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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: Hak Foo on Sat, 25 April 2009, 21:33:12

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Hak Foo on Sat, 25 April 2009, 21:33:12

I know many of us have a huge stack of spares of our favourite types of keyboards or pointing devices, but what else?

I think for me, it's becoming printers.  I used to have one of those little Samsung $150 lasers, but it died after being used for less than 2,000 pages over three years (rubber bits failed so it wouldn't feed).

So I bought a second-hand LaserJet 5.  For $9, I got a printer that you could drop on the Samsung and it would continue to print.

Today, I found myself getting a 4 Plus (ostensibly to get a spare cartridge for the 5, but the 4 Plus may well stick around as a spare in case the 5 ever fails)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Sat, 25 April 2009, 21:41:53

With me its PCs and parts. No matter what it is I'll find a good use for it.

I've got:
1 Laptop (P4 3ghz northwood)
1 Server (E8400)
2 HTPCs (AMD BE-2400, P4 630)
1 Torrent Box (Epia PX Pico ITX)
1 Hackintosh (Atom 230)
1 'Old Gaming' PC (Dual-CPU Pentium III w/ DOS and Win98)

And in a few months I'll be building a Core i7 rig with TEC cooling and the whole 9 yards.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: cmr on Sat, 25 April 2009, 22:02:16

ens1371 and emu10k1 sound cards

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Sat, 25 April 2009, 22:04:49

Quote from: cmr;87329

ens1371 and emu10k1 sound cards

emu10k1 was awesome! I've got two of them, been meaning to switch out the opamps and caps on one to make it sound perfect :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ozar on Sat, 25 April 2009, 23:23:03

For me, it's various PC parts, drums, American Indian flutes, violins, and chess sets.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 26 April 2009, 00:52:34

Not keyboards anymore, but I'm about to start hoarding typewriters (might have just picked up my third). Aside from that I really don't hoard anything except bad sexual experiences.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: keyb_gr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 07:06:36

For me that would probably be radios (usually stuff with shortwave coverage)... though I also have a couple more PCs than I can really use, plus a bunch of old harddrives and expansion cards.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ozar on Sun, 26 April 2009, 10:19:42

Given the current state of the economy, I really need to concentrate more on hoarding cash and worry less about hording other things.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Sun, 26 April 2009, 10:23:45

Disc golf discs.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: wheel83 on Sun, 26 April 2009, 11:57:55

i like ibm model m space savers.  :)  i bought a bunch for $75-150.  a  couple NIB ;p  

i noticed the prices were starting to rise, so i bought a few extras.  no regrets though as i really like them.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: IBI on Sun, 26 April 2009, 11:58:35

Not much actually, assuming we're ignoring the usual geek collections of hundreds of internet bookmarks and a quotes file.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 26 April 2009, 12:33:36

Quote from: IBI;87367

the usual geek collections of hundreds of internet bookmarks

No kidding. I delete my entire FF install every six months to get rid of the extra add-ons and links I never use.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lowpoly on Sun, 26 April 2009, 13:55:03

Cars with transmission problems.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 13:59:21

I'm beginning to think that it might become weird old British computers.

(Must stop looking at eBay UK...)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Hak Foo on Sun, 26 April 2009, 14:32:22

Quote from: webwit;87404

pr0n. oh wait..what did I say? stamps! stamps.

But nothing really. Old British computers would be a good one. I have a NIB ZX-81 for starters :)

I've always wanted a RISC OS machine, but I have to think

"Machine:  GBP 7.50.
Postage to US:  USD 75.
Repairs after trying unsuccessfully to run it on 110v:  USD 150."

I did get a Timex-Sinclair 2068 with the original box (the closest us Americans got to a Spectrum, somewhat incompatible, with a very noxious keyboard)

I have this strange "I wish I had gotten into computers 20 years earlier" feeling-- I feel like the machines should either be hopelessly anemic  ("Wow!  128k of memory!") or take up entire rackmount cabinets.  I wonder what that means from a psychological perspective.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Sun, 26 April 2009, 14:54:58

Quote from: Hak Foo;87406

I have this strange "I wish I had gotten into computers 20 years earlier" feeling-- I feel like the machines should either be hopelessly anemic  ("Wow!  128k of memory!") or take up entire rackmount cabinets.  I wonder what that means from a psychological perspective.

You might like something like this: http://helmer.sfe.se/ :D

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 15:01:16

120V Conversion steps for various RISC OS machines:

A3xx/4xx/R140: Open the PSU, there's supposedly a jumper to select 120 V, and the fuse will need to be double the amperage rating
A540/R2xx: Not sure, suspect it's the same as the A3xx/4xx/R140
A3010/A3020: Not gonna happen without either replacing the transformer on the motherboard with a 120 V to 23 V transformer and replacing the fuse, or using a 120 V to 220-240 V step-up transformer
A4000: I think this one might be either switchable or auto-ranging
A5000: I think similar to the A4000
A4 (laptop): Auto-ranging 100-240 V, IIRC (it's at least 110-240 V)
RiscPC: Stock, a RiscPC will most likely have a switchable power supply. Worst case, you'll need to replace with a switchable one
A7000/A7000+: Auto-ranging (my RiscPC is in an A7000 case, using the A7000 power supply. The sticker on the back says 220-240 V, but the datasheet 110-240 V, and the datasheet is right)
Iyonix: Most likely switchable, and even if it's not, it's a standard Micro-ATX power supply, so hit up Newegg
A9home: Most likely auto-ranging, and even if it's not, it's a 5 VDC 4 A power supply, so hit up RadioShack or Digikey or something

Edit: The bigger thing that I'd worry about, honestly, is the OS. You want 3.11 on an old (pre-RiscPC/A7000) machine, and at least 4.02 on a RiscPC or A7000. (The Iyonix and A9home have flash ROM, and can be updated to the latest versions easily.)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 26 April 2009, 15:27:55

Genius' don't all have to be crazy, webwit, and everyone's process is different.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: keyb_gr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 15:34:28

Quote from: webwit;87414

So today's thesis is: everybody who hangs here is no genius programmer/writer/whatever by default. You wouldn't be bothered.

Don't underestimate the power of networking though. A bunch of decently smart people can get quite a bit done as well these days. Actually I think knowledge distribution still is kind of a bottleneck.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 15:37:49

And, pray tell, how has Sinclair's stuff influenced today's computer market?

I can almost guarantee that Steve Wozniak didn't ignore other things so as to not blur the mind, and his stuff was rather influential.

Or, to keep it on the topic of British computers, something tells me Roger/Sophie Wilson (who designed the original ARM) didn't ignore other things, and his/her stuff is now in damn near every cell phone out there.

So, great inventors may insulate themselves from the world, but those that DON'T insulate themselves from the world have potential to be even greater, IMO, as long as they can focus on their project.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: keyb_gr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 15:52:54

Quote from: webwit;87420

Linus Torvalds hates Slashdot. Might as well waste time discussing important topics with molluscs.

Somehow I had to think of the Heise forums when I read this... *)

More specialized forums such is this one tend to be a better bet when it comes to exchanging knowledge.

*) My German readers will know why. ;) Almost every time I take a look in there, I end up running as fast as I can soon after...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: DesktopJinx on Sun, 26 April 2009, 16:10:08

I don't know that I'm hoarding anything, yet. I haven't reached that level of organization. I'm still stuck in the general-packrat stage.

But I have been burned many times by the "works perfectly and yet they don't make it anymore" problem -- having to buy a used M15 for $590 comes to mind -- so I'm starting to think like a hoarder.

I have a case of dnL soda tucked away in the cabinet. I still have one can of DrPepper Berries & Cream that I'm saving for a special occasion too.

I now have two bottles of my favorite scotch whisky hiding in the back of the cabinet, in addition to the one on the bar...

I have a spare hard disk cartridge for my car stereo, and I bought a spare PATA drive on top of that for when one of them dies...

I gave my brother an Audiotron which he doesn't really use, and I know if one of mine dies he'd give it back to me...

The quirky old car I just bought came with an extra set of model-correct wheels...

I have an extra Tivo...

I have extra packages of my favorite socks tucked away...

Oh crap. I think I'm just two cats away from crazy.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: IBI on Sun, 26 April 2009, 16:23:40

Quote from: DesktopJinx;87423

Oh crap. I think I'm just two cats away from crazy.

Nah, you're just being pessimistic. Crazy would be if you had a dozen spares for everything.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 16:28:34

Quote from: webwit;87421

You have no idea. Really. He's the grand father of a whole generation of some of the most influential hackers in the world. These were the days that companies like EA were born, from just a few persons. Sinclair and Commodore are why Europe has an enormous amount of incredible computer people - it all started there. The PC didn't bring computers to the masses, nor did Apple.

OK, I won't deny that his computers are responsible for a lot of computer users, who went on to do influential things. (And I never did deny that.)

But, other than that, what did his stuff inspire? Is there any element of any Sinclair machine, in even the most distorted form, that lived on past the discontinuation of the last ZX Spectrum variant in December 1990?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Sun, 26 April 2009, 16:48:14

Quote from: webwit;87431

The z80 lives on in your fridge and many other electronics and appliciances, and the crappy keyboard style is making a comeback in recent Apple manifestations ;)

But your demand is flawed anyway, in the field of computer technology. Where do vacuum tubes live on today? Nowhere, but we wouldn't have gotten were we are now without them. The destiny of new computer tech is that it is bound to become outdated.

