10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

May be of interest to some list members - appeared, of all places, in the property section of a local newspaper - the Commodore 64 gets a good mention but I suspect list members might remember (or reminisce) over the other 9 too or as well. http://www.domain.com.au/news/10-forgotten-wonders-of

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

e other 9 > too or as well. > > > > > http://www.domain.com.au/news/10-forgotten-wonders-of-1980s-homes-20151217-g > lpoof/ > > > > > > ++ > > Kevin Parker > > > > ++ > > > > -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candid

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 03:03 AM, Kevin Parker wrote: May be of interest to some list members - appeared, of all places, in the property section of a local newspaper - the Commodore 64 gets a good mention But it's one of those new-fangled C64s, not the breadbin variety :( I've wondered occasionally what

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Santa Ana, Ca goodwill store is full of what I think you are after. They also have a pretty well stocked electronics / computer section. Also online sales http://www.shopgoodwill.com/?adcode=ocgoodwill Thanks Jim On 12/29/2015 11:08 AM, Jules Richardson wrote: On 12/29/2015 03:03 AM, Kevin P

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 2:08 PM, Jules Richardson wrote: I've wondered occasionally what happened to ghetto blasters - despite finding other audio equipment of the time every once in a while, I don't think I've seen one anywhere in over 25 years. Were they exceptionally fragile or something, and so

RE: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Jules wrote -Original Message- I've wondered occasionally what happened to ghetto blasters --- They have just gotten facelifts. Here's one I use: http://www.boschtools.com/products/tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid=P B360S And I must say... an awesome "tool", necessary

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

- appeared, of all places, in >> the >> property section of a local newspaper - the Commodore 64 gets a good >> mention >> but I suspect list members might remember (or reminisce) over the other >> 9 >> too or as well. >> >> >> >>

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Tue, 29 Dec 2015, Ian S. King wrote: After the success of "That 70s Show", clueless producers decided to try moving forward a decade to "That '80s Show", which was a flop. I have a theory as to why it failed: the '80s were just too pathetic to parody. The '60s were too much for TV. The '90s

RE: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

There's just gotta be some way to tie this thread back to on-topicness.

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Tue, Dec 29, 2015 at 3:56 PM, Jay West wrote: > There's just gotta be some way to tie this thread back to on-topicness. > > > But it is intriguing to see the computer as pop-culture artifact within a broader grouping of like artifacts. (You're welcome, Jay.) In my academic work, I use the ter

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 04:58 PM, Ian S. King wrote: I do have to say, though, that in the '80s many if not most phones had transitioned to touch-tone 'dialing' (what a delightfully archaic term!). Nit picked. -- Ian It was particularly amusing that in the heart of Silicon Valley in the 1980s, Pacifi

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 06:56 PM, Jay West wrote: There's just gotta be some way to tie this thread back to on-topicness. Nah, too far gone. Time to stick a fork in it... :) -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech -http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certi

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 07:58 PM, Ian S. King wrote: On Tue, Dec 29, 2015 at 3:56 PM, Jay West wrote: There's just gotta be some way to tie this thread back to on-topicness. But it is intriguing to see the computer as pop-culture artifact within a broader grouping of like artifacts. (You're welcome

RE: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Dave wrote... --- (how do you display a thumbs-up sign in ASCII?) --- In this case: IanSKing++;

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 09:05 PM, Jay West wrote: Dave wrote... --- (how do you display a thumbs-up sign in ASCII?) --- In this case: IanSKing++; :-D -- --- Dave Woyciesjes --- ICQ# 905818 --- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech -http://certification.comptia.org/ --- HDI Certified Support Cen

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Interesting just brought the old magnavox ghetto blaster I had in the computer room at computer exchange inc... put 4 cells and a jumper to start it in half voltage for a while it lives! went to all 8 batteries... it peels plaster off the walls! but wait i go to the oldies station and

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 29 December 2015 at 20:15, Chuck Guzis wrote: > It was particularly amusing that in the heart of Silicon Valley in the > 1980s, Pacific Telephone still had many of its exchanges outfitted with > crossbar switches--with your shiny new touch-tone telephone, you could hear > the clicks in the back

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 12:30 AM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove < captainkirk...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On a Number 5 Crossbar, your DTMF was never converted to dial pulse > for the switch itself. The Touch-Tone Register would connect to a > digit translator that inputs the 2-of-5 binary code directly

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 12:25 AM, Jacob Ritorto wrote: >> [lots of cool phone switching stuff] > > okay, this is _really interesting_. Where can I read more? To start, a document archive (the "Bitsavers of telephony") http://telephonecollectors.info and three mailing lists: https://groups.yah

