hey, what ever happened to ..... ?

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
This can be another 'you hate it when' type threads. Make this one for something you used to take for granted that just went away without much notice. I started this one so our other thread that I'm rather keen on wouldn't get off track.

The goddamned telephones. No more pay phones, no more beepy pagers and most people could care less if a desk telephone is working or not. Nobody is going to dial a carrier access code to save money on long distance because long distance sort of went away too and younger folks wouldn't know what the hell it is. The service life of those old phones and systems is measured in decades and in some cases I've had to set up things that are older than the people using them. At one time they were THE network that connected you to everyone else. The Public Switched Telephone Network. It's still there because it has to be, because it still provides a necessary structure but an alternative has appeared that looks and smells a lot like it, but isn't.

This is where your robocall bullshit comes from.

There really is no 'land line' service anymore, the exceptions probably being rural areas. Fiber optic transport and fully digital conversion took place in the 90s. Only the last 'golden mile' or so of aerial twisted pair wire connected to your house. Remember early DSL and the filters you had to use? What was high speed internet service at the time had to work over a network designed for something else. Now that's all gone and what was the traditional phone provider brings the plastic pipe right to you desktop - FiOS. If you look you'll find all that old land line cable cut, coiled or laying in the bushes. Or maybe it's the cable company that brings you the service. Same exact thing applies except they're still fooking around with that coaxial cable for the last mile. It doesn't have the limitations of twisted pair but it isn't that glorious plastic pipe either. Old tech to be eventually phased out.

Whatever gadgets your provider shows up with will have a telephony jack somewhere should you choose to pay for their service. Sometimes it's covered by a sticker and you don't notice it. I painted my kitchen yellow to match my 1970 Harvest Gold Western Electric, fully modular with a metal hook switch and plastic rotary dial. In the basement I keep a black 1960 WE2500 all metal, all hardwired - had to rewire it from 'party line' service if you want to remember that (I don't particularly, but do anyway) . Along with a bunch of others and a couple of PBXs. They don't know that Ma Bell's dead. That little telephony port looks, feels and behaves exactly as that old landline did. They don't know they live in the Matrix, that everything beyond line of sight is done via PFM not analog electronics.
 
Last edited:

wwkirk

Divine
I still have my official "land-line" number, as I've had it since I was a kid. I inherited it from my parents.

I recently realized that neither of the last two laptops I purchased have a port for a wired/cable connection.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
I recently realized that neither of the last two laptops I purchased have a port for a wired/cable connection.

I noticed many models of laptops not only left out the ethernet cable port connection but also do not have a cd/dvd player/recorder...The last laptop I bought I still use regularly, its 5 years old and has the ethernet port and dvd player/recorder, both are still essential for me...My Toshiba laptop still works well, I have no plans to get a replacement anytime soon...

...
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I'm still using a tower. I have a laptop. Anyone under the age of 30 will consider those to be ancient devices. I'm perfectly fluent with all the new gadgets, I just prefer old school for things like I'm doing now
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Reel lawnmowers. You can still buy them but people who have lawns for which they would be perfect tend to prefer really expensive battery powered crapola. Let's see, they use no power, emit nothing and provide exercise.

Naturally a lot of fat lazy bastards couldn't begin to comprehend that.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
I'm still using a tower.

So do I, in fact there are currently 3 towers in operation, one for regular use and movies to my television and the other two are home servers which are never connected to the internet...That along with my laptop and tablet and phone and also in my workshop there are bins full of hardware to build more towers...

...
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
So do I, in fact there are currently 3 towers in operation, one for regular use and movies to my television and the other two are home servers which are never connected to the internet...That along with my laptop and tablet and phone and also in my workshop there are bins full of hardware to build more towers...

...

Sometimes a hammer's a hammer. The repairman in me says if it works keep your fingers out of it
 

nivek

As Above So Below
The goddamned telephones. No more pay phones, no more beepy pagers and most people could care less if a desk telephone is working or not. Nobody is going to dial a carrier access code to save money on long distance because long distance sort of went away too and younger folks wouldn't know what the hell it is. The service life of those old phones and systems is measured in decades and in some cases I've had to set up things that are older than the people using them. At one time they were THE network that connected you to everyone else. The Public Switched Telephone Network. It's still there because it has to be, because it still provides a necessary structure but an alternative has appeared that looks and smells a lot like it, but isn't.

This is where your robocall bullshit comes from.

