# Yestertech **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 25, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047 "2011-11-25T15:29:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/1 "2011-11-25T15:29:11Z")
What bits of older technology do you still use, at least occasionally? Pentium I PC running Windows 3.1 to play DOS games, among many others ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/2 "2011-11-25T15:46:54Z")
The main ones are the old video devices wired into my ridiculously large and blingy 3D home theater set up. I have a laserdisc player (Pioneer CLD D504) and a JVC S-VHS VCR connected, both dating from the mid-90s. Routed through the VCR is a kluge of various adapters which allow me to connect older video game systems, and I have an Atari 2600 (1977) at the ready, with another 50 or so vintage systems (1976 to 1999) in boxes which can be hooked up as well. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/3 "2011-11-25T16:09:59Z")
A record player. Never would give away my old records, so when my 25 year old player broke two years ago, I got me a new one. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/4 "2011-11-25T16:17:59Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > Pentium I PC running Windows 3.1 to play DOS games, among many others pshaw! At work, I have a pre-Pentium computer. A 486 processor, with 8k or (maybe 16k) of ram. No Windows…just DOS. I use it 3-4 times a week for 10 minutes, to run a simple computation, using an engineering graphics program I bought in 1992. It works fine for my needs. The program has been updated by the maufacturer many times since then–but the laws of mathematics haven’t been updated by anybody. So it still works fine for me…no need to change. And, yes, I love being a Luddite. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/5 "2011-11-25T16:23:16Z")
> [@Hilary\_Algar](#): > > What bits of older technology do you still use, at least occasionally? > > Pentium I PC running Windows 3.1 to play DOS games, among many others Did you coin the term “Yestertech”? ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/6 "2011-11-25T16:45:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Did you coin the term “Yestertech”? IIRC I saw that term in a magazine once. Ironically enough, it was a long, long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/7 "2011-11-25T16:51:33Z")
Let’s see… The computers and TV are up to date, but I still own a turntable for vinyl records. And the records. I own a treadle sewing machine manufacture in 1910, but the tech goes back to the 1800’s. My spinning wheel was made in the 1840’s. My weaving looms are a bit newer, but the tech ranges from around 1400 for the jack loom to a couple thousand BC for the backstrap looms. At work I regularly use machinery dating back to 1945, and various tools that, while physically newer, represent tech much older than that. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/8 "2011-11-25T16:55:16Z")
In my bedroom I still use a 12 inch Sony Trinitron television I bought back around 1988. At school, I sometimes use a laser disc player and a disc that has a bunch of physics demonstrations on it. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/9 "2011-11-25T17:20:10Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > A 486 processor, with 8k or (maybe 16k) of ram. [nitpick] Granted, that’s old tech, but I’m sure you have to multiply by 1024 to make it 8 or 16 **MB**. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/10 "2011-11-25T17:35:48Z")
I have a Linotype from 1922 that I run regularly, at least in warmer weather. It casts type from a pot of molten lead. I use that type to print random things on my several thousand pound, 1930s vintage letterpress. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/11 "2011-11-25T18:05:17Z")
I have quite a lot of a good quality hifi dating back to the early 1960’s, in the process of recalibarting it, along with replacing certain age dependant components such as Electrolytic capacitors and germanium transistors - these things do not age well. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/12 "2011-11-25T19:31:30Z")
I have two phones. One is up to date cordless, but the other is rotary dial. It’s not broken, why not use it? ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/13 "2011-11-25T20:11:09Z")
1964 South Bend 10L Heavy lathe It makes yukky, nasty, oblong metal things - precise, round, and shiny! Still! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/14 "2011-11-25T20:54:52Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > [nitpick] > > Granted, that’s old tech, but I’m sure you have to multiply by 1024 to make it 8 or 16 **MB**. Concur. The 486 had an _8K cache_, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/15 "2011-11-25T20:55:17Z")
I keep thinking that there’s a T-shirt in my future with the word ‘yestertech’ on it. Time to fire up Illustrator, I guess… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/16 "2011-11-25T20:58:52Z")
\*Yestertech All my troubles seemed so far awech Now it looks as though they’re here to stech Oh, I believe in Yestertech.\* ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/17 "2011-11-25T23:16:14Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I have two phones. One is up to date cordless, but the other is rotary dial. That corded phone will come in handy during your next power outage as long as you still have a dial tone. Those new-fangled phones won’t work without power. During an extended power outage even a cell phone’s batteries may run dry. ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/18 "2011-11-25T23:20:19Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > pshaw! > At work, I have a pre-Pentium computer. A 486 processor, with 8k or (maybe 16k) of ram. No Windows…just DOS. > 🙂 My Pentium I PC is too fast to run one of my favorite DOS games, so I keep my 486 CPU at 25 MHz (turbo!) with 64 MB’s of RAM (just for yuks.) The HDD is dead, but it will still boot from a floppy. ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/19 "2011-11-25T23:26:24Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > A record player. Never would give away my old records, so when my 25 year old player broke two years ago, I got me a new one. Yup, got me a circa 1979 BIC turntable that still spins. Can’t get parts anymore, though, so the next time it fails (if it ever does again) I may have to spring for another used one. Got me plenty of software, too, about 200 or so vinyl LP’s that we used to call “albums” back in the day. Also got a few 45’s and maybe one 78 RPM form my mom. Fernando LLamas? ---
**Author:** ![Hilary\_Algar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilary_algar/32/4282_2.png) [@Hilary\_Algar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilary_Algar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047/20 "2011-11-25T23:32:24Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > I have quite a lot of a good quality hifi dating back to the early 1960’s, in the process of recalibarting it, along with replacing certain age dependant components such as Electrolytic capacitors and germanium transistors - these things do not age well. Just blew up my circa 1979 (integrated, discrete) home stereo amp for the last time the other day. Can’t get parts for that one either–really broke my heart to see and smell that smoke. I saw a comparable one on one of those used equipment websites but man was it spendy–and the shipping was outrageous, although those old amps are awfully heavy. lots o’ metal in there and no chips [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yestertech/604047.md?page=2)