# Did you have any technology way older than you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428 "2010-10-17T09:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terra1041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Terra1041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terra1041)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/1 "2010-10-17T09:40:03Z")
I was born in 1987, and I remember our household having only rotary phones for years. Did you have any technology that was way out of date when you were a kid? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/2 "2010-10-17T09:56:45Z")
When I was five or so (this was fifteen years ago) I had a black and white television in my bedroom. Eventually I got another television of my own as all the other sets in the house were replaced with newer models. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/3 "2010-10-17T10:13:23Z")
Heck, I’m still using knives and hammers. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/4 "2010-10-17T10:32:09Z")
I used a lever once too! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/5 "2010-10-17T10:36:57Z")
Other than obvious kitchen utensils, clothes, and plumbing, in the mid-1980s… My parents still had a black and white TV, with rotary dials. They also had a color TV, in the living room, but the small black and white TV was in their much more comfier room. They also had a rotary phone. That was much more useful than current sissy phones. Loud and clear ringtones nobody could miss. And I don’t remember that phone being changed in years, while it seems we go through modern phones every other year (althoug lately it has improved). ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/6 "2010-10-17T13:02:26Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/7 "2010-10-17T13:14:24Z")
I have some vacuum tubes in the closet. few 12AU7As and a couple 6L6s. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/8 "2010-10-17T13:17:09Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > I used a lever once too! I hear there’s some folks out there who even use WHEELS! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/9 "2010-10-17T13:26:42Z")
I had a black and white tv all the way up until my first year of college in 1987. Of course, this was the tv in my room and not the main family tv. I was VHS only from 1988-2004. I bought a combo VHS/DVD player in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/10 "2010-10-17T13:31:06Z")
Hmmm. Knives, hammers, levers and wheels are out of date now? This is going to be a pain… Anyway, we had slide rules, AM radio, B&W television, tubes in electronics, and rotary dial phones. Products that required DC usually contained selenium rectifiers or simple three pin tubes. But none of these was out of date at the time. I guess the closest thing I can refer to was that electrical appliances used to come in AC and DC and Universal versions, from before electrical power distribution had settled on AC, which happened before my time. However we had various appliances marked “Universal”, and the junk piles in the basement for tinkering still had appliances and parts marked “DC”. By the way, there seems to be a modern understanding that electric motors with brushes and commutators and wound stators would be “Universal”, that is they would work on AC or DC, but this isn’t right. The magnetic cores had to be made of laminations if the motor was to run on AC, so the eddy current heating didn’t toast it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/11 "2010-10-17T13:38:50Z")
My mom may still have a rotary phone. I remember when our TV antenna on the roof had a motor that could turn it in different directions. My uncle was the first person I knew with a VCR, back when VHS or Beta was still an open question. In the late-90s, he was still using it. It had knobs to change the channel. I’m still using a camera that’s older than I am. Looks like [this](http://www.flickr.com/photos/funwithcameras/4285415118/). ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/12 "2010-10-17T16:36:12Z")
I reckon the iPod generation would find my collection of reel to reel machines interesting, and they’d be very surprised at the quality of sound reproduction, but I’ll bet it’s the splicing and threading of tape that would put them off most. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/13 "2010-10-17T17:08:12Z")
I used rotary phones until about 2000, black-and-white televisions until about 2008. I still have a film camera, but almost never use it. Still have a cassette player, but almost never use it. I still have a CD-playing walkman-type thing but haven’t used it in about a year. Still have a turntable for vinyl records but use it only about once a year. I still have a [bit brace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brace_(tool)) in addition to several corded electric drills. I use the brace where most people today would use a cordless drill. The bit brace never needs to be recharged and the motor hasn’t burned out yet. By the time the motor does run out, I won’t need it any more. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/14 "2010-10-17T17:45:34Z")
I still have one wall mounted rotary phone in my house. It is just for emergency backup. I had to disconnect it because it interferes with the DSL. So it just sits there on the wall of our spare room and we use our cordless phones. It is hard wired into the same phone lines that our cordless phones and DSL use. But when the power goes out all I have to do is twist a couple wires together and the phone works, even though there is no power to the house. It only needs the phone line, no other power supply. That is why I keep it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/15 "2010-10-17T18:31:40Z")
I’m old enough that everything from phones without dials to small B&W TVs to Hi-Fi to records to 8-tracks was all current technology. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/16 "2010-10-17T18:51:23Z")
I have a working 1922 Linotype in my garage. I’d say that’s pretty badly out of date. Machines like it were probably still used when I was young, but it would have been a last gasp of the old ways. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/17 "2010-10-17T19:38:07Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Heck, I’m still using knives and hammers. > [@USCDiver](#): > > I used a lever once too! I’ve got you beat. I still use _fire!!_ ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/18 "2010-10-17T19:40:58Z")
> [@Terra1041](#): > > I was born in 1987, and I remember our household having only rotary phones for years. > > Did you have any technology that was way out of date when you were a kid? Ha Ha Ha! Until I was 9 years old, when I picked up the receiver, I would get an operator who would ask, “number please?” I was born in the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/19 "2010-10-17T19:58:37Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > My mom may still have a rotary phone. I’ve still got one, from my first apartment back in 1983. I just plugged into my VOIP line; it works. (Meaning I can dial out). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428/20 "2010-10-17T20:07:58Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Hmmm. Knives, hammers, levers and wheels are out of date now? This is going to be a pain… > Anyway, we had slide rules, AM radio, B&W television, tubes in electronics, and rotary dial phones. Products that required DC usually contained selenium rectifiers or simple three pin tubes. But none of these was out of date at the time. I guess the closest thing I can refer to was that electrical appliances used to come in AC and DC and Universal versions, from before electrical power distribution had settled on AC, which happened before my time. However we had various appliances marked “Universal”, and the junk piles in the basement for tinkering still had appliances and parts marked “DC”. By the way, there seems to be a modern understanding that electric motors with brushes and commutators and wound stators would be “Universal”, that is they would work on AC or DC, but this isn’t right. The magnetic cores had to be made of laminations if the motor was to run on AC, so the eddy current heating didn’t toast it. Are you saying that some of these appliances and components go back to the earliest days of power transmission? The fight between Edison and Westinghouse, and all that? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-have-any-technology-way-older-than-you/557428.md?page=2)