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The Picard Maneuver @startrek.website

1y ago

Real life Pip Boy

65 comments

We had to wear one of these while I was a package handler for FedEx. It was tied into a scanner unit attached to your finger, scan packages as you load.
You'd think you'd get used to it, but it always felt like I had a tumor strapped to my arm while trying to sling things around.
- I also was a package handler for fedex those arm computers made your arm so hot and sweaty while in a 110F+ trailer
  
  Can you tell me more about your sweaty package handling?
- I had a joke about you and the Platinum Chip, but I lost it at that funny description. I bet in Fallout world many people have disproportional arm muscles due to swinging around pre-war Pip Boys on their hands.
  
  I too have a disproportionate arm from uhhh... swinging around... arm computers... yeah that's why.
- Loading was my usual, and our hub sucked. Fuck tons of goddamn fruit in wax, and then would come the big packages about right as I was loading on my own, so now I had that thing strapped to me, trying to work around the belt with a damned TV to scan.
  Smalls was my dream. Lightweight, wrapping took no time, steady pace but never overwhelming. Night just flew by, chatting about bullshit. Jumped at the chance any time they needed a body.
  
  Loading with these things was shit. I primarily loaded as a package handler and it was a pain to have this attached to your arm, scanning every package, and then lifting those packages over your head to fill in the gaps on top.

It’s that thing Turanga Leela wears!
- I was curious if Leela's thing had a name, and according to the wiki it's apparently called a Wrist Lojak-a-mater..
  
  I don't think "wrist LoJak-a-mater" was meant to be the name of the device, I think it's just the name of the device's tracking feature and the author of the fandom page is jumping to conclusions.

War, war never changes...
- I'll buy it from you for 1,500 caps

I remember using something like this - they can hook up to a barcode scanner you wear on your finger
You had to strap them really tight on your arm, if you didn't the weight of the device would make it rotate around and have the screen point away from you
- I have the same problem with my watch. I could tighten it but then it starts to hurt. Anyways I keep it just loose enough to be comfortable but tight enough I can correct it every half hour.
  
  How much does your watch weigh?

FedEx package warehouse used theses when I worked there.
- They weren't these exact models when I was there in 2013-2014, but they're definitely similar. The finger scanner thing was so cool; I was always playing with it when there weren't any packages coming down the conveyor.
  
  FedEx used their own custom version that booted directly into the proprietary scanner system. The new version uses Android (probably 10 or lower) and does the exact same thing. Also, the scanner attachment is now Bluetooth, which only seems like an upgrade until you give it more than one second of thought and realize how easy they are to lose.
- Hah! I was just thinking I used someone similar back in 2008-10 I think? Paired with a little hip printer.
- yeah, i always used to want to try and get at the thing a little, but it didn't seem worth risking my job 😅. it was totally just running windows

There's a lot of wearable/durable tech made for warehouse workers. I wish I had the money to buy all the awesome things I find. They're still semi usable with new software. A lot run on the "mobile" windows architecture which takes Unix/Linux naively.
- Current versions of this run Android.
  They’re made by Zebra who bought the Symbol barcode reader company, who bought the Motorola mobile computer business. The hardware is basically the same though.
  https://www.zebra.com/us/en/products/mobile-computers/wearable-computers/wt6300.html
  
  Yeah, but they are only marginally better. It's like moving from a hopelessly out of date platform to one that is only five years old. Is it better than what you had? Without a doubt. Does that make it good? Fuck no.

- It's industrial equipment, and industry is not really known for frequently upgrading. Floppy disks are still a thing.
  
  These also look like they can take a couple of good knocks and keep functioning. You don't really want sleek and glass covered like the new modern looking phones for a warehouse.
  
  Magnetic tape is still a thing, particularly for long-term data storage. If you want to keep some data around for longer than most humans live, store it on magnetic tape.

2006 to 2013 felt longer with those, since you could slow down time on demand.

Reading all the comments reminiscing about using these as if they are now a relic of a bygone era. We errr.. Still use them to this day, I don't believe the company has any plans to upgrade in the near future either.
We also still use dot-matrix printers. They're still being manufactured to this day and the new ones even come with ethernet ports! (As opposed to serial, which again we still have some)
- I miss their sound so much
  
  Dv-DvZZZZZT-DvT
  DvZZZZZZZZT-Dvt-DZZZZZZZZT-Dvt

Can you imagine how much of a dork you’d look wearing this thing?
- I can and I am loving it.
- It's for work-related use, not for personal use. You'd never see someone wearing this outside of the workplace.
  
  Clearly you're only friends with boring people
- Strap this bad boy on, head on out to the singles' bar.
  ...do singles' bars even exist anymore? Am I showing my age? Aw hell... they were old news even in my bachelor days.
  How about swingers' clubs?
  Strap this bad boy on, sashay - or strut - on out to your friendly local neighborhood swingers' club.

Does it run embedded windows? I could have a field day with this.
- I'm pretty sure it's Pip-OS
- Idk man but its definitely for boring things like amazon man or doordash man or policeman
- Other comment says Windows Mobile

We used to use these where I work. They look cool, but they run Windows Mobile and don't have a touch screen so they actually were very cumbersome to use. Luckily we only had to use them to scan barcodes and that app automatically loaded on boot, unless they fucked up. Rock solid, but also made me hate every moment I had to use them, especially when the scanner attachment wouldn't register.

its a goddamned pipboy.
Hope it doesnt come complete with skeletal remains.

Doesn't look older than it is honestly. If you showed me this and asked me how old it is I'd have guessed early aughties

Where can I buy this?
- I'm seeing them between $60-2000 at a quick search.
  
  That is a... very wide range.

This is equipment for a shipping service or store. They use chunky devices like these to this day.

I saw a video from Voidstar Labs on YouTube where Zach Freedman made a wearable thing like this that also had modular attachments that could be added, like a flash light or IR blaster. Shit was rad.

Image Transcription: Twitter Post
Retro Tech Dreams, @RetroTechDreams
Motorola WT4000 wearable terminal. It looks a lot older than it is. This thing was sold from 2006 to 2013.
[An image of a Motorola WT4000 is shown. it has a panel of 15 buttons to the right of the device. It has a panel of 5 buttons on the left side. In the middle is an LCD display. There are 3 buttons under the display.]

65 comments