Actually, vacuum tubes are still used in some specialty audio equipment because the sound they produce is a lot different than solid-state devices. And if you really want to get technical, CRTs are also a type of vacuum tube. :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 16:55:09

Gah, I should've said something like "is there any element popularized by or developed for any Sinclair machine," or something like that. ;)

The Z80 is very common, but no Sinclair machine is responsible for that.

Most likely ditto for the Apple Aluminum keyboard.

But, I was thinking more along the lines of concepts, in addition to specific parts. The idea of putting video terminal hardware on the motherboard was popularized by the Apple-1, and is still in use (in a way) today. (Although, we could debate all day as to whether it'd be around today without the Apple-1 - it probably would have, though.)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: IBI on Sun, 26 April 2009, 17:06:54

Quote from: bhtooefr;87427

But, other than that, what did his stuff inspire? Is there any element of any Sinclair machine, in even the most distorted form, that lived on past the discontinuation of the last ZX Spectrum variant in December 1990?

The netbook? Sell a computer with less power than it's comtemporaries but at a low price and small size? The ZX design is practically a netbook itself, all that's missing is the screen.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sun, 26 April 2009, 17:44:43

Well, if it weren't for tubes, we probably wouldn't have gone to transistors, so...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Hak Foo on Sun, 26 April 2009, 20:26:03

Quote from: webwit;87412

The ZX Spectrum 16K (soon expanded to 48K) was my first computer :) I had many versions of it till I switched to the Amiga. Both have defined me in various way . Sinclair is a true genius. Maybe I should bid for that C5 I saw posted locally.

Coming from a country where Sinclair's products had no traction makes it difficult to truly understand it, but it seemed like their primary flair was "how can we make it phenominally cheap" as the breakthrough rather than "this does something nobody else does at any price."

I also never quite understood Amstrad gear-- it seemed to be "how can we make equipment that isn't compatible with anything else".

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Des on Mon, 27 April 2009, 06:20:41

Quote from: webwit;87443

Boring Apple. Amiga forever, baby!

:peace:  
This just needed a response.
(http://retromania.blogg.se/images/logo_amiga_1204940093.jpg)
Click for friendlier logo (http://www.softhut.com/images/amigaware/beach/tonyasinwater1.gif)
..One of theese days I´ll be buying the new 2009 Amiga hardware (http://www.sam440.com/eng/sam440ep-flex.html) and (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCA319gFFc) OS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx3q2wFIn6k) 4.1 (http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2008/09/amigaos41-ars.ars) ... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPqllS6ng2g)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: FKSSR on Mon, 27 April 2009, 09:57:48

The only things I really "collect" are CDs and DVDs, probably.  I will end up getting 6-7 keyboards eventually, but I will probably stick to that number, since that's about all I can use for different computers/purposes.

I have spent a lot of money on bass equipment, computers, and games.  However, I wouldn't say I collect any of that stuff.  I do like to always buy "bigger and better" stuff in that area, but I don't pile it up. :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: nowsharing on Fri, 01 May 2009, 11:34:45

I seem to be hoarding cast iron cookware and yerba mate equipment; bombillas and gourds, or bombas and cuilas as they're known here, simply because they're cheap here.

I too used to have an obsession with valve electronics, but when my space started to run out I had to sell most of it. I had purchased the inventory of an old tv repair shop, which included about 7,000 tubes, testers, and lots of etc. It all went to ebay, selling for much less than I had envisioned. My '78 ampeg svt was a different story however, it netted a huge profit. I'm down to one tube amp now, a '68 traynor bass amp that has deep sentimental value to me.

I can see the attraction that tube amp users have to Model Ms: they're both hand assembled, methodically over-built (built like a tank would describe them equally well), relatively cheap (compared to the cost of hand building them today), feature stripped and industrial in nature.

Just like painters obsess over their brushes, writers and musicians obsess over their equipment. Someone here said to give the sword to a swordsman, and that should be said off all nice things. The typical person can't appreciate the quality of a finely built thing, or refuses to. Just go look at the equipment of a ****ty band or a ****ty cook. I don't believe that a piece of equipment will necessarily improve your abilities, but it certainly can't hurt them, and is probably more inspirational to your creative output.

It seems like the people in this thread appreciate these observations about the nature of nice things, and aren't necessarily hoarding things (ok some of you are :) ), but are going "bigger and better," like fkssr said, which is a positive thing in my mind. This is the same force behind the world of wine aficionados (who fill entire cellars with their collections) , coffee roasters ("hoarding" green beans from all over the world), stereophiles, and, here, writers.

That's just my two cents, but I don't think we should just consider ourselves "geeks," but followers of an old tradition, going back to the stone tool users who "hoarded" exotic raw materials to make that perfect projectile point.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: nowsharing on Fri, 01 May 2009, 12:46:01

yes, I'm sophistimocated :) I was hoping to raise the collective self esteem around here a little.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: FKSSR on Fri, 01 May 2009, 14:10:13

Some of these guys don't need anymore self-esteem. :P

JK.  I like your post.  I agree with it, for sure.

And back to the tubes thing, I'm hoping to get a bass tube amp very soon!  Mesa Boogie 400+ or Ampeg SVT-4 (probably the former).

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Fri, 01 May 2009, 15:31:02

You know, I also forgot to mention that I horde PC games. I've got over 400 CDs/DVDs worth of games, including the original CDs for Doom and Doom 2 :)

Its not like I'm trying to collect them or anything, I just never sell or throw them away when I'm done.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Fri, 01 May 2009, 16:36:23

Total Annihilation rocks :D

But yeah, almost all the new video games are just the same crap over and over, nothing really interesting. The only games released in the past 3 years I've liked were Bioshock and Mass Effect. But still not enough to go back and play them a second time through.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Starcraft II though. :eyebrows:

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: o2dazone on Fri, 01 May 2009, 16:55:06

I disagree. 99% of all games are hyped, and are actually very awful when played (cough most xbox360 games).In fact some of the best games I've played recently I hadn't even heard of (Sins of a Solar Empire).

There's a few games here and there, but definitely don't live up to the hype that gets generated behind it.

And yeah... SCII is gonna own, as well as D3

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Fri, 01 May 2009, 17:13:45

Quote from: o2dazone;88555

I disagree. 99% of all games are hyped, and are actually very awful when played (cough most xbox360 games).In fact some of the best games I've played recently I hadn't even heard of (Sins of a Solar Empire).

There's a few games here and there, but definitely don't live up to the hype that gets generated behind it.

And yeah... SCII is gonna own, as well as D3

So what is it that we don't agree on? :yo:

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: o2dazone on Fri, 01 May 2009, 18:10:22

haha yeah I uh...my reading comprehension blows

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: IBI on Fri, 01 May 2009, 19:47:10

Quote from: Manyak;88550

Total Annihilation rocks :D

But yeah, almost all the new video games are just the same crap over and over, nothing really interesting. The only games released in the past 3 years I've liked were Bioshock and Mass Effect. But still not enough to go back and play them a second time through.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Starcraft II though. :eyebrows:

I've got the main TA theme as my phone ringtone, It's certainly distinctive.

Mass effect has the usual excellently written bioware formula, although I felt the Kotor formula was wearing a bit thin gameplay-wise.

I don't understand what people see in bioshock though, for a game that promised to be an intelligent exploration of a drowned city to start with, to see it decend into pantomime with an evil villan with maniac laughter and stupid plans just disappointed me.

I think there have also been quite a few games in the last few years that have been excellent. Supreme Commander (an excellent sequal to TA, although forged alliance is rubbish), The Witcher, Mount and Blade and Fallout 3 for example.

I stay away from game hype now, it's not going to do anything except result in you being dissappointed, far better if you can pick up the game with no idea what it is.

I've found the most distressing recent trend is 'acheivements'. I bought Assassin's creed today and that's a particulaly bad example with sparkly 'collectable flags' littered around that do nothing and break the immersion of what otherwise looks to be quite a serious story. In others games though I've found myself repeating sectors and reloading just to get an acheivement and not having particular fun and made myself move on. I think they do have a limited place in multiplayer though, Valve's L4D is a decent example, as fairly easy acheivements for doing a wide variety of things will get players to try their hand at everything, which can only be a good thing.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: nowsharing on Fri, 01 May 2009, 19:58:42

Quote

P.S. Just looked up Mesa Boogie 400 = 12x6L6, 4x12AX7 That's just sick... That's head pounding loud.

MMM, that's a lot of power. Is the 400+ an older model or new? I can tell you after owning both an older svt and the newer classic reissue, there was just no comparison. Run away from the new ampeg stuff, it's built to self-destruct after a couple of years. I don't know much about mesa boogie's bass gear, except that I saw a favorite bassist of mine, Paz Lenchantin, pumping out some great sounding stuff on one when she was in Zwan.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Fri, 01 May 2009, 19:59:32

Yeah I just started playing assassin's creed yesterday, and after finding 3 out of 100 flags in that big zone between cities I decided I wouldn't even bother with them. And its extremely repetitive too...the same things over and over in each city. I ended up just walking myself straight into a camp of like 50 guards just to get some sort of challenge. But the story is great so far :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: o2dazone on Fri, 01 May 2009, 20:24:59

I could not get into The Witcher if my life depended on it. I think the potion system and having to travel so much that bothered me. Then again, I had just come off WoW, so every game felt like it lacked depth.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: nowsharing on Sun, 03 May 2009, 10:17:31

That's a great looking bass, probably sounds incredible.

