Comments on: Fascination with old technology https://dfarq.homeip.net/fascination-with-old-technology/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fascination-with-old-technology David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more Fri, 09 May 2025 13:13:01 +0000 hourly 1 By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/fascination-with-old-technology/#comment-3863 Wed, 22 Sep 2004 21:28:47 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=1311#comment-3863 In reply to Anonymous.

"Simplicity and reliability is really what people want."

Really. Someone needs to explain this to MS. Come Longhorn, we’ll 1GBRAM, top of the line graphics chip and a 4GHz CPU just to run an OS! Totally unnecessary for users, but of course it makes perfect sense to thier marketing team…

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/fascination-with-old-technology/#comment-2986 Wed, 22 Sep 2004 15:17:04 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=1311#comment-2986 Sadly, about five years ago someone ripped me off of my C-64s and all but one of my 1702s, but I do still have a couple of 1541s. My C-128 either has a failing power supply or a failing memory chip. It only runs for about 15 minutes before it crashes.

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/fascination-with-old-technology/#comment-3199 Wed, 22 Sep 2004 14:49:26 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=1311#comment-3199 The old stuff for me is familiar territory that gave me much of the same emotional fulfillment that new technology does with greater reliability. When I play a game on a PC I cross my fingers and hope that my PC is up to snuff, and that the game isn’t riddled with bugs. When I played a game on the C= 64 my only concern was "HURRY UP!"

Technology comes around to money. Technology companies can’t seem to make enough money selling us something once, so they improve on it. They build lifetimes into these things specifically so that next year they have a ready audience for upgrading. It’s not about giving the customer something worthwhile, it’s about giving them something to last until the next model is ready. That’s another change.

Assume computers were available in 1929, as your train was. Can you imagine them working 75 years later? Minor repairs? Ha. You’d be lucky to know what you were looking at was a computer.

I have over 2,000 C= 64 games on my IBM system and I regularly play them using the emulators. I’d love to find a complete C= 64 system that someone wasn’t trying to "make a buck off of" so I could play them on the original. Phantasie I, II, and III. Pool of Radiance. Ultima. Heck, my boss uses Symantec Q&A for a word processor, copyright circa 1995, because he despises the bells and whistles of Word.

Simplicity and reliability is really what people want.

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/fascination-with-old-technology/#comment-3197 Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:05:05 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=1311#comment-3197 Dave,
This is old technology and trains. My children loved this old train and so did I. It’s ran down by the zoo in Houston for 47 years.
This url is to a T.V. station so there’s film of the train.
I don’t know what type it is but it’s fun.
joseph

Hermann Park train takeover offer derailed

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou040921_cd_tillmantrain.13ccd7f28.html

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/fascination-with-old-technology/#comment-3196 Wed, 22 Sep 2004 03:05:09 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=1311#comment-3196 Of course here’s the ultimate "original" cell phone.

http://www.faradic.net/~gsraven/telegraph_tales/drgw/instruments/0212g.jpg

This is a portable telegraph kit. Basically you attach the two wires inside to the lines running atop the telegraph poles. Railroads used these back in the 1800’s to call for help if they had problems like having just been robbed.

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