You know you’re getting old….

DaleB said:
Speaking of... I've got a Selectric III here, anybody want it? I picked it up at a sale when a local business closed. I used to be fairly good at Selectric work; the first IBM systems I learned to repair used a 1052 for the console. I don't have the manuals, or the required lubricants, and the thing needs a tune-up. I'll hate to scrap it, but I'll hate to ship it even more. Free to a good home, but you gotta pick it up.
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DaleB: I became the Northeast Regional Bank Specialist for IBM, because I was so good at repairing 2741s and 1052s, etc, etc.
Unlike the other Systems guys, I found the Office Products guru on Selectrics in our area, and had him train me on repairing them. He was a card carrying Wizard. When he was done training me I could rebuild an entire machine belt, tapes, cords, clutch, in 45 minutes. I still have all my tools and a cabinet full of parts. I occasionally get called by IBM to repair the IBM Museum machines (at least 6 years ago they were still calling me). IBM was\is (maybe) still maintaining 2 working copies of every machine they ever sold.
 
I wrote a lot of cool programs on a model 33 teletype like the one pictured.

I had an 8 track stereo and a 23 channel CB radio that i installed on the same slide mount so I could swap them.
 
Zeldman said:
I remember memorizing phone numbers and dialing the phone. And carrying dimes for the phone.

Now I just speak into my phone and tell it who to call...
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I remember calling collect, getting my parents’ long distance code when I went to college, and getting 1000-minute phone cards to call the office when I was on the road.
 
I remember when every kid around me had a pedal bike, and if you didn't ride the bus, you rode to school, until the snow was too deep to ride it any more. Almost daily we went for lunch time rides.
 
jsstevens said:
I’ve driven a truck with a non-synchro transmission. I’ve programmed a computer with core memory. I’ve edited (inserted characters) on an IBM keypunch by holding the source card with one hand and typing with the other then letting go and DUPing the rest. I’ve edited multi-track analog audio tape with a razor blade and scotch tape. I’ve balanced multiple carburetors with a vacuum gauge and my ears. I’ve used a slip-stick (a.k.a. Slide rule) to take real physics tests. I can use (quite readily) a manual E6B.

Class of ‘77, child of the 1950’s barely.
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I’ve done most of those, including razor-blade edits. Ever bounce tracks on a 4-track RtR? I even know how to slip-queue a song on an LP turntable. Never took a physics test with a slide rule, though.

Things changed amazingly fast. We had slide rules in sophomore chemistry, and by the time I was taking AP physics as a senior I had a TI-58 programmable.

Class of ‘79, Nathan Bedford Forrest High. Give ‘em hell, Rebels!
 
Shepherd said:
DaleB: I became the Northeast Regional Bank Specialist for IBM, because I was so good at repairing 2741s and 1052s, etc, etc.
Unlike the other Systems guys, I found the Office Products guru on Selectrics in our area, and had him train me on repairing them. He was a card carrying Wizard. When he was done training me I could rebuild an entire machine belt, tapes, cords, clutch, in 45 minutes. I still have all my tools and a cabinet full of parts. I occasionally get called by IBM to repair the IBM Museum machines (at least 6 years ago they were still calling me). IBM was\is (maybe) still maintaining 2 working copies of every machine they ever sold.
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Cool stuff. I was trained on the 2030 and 2040 (S/360 models 30 & 40) in 1981, long after most of the work had stopped using them. The Army still had a bunch, mounted in semi-trailers along with all the peripherals, as a division mobile data center. I went from the Mod 40 to 370s and 303x when I got out. I was the one they sent out on weird stuff nobody wanted to touch. System/3, Series/1, some pretty weird stuff. And the computers that ran the light show for Lionel Richie's concert. Pro tip: Don't plug both your primary and backup into the same outlet strip, then plug that into the wrong voltage. :)
 
I used Series 1s and System 7s for doing the E-Beam chip writing at IBM Research after I left Field Engineering.
Cool old hardware, but they weren't fast enough. I ended up designing and building a custom processor for controlling the electron beam.
 
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Half Fast said:
… Never took a physics test with a slide rule, though.

Things changed amazingly fast. We had slide rules in sophomore chemistry, and by the time I was taking AP physics as a senior I had a TI-58 programmable.

Class of ‘79, Nathan Bedford Forrest High. Give ‘em hell, Rebels!
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We are also the generation in school when then US adopted the metric system and had to learn that. Then between my sophomore and junior years in college we abandoned it and went back to English units and had to re-learn. I’ll still take Joules over BTUs and Watts over horsepower any day.
 
