extremely difficult to find any such devices.

Have you checked local garage sales? I see them all the time, usually listed for free with signs like, "Please take it. It's heavy."

 

[Gardevoir the Dragon Slayer]

CRT televisions, monitors, etc. Nothing wrong with the technology, even better in some ways than its replacements, and yet in the First World it has become extremely difficult to find any such devices.

Steam power is a pretty nice thing I think we've neglected more than we should. Tree farms are quite a bit more sustainable than oil fields, for one.

Yeah it would be really cool to have Steam trains and stuff lol, not very efficient source of power though.

 

[Legobricks]

Have you checked local garage sales? I see them all the time, usually listed for free with signs like, "Please take it. It's heavy."

No; those are largely an American phenomenon, I think. There are car boot sales around here, but I doubt anyone will bring such heavy things. In any case, I'd prefer a new CRT, with fresh parts and some modern refinements on the tech like the screen being flat instead of curved (something later high-end models had, but I never found any for sale).

Yeah it would be really cool to have Steam trains and stuff lol, not very efficient source of power though.

Well, I'm thinking primarily with particularly large-scale and generally stationary engines like water pumps, mining equipment, factory machines, etc. I'm not sure steam powered transportation could even keep pace with the human population. Funnily enough, then, that our concern with efficiency is a problable cause of unemployment; something I noticed once when thinking about how many people it takes to operate a deisel/electric locomotive (one) compared to a steam one (two or three). These days we've got more and more people, and technology that requires less of them to be present and engaged in the processes of running society.

 

[Gardevoir the Dragon Slayer]

No; those are largely an American phenomenon, I think. There are car boot sales around here, but I doubt anyone will bring such heavy things. In any case, I'd prefer a new CRT, with fresh parts and some modern refinements on the tech like the screen being flat instead of curved (something later high-end models had, but I never found any for sale).



Well, I'm thinking primarily with particularly large-scale and generally stationary engines like water pumps, mining equipment, factory machines, etc. I'm not sure steam powered transportation could even keep pace with the human population. Funnily enough, then, that our concern with efficiency is a problable cause of unemployment; something I noticed once when thinking about how many people it takes to operate a deisel/electric locomotive (one) compared to a steam one (two or three). These days we've got more and more people, and technology that requires less of them to be present and engaged in the processes of running society.

A very good point, with a steam train its not just the driver and fireman but you need a huge crew of maintenance men to clean out the ash from the boiler, keep the locomotive looking clean, also the overhauling and repairing was labor intensive with parts being non standard.

Aren't steam turbines used in some cases for power generation but the emissions levels are high from the burning coal/oil.

 

[Tree_x]

VHS. (T_T)
So many Childhood Memories, and I can't open them anymore, because VHS Recorders/Players no longer exist.

I am sure you could buy them real cheap at yard sales our the internet old tvs have them i have one

 

[Starry Windy]

I missed the good 'ol phones with green screen (most of the time) and pointed antenna with it. These kind of phones are classic for me. And I'm wondering if anyone still owns Floppy Disk or not tho.

 

[Sydian]

Floppy disks! We were just talking about this in CS the other day. The save icon is still a floppy disk and students learning to use computers these days probably don't even know what that icon is. They just know it saves, haha. I used them in 6th grades actually...I remember doing a group project and we had our Power Point on it. Good times.

 

[Juno]

I dont know, I forgot

Well, my dad had one of these

Spoiler:

I don't think I was even born yet, but I saw it on an old timey TV show once and my mom pointed to it and was like "your dad had one of those. They were really heavy and ridiculously expensive".

And this isn't quite so old, but I remember begging my mom for a Walkman one Christmas (technically it was Santa Claus then). I still have it somewhere; it was like my favorite thing ever. :')

 

[Candy]

I missed the good 'ol phones with green screen (most of the time) and pointed antenna with it. These kind of phones are classic for me. And I'm wondering if anyone still owns Floppy Disk or not tho.

