this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Retro Technology

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A place for discussion, videos, pictures, and other related content of retro and vintage technology of all kinds. Especially retro tech that is still in use today.

There are plenty of excellent communities for retro PCs so that content is better suited for those communities.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh man, I want to click it so bad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

They are going for a couple hundred bucks on ebay.

Ill add it to the list with things like the play date or a Curta calculator which would make great desk doodads but whose price is too high.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

When I was a kid we had a television that used an ultrasonic remote. Not quite like this one though, ours did use batteries. But, similarly, it was dead simple with only three buttons. One for on/off volume (each time you clicked it the TV would reduce in volume with three distinct settings, then the fourth click would turn the TV off) and the other two for 'channel up' and 'channel down'. The TV's mechanical tuner would very audibly 'chunk, chunk, chunk' up or down each time you hit the button.

And yes, our dog hated it as he could hear the ultrasonic signal, and yes, jangling keys near the TV could cause it change volume, turn off or on, or the channel to change.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Yoooo. I have one of those. I found it in a free basket like two years ago. Got a Rock Lobster motherboard from it too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh wow, TIL why my parents called any remote a "clicker". I had no idea where it came from.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sounds a bit like my nephew asking about why we say we 'dial' a phone number.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Now I see where all the inspiration for the original star trek series interfaces came from.