how things have changed

[wa2ise]

I graduated Syracuse U back in 1978, long before word processors. But in engineering we did have access to a "mainframe" computer, a big IBM 370something. And there were printer-terminals scattered all around the engineering buildings. I figured out that I could use the APL program editor to write letters and papers, as editing was easier than trying to use the mechanical typewriters of the day (PITA). The dot matrix printing did look like crap though. I didn't have to do much with term papers back then, engineering classes were of the format of 3 to 4 tests thru the semester, and a final exam.

[peverett]

I remember (and have) old technology as I am in my 50s. Before your memories get to warm remember this:

1. TV tuners with such poor selectivity that adjacent stations bleed over.
2. Sorry wafer style TV tuners that would not work right even if you cleaned them 10 times.
3. TV sound that buzzes no matter how the set is adjusted.
4. 8 track tape players that always dragged and blew track changer selenoid diodes(I know, I worked in a shop that repaired them).
5. Records that lost the high notes after a few plays.

And in non-electronic items.
1. The sorry automatic choke systems used on cars. I have a 70s Mustang with one, it does not run right until the car is warmed up. My 63 Falcon with a manual choke is much better. Fuel injection is much, much better.

Old technology was not always that great. As to new technology:
1. My Sanyo TV has not given a lick of trouble since I bought it in 2004 with daily use. Could any tube TV say that?
2. Other than an infant mortaility issue, the HP computer that I am typing this on has worked fine since I bought it in 2004 also. It has been on at lest 10 hours a day since then. By the way, I have printed envelopes with the printer.
3. The only non-maintance issue my 2006 Ford ranger has had in 70,000 miles has been the battery. As a contrast, the Mustang, (I bought it new) had a water pump change and a transmission re-build by this point(due to poor manufacture and factory parts quality)

I think that a lot of us remember the good things about the past, but not the bad.

The one thing that I will say is that the much older(pre-1980) electronic stuff is much easier to repair(wafer tuners being an exception) than the new.

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by peverett

I remember (and have) old technology as I am in my 50s. Before your memories get to warm remember this:

2. Sorry wafer style TV tuners that would not work right even if you cleaned them 10 times.

The one thing that I will say is that the much older(pre-1980) electronic stuff is much easier to repair(wafer tuners being an exception) than the new.

AMEN! Them Standard-Kollsman and Oak wafer tuners were JUNK! PTS used to charge extra to fix them - it was easier for them to replace the tuner outright than to try and fix any broken wafers. When Oak converted to manufacturing cable boxes exclusively, PTS was at their door buying up all the spares.

I do recall the wafer tuners being a cost-cutting measure. If it was an inexpensive portable or a cheapie color, it seemed to have the wafer style tuner more often than the higher quality Sarkes "stick" tuners. Sarkes made only one awful tuner: Their 16 channel VHF-UHF all-in-one tuner. I recall a Magnavox that had one - same principle/construction as the 13 channel tuner (2-13 and UHF detent), but with 3 more detents, A-B-C. The switchover to UHF was squirrelly, and we could never get the herringbone out of the picture that was caused by the VHF local oscillator bleeding into the UHF. They worked well on UHF with the tunerr cover off, but low VHF sucked, with ghosting. It was a nightmare, but them wafer tuners....really sucked compared to the Sarkes.

Cheers,

[zenith2134]

since we are on the subject, i have a 1978 magnavox 12'' b/w with a Sarkes Tarzain tuner which, for some reason is very high quality in a low-end set...some nice color tv's had worse tuners

[peverett]

Cost cutting has been going on forever. I have two Philco Seventeeners, one from 1957 and one from 1958. The 1957 one has a nice brass tuning knob, the 1958 tuning knob is plastic(and has a crack). Of course since it is on a DTV box, it is always on Channel 3.

Even before that the was the "Decal wood grain" used by radio manufacturers(mainly Zenith) to hide cheap wood.