Van Johnston said:
We are also the generation in school when then US adopted the metric system and had to learn that. Then between my sophomore and junior years in college we abandoned it and went back to English units and had to re-learn. I’ll still take Joules over BTUs and Watts over horsepower any day.
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IIRC, my physics classes were all MKS units but engineering classes could be a mixed bag.
 
Half Fast said:
Ever bounce tracks on a 4-track RtR?
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Yep. I still have a working TEAC-A2340 in the rack but I don't use it much at all anymore. Most everything now is done on the Tascam digital but analog tape has a unique quality to its sound ...
 
Daleandee said:
Yep. I still have a working TEAC-A2340 in the rack but I don't use it much at all anymore. Most everything now is done on the Tascam digital but analog tape has a unique quality to its sound ...
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I used a TEAC quite a bit in college. I still have a Dokoder 4-track at home but haven’t used it in years.

We would fill 3 tracks with a basic rhythm section, bounce while adding something like piano or synth during the bounce, then add lead guitar and strings and backing vocals, then add lead vocal during mixdown. Eight parts done with a little 4-track.

Had to be pretty good at mixing because there was no way to correct the bounced mix later.
 
Half Fast said:
Had to be pretty good at mixing because there was no way to correct the bounced mix later.
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Got to learn that lesson fast. Once it's buried it's in there for good!

Was doing a piano part this morning and just couldn't get it nailed correctly. Mostly distracted working through the auto punch-in & out functions along with virtual track edits. I finally got a nice take on the part I needed and then realized it was in the wrong key. Using a work station or MIDI device would make a transpose easy but the way it was done I have no choice but to retake it. New technology is fun! :D
 
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I am old enough that this was the model of my first (pedal) car. No plastic anywhere
upload_2022-6-18_18-12-32.png
 
Cool indeed. The one at our house was (if I am remembering right) more of a sedan. Well… convertible, I guess, but you get the idea.
 
Here's a twofer. I was too big for a big wheel when they came out.

Kids I work with...."what's a big wheel?"*


*I know they still sell similar trikes but the original was only made until 1981.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Here's a twofer. I was too big for a big wheel when they came out.

Kids I work with...."what's a big wheel?"*


*I know they still sell similar trikes but the original was only made until 1981.
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Roaring… spinning… WINNING!

Yeah, we had those. For our kids.
 
Sifossifoco said:
I am old enough that this was the model of my first (pedal) car. No plastic anywhere
View attachment 107932
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Oh, so you were one of those rich kids that lived across the tracks from us. This one is sorta similar to what I had, cuz we was po.

s-l300.jpg
 
Half Fast said:
Oh, so you were one of those rich kids that lived across the tracks from us. This one is sorta similar to what I had, cuz we was po.
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Not really, but I was born in Italy. Italian cars just had better design :)
 
And talking about cheaper models, I had a 'home built' too, just like this:
upload_2022-6-18_21-40-59.png
Not sure if these speed demons ever made it across the pond :)
 
Sifossifoco said:
And talking about cheaper models, I had a 'home built' too, just like this:
View attachment 107946
Not sure if these speed demons ever made it across the pond :)
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My first skateboard had skinny steel wheels like that. Then came clay composite wheels, then JOY OF JOYS urethane wheels! Urethane wheels were a miracle for skateboarding, enabling all the tricks and stunts and wall riding that would have killed us on steel or clay wheels.
 
You men know you're getting old if you know where your prostate is ...
 
Half Fast said:
I’ve done most of those, including razor-blade edits. Ever bounce tracks on a 4-track RtR? I even know how to slip-queue a song on an LP turntable. Never took a physics test with a slide rule, though.

Things changed amazingly fast. We had slide rules in sophomore chemistry, and by the time I was taking AP physics as a senior I had a TI-58 programmable.

Class of ‘79, Nathan Bedford Forrest High. Give ‘em hell, Rebels!
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I have bounced tracks on both 4 and 8 track.
 
Timbeck2 said:
yep. I used to unscrew the mouth piece and take out the microphone while the phone was still “on the hook” and then pick it up and listen.
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So, how many older sisters did you have.?? :lol:

'cuase I used ta snoop on my older sister....
 
I had a step sister that we only got one weekend a month. She is 4 years younger than I and I have no interest in anything she has to say- still.
 
Timbeck2 said:
yep. I used to unscrew the mouth piece and take out the microphone while the phone was still “on the hook” and then pick it up and listen.
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Trick I used was to turn the rotary dial just a little before picking up the phone and then let it slowly rotate back. That would prevent the slight click in the phone that might give away the fact that you were on the extension ...
 
I remember when the women burned their bras and the men burned their draft cards.
 
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