Asklemmy
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
My microwave from 1985 which came with the house.
Nokia 3310, it even spent a good 20 min submerged because a 9lb pike pushed my parents out of the canoe and had to walk back to shore
Technics SL-1900 turntable from 1977, it was a pretty midrange model for its time but it sure as hell is better than any deck you can get new today. The only thing that doesn't work is the dampening on the tonearm lift/lowering.
Some old corded drill that my dad had. It's supposed to have a reverse function but it only goes one direction now.
I've got no idea when it was made.
The original fat PS2 I got for Christmas 20-odd years ago. It still plays games perfectly fine if the discs aren’t too scratched up (RIP my bro’s copy of Marvel vs Capcom 1).
Not sure how loose you define tech, but mine would be my motorcyle, a 1981 Yamaha XS400 that my grandfather gifted me. It's certainly feeling it's age, so it requires a lot more effort on my end to keep running than most bikes made this century. It's not made for modern highway speeds, it's not happy when I try, so I keep it off the interstate, 50 and under. That said, when the weather's good, I've never had a carbeurated engine start so easily, and it's a joy to ride!
My toaster, similar one here. It was the toaster that I grew up with. My father in turn bought it at a garage sale. I recently tracked down the history and found that it was manufactured in the 50's, so it's been in near constant use for around 75 years.
I’ve got plenty of stuff that’s older than I am. I’ve got mechanical cameras dating back to the 1930’s, electronic camera’s from the 70’s, watches dating back to that time as well. And there’s game consoles dating back to the NES, like many here.
I like old tech. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s bad or unreliable. If you treat stuff well and maintain as needed, a lot of things will outlast you. I’ll be shooting film in cameras that are a hundred years old in a few years.
60's electric drill.
Type Mike IBM keyboard......goddMm indestructible.
2004 Wacom Cintiq 21UX. Drawing on a screen that large and heavy is awesome. I built it into my desk and can raise and lower it from flat to nearly 90 degrees. The brightness has faded over the years, but I won't let it go until I can afford a new one (equivalent $3k + today). I can barely work in PS with just a mouse anymore. It spoils ya.
My Harman Kardon pc speakers. They are as old as I am. Here's a pic of the same model I found online.
Original Xbox console with a copy of Halo Combat Evolved though the console would probably pop if I plugged it in
Open it up and see if any of the capacitors are leaking! Soldering is a great skill to learn and you can fix it yourself.
The biggest problem people have is buying a bad soldering iron that gets way too hot. You can get an excellent iron for only 10 or 20 dollars more than the garbage out there. I used to recommend the TS-100, because that's what I use and love, and they used to be way cheaper. The TS-80 was an upgrade to that, which was also nice but I never liked. If you've got the money, I still recommend them. However for the budget minded, the pinecil is almost the exact same thing, it's well made, and it's still like $30-40 bucks. In fact some people prefer it over the others. You can power it with a beefy USB-C charger if you have one, or an old laptop charger if you want to cut up the end and put a barrel jack on it. The thing pulls about 90 watts at full tilt, but only for brief periods.
Next you want to buy yourself some practice boards, you can get soldering kits from AliExpress that will let you build little flashing trees and hearts and stuff. Or even small handheld games if you're getting better at soldering.
Then you watch YouTube tutorials, find several. You want to focus on quick work, at low ish temps like 280C, keep the tip clean, and flux is your friend. The very tippy tip of your iron should always be shiny, if it starts turning black, it's building oxides from being too hot and not enough flux. Clean that thing with flux. If you leave it that way too long you'll ruin it, that's why most people struggle to solder.
Then once you've learned, and you're ready to go. Watch YouTube videos on fixing the Xbox, buy the caps, crack that thing open and have fun. Caps aren't that hard to replace, compared to other soldering projects. You'll do fine 👍
I have a Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster from the 1960s. It’s an elegant, automatic design with only one control for the amount of toast. If it had slots wide enough for bagels it would be perfect.
I have Lenco turntable from 1969, making it roughly 54 years old.
My Yamaha speakers that I got in 1996. Beautiful sound from them. The receiver and other things have long since been replaced.
It's been over a year since I unboxed it, but my Nintendo 64. Last game I played was Majora's Mask and it suffered a hard reset in the stone temple that made me box it back up.
If a pocket watch counts, then my Hamilton watch from 1908. Oldest electronic would probably be my NES.
I have a Sony Erickson bluetooth headphone adapter from 2005. It still works perfectly and the battery has good life.
Video door-phone from the eighties. The screen is crap but hit a few times and it works lol
An Acetronic MPU1000 games console, from the 1970s - 76 or 78 I think. Still worked last time I powered it up, I also got some extra games cheap off eBay a while back, interesting playing something other than the three or four games I remember from childhood.
My oldest piece of tech would probably be my C64 or maybe an old camera I have. But the one that I'm actually proud of is my car, a Mercedes W124 from 1988. It'll be hard to find a bolt on that car that I haven't touched and I'm finally getting it where my even my perfectionist self is happy with the way it looks and drives.
My old and trustworthy Kenwood KRV75R receiver. From around 1985 and still rocking!
Still have running? Probably my Sega Genesis model 1, bought a month before I was even born in 1991, though I rarely use it as emulation is easier.
Still use daily? Probably my gen 3 iPod touch, circa 2009.
Playstation 2 slim and an original PS2 controller. Still runs really smoothly, at least for tech at the time. Disc drive is really cool.
I have a TI 99/4A PC that still works! It has a super weird version of BASIC and I don't have any tapes for it, but it's a cool display piece. I was able to make an educated guess that it was manufactured in 1982 based on the design
Daily? Logitech MX-518. I'd still be using my CeBIT 2003 IntelliMouse if it hadn't been jostled by one too many trips in a backpack. Both are newer than the Max Payne mousepad that is somehow still in tolerable condition.
No, wait. I just glanced at the time on a Westclox digital alarm clock, model 22636, production code 1/10/83. That thing's older than I am. Had to check the underside again: Norcross, GA. I was unsure if "Westclox" hinted at being produced in West Germany.
I would say my Sega GameGear, but I just went to turn it on, aaaaaaand it's probably well past time to replace the caps. And screen. And motherboard...
Probably one of my CRTs from the early 80s, unless we're counting basic stuff like my house wiring or gate speaker.