[Trance88]

I'm 22 so my K-12 days were sort of during a transitional era. I went to several schools so they varied in how "up to date" they were. I've pretty much seen every format of audio visual teaching aid in my classes, except R2R audio tapes and 8 or 16mm film movies. Everyone used VHS tapes. Strangely, I saw one laser disc movie in my 11th grade science class. I never saw a full motion picture film reel used as a teaching aid until driver's ed in 2004 or so.

[wa2ise]

We had film strips with associated records in my high school, class of 72.
Sometimes in the auditorium the guidance dept would show us some film strip on how to select colleges and pitfalls to avoid. The records would have a beep tone telling the kid operating the film strip projector when to go to the next picture. Well, some of us kids could make a good replica of that beep tone, to get the kid to advance the film strip early. And have the presentation, as recorded on the record, run out of pictures before it was finished.

[mbates14]

Originally Posted by Trance88

I'm 22 so my K-12 days were sort of during a transitional era. I went to several schools so they varied in how "up to date" they were. I've pretty much seen every format of audio visual teaching aid in my classes, except R2R audio tapes and 8 or 16mm film movies. Everyone used VHS tapes. Strangely, I saw one laser disc movie in my 11th grade science class. I never saw a full motion picture film reel used as a teaching aid until driver's ed in 2004 or so.

Pretty much the same way with me, and I am 25. Ive also witnessed slide projectors in use, and we used a record player in gym class to play ELO when doing laps. yea.. lol.

No film movie projectors. and no modern projectors either until high school.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

We had film strips with associated records in my high school, class of 72.
Sometimes in the auditorium the guidance dept would show us some film strip on how to select colleges and pitfalls to avoid. The records would have a beep tone telling the kid operating the film strip projector when to go to the next picture. Well, some of us kids could make a good replica of that beep tone, to get the kid to advance the film strip early. And have the presentation, as recorded on the record, run out of pictures before it was finished.

Yeah, I graduated high school in 1985. We had 16mm projectors and the filmstrip projectors too with the record although cassettes were being phased in as well. I'll be 45 next month.

[CoogarXR]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

We had film strips with associated records in my high school, class of 72.
Sometimes in the auditorium the guidance dept would show us some film strip on how to select colleges and pitfalls to avoid. The records would have a beep tone telling the kid operating the film strip projector when to go to the next picture. Well, some of us kids could make a good replica of that beep tone, to get the kid to advance the film strip early. And have the presentation, as recorded on the record, run out of pictures before it was finished.

My school district was so poor, we were still using the beep-records and slide projectors... but I graduated in 1996! Thanks for bringing that up though, I had forgotten about those. I remember the old portable wood-box record player with the 6x9 speaker in the front.

We did have the standard "AV Cart"- a 70s-era color TV and a top-loader VCR too, for when we wanted to watch "modern" films, heh.

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by CoogarXR

My school district was so poor, we were still using the beep-records and slide projectors... but I graduated in 1996! Thanks for bringing that up though, I had forgotten about those. I remember the old portable wood-box record player with the 6x9 speaker in the front.

We did have the standard "AV Cart"- a 70s-era color TV and a top-loader VCR too, for when we wanted to watch "modern" films, heh.

We had those AV carts too, starting about 1980 or so.

[Trance88]

Originally Posted by mbates14

Pretty much the same way with me, and I am 25. Ive also witnessed slide projectors in use, and we used a record player in gym class to play ELO when doing laps. yea.. lol.

No film movie projectors. and no modern projectors either until high school.

Ha! I wonder if the song that was played during your gym class was "Fire on High"

[Telecolor 3007]

I was borned at the end of 1982. At my parental granparents I had Japanesee electronics and a Telecolor 3007 color tv. Even color tv was someting in Romania back in the '80's (we had color television only in 1983, because of "Hello, hello, comrades, stay calm in your pleices"). Turnatabels (record-players) or pick-up-uri (picupuri) - how we call them in Romanian where more common then reel to reel tape recorders or cassette recorders.
Not even in the '90's technology wasn't very avaible for the Romanian - small incomes and hyperinflation (up to 1998). Second-hand save used in almost all domains: electronics, transportation (both public and private), home aplainces. But in 2000 there where old people in Bucharest that still dind't had a tv!
I had a color television at my home only on 12-12-2000. The rest of my relatives from Bucharest had color television up till then. Most people hand't had a V.C.R. C.D.'s became more common after 1997-1998 and beaten the cassette only after 2000.