Here's my old rig:
(http://www.soulshadow.com/1big.jpg)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Fri, 02 October 2009, 04:25:03

What else do you hoard?

This looks like a bad case of incurable OCD

I used to collect books; now I have to acquire more bookcases
I used to collect cassettes; now they're in four separate chest of drawers
I've got too many radios - ten radios
I've got too many pairs of speakers - nine plus two subwoofers
i've got too many tellys - five
Too many hats, masks and pairs of sandals - a lot
Too many cd players - ten plus another six dvd players
I haven't got enough empty cider bottles because I need them for the homebrew
Too many favourites on IE and Opera - 1,700,000 in 8 years - I have a separate search engine just for finding the faves.
Too many Yahoo Groups - about a hundred - I could go on but I better not.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: williamjoseph on Fri, 02 October 2009, 04:43:41

i have an old color lexmark LQ-860 24pin dot matrix printer,
calculators, still looking for that perfect Curta II,
and of course pc equipment.
most of the books i had i saved the same book in soft copy and donated the physical ones.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lowpoly on Fri, 02 October 2009, 06:00:43

Quote from: roaduck;122242

Too many favourites on IE and Opera - 1,700,000 in 8 years - I have a separate search engine just for finding the faves.

Literally 1,700,000?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Fri, 02 October 2009, 07:24:58

Quote from: lowpoly;122249

Literally 1,700,000?

Yep and that's not from all my back-ups - I can collect 1000+ faves a week sometimes, so I need a special program just to trawl through them because desksearch is not powerfull enough - too many things to look at.

Quick Favorites Search 4.32  - http://chris.id.au/

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 02 October 2009, 07:28:53

1.7 million favorites?  I would think that at that point, they're not really favorites anymore.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Fri, 02 October 2009, 07:46:59

Vehicles (I have a Mazda minivan (the Man Van), two Porsches and a Subaru Legacy wagon) and military equipment (I have a room full of stuff dating back to my active duty time with the Marines 25 years ago).

Oh, and watches. I have about 30 of those...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: timw4mail on Fri, 02 October 2009, 08:37:38

I hoard computers.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: MsKeyboard on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:00:09

I hoard Wine! Two cellars

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:01:36

Quote from: MsKeyboard;122273

I hoard Wine! Two cellars

Do you need some help with that?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:10:13

Quote from: ripster;122276

Guitars and power tools.
 
Two wine cellars? One for whites and one for reds?

One for today, one for tomorrow.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:17:35

Quote from: itlnstln;122253

1.7 million favorites?  I would think that at that point, they're not really favorites anymore.

They just sort of accrued itlnstln and there's sites that I wouldn't come across again with months of meta search engine trawling and I do have powerfull software to search it as well...otherwise it probably would be useless.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: MsKeyboard on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:21:13

One for Me, and one for friends!

Problem with collecting perishables is sooner or later you have to consume them, for better or worse.  They do leave some great memories though!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:25:49

Quote from: MsKeyboard;122287

One for Me, and one for friends!

My GF and I will be your friends.
 

Quote from: MsKeyboard;122287

They do leave some great memories though!

The quantity of memories you keep is directly proportional the quantity of "culling" you have to do.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lowpoly on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:30:44

Quote from: roaduck;122251

Yep and that's not from all my back-ups - I can collect 1000+ faves a week sometimes, so I need a special program just to trawl through them because desksearch is not powerfull enough - too many things to look at.

Quick Favorites Search 4.32  - http://chris.id.au/

That would be 582 a day. Or, if you sleep 7 hours, one favorite every 1.76 minutes with no time to eat or work.

How do you do that? :shocked:

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: MsKeyboard on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:32:20

That's the problem with a world wide community like ours, no way to gather and socialize outside our forum.

Well, not to worry, I'll raise a glass to you all tonight anyway!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lowpoly on Fri, 02 October 2009, 09:55:19

Quote from: itlnstln;122289

The quantity of memories you keep is directly proportional the quantity of "culling" you have to do.

From a certain point on this relation becomes inverse. :-)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 02 October 2009, 10:05:27

Quote from: lowpoly;122298

From a certain point on this relation becomes inverse. :-)

That's what I was going for.  Thanks.  It's too early to attempt to be funny.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Fri, 02 October 2009, 11:52:27

Quote from: lowpoly;87402

Cars with transmission problems.

*laugh*

I've got a '78 Chrysler Cordoba in the garage that's had full body work and paint done but I'm too lazy to put back together.  I even built a 408ci stroker motor out of a 360 small block for it.  I've also got an '82 Dodge D-350 crew cab sitting in the back yard that's next after the Cordoba is done.

I've got a ham radio license so I've got an assortment of antennas, a couple of radios, several sets of mobile mount adapters, a frequency counter, and a very high capacity dummy load.

I have a box of non-standard keyboards.  I have a DEC VT series keyboard, a WYSE terminal keyboard, an old, early IBM phone-jack-type keyboard, a couple of Apple ADB keyboards, at least one five-pin DIN, a weird Compaq PS/2 rack keyboard with built in trackball (the escape keyswitch is malfunctioning), a couple of extra GW2K Anykey keyboards, and a couple of odd USB keyboards.

I have a box of mice with a Kensington Turbo Mouse ADB, a wireless Logitech mouseman, a USB Kensington Orbit, and several other USB and PS/2 mice for when the need comes up.  I also have a serial mouse laying around here somewhere, and I have a PS/2 mouse that looks like a Phaser from Star Trek: The Next Generation and has sound effects that run off an internal battery.

I also collect Laserdiscs, and have about 480.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 00:01:05

Quote from: lowpoly;122293

That would be 582 a day. Or, if you sleep 7 hours, one favorite every 1.76 minutes with no time to eat or work.

How do you do that? :shocked:

I've got a program that adds the faves automatically and I can easily visit 1500 sites in 14-16 hours lowpolly.You should see my parapolitics collection!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: d4rkst4r on Sat, 03 October 2009, 00:21:28

Quote from: roaduck;122495

I've got a program that adds the faves automatically

I've got one of those programs - it's called history. I clear it out once in a while. :heh:

What do I hoard? Fine chess sets, watches, salt & pepper shakers, Edgar Berebi (picture frames, magnifiers, trinket boxes), Hendrix CDs & cassette(1), and cats.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: timw4mail on Sat, 03 October 2009, 10:58:49

Quote from: roaduck;122495

I've got a program that adds the faves automatically and I can easily visit 1500 sites in 14-16 hours lowpolly.You should see my parapolitics collection!

Wait, you're basically your own search engine?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 03 October 2009, 11:28:39

I like old computer parts, of all shapes and sizes.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 13:13:32

Quote from: timw4mail;122561

Wait, you're basically your own search engine?

I had to do a lot of research timw4mail especially before Google was so big.
I used Feedreader and friends sent me favorites .htm files which I imported.

I didn't go to all the sites myself - god no!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: timw4mail on Sat, 03 October 2009, 14:04:07

Quote from: ch_123;122565

I like old computer parts, of all shapes and sizes.

Me too. Some of the older stuff works a lot better than the newer stuff. Especially TV tuners it seems...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 14:56:35

Quote from: timw4mail;122608

Me too. Some of the older stuff works a lot better than the newer stuff. Especially TV tuners it seems...

I totally agree Tim.All our tv in the UK is currently going Digital and Freeview DTV tuners are terrible - digital block, pixellation signal not as strong as analogue and not as loud.

I don't think I'll be buying a new LCD tv anytime soon either - the colour accuracy is still dire, the in-built sound is dire and the text services are glacially slow.

Digital just takes up less bandwidth than analogue because it is all compressed.

Even 192/24 audio has less information than analogue.

My Koetsu moving coil cartridge can go from infrasonic to ultrasonic 0.5 hz to 150Khz ; it sounds like a 2" 30ips master tape.

Digital cannot resolve below minus -135db for example and Dolby master sound is a compander (compression-expander) as well.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 03 October 2009, 15:23:42

Unfortunately, analog TV is dead in the US, it's all digital now.

I have two TVs, one 1.75" flat CRT Watchman, one 13" Sanyo. The Sanyo is for hooking up computers and consoles that need a TV with composite in. The Watchman... doesn't get used.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 15:35:06

Quote from: bhtooefr;122637

Unfortunately, analog TV is dead in the US, it's all digital now.

I have two TVs, one 1.75" flat CRT Watchman, one 13" Sanyo. The Sanyo is for hooking up computers and consoles that need a TV with composite in. The Watchman... doesn't get used.

I'm not a big telly watcher myself - sometimes I don't turn it on for a month.
I've got a Panasonic 32" Quintrix 100hz crt widescreen downstairs and it's not been turned on since May 2008!

Years ago, sometime in the mid-eighties I had a Sinclair pocket tv.

It had a tiny 2 inch black and white crt tube in it and was useless.
It ran on lithium envelope batteries which didn't last and eventually you couldn't get batteries for it so I gave it away.

I can't understand people squinting to watch a video or play a game on a 3" or 4" screen.I can just about make things out on a ten inch screen.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: timw4mail on Sat, 03 October 2009, 16:19:09

Quote from: roaduck;122642

I can't understand people squinting to watch a video or play a game on a 3" or 4" screen.I can just about make things out on a ten inch screen.

