Awesome Older Tech Gadgets

[erehwyrevekool]

WOW, very nice stuff!

 

[nightshade]

Some of that old crap can be quite collectable too:

Very nice! Beautiful collection!
It's not really old, it's just that we don't live very long.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I remember at least two of those radios, maybe three of them, and one of the tape recorders. Nice collection!

 

[DaveC1964]

I remember at least two of those radios, maybe three of them, and one of the tape recorders. Nice collection!

Most of that stuff wasn't really too expensive (except a few). That recorder in the middle (white case in back) is actually a wire recorder made in Germany. It records on very fine wire and uses micro-tubes, not transistors. Many of these were used in spy operations during the Cold War.

 

[Monocrom]

I know there's no film for it anymore, but I'd love a Minox camera. Great spy gear. Ironically, most films that show it being used by actors pretending to be spies; leave out the included chain. That little bead chain was vital for taking photos of actual secret documents.

 

[StarHalo]

Most of that stuff wasn't really too expensive (except a few). That recorder in the middle (white case in back) is actually a wire recorder made in Germany. It records on very fine wire and uses micro-tubes, not transistors. Many of these were used in spy operations during the Cold War.

The mini Sonys are worth a penny (bearing in mind that they're unusable as actual radios since they had proprietary batteries that are no longer available,) and the big-speakered Zeniths are hot items. The rub with all older radios like those is that they are functionally dismal when compared to any modern unit, but they sure are pretty..

I know there's no film for it anymore, but I'd love a Minox camera. Great spy gear. Ironically, most films that show it being used by actors pretending to be spies; leave out the included chain. That little bead chain was vital for taking photos of actual secret documents.

$200, but you can get a significantly better regular-sized camera for that price.

 

[DaveC1964]

The mini Sonys are worth a penny (bearing in mind that they're unusable as actual radios since they had proprietary batteries that are no longer available,) and the big-speakered Zeniths are hot items. The rub with all older radios like those is that they are functionally dismal when compared to any modern unit, but they sure are pretty..

Probably the most significant radio in the picture is the Regency TR-1, the first all transistor radio made.

 

[Monocrom]

$200, but you can get a significantly better regular-sized camera for that price.

True, but it wouldn't be THE spy camera. Also, sorry for the misunderstanding, but not that particular model. The rectangular silver-greyish one.

 

[StarHalo]

Probably the most significant radio in the picture is the Regency TR-1, the first all transistor radio made.

Yeah, I saw the gold dial hiding back there Hard to believe that was the iPhone of it's day..

 

[brighthead]

Post some awesome but little-known older tech gadgets!

* Sony Hi-MD. (MiniDisc). MiniDisc always had a near-flawless cartridge design and great chemistry. It's a pity that Sony killed it and allowed Apple to take over. This is what happens when you buy CBS and start to focus on anti-piracy rather than cool usable technology.
* DVD-RAM in cartridges. I have a fine Panasonic DVD-RAM computer drive (that accepts DVD-RAM in cartridges). I have never experienced a more robust and flawless 'floppy' than this, even though writing is slow compared to today's standards. I freaking love DVD-RAM in cartridges. The chemistry and data integrity of the format was thought out really well (over-engineered) and the data didn't need to be written in a linear fashion like DVD-R/W & DVD+R/W. My only regret is I didn't buy another 10 drives.

 

[musichelle]

I remember my dad had a programmable pocket computer about 15-16 years ago (either Sharp or Casio) which he used for work. Whenever I get hold of it, I would erase the programmed code and write my own (it was running BASIC) and get into trouble. I didn't have a personal computer back then.

And I'm a software developer now.

 

[jabe1]

I still have an HP-25 programmable calculator. I can't remember when I last used it, but it does work. Fantastic machine when it was introduced, my dad used it to crunch testing data for work. Them
n he moved on to a Sharp pocket computer. IIRC it used magnetic strips to program it. That was very cool. We had a PC in the house as far back as '79. I also remember having an old cradle modem to communicate with the mainframe down at the university.
my favorite was the T RS-80 4P. The P was for portable, it packed up into what looked like a small suitcase, handle and all. This was sometime in the early eighties. I remember playing pong on it and learning some of my "basic" programming on it.

 

[walterr839]

The chain was used to measure distance
Manuel focus had to be set
I inherited several minox The later model had a light meter

 

[Monocrom]

The chain was used to measure distance
Manuel focus had to be set
I inherited several minox The later model had a light meter

The focus is one thing. The very end of the chain simply happened to be the perfect distance to photograph one full standard document page with one click of the camera.

 

[StarHalo]

The 1972 Panasonic RS-296US, 20-cassette carousel with individual cassette selection and wired remote; no record or FF/RW, must play side A-then-B, weighs 40 lbs., $179 ($1,000+ dollars today.)

 

[Toohotruk]

WOW! Never seen one of those. That was probably a big risk for them to develop a gizmo like that based on cassettes...IIRC, that was about the time cassettes just started to gain popularity. 8-Tracks were still very much king in the early '70s...looking back, that's pretty laughable, LOL!

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Wow. That must have been a beast to maintain that thing.

 

[fyrstormer]

I have never been so desperate to avoid manually changing albums that I could even justify a CD changer, much less a far-more-complex cassette changer.

 

[fyrstormer]

The Sony Walkman is 35 years old this summer, so to celebrate, some current-day children and teenagers are handed one to determine A) what it is, and B) how to operate it. Hilarity ensues:

You know, looking back on this a couple years later, it annoys me how these videos only show the most ridiculous reactions. The kids who aren't weirded-out by old tech just get cut from videos like this. This is really just the first step of Generation X into old age, wherein they will complain endlessly about how easy Kids These Days have it, and how ungrateful they are, just like Baby Boomers have been doing about Millennials for years now.

 

[Imon]

You know, looking back on this a couple years later, it annoys me how these videos only show the most ridiculous reactions. The kids who aren't weirded-out by old tech just get cut from videos like this. This is really just the first step of Generation X into old age, wherein they will complain endlessly about how easy Kids These Days have it, and how ungrateful they are, just like Baby Boomers have been doing about Millennials for years now.

Happens every generation.
Then they say, "No, this time it's different."
Which is the same thing that's said every generation.