In the are where I live almost all people had a telephone. Only a girl mate dind't had, throu all that the telephone exchange was less then 500 yards away from her. There where 3 telephone exchanges (4 after mid '90's) in my area. Est (Dimitrov) 1 and 2 where in the same buidling. There was Iancu less an mile away. At Iancu they've intalled an digital telephone exchange somewhere after 1995 (there where only 2 phone books for Bucharest and Ilfov county in the '90's: in 1992 and in 1998... so some information are hard to find). We had the 1st urban digital telephone exchange in Bucharest only in 1992 (numbers begining with 312). In november? of 1992 there was the exchange from 6 digits numbers to 7 digits numbers. All numbers where added an 6 in front (so my number begun with 642 after that... 66 becamed 666 and numbers with 666 still exist!) - except in the Souht-West and East side of the city, where in the front of the old number was added an 7 (for eg 71 becamed 771).
Getting a telephone was a hard job. Except for
- Bucharest
- Voluntari (Volunteers) (back then a commune, now a city), Ilfov county (the county that sorrounds Bucharest)
- City of Buftea, Ilfov county
- Commune of Corbeanca (some where after mid-'90's)
- and Prahova County (the county North of llfov County)
- + the sea-side cities and villages
telephone line where a common thing only in county "capitals" and in some other cityes in the county.
Ha-ha, in the country-side in Prahova county I had a telephone in 1997-1998, when they replaced the old manual telephone exchange (installed I think in the '80's) - which had quyte a lot of subscribers in the road area, but some people in Bucharest had a telephone line only in 2000-2002.
When I finshed 8th grade (in 1997) there still where the 2 old rotary dial pay phones (only for urban calls). The telphone exchange was near the school and less then 500-600 yards away from me. Now me and my former school have a ladline from Iancu telephone exachange.
In the '90's there where some blue pay phones, coined operated, but with push button and L.C.D display. These could be used for both urban and interurban calls. But theren't where many (and I don't have a picture of one!), since they where connected only to digital telephone exchanges. I didin't use one in Bucharest. I only used them in Cosntanţa (the city) when I was with my mother and sister on summer hollydays and I called my maternal granparents in Bucharest (both of my parents where borned here).
Now we have only card operated pay phones. No wonder allmost no one is using them...

Sheesh, I think now that now allmost all people can have the thing they've wanted, but they aren't using them too much. We can have now an landline, but we don't have too many people to call on a fix phone. We can have tv's and radios, but allmost nothing to watch or to listen (the news are depressing me and allmost all radio stations are brodacasting the same tunes). I dreamed of the 16:9 format and now I descovered that I'm too used with the old 4:3 format (I still have an 4:3 monitor and I ain't going to get me an 16:9 one). Neither a new tv. My 2000 "Sony" still works and will be used for another 5 years I hope. I've still had seen some people that have C.R.T. tv sets. Some people don't want to own a tv set any longer!
Back in the '90's there where fewer cars in Romania. The street and roads where allmost all in poor condition. Now they are in better condition, but there are to many cars, too less parking lots and the gas is expensive (about 4 dollars per gallon! - and 600-700 dollars wage (sallary) is a good one around here)).

[maxhifi]

The biggest change I've noticed, is the internet and how easy it is to access obscure or obsolete information now. I remember photocopying the RCA tube manual at the library, it took me hours, and was something of a bible for years! Now just type a question into google and magically it's answered. Talk about a major improvement! And no more wondering if the product data you're holding is out of date!

My phone line had some problems, and I had no internet for the past few days, save for my cell phone. Had to dust off my reference books, and be satisfied with vague general answers to whatever I wanted to know - the age of google and web forums is awesome!

[Telecolor 3007]

The interent becamed a great source of information, but you still have to look for some thhings on the paper, 'cause they still aren't on the internet