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 09:30 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote: Those pulses depend on what kind of crossbar you were homing on, and where you were calling. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the local stuff was type 4XB. At any rate, I could punch in a DTMF number and listen for the dialing sequen

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 30 December 2015 at 01:25, Jacob Ritorto wrote: > okay, this is _really interesting_. Where can I read more? Another list member provided a good document archive, there's also Sam Etler's site which has other documents: I'll point you specifically towards Western Elect

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 30/12/2015 05:30, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote: On 29 December 2015 at 20:15, Chuck Guzis wrote: It was particularly amusing that in the heart of Silicon Valley in the 1980s, Pacific Telephone still had many of its exchanges outfitted with crossbar switches--with your shiny new touch-to

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 30 December 2015 at 01:34, Chuck Guzis wrote: > I'm not entirely sure, but I think the local stuff was type 4XB. At any > rate, I could punch in a DTMF number and listen for the dialing sequence to > be complete before the first ring could be heard. > #4/#4A crossbar is *not* a local switch. I

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Jacob Ritorto writes: > okay, this is _really interesting_. Where can I read more? In addition to the links already posted (Evan Doorbell's recordings are particularly good), can I also recommend Phil Lapsley's book "Exploding the Phone": http://explodingthephone.com/ The "Documents" archive

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> On 30 Dec 2015, at 11:58, Ian S. King wrote: > But it is intriguing to see the computer as pop-culture artifact within a > broader grouping of like artifacts. (You're welcome, Jay.) In my academic > work, I use the term 'consumer computer' rather than 'personal computer' > because the latter

RE: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> > I do have to say, though, that in the '80s many if not most phones had > transitioned to touch-tone 'dialing' (what a delightfully archaic term!). Not as archaic as 'to ring off' (which dates back to magneto-ringing telephones where you gave the magneto a little crank at the end of the call t

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

* Jules Richardson [151229 14:05]: > On 12/29/2015 03:03 AM, Kevin Parker wrote: > > May be of interest to some list members - appeared, of all places, in the > > property section of a local newspaper - the Commodore 64 gets a good mention > > But it's one of those new-fangled C64s, not the bread

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 4:46 AM, Huw Davies < huw.dav...@kerberos.davies.net.au> wrote: > > > On 30 Dec 2015, at 11:58, Ian S. King wrote: > > > But it is intriguing to see the computer as pop-culture artifact within a > > broader grouping of like artifacts. (You're welcome, Jay.) In my > academ

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> On Dec 30, 2015, at 11:41 AM, Ian S. King wrote: > >> ... >> Great terminology. Can I have permission to use it too :-) >> > > Citation is the sincerest compliment. :-) Then again, as Robert A. Heinlein put it, "The sincerest form of praise starts with the phrase 'Pay to the order of...'.

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Bob wasn't an academic - but that's not to say he wasn't right. On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 9:13 AM, Paul Koning wrote: > > > On Dec 30, 2015, at 11:41 AM, Ian S. King wrote: > > > >> ... > >> Great terminology. Can I have permission to use it too :-) > >> > > > > Citation is the sincerest complime

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/29/2015 11:24 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove wrote: The direct successor to the 4/4AXB was the 4ESS/4AESS. (Meanwhile the successor to the local crossbar offices was 1ESS/1AESS; save for the weird 3XB which was replaced by the small 3ESS.) And of course both local and toll ESS have been rep

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> All of this has me wondering how long it's going to be before POTS > completely disappears from the infrastructure. Completely? I expect that to be a fairly long time - decades, at least. > I've been experimenting with one of the Obihai VoIP boxes and have > been pleasantly surprised at the qu

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/15 10:12 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: I read an article recently that in the US, only 8 percent of the population relies on POTS exclusively. Currently, I'm waiting for more upstream capacity before I can get 20Mbps DSL--right now, I'm existing on 1.5Mbps, but the local telco did send

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/2015 12:12 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: All of this has me wondering how long it's going to be before POTS completely disappears from the infrastructure. I've been experimenting with one of the Obihai VoIP boxes and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality. I haven't tried yet to

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

- Original Message - From: "Jim Brain" Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 2:24 PM > I am sure it is not that original, but my touch phones don't know the > difference (like you, I have not tried my rotary with the extra long > cord), and it is $10.00/year versus $35.00/month for POTS.