Haha, phones with green screen. I can play Snake all day on those. P:

It reminds me about my old Motorola phone with a blue screen. I used to fancy for those phones with QWERTY keypads, cameras, music players and internet connectivity, but now they're everywhere.

And floppy disks. Hah, I feel kind of old now. Last time I used one was back at the 2nd or 3rd grade. Nowadays we don't even have a floppy disk slot.

Oh right, anyone here still has them PS/2 Keyboard or Mouse for their desktop PCs? Most of the ones currently selling are the USB ones. You don't know the struggles I faced to get a new PS/2 keyboard when my last one broke.

 

[Starry Windy]

Oh right, anyone here still has them PS/2 Keyboard or Mouse for their desktop PCs? Most of the ones currently selling are the USB ones. You don't know the struggles I faced to get a new PS/2 keyboard when my last one broke.

I feel you, Starlight. I still have both PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse working on my PC, even though I rarely used them since I'm using laptops instead of PC nowadays.

 

[Sonata]

Cassette tapes, walkmans, vhs, intellivision, those machines that you strap yourself into and they "shake off your fat", there's so much that has been forgotten.

 

[Tsutarja]

Oh right, anyone here still has them PS/2 Keyboard or Mouse for their desktop PCs? Most of the ones currently selling are the USB ones. You don't know the struggles I faced to get a new PS/2 keyboard when my last one broke.

That's more of a recent passing in technology. I know for a fact that desktops in 2008 here in America were still coming packed with both PS/2 keyboards and mice. In fact, my parents' former desktop (which is now mine with a newer hard drive and Windows 7) was purchased back in 2008 and it came with a PS/2 keyboard. I also had a desktop purchased for me in 2008 as well that came with a PS/2 mouse (and keyboard). The mouse was mechanical and non-optic.

 

[Candy]

That's more of a recent passing in technology. I know for a fact that desktops in 2008 here in America were still coming packed with both PS/2 keyboards and mice. In fact, my parents' former desktop (which is now mine with a newer hard drive and Windows 7) was purchased back in 2008 and it came with a PS/2 keyboard. I also had a desktop purchased for me in 2008 as well that came with a PS/2 mouse (and keyboard). The mouse was mechanical and non-optic.

Hmm... is that so? But I know it'll be a thing of the past after everything switched into USB plugins. Also, 2008 is 6 years ago, it's already quite some time. That's still around the time I still have that tiny black Motorola phone with the blue screen (I have no idea what type it was).

MP3 Players and Walkmans. I remember back when I was a kid, that one MP3 player that my family had was the best thing ever. Same goes to the MP4 Players, it was amazing piece of machinery for me back at 2009. Now they're replaced with mobile phones, since now most of the new mobile phones having both audio and video playback functions. And iPods played a part as well.

 

[MKGirlism]

Haha, phones with green screen. I can play Snake all day on those. P:

It reminds me about my old Motorola phone with a blue screen. I used to fancy for those phones with QWERTY keypads, cameras, music players and internet connectivity, but now they're everywhere.

It rather reminds me to my old Nokia 3310, the most robust Phone I ever had!

 

[Legobricks]

A very good point, with a steam train its not just the driver and fireman but you need a huge crew of maintenance men to clean out the ash from the boiler, keep the locomotive looking clean, also the overhauling and repairing was labor intensive with parts being non standard.

Aren't steam turbines used in some cases for power generation but the emissions levels are high from the burning coal/oil.

I never understood this thing about lowering emissions. We're going to burn up all the fossil fules sooner or later; what difference does later make when we aren't burning them on a geological timescale however slow we go?

I missed the good 'ol phones with green screen (most of the time) and pointed antenna with it. These kind of phones are classic for me. And I'm wondering if anyone still owns Floppy Disk or not tho.

I have a full set of Windows 3.0 install discs, but unfortunately no blank spares. My PC would also have a 3.5in internal drive but none of mine work and my current mainboard doesn't have pins for ribbons.

 

[Megan]

There's still the grandfather of all Floppy Disks.

Back in the days where a computer was as big as your standard sized living room and bugs where referring to actual bugs who where crawling into the machine and going on a rampage.