Some of us are slightly nearsighted to an advantage in that regard.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 03 October 2009, 16:42:16

And some of us have bifocals on top of 20/20. (I need bifocals because of my right eye, and when you correct one side, you need to correct the other too, or it can cause issues.)

But, I mainly got the Watchman to play with a flat CRT, not to use.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Rajagra on Sat, 03 October 2009, 16:57:44

Quote from: roaduck;122628

All our tv in the UK is currently going Digital and Freeview DTV tuners are terrible - digital block, pixellation signal not as strong as analogue and not as loud.
...
Digital just takes up less bandwidth than analogue because it is all compressed.

You're right, we're being conned. Many people were won over by Freeview boxes because the image is perceived to be good. What they don't consider (or know) is that it is easy to mathematically describe an image that has smooth graduations and sharp lines, and encode that digitally using low bandwidth. But although that looks nice, there is no detail, no texture. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Same is true of DAB radio, in the UK we get poor quality because the compression rates are so aggressive (do a search on "DAB sounds worse than FM".) TV will end up the same way, I think they already degraded some ITV channels in the recent retuning exercise.

=============

On the hoarding front, I don't have a vast collection, but I have bought a few straight razors. (The model Ms of the shaving world?)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 18:31:56

Quote from: Rajagra;122687

You're right, we're being conned. Many people were won over by Freeview boxes because the image is perceived to be good. What they don't consider (or know) is that it is easy to mathematically describe an image that has smooth graduations and sharp lines, and encode that digitally using low bandwidth. But although that looks nice, there is no detail, no texture. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Same is true of DAB radio, in the UK we get poor quality because the compression rates are so aggressive (do a search on "DAB sounds worse than FM".) TV will end up the same way, I think they already degraded some ITV channels in the recent retuning exercise.

=============

On the hoarding front, I don't have a vast collection, but I have bought a few straight razors. (The model Ms of the shaving world?)

Love your razors - they'll last for ever and yes Rajagra digital telly and radio here in England is horrible, I'm sure the government just wanted to sell off the bandwidth and frequencies to the highest bidder.Like they sold off the Black and White VHF frequencies to the cell phone companies 14-15 years ago.

Compression was invented for FM radio in the 1960's so that it made small radios more impressive.It's called gating and uses a compander.

This results in lower dynamic range, clipped transients and intermodulation distortion and phase shifting.

Digital television and DAB radio will be encrypted eventually - it's not if, it's when then we'll be forced to pay for a c**p service as well as the BBC licence.

Mp3's were invented for getting music down a telephone line with an analogue 56k modem.

We don't need compression now with broadband ADSL and huge cheap HDD's for instance but because you can make more media in less time and less space we're a stuck with a plethora of compressed file types.

I blame the RIAA and the U.S. copyright lawyers mainly.

My old cassettes played on a 20 year old Sony pro walkman anihilates my mp3's players even with lossless FLAC and high bitrate formats for sheer sound quality.But this is progress - ease of manufacture, high unit sales and poor product life.

Most electronics are not even designed to be repaired; they don't even carry spares and if you can and want to mend it;it's cheaper to buy a new one.This can't go on.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Sat, 03 October 2009, 19:33:51

Quote from: d4rkst4r;122499

I've got one of those programs - it's called history. I clear it out once in a while. :heh:

What do I hoard? Fine chess sets, watches, salt & pepper shakers, Edgar Berebi (picture frames, magnifiers, trinket boxes), Hendrix CDs & cassette(1), and cats.

Forgot about that..  I'm interested in watches but haven't really started hoarding yet.  I do have an Accutron 218 from 1970 though, and I'm looking for an Accutron 214 Spaceview...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 22:35:22

Quote from: TWX;122733

Forgot about that..  I'm interested in watches but haven't really started hoarding yet.  I do have an Accutron 218 from 1970 though, and I'm looking for an Accutron 214 Spaceview...

If you want to know anything about tuning fork resonator watches TWX I have a friend who is a member of the British Horological Institute who builds and collects watches for a living.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Sat, 03 October 2009, 23:00:13

*chuckle* If I come up with any questions I'll be certain to drop you a line.  For the moment I'm pretty good with fundamentals.  Unfortunately there are two major problems with the Accutron- one, the wiring inside the 218 and later movements is so delicate that any mishandling at all with the case apart will result in a hefty bill to a local watch repair shop, and two, the battery available when it was new is .2V weaker than modern batteries, so some Accutrons will double-index (essentially jump two teeth instead of one) when running, which results in the reading advancing at double the desired rate.  Not all Accutrons suffer from this (mine doesn't appear to) and some have installed a very tiny resistor inside to account for it as well on those that have the problem.

The 214 movement has a separate opening for the battery that doesn't require removing the entire back, so it's possible for a layman with a small coin to open it and change the battery with no other ill effects.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 03 October 2009, 23:22:24

Quote from: TWX;122767

*chuckle* If I come up with any questions I'll be certain to drop you a line.  For the moment I'm pretty good with fundamentals.  Unfortunately there are two major problems with the Accutron- one, the wiring inside the 218 and later movements is so delicate that any mishandling at all with the case apart will result in a hefty bill to a local watch repair shop, and two, the battery available when it was new is .2V weaker than modern batteries, so some Accutrons will double-index (essentially jump two teeth instead of one) when running, which results in the reading advancing at double the desired rate.  Not all Accutrons suffer from this (mine doesn't appear to) and some have installed a very tiny resistor inside to account for it as well on those that have the problem.

The 214 movement has a separate opening for the battery that doesn't require removing the entire back, so it's possible for a layman with a small coin to open it and change the battery with no other ill effects.

If I was you I would take the watch to a specialist horologist; not a jeweller.Somebody that knows about pre quartz Accutrons, Bulovas and rare high beat Swiss electro-mechanicals from the late 60's early 70's because I know how delicate the coils etc are in them.

Your 218 might just need an ultrasonic clean and recalibration and the fitting of an original Mercury battery which are still available as new old stock.Is it a part jewelled calibre with a large ligne?

I once took a rare Swiss Oris Star tuning fork watch to a big name high-street jeweller for a battery replacement and he totalled it.

Eventually, months later, I got a little compensation so now I take my Tissot PRS-516 automatic to my friend, Tick Tock Tony.

If you've got any questions TWX you can email him at ticktock1954 at hotmail dot co dot uk.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: microsoft windows on Sun, 04 October 2009, 08:26:05

I hoard anything that has to do with computers.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: chuckading on Sun, 04 October 2009, 18:28:42

Things I hoard / collect

Not Electronic
Beverage coasters (about 40+) All different, no sets
Mechanical pencils (about 25+) Pentel P200 series tops all
Rhodia notepads (20+) Almost all no. 11 type
Twisty puzzles (Rubik's cube, Void Cube, etc. 60+)
Small containers for Media Management :)
Hurdle tops from major Universities (30+)

Electronics
CDs + DVDs (400+ of each)
Vinyl LPs, EPs (Modern French Producers / Classic Rock)
USB Cables (40+)
Digital & Analog Audio Interconnects / Cables

I could go on with a list of Electronics, but if it uses electricity and plugs into other things, I have a really hard time of letting it go.  I think I have this dream of someday having a wall of buttons and lights that are all connected and can do everything I need.

Example.. Hi-fi components, gaming consoles, portable gaming consoles, computers, laptops, iPods, musical keyboards and now computing keyboards thank to you guys!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Mon, 05 October 2009, 06:30:19

Quote from: TWX;122733

Forgot about that..  I'm interested in watches but haven't really started hoarding yet.  I do have an Accutron 218 from 1970 though, and I'm looking for an Accutron 214 Spaceview...

I'm keen on watches as well. There's a large aftermarket for Seikos with quite an amazing variety of dials and hands, and I have several custom-built Seikos. However, my favorite is my 'Alphathon Submariner', which was built for me by putting the guts of an issue Marathon quartz watch with tritium tubes into the submariner-style case of a Chinese Alpha. I also had a curved-dome crystal installed, as well as having the case bead blasted and fixed spring bars put in. Finally, I put it on a nylon strap and I've been beating the hell out of it ever since.

Here's a glamour shot:
(http://www.cadetstuff.org/images/IMG_2936.JPG)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Mon, 05 October 2009, 08:05:22

Quote from: Shawn Stanford;123068

Here's a glamour shot:

Shawn, is that you dog tag chain in a plastic sheath?  If so, was that done to prevent breakage from sand and dirt in the Middle East?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Mon, 05 October 2009, 09:59:43

Quote from: roaduck;122770

If I was you I would take the watch to a specialist horologist; not a jeweller.Somebody that knows about pre quartz Accutrons, Bulovas and rare high beat Swiss electro-mechanicals from the late 60's early 70's because I know how delicate the coils etc are in them.

Your 218 might just need an ultrasonic clean and recalibration and the fitting of an original Mercury battery which are still available as new old stock.Is it a part jewelled calibre with a large ligne?

I once took a rare Swiss Oris Star tuning fork watch to a big name high-street jeweller for a battery replacement and he totalled it.

Eventually, months later, I got a little compensation so now I take my Tissot PRS-516 automatic to my friend, Tick Tock Tony.

If you've got any questions TWX you can email him at ticktock1954 at hotmail dot co dot uk.

Yeah, I don't let anyone but a specialty watch repair shop that's been there for 40 years touch it.  I ended up accidently fracturing the crystal and they had it replaced in a few days with the correct magnifying type.  Defnintely no "fast fix" type place will ever get it.