There really is no 'land line' service anymore, the exceptions probably being rural areas. Fiber optic transport and fully digital conversion took place in the 90s. Only the last 'golden mile' or so or aerial twisted pair wire connected to your house. Remember early DSL and the filters you had to use? What was high speed internet service at the time had to work over a network designed for something else. Now that's all gone and what was the traditional phone prover brings the plastic pipe right to you desktop - FiOS. If you look you'll find all that old land line cut, coiled or laying in the bushes. Or maybe it's the cable company. Same exact thing applies except they're still fooking around with that coaxial cable for the last mile. It doesn't have the limitations of twisted pair but it isn't that glorious plastic pipe either. Old tech to be eventually phased out.

Whatever gadgets your provider shows up with will have a telephony jack somewhere should you choose to pay for their service. Sometimes it's covered by a sticker and you don't notice it. I painted my kitchen yellow to match my 1970 Harvest Gold Western Electric, fully modular with a metal hookswitch and plastic rotary dial. In the basement I keep a black 1960 WE2500 all metal, all hardwired - had to rewire it from 'party line' service if you want to remember that (I don't particularly, but do anyway) . Along with a bunch of others and a couple of PBXs. They don't know that Ma Bell's dead. That little telephony port looks, feels and behaves exactly as that old landline did. They don't know they live in the Matrix, that everything beyond line of sight is done via PFM not analog electronics.

I have a bin of old landline corded phones and cordless landline phones, I don't know why I keep them around but I do...I guess it's the same with computer parts, I have a bunch of the old processors and main boards which couldn't run anything better than Windows 98, some cannot even run that but could run Windows 3.1 or dos...I have lots of newer parts too, just never got rid of the older hardware, all still works fine...

...
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I have a bin of old landline corded phones and cordless landline phones, I don't know why I keep them around but I do...I guess it's the same with computer parts, I have a bunch of the old processors and main boards which couldn't run anything better than Windows 98, some cannot even run that but could run Windows 3.1 or dos...I have lots of newer parts too, just never got rid of the older hardware, all still works fine...

...

I'll post a few pics when I'm done. I took a pile of scrap wood - as in laying outside in the weather for years - and turned it into a passable server rack. Cost me nothing and looks nice. I stuck two old PBXs in it and have been going through my boxes looking for cool doodads. Mostly done but will save the rest for the winter
 

Standingstones

Celestial
Reel lawnmowers. You can still buy them but people who have lawns for which they would be perfect tend to prefer really expensive battery powered crapola. Let's see, they use no power, emit nothing and provide exercise.

Naturally a lot of fat lazy bastards couldn't begin to comprehend that.

Thankfully my parents had a small lawn and we used one of these for the longest time.

66953270-D096-4F3C-AFAF-299A1FAFB23B.jpeg
 

Standingstones

Celestial
So do I, in fact there are currently 3 towers in operation, one for regular use and movies to my television and the other two are home servers which are never connected to the internet...That along with my laptop and tablet and phone and also in my workshop there are bins full of hardware to build more towers...

...

I was watching some old TV programs recently. They were showing the actors using floppy drives. The computer monitors were the green screen variety.

FF76683D-D995-4A6D-A7A3-1F2960929C70.jpeg E316D3A9-EA9F-480D-9ED4-CB23C2E23810.gif
 

wwkirk

Divine
I noticed many models of laptops not only left out the ethernet cable port connection but also do not have a cd/dvd player/recorder...The last laptop I bought I still use regularly, its 5 years old and has the ethernet port and dvd player/recorder, both are still essential for me...My Toshiba laptop still works well, I have no plans to get a replacement anytime soon...

...
I used to be insistent about having a built in CD/DVD player-recorder, but external devices are fairly inexpensive. Also, if it malfunctions, the computer as a whole doesn't need to be repaired. But my laptop is practically stationary. If I were moving it from place to place a lot, an internal player-recorder would be much more convenient, if not essential.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
The most expensive software I ever purchased was Siemens Simatic Step 7, over 1500 dollars, second most expensive software I've purchased was AutoCAD at just under a 1000 dollars...

...
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I was watching some old TV programs recently. They were showing the actors using floppy drives. The computer monitors were the green screen variety.

View attachment 12346 View attachment 12347

Oh yeah, there's the good stuff. 85-93 as a contractor in and around major IBM sites. I'm going to go but a Lotto ticket today and pick #s with 3 2 7 0 in the mix. I didn't work on the FE controller, but connected them to each other and the 'network' which was different. I was once a whiz with an analog time domain reflectometer. Thousands of service calls.
Then the Lords of The Token Ring appeared - and thankfully went away

There was exactly one left I was aware of, not in use but still powered on big floppies and all still in the door at the last FedEx cutover I did. I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to pull the plug.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Thankfully my parents had a small lawn and we used one of these for the longest time.

View attachment 12345

Pushed one of those many times in my early teens...I couldn't mow my property with one now, there's too much to mow, it already takes an hour and half to mow with my gas engine riding mower, I don't know how long it would take to mow with a walk behind mower of any kind...

...
 
Top