# Your Fave Dead-end or Obsolete Technology? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924 "2003-09-21T05:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/101 "2003-09-25T14:40:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \* > \*\*The Rock-a-who? > 🙂 > > great movie \*\* …and chock full of retro-tech, too!😃 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/102 "2003-09-25T19:59:33Z")
I just found a box of carbon paper in a supply cabinet here. So if I put into the paper tray, will the laser printer make copies? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/103 "2003-09-25T20:03:45Z")
[Sterographs were cool.](http://home.earthlink.net/~flamminch/3history.html) My great-great grandmother had one in her parlor. It was pretty darn cool. She had lots of “battle aftermath scenes” (probably faked). ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/104 "2003-09-25T20:11:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Miskatonic \* > \*\*[Sterographs were cool.](http://home.earthlink.net/~flamminch/3history.html) > > My great-great grandmother had one in her parlor. It was pretty darn cool. She had lots of “battle aftermath scenes” (probably faked). \*\* Chances are pretty good they were real. The old cameras needed a very long exposure, and battlefields, since they were dramatic and didn’t move, were popular subjects. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/105 "2003-09-25T21:07:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rocketeer \* > \*\*Chances are pretty good they were real. The old cameras needed a very long exposure, and battlefields, since they were dramatic and didn’t move, were popular subjects. \*\* I can’t find any links on the subject right now, but I believe that a number of Matthew Brady’s famous Civil War photos of battle casualties have been judged to have been staged, if not exactly faked – i.e., he and his assistants were not averse to moving bodies around or posing them to improve the composition of a shot or to better “tell a story”. There’s one of a dead Confederate sniper in “Devil’s Den” at Gettysburg that I specifically remember in this context. ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/106 "2003-09-28T16:49:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duderdude2 \* > \*\*The NES! \*\* Sega Genesis is still loved, still played. Hell, damn near worshipped ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/107 "2003-09-28T17:20:56Z")
I love my Kaypro. Of course I’m not using it _now_. It’s just sitting there next to my old typewriter. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/108 "2003-09-28T17:51:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Markxxx \* > \*\*8 Track --\> I win \*\* What’s good about 8-track tape? It was the stupidest idea ever. Good tape recorders (including -gasp!- fast forward and rewind buttons) were already on the market when 8-track appeared with this “great” idea of a lousy-quality tape that the user has no way of controlling. If you wanted to hear a specific song, you just had to wait til it rolled around on the endless loop and the tracks changed.I once heard an 8-track of Beethoven’s fifth symphony–every few minutes there was a 10 second sudden stop in the music, a loud mechanical crunching sound as the tracks changed, and then another 10 second wait for the music to start again. Real classy. Yeah, I really miss 8-tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/109 "2003-09-28T17:53:57Z")
The guy who invented 8-track also invented the Lear Jet I hear. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/110 "2003-09-28T18:04:24Z")
Originally posted by **CaptBushido** > [@](#): > > You need an explanation for NES??? You HAVE to be over 30: > > **Nintendo Entertainment System** > > The original… Hey, lay off with the age gibes, kiddo. Confession: Every time I see a reference to a “PS/2” I have to pause and un-think [this](http://www.cedmagic.com/history/ibm-ps2-1987.html). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/111 "2003-09-28T18:10:47Z")
Originally posted by **NoClueBoy** > [@](#): > > 126 film cameras. 24 x 24 mm negs in a cartridge. Rollie, Kodak, Fuji, Yashica, etc… all made some very high quality camera systems for this format. Now it’s gone. I’ve still got a functioning Kodak Instamatic X-35. I’ve even got _film_ for it! And MagiCubes! It only takes about six weeks to find someone who still has the equipment to develop them though ☹ In fact, I just recently had a hell of a time trying to get new prints made from 126 negatives. I think I’m going to end up being the only person I know to make a direct jump from 126 cartridge camera to digital camera without ever having owned a 35mm. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/112 "2003-09-28T19:25:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BMalion \* > I miss my red-glowing-number digital watch from Texas Instruments. You had to press the button to make the time glow and it only displayed for about 5 seconds. That thing took 2 batteries and sucked them dry of power every month! The SUV of watches! Bah! Bow down and kneel before the “Excursion” model of all [**LED**](http://www.parsecent.com/pulsletterpage.html) watches! ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/113 "2003-09-28T19:32:46Z")