So far no problems with a more modern battery, which suits me fine.  I'll gladly let it work with modern batteries if it will.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Mon, 05 October 2009, 10:01:29

Quote from: Shawn Stanford;123068

I'm keen on watches as well. There's a large aftermarket for Seikos with quite an amazing variety of dials and hands, and I have several custom-built Seikos. However, my favorite is my 'Alphathon Submariner', which was built for me by putting the guts of an issue Marathon quartz watch with tritium tubes into the submariner-style case of a Chinese Alpha. I also had a curved-dome crystal installed, as well as having the case bead blasted and fixed spring bars put in. Finally, I put it on a nylon strap and I've been beating the hell out of it ever since.

Here's a glamour shot:

Show Image

(http://www.cadetstuff.org/images/IMG_2936.JPG)

Nice!  I'm not nearly as into customization of watches as I am other things, but that looks cool...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Mon, 05 October 2009, 10:23:46

Is that a biohazard logo on that watch?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Mon, 05 October 2009, 10:29:25

Quote

Shawn, is that you dog tag chain in a plastic sheath? If so, was that done to prevent breakage from sand and dirt in the Middle East?

Yes, those are my dog tags in a plastic sheath. I think the original intent may have been to prevent noise, but I use it (actually, I use 550 cord now) to keep he bead chain from pulling out hair on my chest.

Quote

Is that a biohazard logo on that watch?

No, it's actually a radiological symbol. The tubes in the hands and minute markers have trace amounts of radioactive materials in them to make them glow.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Mon, 05 October 2009, 10:45:06

Quote from: Shawn Stanford;123103

No, it's actually a radiological symbol. The tubes in the hands and minute markers have trace amounts of radioactive materials in them to make them glow.

That's what I meant.  Man, I am off this morning (it was a long weekend).  Is the radioactive glowing material in the hands/minute markers different than other watches?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: timw4mail on Mon, 05 October 2009, 11:16:54

It used to be fairly common to have slightly radioactive materials to keep the hands glow all the time...but then there was radiation sickness from the people who actually painted the stuff on, without any protection, often licking said brushes...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Mon, 05 October 2009, 12:11:40

Quote

That's what I meant. Man, I am off this morning (it was a long weekend). Is the radioactive glowing material in the hands/minute markers different than other watches?

Yes, what is in 'standard' watches is a luminous material that needs to be 'charged' by exposure to light. Done right, watches with this material can glow for hours; but eventually they'll need to be exposed to light again.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Mon, 05 October 2009, 22:06:48

Radium and tritium >>>>> rechargeable glow in the dark crap.

Anyway, the biohazard symbol is different:

http://www.qubenzis.com/q/wp-content/uploads/376px-biohazard_symbol_redsvg.png

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lowpoly on Tue, 06 October 2009, 04:40:42

I remember reading somewhere that "modern" glow-in-the-dark materials are not radioactive.

Great watch, Shawn.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: keyb_gr on Wed, 07 October 2009, 09:21:23

Quote from: roaduck;122712

Compression was invented for FM radio in the 1960's so that it made small radios more impressive.It's called gating and uses a compander.

Errm... not quite (http://monsterfm.com/tech/optimod.htm).

Quote

Mp3's were invented for getting music down a telephone line with an analogue 56k modem.

Back in '93, you could buy very fancy 19200 kbps modems (with standards only covering 14400 max). It would be a while until 28.8 came along. Multimedia was all the rage. Moving postage stamps, yay.

Perceptual coding dates back further than that though. The venerable MUSICAM (MP2) codec has been out since '87 or so (that's the poor maligned codec used for DAB at questionable bit rates - basically it needs 160/192 kbit/s upwards for decent quality, as an internal storage format it's typically used with 256..384 kbit/s at broadcasters).

It is also important to distinguish between dynamic range compression, data compression and data reduction (perceptual coding).

Quote

My old cassettes played on a 20 year old Sony pro walkman anihilates my mp3's players even with lossless FLAC and high bitrate formats for sheer sound quality.

No effin' way.[tm]
Or at least you have the wrong kind of MP3 player or a problematic kind of hearing damage. My modest Sansa Clip (a model on the inexpensive side of things) has very low hiss levels and no other noises even with very sensitive in-ears (something that vintage portable audio gear never managed to pull off here), still goes comfortably loud enough with 600 ohm headphone antiques, subjectively sounds perfectly fine and conveniently stores the relevant part of my music collection in medium-bitrate VBR MP3 (which I have been unable to ABX vs. lossless in a quiet environment at home). Battery life is only average but still at least on par with what you'd get out of a portable tape player with two AAs, and all that out of a very small (almost too small) device. It's no contest. Only the non-replaceable battery is something I'm not entirely comfortable with.

Most 20 year old portable tape players, by contrast, are likely to have their share of dead surface mount electronics and associated problems (Sony and Aiwa in particular), wobbly belts or cracked gears (the infamous Sony direct drive mechanism). Then the very limited capacity. Rewinding. Real-time dubbing. No thanks.

Interestingly enough, portable radio technology has not advanced as much, at least if you demand a certain performance level. The Clip's radio part is stone deaf. That's why I always lug around a "real" radio which is comparatively huge and whose receiver section could have been designed in the same way with the same ICs in the early 1990s.

Quote

Most electronics are not even designed to be repaired; they don't even carry spares and if you can and want to mend it;it's cheaper to buy a new one.This can't go on.

That's one point I'd have to agree with. Today you might find that even a moderately expensive consumer electronics device of the more complex kind (like a TV) cannot be repaired after only 3 years due to unavailability of spares. It can't stay like that forever though.

On the subject of hoarding, here's what your truly has accumulated in the past (maybe I already posted that?):
* computer parts
* portable radios with shortwave coverage
* music
* keyboards (obviously)
Usually at some point the "usefulness per additional item" index approaches near zero, which means it may be time to move on to something else. Only music has been an exception (in the long term it's a little heavy on the bank account though).

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: J888www on Thu, 22 October 2009, 18:09:19

I'm trying to hoard Knowledge in hope that with enough acquisition, one day, i may reach Enlightenment. Although I'm failing abysmally as dementia is slowly setting into my faculties.
  What,s the subject matter, I forgot .   :doh:
I thought there was something wrong when I used my IBM mug and then drank from it, should of been vice versa. The more I hoard, the more I regress.  :violin:

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Thu, 22 October 2009, 19:56:24

I had a calculator watch when I was something like nine.  I have no idea why my parents got me one.  It was kind of neat for awhile I suppose, but the novelty wore off and then the dog ate it.

I guess I think of it along the same lines as shoes...  Shoes should be patent leather, not patent pending...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: hyperlinked on Thu, 22 October 2009, 22:49:57

Quote from: TWX;127718

I had a calculator watch when I was something like nine.  I have no idea why my parents got me one.  It was kind of neat for awhile I suppose, but the novelty wore off and then the dog ate it.

When I was a pee wee, a friend of mine had a calculator watch that thad a lighter built into it. Now that I think back, it seems like a bizarre hybrid of a product. It didn't hold much fuel due to its size. Maybe it was for infrequent smokers who were also bad at math and didn't want to walk around with a lighter.

At the time I remember thinking it was the coolest uber utility ever! Cheat on your math exam and set things on fire! What's not to love?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 14:01:30

Quote from: webwit;87431

The z80 lives on in your fridge and many other electronics and appliances

Sinclair didn't invent the z80 and wasn't the first machine to use it, not by a long shot. Radio Shack probably did more for the z80 and home computer revolution than anybody. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80 That was one year after the z80 introduction and at least two years before Sinclair's models.

Quote from: webwit;87431

But your demand is flawed anyway, in the field of computer technology. Where do vacuum tubes live on today? Nowhere

Also not correct. Vacuum tubes are still used in high-end hi fi gear and also in radio communications, especially linear amps. Good old ideas never seem to die.

Edit: I see most of these points were already covered by other posts but I didn't read the thread to the end before I answered. Lot of that going around anyway, didn't want to get left out.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 14:11:37

Funny thing is, had Sinclair gotten into the home computer market earlier, we wouldn't have the ARM. So, Sinclair, VERY indirectly, influenced today's computer market in one of the biggest ways possible, completely unintentionally, by NOT releasing a product, and causing Acorn to be formed.

And, ARM claims that all the ARMs in the world combined have more processing power than every other processor in the world combined.

Anyway, that calculator watch doesn't appear to be the same model. Looks like a databank model.

And, a watch that has a calculator and can set things on fire is AWESOME. In fact, I have a friend who... I think she could seriously use one. :lol:

I've got a Casio CA-53W, just your basic calculator watch, and that "movement" has been around since the early 80's. More interestingly, I've got an Abacus Wrist PDA, although it won't boot any more.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 14:22:35

Those Casio watches were da bomb, I had a non-calculator model but it served as an alarm clock for decades until it finally got too ugly to keep around.

I have to dig out my old Coco II and relearn 68xx assembler one of these days. That was fun.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 14:26:16

Quote from: bhtooefr;128038

Funny thing is, had Sinclair gotten into the home computer market earlier, we wouldn't have the ARM.

I have to look into that. I thought IBM had a RISC machine a long time ago.

I KNOW that the S/360 was RISC, although not intentionally :biggrin1:

Quote from: bhtooefr;128038

And, ARM claims that all the ARMs in the world combined have more processing power than every other processor in the world combined.