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/2015 1:49 PM, Mike Stein wrote: - Original Message - From: "Jim Brain" Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 2:24 PM I am sure it is not that original, but my touch phones don't know the difference (like you, I have not tried my rotary with the extra long cord), and it is $10.00/

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Jim Brain wrote: > > We were spoiled in South Dakota, as somehow (and I am sure someone knows > and will enlighten us/me) the rural telcos (LECs?) tapped into lots of > funds from somewhere to drop fiber to all of the rural homes. 50Mb was the > slowest speed, a

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/2015 11:59 AM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Jim Brain wrote: We were spoiled in South Dakota, as somehow (and I am sure someone knows and will enlighten us/me) the rural telcos (LECs?) tapped into lots of funds from somewhere to drop fiber to all of the r

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

It doesn't much matter who the telco is for CAF money to be awarded... you can see who has been awarded what money on the FCC's website, and CenturyLink has definitely gotten a large sum for it ($500M/yr for 6 years). Here's a press release on Clink's own website: http://news.centurylink.com/news/

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Speaking of 1980s/90s, are telcos pretty much the only ones using ATM nowadays? --Chuck

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/2015 02:06 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: It doesn't much matter who the telco is for CAF money to be awarded... you can see who has been awarded what money on the FCC's website, and CenturyLink has definitely gotten a large sum for it ($500M/yr for 6 years). Here's a press release on Clin

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

I've had CL in Seattle for years with minimal disruptions. Nothing compared to my friends/colleagues with ComCrap. On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 2:43 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > On 12/30/2015 02:06 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: > >> It doesn't much matter who the telco is for CAF money to be >> awarded...

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 4:40 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > Speaking of 1980s/90s, are telcos pretty much the only ones using ATM > nowadays? > > --Chuck > > I can't speak for the whole Telco segment, but I work on DSLAMs for a living and have done so for the past 15 years. Our earliest generation DSL

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/2015 03:06 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: I can't speak for the whole Telco segment, but I work on DSLAMs for a living and have done so for the past 15 years. Our earliest generation DSLAMs were ATM based (T1 IMA fed), but within a couple of years transitioned to Ethernet. Almost all of th

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/2015 12:39 PM, Guy Sotomayor wrote: We just dropped our POTS service last month. Our phone now is an OOMA VoIP Office system to get the features we wanted/needed. I haven't tried any rotary dial phones on it since I don't have any. We need the landline phone to call when the cable

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/30/15 6:52 PM, Jon Elson wrote: On 12/30/2015 12:39 PM, Guy Sotomayor wrote: We just dropped our POTS service last month. Our phone now is an OOMA VoIP Office system to get the features we wanted/needed. I haven't tried any rotary dial phones on it since I don't have any. We need th

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 30, 2015, at 7:06 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > > Talking with the techs working on the DSLAM near my house, this summer, all > said it was still ATM--and much of what went into the DSLAM was brand new. > So someone is still making ATM gear. Not saying they don't kn

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/31/2015 05:27 AM, Geoff Oltmans wrote: Not saying they don't know what they are talking about, but if it's brand new equipment, particularly vdsl then I find that hard to believe from what I've been exposed to. Vdsl does fallback to adsl mode for adsl modems in which case the dslam has to

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 10:58 AM, Chuck Guzis wrote: > > Several times. When the weather improves and they start working again, > I'll corral a tech and ask him to open one up for photos. They're great > guys to a man/womam. It's a big cabinet--perhaps 10-12 feed long. There > are smaller cabi

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

I should note too that more "forward looking" approaches such as in Australia with NBN Co have re-evaluated their wholesale approach at a fiber-only deployment to also include some copper deployments, due to cost pressures.

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 12/31/2015 09:40 AM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: So, I'd say realistically you're likely to see copper for a good while longer, but it is getting pushed farther and farther to the edges of the networks. I'm happy for it to stick around for as long as possible. :) Eventually xPON will supplant it

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Wed, 30 Dec 2015, Ian S. King wrote: I've had CL in Seattle for years with minimal disruptions. Nothing compared to my friends/colleagues with ComCrap. I agree, I'm just north of Seattle, in Lake Forest Park. With CL DSL I'm stuck at 5MB/800K. Honestly, the 800K uplink is the real kill

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 01/01/2016 08:46 AM, Jason Howe wrote: I agree, I'm just north of Seattle, in Lake Forest Park. With CL DSL I'm stuck at 5MB/800K. Honestly, the 800K uplink is the real killer, 5MB down isn't awful, unless I'M trying to download an ISO or something -- in which case I can usually wait until

