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13 Tech Sounds You Just Don’t Hear Anymore
Laptopmag.com | LiveScience.com via Yahoo ^ | Jun 6, 2012 | By Avram Piltch

Posted on 06/07/2012 10:43:43 AM PDT by US Navy Vet

As we move toward an age of quiet gadgets that do everything possible not to get in our way, we’re losing our appreciation for all the magic under the hood. Not long ago, the sounds our devices made reminded us that they were doing something truly important, whether that task was connecting us to the Internet or bringing us back to the beginning of our favorite VHS movies.

A child born today has a greater chance of hearing a real cloned dinosaur roar than a busy signal. But for those of us who lived through the beginning of the PC revolution, these 13 tech sounds will always be hardcoded into our memories.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Technical
KEYWORDS: nostalgia; sounds; technology; tones
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To: GingisK

I started working with computers when I got put of the Army back in 1967. I was an operator on a 705 for awhile. It was a vacuum tupe computer and one could get a sunburn simply by standing next to the banks of vacuum tupes too long.

The room was filled with a soft orange glow of the tubes accompanied by a fairy loud 60 HZ humm.


81 posted on 06/07/2012 3:18:56 PM PDT by dglang
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To: US Navy Vet

The click when somebody hangs up on you.


82 posted on 06/07/2012 3:26:44 PM PDT by firebrand
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To: ctdonath2

That’s awesome!


83 posted on 06/07/2012 4:04:07 PM PDT by lonevoice (Today I broke my personal record for most consecutive days lived)
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To: Roccus; tired&retired

Now we communicatin’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFpaI1Y_SE&feature=relmfu

In our day, if there wasn’t alot of noise in the backgound, nothing was going on.


84 posted on 06/07/2012 6:04:07 PM PDT by oyez ( Affordable Health-care is neither affordable nor health-care.)
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To: US Navy Vet

USS Intrepid. ‘70-’71.


85 posted on 06/07/2012 6:08:25 PM PDT by oyez ( Affordable Health-care is neither affordable nor health-care.)
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To: tired&retired
I’m dating myself as I too remember that sound from the old Univac 1100 data tapes.

How about the screams of the programmer who just dropped his 500-card stack of IBM punchcards that used to be his FORTRAN program? :=)

86 posted on 06/07/2012 6:18:00 PM PDT by Bob
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To: I see my hands
Do Not Rewind After Viewing Do you see the wisdom? That way everyone must rewind before they view!

I never rewound my personal tapes. It made them last much longer. If you look at a tape that has been played all the way to the end through the little window, you'll see how smooth the wind is. If you look at a tape that has been rewound, you could see the edges of the tape were uneven. For long term storage it was definitely better to have one played to the end.

It was also a good idea when you first watched a new tape (or first used a tape before recording on it), to fast wind it to the end, then rewind.

87 posted on 06/07/2012 8:21:55 PM PDT by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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To: carriage_hill

You had a PS/2 in 1982?


88 posted on 06/08/2012 4:02:42 AM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: Cowman

I have watched it several times... obamao just wants us dead... take no chances... take no prisoners... that is just how he rolls.

LLS


89 posted on 06/08/2012 4:09:52 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (Don't Tread On Me)
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To: Bob

“”How about the screams of the programmer who just dropped his 500-card stack of IBM punchcards that used to be his FORTRAN program? :=)””

Assembler on punched cards was even worse than Fortran!

I learned most of the dinosaur languages, including COBOL, Fortran and Assembler on punched cards.... They sucked!


90 posted on 06/08/2012 7:40:51 AM PDT by tired&retired
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To: tired&retired

That happened to me once and thereafter I put sequence numbers in columns 73-80 (IIRC). We had a card sorter machine that I learned to use. That thing was noisy as hell but the next time I had a card shuffling accident it sure saved my bacon. Then they replaced card punches with key tape. That was the berries.


91 posted on 06/08/2012 7:46:03 AM PDT by chimera
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To: US Navy Vet

In old communication ‘central offices’, there would be
floors of mechanical step relays (called selectors) that move “click” and move to the next connection with every digit that was dialed.
So if you dialed a “5”, it would go to the first set, and
and move over “5” physical connections, and andvance to
yet another bank of selectors.

With scores of calls occurring at a any given point it
was like being inside a giant machine.

When there were ‘call-ins’ for a radio station, thousands
of people would try to call in at the same time and the
sound was quite impressive.

They were later replaced by ‘electro-mechanical’ devices,
and then yet again by ESS offices - which were completely
computer driven.
So long ago....


92 posted on 06/08/2012 8:24:39 AM PDT by Verbosus (/* No Comment */)
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To: joe fonebone

My bunk was 04 level all the way forward (just aft of the Chain Locker)... when launching and the cat comes to a stop it was loud as hell.

When I first arrived I would sleep with earplugs, then got used to it... a cold cat or any sound that was different and we would just automatically jump out of our racks and get dressed because in 15 seconds there was gonna be GQ


93 posted on 06/08/2012 12:18:08 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (Radical islam is islam. Moderate islam is the Trojan Horse.)
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To: AFreeBird

My error, it’s not 1982.

I still have it in my basement, but I found the yellowed, crinkled receipt, and it’s dated May 1988, not 1982. I don’t know how I came-up with that date, honest-to-heck.

The numbers on the back of the unit are:

IBM Corp, Armonk, NY
(c)1981-1987
IBM 8550
S/N 72-8118522
Type 8550-021

Here: http://www.supervinx.com/Retrocomputer/IBM/8550/021/


94 posted on 06/08/2012 1:12:20 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (All libs & most dems think that life is just a sponge bath, with a happy ending.)
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To: dfwgator

My error, it’s not a 1982 IBM PS2/50.

I still have it in my basement, but I found the yellowed, crinkled receipt, and it’s dated May 1988, not 1982. I don’t know how I came-up with that date, honest-to-heck.

The numbers on the back of the unit are:

IBM Corp, Armonk, NY
(c)1981-1987
IBM 8550
S/N 72-8118522
Type 8550-021

Here: http://www.supervinx.com/Retrocomputer/IBM/8550/021/


95 posted on 06/08/2012 1:18:52 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (All libs & most dems think that life is just a sponge bath, with a happy ending.)
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To: US Navy Vet

In the summer of ‘65 our highway construction field office had a Telex installed.

I loved the urgent clatter of incoming messages.

Leading edge, at the time. ;^)


96 posted on 06/08/2012 1:31:11 PM PDT by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: Elderberry

I used to record my own 8-track tapes. I got real good at timing the songs end before the track change. Sometimes it was very difficult, especially with albums like Led Zeppelin IV.


97 posted on 06/08/2012 1:34:52 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Democrats are dangerous and evil. Republicans are just useless and useful idiots.)
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