As much as I hate the x86 chip I can't believe as many millions of them are around they aren't a few zillions times more powerful than all the ARMs ever made. But you have to know which ARM chip they're actually talking about.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: msiegel on Sat, 24 October 2009, 14:31:19

"ARM claims that all the ARMs in the world combined have more processing power than every other processor in the world combined."

oh yeah? well what about all the casio watches in the world combined?

;)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 14:46:21

Quote from: ironcoder;128042

I have to look into that. I thought IBM had a RISC machine a long time ago.

I KNOW that the S/360 was RISC, although not intentionally :biggrin1:

Right, but ARM (I didn't say RISC, I said ARM) wouldn't have existed if Acorn didn't exist, and Acorn's existence is due to Sinclair not developing computers beyond the Science of Cambridge MK14. (Of course, then Sinclair did the ZX80.)

Quote from: ironcoder;128042

As much as I hate the x86 chip I can't believe as many millions of them are around they aren't a few zillions times more powerful than all the ARMs ever made. But you have to know which ARM chip they're actually talking about.

They're talking about all ARM chips from the very first ARM1 (probably under 1000, maybe under 500 in the world) to the latest Cortex-A8. And, they claim that there's over 10 billion out there.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:30:56

Quote from: webwit;128044

Why are you comparing the Trash-80 to (I presume) the ZX Spectrum which was a couple of hundreds percent cheaper and sold over a hundred times more, Was I not nice to you in another thread? Oh wait..

I got started in computers in the 1970s and I remember the Trash 80 well and the Sinclair units not at all. I don't know the numbers but it seems to me Radio Shack sold more units all over America than could ever have been sold in Europe...and Sinclair was only known for calculators. I don't know how you can say Sinclair outsold it. Virtually all the Americans in those days got their starts on Trash 80s and later, Commodores. And as I said, the Trash 80 preceeded anything from Sinclair with a z80 in it by at least two years, which is forever in technology. If you want to blame anything for starting the PC revolution, it's Radio Shack.

Quote from: webwit;128044

and why are you resurrecting a thread and particular comment from the grave?

It seems like a popular pastime here lately.

Anyway, silly me, I tend to read the whole thread instead of just the last post.:juggle:

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:35:26

But... pretty much everywhere outside of North America, the Trash-80 was unheard of, and the Sinclair stuff was. And (as a platform, via clones) the ZX Spectrum did replace the BK-0010 and relatives as the main communist home computer...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:38:40

LOL. OK. What is a BK-0010?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Rajagra on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:39:32

Didn't Timex rebrand a lot of Sinclair products in the US?

The TRS-80 was sold in UK Tandy shops, but I seem to recall it cost a lot more than the equivalent of $600 mentioned in Wikipedia.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:43:27

Yeah they had to fit on your wrist like all the other Timexes! ;)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:45:20

Quote from: webwit;128053

The Trash-80 wasn't consumer grade and therefore did not sell the required numbers to be a kickstarter of anything. Sinclair and Commodore did much better.

What do you mean it wasn't consumer grade?

It sold 250,000 units in the first round. It was certainly the start of the home PC revolution, I remember that's how it got started. I had a part time job selling them and other electronic goodies. At the start there wasn't any competition at all.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:46:00

Except it wasn't any less consumer grade than the other stuff available at the time.

(The Commodore PET and the Apple ][.)

Timex's stuff here... total flop, because it was crap, and too late for that crap to take off here.

Anyway, the BK-0010... it's what happens when the Russians clone a DEC PDP-11 onto a single chip, and make a personal computer out of it. I wouldn't mind a BK-0011M (BK-0011 being the enhanced BK-0010, and BK-0011M being the later backwards compatible version, as they broke compatibility when they released the BK-0011,) though.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 15:48:44

That sounds pretty interesting, actually. Can you run RSTS-11 on one?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sat, 24 October 2009, 16:08:41

Quote from: webwit;128058

Well I could continue to explain how zillions and zillions of Commodores and Sinclairs were sold, how it started major industries like the games industry, etc. etc.,

Well I could explain how being the first to do something, like Radio Shack was, and popularize it, like they did, often leads to innovation and competition and stuff like the Commodore can be created. Somebody has to spend money and take the risk and that often paves the way for other things to be created that would never be created otherwise. That's just how technology works. If Radio Shack didn't come out with the Trash 80 maybe junk-peddlers like Sinclair would never have taken the risk.

Quote from: webwit;128058

but you are just putting in extra effort to not understand the point

Aw, you flatter me. Actually it was no effort at all.

Don't mistake my disagreement for misunderstanding.

Quote from: webwit;128058

, so I'm bored now with the dead horse.

When the hell did this happen? :whistle:

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Rajagra on Sat, 24 October 2009, 16:31:28

http://www.jeremyreimer.com/total_share.html
The TRS-80 sold nearly 1.5 million in total.

Sinclair ZX80 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx80) sold 50,000
Sinclair ZX81 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx81) sold 1.5 million
Sinclair ZX Spectrum sold several million (finding it hard to find an exact number)
And after that Amstrad produced further versions of the Spectrum that sold well.
Apparently clones are being made even today!

So yeah, the ZX range beat the TRS80 computers in terms of numbers sold.

If you want to thank anyone for kickstarting the home computing market, maybe Ed Roberts (http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/12/total-share.ars/2) is the man.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 17:58:38

Quote from: ironcoder;128057

That sounds pretty interesting, actually. Can you run RSTS-11 on one?

No - the OSes were ANDOS (a custom OS for that hardware) and OS BK-11, derived from RT-11.

I believe there's a port of Unix underway, though.

There was a Russian version of RSTS-11, although I'm not sure what it ran on - probably something closer to a full PDP-11 clone, although likely with the same chip.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 18:01:50

Anyway... any idea who made that lighter+calculator watch?

I've been searching, and I can find plenty of lighter watches, and a few calculator lighters, but not anything that combines all three.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 24 October 2009, 19:16:23

They probably have ARMs too...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Rajagra on Sat, 24 October 2009, 19:20:38

Quote from: bhtooefr;128071

Anyway... any idea who made that lighter+calculator watch?

Dell? Many of their products spontaneously burst into flames.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Sat, 24 October 2009, 19:45:32

Back in the 80's, Dell wasn't called Dell, and they didn't make watches. ;)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TWX on Sat, 24 October 2009, 20:38:00

Quote from: Rajagra;128061

If you want to thank anyone for kickstarting the home computing market, maybe Ed Roberts (http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/12/total-share.ars/2) is the man.

A friend of mine has a working IMSAI-8080 and he says that it's a heck of a lot better machine than the Altair was.  Much more functionality.  I don't have any experience using either personally.  Apparently the IMSAI was also a lot easier to get ahold of.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sun, 25 October 2009, 02:51:00

Thanks for the link. That's cool. I've been thinking about getting into bare board stuff. My friend's dad did a lot of that in the old days. I've built some other kits. It can be a lot of fun.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ironcoder on Sun, 25 October 2009, 03:03:06

Quote from: Rajagra;128061

http://www.jeremyreimer.com/total_share.html
The TRS-80 sold nearly 1.5 million in total.

Sinclair ZX80 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx80) sold 50,000
Sinclair ZX81 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx81) sold 1.5 million
Sinclair ZX Spectrum sold several million (finding it hard to find an exact number)
And after that Amstrad produced further versions of the Spectrum that sold well.
Apparently clones are being made even today!

So yeah, the ZX range beat the TRS80 computers in terms of numbers sold.

If you include the whole range of TRS-80 just like you're counting all the Sinclairs the Trash 80 may still have sold more units http://www.pc-history.org/index.html

Difficult to know because Tandy supposedly never released sales figures. Whatever the case it's cool to find all these websites with info on historical technology.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 25 October 2009, 03:46:54

Quote from: bhtooefr;128071

Anyway... any idea who made that lighter+calculator watch?

I've been searching, and I can find plenty of lighter watches, and a few calculator lighters, but not anything that combines all three.

My memory might be coming back embellished. In hindsight, it seems idiotic to have tiny calculator keys next to an open flame.

The only thing I concretely remember about it was that it was very bulky, square, had a big side action trigger switch, and a tiny butane chamber on the side.

It was either this model or something that looked very similar:
http://www.retrothing.com/2009/01/hottest-watch-e.html

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: microsoft windows on Sun, 25 October 2009, 09:13:13

That's just plain crazy. Kind of like a toaster that can format floppy disks.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: TheSoulhunter on Mon, 26 October 2009, 16:25:20

Slivers...

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5390&stc=1&d=1256592125)

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5391&stc=1&d=1256592173)

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5392&stc=1&d=1256592205)

...also, porn!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: megarat on Wed, 26 May 2010, 12:44:48

Re: hoarding.  (If anyone still cares.)  I'm not much of a "hoarder", but I do have a few collections, some large, others (mostly) small.  I put an upper limit on my collections, which means I tend to collect up in one thing and then move on.

Among them:

-- Reference books.  Particularly math/science reference books.  My favorite is "A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates" by the Rand Corporation (1955).  I can't say it gets much practical use, but I just love the premise:  a huge book full of high-quality random numbers.

-- Other books.  I love to read and I'm a lightweight bibliophile.

-- Calculators.  Particularly HP calculators.  Particularly the Voyager line (particularly the HP 12c, 15c, 16c; I have a pair of each of these for home and work), and the 48sx and its software cards.  Plus related literature for all of the above.