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 1/1/2016 1:28 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: ... So maybe I'll get out of the 1.5/0.800 "Neanderthal" service one of these days. I hope my story helps out other CL customers. --Chuck Oh, don't feel too bad. I've only got 3.0/1.0 via Comcast cable on this semi rural small mountain I live

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 01/01/2016 11:24 AM, j...@cimmeri.com wrote: Oh, don't feel too bad. I've only got 3.0/1.0 via Comcast cable on this semi rural small mountain I live on. But, I'm happy with it given my bill is $59 / month with basic TV service (that I don't use). Now you've done it. For my phone and in

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 1/1/2016 2:52 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: On 01/01/2016 11:24 AM, j...@cimmeri.com wrote: Oh, don't feel too bad. I've only got 3.0/1.0 via Comcast cable on this semi rural small mountain I live on. But, I'm happy with it given my bill is $59 / month with basic TV service (that I don't us

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

I had 7/5 here in Seattle, until I made the mistake of trusting the CL sales turkeys. I ended up with 20Mb down, but 896Kb up. The sales turkey flat-out lied to me, but they wouldn't revert me - something about my former plan being an "out of date" class of service. On Fri, Jan 1, 2016 at 12:25

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 01/01/2016 01:52 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: I'm amazed that "caller ID" costs CL anything, but it's one of the highest-priced add-ons. It clearly costs them NOTHING! It is software on the switch, and the hardware needed to support it is present on every subscriber line. They charge for it be

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On 01/01/2016 01:56 PM, Jon Elson wrote: On 01/01/2016 01:52 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote: I'm amazed that "caller ID" costs CL anything, but it's one of the highest-priced add-ons. It clearly costs them NOTHING! It is software on the switch, and the hardware needed to support it is present on ever

Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Tue, Dec 29, 2015, Jay West wrote: > Jules wrote > > -Original Message- > I've wondered occasionally what happened to ghetto blasters > --- > > They have just gotten facelifts. Here's one I use: > > http://www.boschtools.com/products/tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid

Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Thu, 31 Dec 2015, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: The death of copper has been preached since I started into this business. Almost half a century ago, there were attempts to use aluminium instead of copper for house wiring. It did not go well. "After having dug to a depth of 1,000 meters last y

Re: Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 12:17 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: > > Almost half a century ago, there were attempts to use aluminium instead of > copper for house wiring. It did not go well. > No, it didn't! We looked at several old houses back in 2012 before we bought the house we're in now. Several of the

Re: Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> On Dec 31, 2015, at 2:47 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: > > On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 12:17 PM, Fred Cisin wrote: > >> >> Almost half a century ago, there were attempts to use aluminium instead of >> copper for house wiring. It did not go well. >> > > No, it didn't! We looked at several old h

Re: Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Paul Koning wrote: > > I haven't see aluminum-rated devices in hardware stores in many years. Be > careful: typically they will be labeled either as "copper only" or as > "CU/AL". But that doesn't mean "copper or aluminum" -- it means you're > allowed to user co

Re: Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> On Dec 31, 2015, at 3:17 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: > > On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 1:59 PM, Paul Koning wrote: > >> >> I haven't see aluminum-rated devices in hardware stores in many years. Be >> careful: typically they will be labeled either as "copper only" or as >> "CU/AL". But that does

Re: Copper (Was: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

> On Dec 31, 2015, at 3:17 PM, Geoffrey Oltmans wrote: "CO/ALR switches and outlets are required anywhere aluminum wiring has been installed." I thought that the only approved method was using a hydraulic tool to crimp a copper pigtail onto aluminum. My kitchen still has aluminum wiring

Telecom woes (was: Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes)

On 12/30/2015 10:51 PM, Guy Sotomayor wrote: We're at least 2.5 miles from the DSLAM, so DSL is *not* an option. That's the distance on the private roads and I haven't seen where the DSLAM might be (nearest town is 5 miles away once you get to the "public" roads). We're in a similar boat. We'r

Re: Phone service; was; 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

Today, while on on my walk, I ran into my favorite two Century Link techs at the lcoal DSLAM. When you see just one guy, maybe he's installing subscriber service, but two trucks generally means something's afoot. All the cabinets were open and there were various bits of gear scattered around

Re: Telecom woes (was: Re: 10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes)

On Thursday (12/31/2015 at 12:02AM -0600), Jim Brain wrote: > On 12/30/2015 10:51 PM, Guy Sotomayor wrote: > >We're at least 2.5 miles from the DSLAM, so DSL is *not* an > >option. That's the distance on the private roads and I haven't > >seen where the DSLAM might be (nearest town is 5 miles away