A blog post in reply to (and inspired by) @cinimodev's post: 'Retro tech confession'
This is day 55 of #100DaysToOffload
joelchrono.xyzRe: Retro Tech Confession
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The @TexasObserver might not have been the very, very first of the news teams to get on the web, but... 1998 is still pretty early in my book :P They even tout their trusted progressive webring, though they don't call it that. Was it called that back then? I dunno. My memories of the 1990s internet are hazy at best.
![A screenshot, of a PDF, containing high-resolution, black-and-white, and OCR'd scans of The Texas Observer's March 27, 1998 print issue. This screenshot focuses on the bottom half of page 29, wherein, on the left-hand corner, there is an advertisement: "The stories other media somehow left out are just at the end of your mouse. DownHome with The Texas Observer. Now you can read your favorite Observer features on The Texas Observer DownHome Page: Investigative Reporting, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, Political Intelligence, and all the rest. Also on our website is a list of progressive organizations on the web --- folks who share your progressive politics. --- the Editors. http://texasobserver.org [artistic rendition of a computer mouse, with its cord reaching off to the side of the ad.]"](https://cdn.tenforward.social/media_attachments/files/114/396/780/165/725/552/original/61b274d9061999f1.png "A screenshot, of a PDF, containing high-resolution, black-and-white, and OCR'd scans of The Texas Observer's March 27, 1998 print issue. This screenshot focuses on the bottom half of page 29, wherein, on the left-hand corner, there is an advertisement: \"The stories other media somehow left out are just at the end of your mouse. DownHome with The Texas Observer. Now you can read your favorite Observer features on The Texas Observer DownHome Page: Investigative Reporting, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, Political Intelligence, and all the rest. Also on our website is a list of progressive organizations on the web --- folks who share your progressive politics. --- the Editors. http://texasobserver.org [artistic rendition of a computer mouse, with its cord reaching off to the side of the ad.]\"")
Oddly, I have no memory of these ads, and I'm sure I was alive then...
Link: https://technologizer.com/home/2025/04/22/pc-connection-ads-raccoons/?ICID=ref_fark
Todays #RetroTech
Couple of related First Gen Philips CD Players from 1984
CD 202 - Has clock display
CD 200 - Does not
Seems odd they did it, but they did. Price difference was minimal
Top loading, with CDM-0 Mech, 2 x TDA 1540D 14 Bit DACs
The original clock was Green, made by Texas Instruments. They suffered badly from dead segments. Replaced it with Red - also made by TI, but these are more reliable - during a full Re Cap a few years ago
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
#honeyishrunkthekids #80s #scifi #movies #retrotech #1980s #oldtech #oldtechnology #scificlassics #laser
#honeyishrunkthekids #80s #scifi #movies #retrotech #1980s #oldtech #oldtechnology #scificlassics #laser
GIF
Replied in thread
9/ very confident that it’s a blanking issue with the plug-in - tried it with another horizontal plug-in just to make sure it wasn’t the mainframe.
A few other interesting features of the 3B5:
The delayed magnification feature. Instead of a separate timebase & intensification zone, it has a selectable 10x & 100x magnification, and the delay control changes the point at which the sweep goes into the magnified rate, so you can still accurately zoom into a specific portion of the waveform. I think this is how some of the later 400 series scopes did it. I like it.
The sweep speed goes up to 10nS / division which is the fastest of any of the 560 series plug-ins. Note while it’s labeled 10nS on the silkscreen, the illuminated indicator uses ‘mili micro seconds (m u S)’ to avoid adding a 3rd prefix.
#tektronix #electronics #retroTech #vintageTech #1960s #testEquipment
Replied in thread
8/ video showing what may have been the worlds first auto-ranging oscilloscope in action.
#electronics #tektronix #retroTech #vintageTech #1960s
Continued thread
7/ It was the nuvistor. It’s always the f$&king nuvistor. Both autoranging plug-ins are somewhat working.
Vertical plug-in still has some ranging issues, and the horizontal plug-in is slow to un-blank, which becomes a problem at higher sweep speeds. I’ll tackle that next.
#retroTech #vintageTech #tektronix #1960s #testEquipment #electronics
Peace.
Our friends Jeff and Mark are in town. I took the afternoon off from work so we can do a little bit exploring together.
The Titan Missile Museum is about 40 km south of Tucson just off Interstate 19. If you know anything about Interstate 19, you’ll know why I referred to the distance in metric instead of using the standard U.S. Imperial measurements.
The only remaining Titan Missile site still intact, visitors can go on a 45 minute tour of the underground facility. This includes taking the 55 stairs down to the area, visiting the control center, and then walking the long gangway to the actual missile silo. The now hollowed out Titan II Missile is still there, its launch doors locked in the half open position, indicating it’s not live and can not be launched if the doors are in this position. This stipulation was part of the SALT Treaty, and is apparently confirmed three times a day when a Russian satellite passes over Tucson. Changing the position of the launch doors would signal bad things to Russia, and then we’d have a whole international thing around it.
I am a big fan of older technology. I enjoy the aesthetic of the cabinets, I respect the industrial feel, and I particularly enjoy the user interfaces, with big lights, knobs, switches, and the like.
If you’re in the Tucson area and interested in how peace was kept through “Mutually Assured Destruction” during the Cold War, I highly recommend take the trip to this museum south of Tucson. The entrance fee is reasonable, the gift shop has a bunch of interesting things, and I feel like it’s a good thing for U.S. citizens to see all the measures that are taken to keep our country safe.
Calling all #RetroGeeks , what can I resurrect my old #PSP as? Anything IoT capable that would be a fun little project and keep it out it’s sleeping bag for a few more years?
I’m only keen on keeping it as is for Wipeout Pure reminiscing but seriously could be swithered if it can be turned into something useful
Another obscure disc I have: the Amon Saga from 1986.
The front features a beautiful, gothic lithograph from Yoshitaka Amano. You can also see Amano's influence in the character design in the animation.
This basic, high fantasy story is a little more style than substance. But having the physical copy, you can see what a beautiful piece of art it is.
Instead of an obi, we've also got a corner talker, which is unusual.
I hope I grow up to be this lady:
Continued thread
I made some little wooden save icon tack pins from walnut and oak for someone’s birthday!
#Pins #PinCollector #KwaiiPins #WoodInlay #RetroTech #LaserCut
Music: Today the World Ends but I’m Still Here by Toxic Chicken (soundcloud.com/toxic_chicken)