-- Slide Rules.  Particularly Pickett slide rules.  (Toys are made of plastic.  Tools are made of metal.)

-- Here's a weird one:  AC cables.  I used to do a lot of global travel for work.  (Now I travel much less, albeit usually for pleasure.)  For fun I would pick up a standard/universal AC cable (like the kind that will plug into the back of your monitor or PC power supply) whenever I went someplace that had a different plug design.  So far I have:  Americas, UK, Europe, South Africa, Australia/Asia, India, Denmark, Switzerland.

I used to hoard more than this, including arcade video games.  That was a timesink and a half, plus my collection of 20+ games took up appx. 400 square feet.  (It's amazing what you'll get rid of when you get married.)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: hoggy on Wed, 26 May 2010, 15:37:13

Quote from: webwit;87404

pr0n. oh wait..what did I say? stamps! stamps.

But nothing really. Old British computers would be a good one. I have a NIB ZX-81 for starters :)

I used to have a great collection of 80's british 'puters.  Stored in my dad's spare bedroom for so long I couldn't take the hints to dispose of them ... and long story...

Used to have 2 bbc b masters, an einstein, a hector (made for the open university - they do correspondence degrees), some ataris, a dragon 32, several zx81's and a few spectrums,  a couple of commodores, something by mattel - I'm going to have to stop now...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: EverythingIBM on Thu, 27 May 2010, 01:28:45

Quote from: ripster;187152

Last time I checked we only had 1000 Abnormal Deviates at Geekhack.  You must be thinking of OCN.

Since this thread has been zombied these just magically started appearing.  I call it, "The Tyranny Of Oligopolies".

Show Image

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=10337&stc=1&d=1274901081)

I've seen the IBMIBMIBM mug before, but now it's really caught my eye. I need to go look for one of those some day.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Half-Saint on Thu, 27 May 2010, 03:44:21

Oh let's see... I used to buy every C64 I could find at the local flea market... I now own at least 8, gave one away to a friend last year. I also have about a dozen other computers from the 80s, a 4-5 shoe boxes full of C64/Spectrum/CPC tapes, three shelves worth of Atari ST, Amiga and PC games,... on top of that I hoard Nintendo stuff (mostly SNES and Game Boy), old PC hardware (motherboards, CPUs, memory modules,...), cables and god knows whatnot.

Now that I read this I'm thinking... hold crap, I must be mad!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: zerocool on Thu, 27 May 2010, 04:15:03

Quote from: Half-Saint;187282

Oh let's see... I used to buy every C64 I could find at the local flea market... I now own at least 8, gave one away to a friend last year. I also have about a dozen other computers from the 80s, a 4-5 shoe boxes full of C64/Spectrum/CPC tapes, three shelves worth of Atari ST, Amiga and PC games,... on top of that I hoard Nintendo stuff (mostly SNES and Game Boy), old PC hardware (motherboards, CPUs, memory modules,...), cables and god knows whatnot.

Now that I read this I'm thinking... hold crap, I must be mad!

give it a decade and you could have a little fortune

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Voixdelion on Thu, 27 May 2010, 07:47:07

Quote from: roaduck;122712

I blame the RIAA and the U.S. copyright lawyers mainly.
. . .

Most electronics are not even designed to be repaired; they don't even carry spares and if you can and want to mend it;it's cheaper to buy a new one.This can't go on.

Indeed.  The RIAA needs to realize "when you're dead, lie down."  F***ING ZOMBIES!!

And that last bit is directly related to one my hoarding urges: HP multifunction printers.  HP considers a $400 Officejet a "disposable" machine and would rather upsell you another printer at a "discount" for a couple hundred bucks than allow you to repair their made to fail product with a 50 cent part they don't carry.  Or rather, they do carry the nearly identical item with a different part number which is impossible to discern even with determined effort short of paying for access to a database that requires an ID as an authorized service outlet or by trial and error comparison of parts from scrapped machines.  Entirely outrageous.  

Also i am starting to accumulate video cards and p4 processors as well as some asus motherboards, panasonic cordless phones and quality blsnk media.  Up to my eyeballs in books.

At least my music expenses have been significantly curtailed over the last decade, mostly thanks to the RIAA and the garbage they have been peddling.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: phillip on Thu, 27 May 2010, 07:55:27

cds and games I guess, but only over the last few years.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: audioave10 on Thu, 27 May 2010, 10:57:33

(http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f356/averydla/games.jpg)

Lately.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Thu, 27 May 2010, 13:54:34

PS/2 Adapters. got 2 coffee mugs full.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: clickclack on Thu, 27 May 2010, 14:11:10

Quote from: lowpoly;87402

Cars with transmission problems.

Hahaaahaa =P

As of the past couple of years not including keyboards, then it would be typewriters (be prepared for back pain though), I slowed down with the lenses a few years ago.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: vils on Thu, 27 May 2010, 14:21:01

Books (have around 60 shelf meters) and kitchen knives.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ricercar on Thu, 27 May 2010, 14:41:39

Broken fountain pens. I keep telling myself to send them in for repairs, but instead I just buy a new one.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: wellington1869 on Thu, 27 May 2010, 15:19:10

Quote from: ricercar;187453

Broken fountain pens. I keep telling myself to send them in for repairs, but instead I just buy a new one.

i've got about 10 of those :)

i hoard usb cables cuz apparently i have a fear of being caught without one when i need it most.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: didjamatic on Thu, 27 May 2010, 15:25:51

Yo-Yos
Star Wars
Pez
Hotwheels
Misc Action Figures
Vintage Safety Razors
Vintage Pocket Knives
Vintage Electronics

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: itlnstln on Thu, 27 May 2010, 15:33:43

Quote from: didjamatic;187468

Yo-Yos
Star Wars
Pez
Hotwheels
Misc Action Figures
Vintage Safety Razors
Vintage Pocket Knives
Vintage Electronics

SPAM!  I'm reporting you.

Oh, wait...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: didjamatic on Thu, 27 May 2010, 15:38:34

The best spam I ever received had the subject line:

"Sex drugs, Porn, Rockets, Bombs and ****."



----------


Edit: Forgot Didjeridoos/Didgeridoos and hand drums.

Yes, these and no that's not me playing one:
(http://www.ec-lapierre-evry.ac-versailles.fr/IMG/jpg/didjeridoo.jpg)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: J888www on Thu, 27 May 2010, 18:06:42

I collect Vintage Grand/King Seiko watches, arguably considered the most accurate watches by Horologists (http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~kseiya/gs/history-e.html#45).

NB: The link is accredited to Seiya Kobayashi, I hope he is not offended by my spreading of his passion. If requested, it will be removed.

Nearly forgot to mention, I also collect Mechanical Keyboards. I am also a little partial to collecting Japanese Sailor (http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/forum/91-pens-from-the-land-of-the-rising-sun/). fountain Pens.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bitflipper on Thu, 27 May 2010, 18:30:59

Quote from: J888www;187515

I collect Vintage Grand/King Seiko watches, arguably considered the most accurate watches by Horologists (http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~kseiya/gs/history-e.html#45).

NB: The link is accredited to Seiya Kobayashi, I hope he is not offended by my spreading of his passion. If requested, it will be removed.

I too have a small collection of watches & a few other small timepieces, 30 or so. But I'm a Bulova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulova) man with dabblings into Timex and hip & trendy Diesel (http://store.dieseltimeframes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomeView?langId=-1&storeId=33053&catalogId=21503&N=0).

But the watches are merely an accumulation. I'm really a hoarder of clothes.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bhtooefr on Thu, 27 May 2010, 20:28:17

I've got an Orient slide rule automatic, an Abacus Wrist PDA (dead,) and a cheap Casio CA53W.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: 8_INCH_FLOPPY on Thu, 27 May 2010, 20:33:30

Quote from: webwit;87431

But your demand is flawed anyway, in the field of computer technology. Where do vacuum tubes live on today? Nowhere, but we wouldn't have gotten were we are now without them. The destiny of new computer tech is that it is bound to become outdated.

Tell that to all of the people who use audio tube amplifiers because they sound different.  And don't forget all of the electric guitar players!

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Oqsy on Thu, 27 May 2010, 22:24:35

guitars, effects pedals, volkswagen gear, girl scout cookies, star wars stuff, dwarf south american cichlids, children, food, and beautiful women

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: HaaTa on Fri, 28 May 2010, 02:18:27

Mmm, girl scout cookies...I need to get me some of those. A little hard to come by atm :P

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: kriminal on Fri, 28 May 2010, 06:51:38

pc tools.. computer parts.. modding equipment and electronics..

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ricercar on Fri, 28 May 2010, 17:27:44

Quote from: Oqsy;187562

girl scout cookies

made from real girl scouts?

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: bitflipper on Fri, 28 May 2010, 17:38:07

Quote from: ricercar;187802

made from real girl scouts?

They go bad when they get older.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Oqsy on Fri, 28 May 2010, 18:32:55

Quote from: bitflipper;187808

They go bad when they get older.

that's why i keep mine in the freezer...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Manyak on Sat, 29 May 2010, 09:48:35

Video Games. I could never get myself to toss out or sell any video game I ever bought. And we're talking decades of collecting, ever since the Atari 2600 and 5.25" bootable floppy games. I've got well over a thousand, and that's only counting ones on physical media (not downloaded roms or anything like that).

My old floppy and console games went into storage in Beirut though, and I'm really hoping they're still there (long story).