I won’t bother listing all the things I thought “me, too” upon reading, and only add the one I thought of when I first saw the thread. Amazing that no one else has mentioned it. Letterpress printing with actual small hunks of lead. I know it’s still done in specialty shops, but it definitely counts as obsolete. When I was in high school (late 70’s-early 80’s), the graphic arts/journalism department had an old A.B. Dick offset press that we did most things on, and a much older (circa 1870) platen press with lead type that we used for special things. It had been originally made to be operated by a strong apprentice with a large crank, but it was now hooked to an electric motor. We had a little mechanical counter gadget we could put into a block of type which would advance on each print, so we used the platen press to make things like prepaid lunch tickets that had to have a serial number on them (the offset couldn’t do that). Cases of type were also a great way for the teacher to keep the kids who weren’t fascinated with the presses busy. Hand them a drawer out of the collection, and tell them to sort the sorts. Letters were constantly found put back into the wrong box in the drawer. We all had to memorize which characters were supposed to be where in the California type case system. The school closed the department between my junior and senior years to save the money they were paying the teacher, and sold off the machines and type. They ended up with some cases left over (some fonts had had so many sorts missing that they couldn’t sell them) so I got one drawer (sans type). It’s marked ‘10pt. Caslon Bold’ and looks really cool hanging on the wall. Just wish I had all the rest of the stuff that goes with it. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/114 "2003-09-28T19:50:20Z")
Sickeningly, people often “part out” the drawers from moveable type files for use as curio holders. If a cabinet is missing even a single drawer, its value plummets to near zero. There should be a law about this. Zenster (Who has enough small gee-gaws, doo-dads and gimcracks to fill an entire type file.) ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/115 "2003-09-28T20:03:55Z")
Re: 8-tracks Lear did not invent the 8-track, he modified it. It was invented by a gentleman named John Herbert Orr. See [8 Track History](http://www.8trackheaven.com/orr.html). ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/116 "2003-09-28T22:14:03Z")
Real steam trains. They passed by me all the time when I was a little kid and we lived near a railway line. I understand why they were replaced, but they _were_ kind of magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![bojon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bojon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bojon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/117 "2003-09-28T23:01:45Z")
I am still able watch the digits in my trucks odometer go to 111111, most of you see 0111111. The atari 5200. Remember going to the grocery store and using the tube checker machine to try to fix your own tv. Watching my grandfather use boiling lead to seal a pipe joint. Adjusting valves on your truck, setting the points, adjusting the brakes, replacing carbon brushes in the generator, vent windows, rolling up the window, using a choke to start a truck. Ahh the good old days, just like this morning. ---
**Author:** ![sycorob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@sycorob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sycorob)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/118 "2003-09-29T16:32:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gunslinger \* > \*\*Flashbulbs! There’s just something special about the quality of light from burning magnesium wire that you can’t get from modern electronic flash… \*\* Flashbulbs are still used for (strangely) high-speed photography and (less suprisingly) for caving pictures. Flashbulbs can produce light longer than a strobe, so the photographer can just leave the shutter open longer and catch the return from the far wall of the cave, for instance. Some examples of pictures made with flash bulbs: [http://photography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.meggaflash.com/gallery%20of%20flashbulb%20photos.htm](http://photography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.meggaflash.com/gallery%2520of%2520flashbulb%2520photos.htm) The cave pictures are pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/119 "2003-09-29T17:38:39Z")
CBs. I just bought one to install in my house. They are so much fun in a gritty pulp sort of way. I see them as the precursor to Internet bulletin boards and message groups. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/120 "2003-09-29T17:58:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chicago Faucet \* > \*\*CBs. > > I just bought one to install in my house. They are so much fun in a gritty pulp sort of way. I see them as the precursor to Internet bulletin boards and message groups. \*\* My dad has a hand-held CB radio that can pick up CB traffic but can’t transmit very well. It’s still lots of fun, and is also useful for learning about delays, wrecks, detours, etc. I don’t know if this counts as obsolete technology, but I miss metal dashboards in trucks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924.md?page=7)