Awesome Older Tech Gadgets

StarHalo

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Post some awesome but little-known older tech gadgets!


Sanyo Sound & Game (1983)

sanyosoundgame.jpg


It may look a bit goofy now, but the idea of adding a game to your portable music player technically makes this the conceptual forerunner to the iPod; it probably wasn't a good idea to make the game digital and the radio analog, and it was predictably poorly received and discontinued almost immediately.


Hewlett-Packard 95LX (1991)

hp95lx.jpg


It's a palmtop - 8088 processor, 1MB RAM, MS-DOS 3.3, PCMCIA slot RAM card data storage, software in ROM (Lotus 1-2-3, calculator, planner, telecom [serial port], etc), powered by a pair of AA batteries. Sold for $700 new, can be found for ~$10 used today.


Toshiba Toscal Desktop Calculator (1965)

oldcalc.jpg


In the 60's, $1,700 could buy you this amazing new piece of technology, a 38 pound desktop calculator; 14-digit Nixie tube display, rotary dial decimal placement, one number memory (180 bits capacitor RAM), and "silent operation". But the kicker is what's inside - not a single IC chip in the entire case, just rows and rows of hundreds of transistors, capacitors, and resistors, all painstakingly arranged into the logic circuits needed to make calculations. It doesn't always work, as the machine can't compute very large numbers reliably, can't do negative numbers, but it can attempt to divide by zero if you ask it to; "Division by zero puts the machine directly to the task of calculating the incalculable, with all of the decimal points flickering across the display, likely as a result the machine making a futile attempt to shift the (non-existent) dividend to the high-end of the register. The only way to stop the machine's fruitless attempt to resolve the impossible is to press the [C] key to reset the machine and return it to normal operation."
 

ASheep

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I love how the toshiba actually tries to divide by zero. I remember those HP palmtops, I didn't realise they're as old as I am...
 

M@elstrom

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I remember being as proud as punch having the first Nintendo handheld game on the block back in the early 80's I had this one (Snoopy Tennis) and my brother got "Parachute" :thumbsup:

snoopyd.jpg

Borrowed & re-hosted image
 
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gswitter

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I loved the Dark Tower game, too. But the tower crapped out literally the day the warranty expired. My parents were not pleased.

darktower.jpg
 

fyrstormer

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Let's see. When I was a kid, I had an original Game Boy, a clock radio, and a handheld racecar game from Radio Shack. Oh, I also had a 130-in-1 electronics experiment board from Radio Shack that looked like...well...damn, I can't find any pictures anymore. :eek:
 

StarHalo

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Geez that much? I'll admit I always craved a dual screen Donkey Kong variant, perhaps you'll remember these out of 1978?

Nope, still before my time, though somebody on EBay has one with the box and manuals for ~$250. I definitely remember Simon though, and I got a lot of mileage out of my Merlin (though it took too many batteries.) And speaking of taking too many batteries, I also owned a Pac-Man Mini-Arcade:

pacmanminiarcade.jpg
 

M@elstrom

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Nice! I preferred the smaller Pac-Man handheld game which came later (and my best mate had), does anyone remember those Gaxxon Space Invader games that peaked out at 199 points (max)?

I had one of these in blue...

galaxyinvader.jpg

Image borrowed & rehosted

Being the horder I am I've still got my old Commodore VIC-20 personal computer (with 16K expansion pack & games) :D
 

Toohotruk

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One of my favorites, was the Coleco Electronic Quarterback...back in the day, if you had one of these babies, you were considered very cool! :cool:

The graphics were unreal!


180pxcolecoelectronicqu.jpg



I've still got mine somewhere...
 
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ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond

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Nope, still before my time, though somebody on EBay has one with the box and manuals for ~$250. I definitely remember Simon though, and I got a lot of mileage out of my Merlin (though it took too many batteries.) And speaking of taking too many batteries, I also owned a Pac-Man Mini-Arcade:

pacmanminiarcade.jpg

I think I still have a Donkey Kong one of the above somewhere.

Geez that much? I'll admit I always craved a dual screen Donkey Kong variant, perhaps you'll remember these out of 1978?

I still have a Donkey Kong Jr dual flip screen - loved that little game. I even pull it out once in a while and still play a few rounds on it.

Never knew they had such value now.

Still have an original Nintendo 64 that may or may not work anymore.
 

gswitter

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I've been trying to dig up a picture of the Panasonic boombox I had as a kid, but I'm having no luck. :(
 

StarHalo

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Possibly the most redneck portable entertainment device ever created, the Cariole 8-Track player featuring an AM/FM and CB tuner. When you're done listening to your Merle Haggard 8-track, you can tune in to the truckers..

cariole8track.jpg
 

gswitter

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Still can't find a pic of my old boombox (or WalkMan).

I never had much vinyl as a kid, but I still wanted a Audio-Technica Sound Burger (essentially a vinyl WalkMan):

soundburger.jpg


They're still fairly popular on the secondary market.
 
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