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: Oqsy on Sat, 29 May 2010, 11:01:57

Quote from: ripster;187838

Jeffrey Dahmer the serial killer did that too.

(http://www.mugshots.net/jeffrey_dahmer/jeffrey_dahmer.jpg)

Who, that guy?  I wouldn't worry about that little guy.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 15:34:53

along with PS/2 adapters I have a shoe/boot fetish. my walkin closet is full of shoe boxes. don't even wear them lol

ankle straps, kitten heel, t straps, espadrilles, zip up, tall, leather, calf. collecting them since I was about 16

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: nijikon5 on Mon, 31 May 2010, 15:49:53

Quote from: lmnop;188525

along with PS/2 adapters I have a shoe/boot fetish. my walkin closet is full of shoe boxes. don't even wear them lol

ankle straps, kitten heel, t straps, espadrilles, zip up, tall, leather, calf. collecting them since I was about 16

Shoes/Boots eh? Sounds no different than almost every female friend/girlfriend I've known and met. Over 9000 shoes and shoe boxes.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 15:51:50

when I went to my brothers wedding in Australia I picked up a couple pairs. picked up a couple more in Italy, been to the mother land 4 times :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 31 May 2010, 15:54:28

Ugg boots? Lol.

They were very trendy over here for a while (still are AFAIK, but not to the same extent) and I remember during the height of it seeing some Aussies outside of one of Dublin's main shoe stores, lol'ing hard at the fact that they were €250 over here.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:02:06

nope. mmm cheap dublin girls, wait what was I saying :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:14:23

Quote from: lmnop;188538

nope. mmm cheap dublin girls, wait what was I saying :)

The people who wear them aren't exactly my cup of tea, so I amn't arguing =P

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:17:05

Quote from: ripster;188542

I'm not a detail person so I just enjoyed the scenery while in Australia.

Show Image

(http://www.chanelwood.com/images/uggs_wrong.jpg)

What horse?

oh yeah.

my ideal woman is irish. luxurious red hair, sensual green eyes, freckles, creamy skin, big sultry lips, big breasts, big areolas, skinny waist, big butt, thick thighs, small feet, star trek t-shirt, glasses. (to stay on topic)

beam me up scotty

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:21:05

My friends and I have this running theory that redheads are always either very hot or very ugly, and that there's no middle ground.

These are topical issues in Ireland, after all.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:26:19

water cooler talk :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:42:49

webwit you and I are like 2 horses in a harness :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Mon, 31 May 2010, 16:48:42

women from the mother land are not to bad either.. meet Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3079/3208808918_9291732ed5_o.jpg)
(http://i47.tinypic.com/3326yq1.jpg)
(http://jerkmag.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/christina_scabbia_011.jpg)
(http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/revcoverv4_450x581.gif)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/b5m8lw.jpg)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Tue, 01 June 2010, 00:39:11

hey ripster how would you like this for your next birthday?

(http://www.8ball.co.uk/tshirts/theman-thelegend_1_106912_black-white-print_l.jpg)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: lmnop on Tue, 01 June 2010, 00:49:23

cute. :)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: nanu on Sat, 31 July 2010, 20:44:46

I didn't bother to post ITT because it derailed, but because my collection at the time was scant. Earlier this year I started saving toilet paper tubes thinking it was the sh*t but I'm not feeling all that hopeful that I can put them to good use yet. Maybe in a few years' time, it will have been a great test of how much room for clutter I have.
(http://t.oomuch.info/src/1280626938691.jpg)

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: instantkamera on Sun, 01 August 2010, 07:42:47

Quote from: nanu;208087

Earlier this year I started saving toilet paper tubes thinking it was the sh*t

Oh, I see what you did there.

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: NamelessPFG on Sat, 07 August 2010, 22:19:42

In addition to old PC parts, I'm building up a collection of non-KB/M input devices and game consoles.

For the former:

-Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar (Force-Controlled Cougar mod pre-installed) + Thrustmaster RCS (Hall sensor kit installed) (You really don't want to know how expensive mods like those are...still, it feels great to use and helps me get into that "I'm sitting in an F-16" mood.)
-NaturalPoint TrackIR 4 Pro (As much as I like my aforementioned Cougar + RCS, I'd give that up before the TrackIR. It's that important.)
-Logitech WingMan Interceptor (Quite possibly the best damn flight stick Logitech has ever built, maybe except for the G940's stick. Not too stiff, little center play, precise and spike-free thanks to the strange Hall sensors on the X and Y axes, very ergonomic, and has plenty of controls on the stick itself, mostly courtesy of three hat switches. The only problem is that it uses a digital gameport interface, meaning no compatibility with modern PCs and OSes, and also that it has no twist rudder.)
-Logitech WingMan Strike Force 3D (The physical layout of all the controls is pretty good, and it's fairly ergonomic. Problem is, they used cheap potentiometers and coupled them to the stick gimbals in such a half-assed manner that X/Y-axis bleed is a problem. Worse off, the stick's centering forces have a MASSIVE deadzone that still leave the stick loose within a whopping 20% or so of both X-axis and Y-axis ranges.)
-Microsoft SideWinder Freestyle Pro (It's very ergonomic with the long grips, and it's one of the earlier controllers to use an accelerometer, which actually works surprisingly well for a late 1990s peripheral. Problem is, the D-Pad is a whole new level of suck. Hitting a cardinal direction can and will often result in a diagonal input. Seriously, the Xbox 360 gamepad's D-Pad is godly compared to this.)
-Microsoft SideWinder Force-Feedback Wheel (Second-gen red version, USB. 240 degrees of steering, 6 face buttons, paddles, no handle shifter of any sort, no clutch, and very disturbingly, the gas and brake pedals only have 6-bit (64) resolution. Good starter wheel, but FFB support is VERY hit-and-miss with Vista/Win7 64-bit because MS never released anything resembling proper drivers for an OS beyond XP 32-bit.)
-Spacetec SpaceOrb 360 (Successor to the Spaceball Avenger, and the controller of choice for any true Descent player-yeah, you heard me, MS SideWinder 3D Pro diehards! Takes a bit of getting used to, but it allows for some very nice manuevering in 6DoF games like Descent, Independence War, Terminus, etc. Downsides include having only 6 buttons and a serial interface that won't work on modern PCs.)

-3dconnexion SpacePilot (A 3D/6DoF "mouse" generally used in professional apps like the old Spacetec SpaceBall line it's descended from, and lacking in game support since they don't really consider it a priority, though I think I can use GlovePIE and PPJoy to get around that. Currently waiting for it to arrive.)
-Microsoft SideWinder Force-Feedback 2 (Second-gen red version. This particular FFB stick has a ridiculously diehard following despite its lack of controls-the stick only has four buttons and a hat switch, with four more buttons on the base. In addition, it's in much the same predicament driver-wise as the aforementioned SWFFB Wheel. Despite this, you'll see sellers on the Internet try and charge $100-150 for these things at times, and its most ardent fans will collect more than one of these sticks as spares-even if the primary one is ten years old and still going strong! Also waiting for this one to be delivered.)

For the latter (all consoles North American models):

-NES, "toaster"/front-loader
-SNES, Model 1
-Genesis (Mega Drive), Model 1B (no "HIGH DEFINITION GRAPHICS" text or DB-9 in the back)
-N64
-Saturn, Model 2/64-pin/v.0014 (old)
-PSone
-Xbox (one 1.0/1.1, one 1.6, both softmodded)

-GBA SP (frontlit)
-DS
-PSP-2000

Not much of a collection, really...

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: D-EJ915 on Sat, 07 August 2010, 23:20:00

man those old thrustmaster sticks were THE BEST EVER nice

Title: What else do you hoard?
Post by: mike on Sun, 08 August 2010, 07:27:53

Quote from: ironcoder;128047

I got started in computers in the 1970s and I remember the Trash 80 well and the Sinclair units not at all. I don't know the numbers but it seems to me Radio Shack sold more units all over America than could ever have been sold in Europe...and Sinclair was only known for calculators. I don't know how you can say Sinclair outsold it. Virtually all the Americans in those days got their starts on Trash 80s and later, Commodores. And as I said, the Trash 80 preceeded anything from Sinclair with a z80 in it by at least two years, which is forever in technology. If you want to blame anything for starting the PC revolution, it's Radio Shack.

You're right and you're wrong at the same time.

The US and Europe both had their 'computer revolutions' at roughly the same time but they were very different beasts. US machines in Europe were vastly over-priced - machines such as the TRS-80, Apple II, and the Commodore PET were almost universally business machines here except for the occasional oddity like my dad who spent a week with the ZX81 and immediately replaced it with the PET (at 6 times the cost) because of the keyboard.

The ZX-81 sold in vast numbers (1.5million?) despite being Sinclair's main computer for probably less than 18 months.

One of the things to overlook is that we remember the successes as being the ones responsible for the 'computer revolution' and forget just how many candidates there were around at the time. If the TRS-80 hadn't been around, wouldn't one of the others been more successful ? And the same for the ZX-81 ?

From a hoarded copy of "Computing Today" from August 1981, there are the following machines mentioned :-

• Microtan 65
• Commodore VIC-20
• Acorn Atom
• DAI Personal Computer
• Video Genie
• Superbrain
• Commodore PET
• Sharp MZ-80K
• Nascom 1 & 2
• Sharp MZ80-B
• Apple II
• Ohio Superboard
• UK101
• Seed System 19
• Atari 400/800
• Exidy Sorcerer