Vintage
Vintage
315 comments
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I raise
edit, actually, it might have been on the back...it's been forever since I touched one
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I’ll see your raise, and up it:
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Represent!
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This. this is my childhood. Digging through discount bins at blue light specials in Kmart for cartridges and copying BASIC line by line from a magazine and recording it on cassette tape so we could play Yahtzee on the TV.
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My buddy still has one of those in his garage.
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We had one of those in school. One per classroom. We had one educational game on it. Since there was only one, they would sit us down at it in pairs and we'd get 5m to play on it. I think I got to use it maybe three times in a given year.
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My brother in Munchman, Alpine, and coding racist stuff out of the book.
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My age in fond memories:
I don't have long for this world...
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BTW, Commodore got bought out.
They are releasing C64 again.
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I wonder if this will be like the VCS. I have one, and its awesome for the price if you like to tinker.
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Its on the side. You can kind of see it in your picture. I have a C64 within arms reach.
Bonus points if you had a mouse to use with GEOS:
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I had a mouse like that on my Amiga 2000!
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Mine didn't have a connector it was a membrane
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Check this out:
This was why I got into programming.
I still have the book:
It’s so cool:
Lemme know if you want to see more. I thought it’s awesome.
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I have to find my UHf dongle, and it looks like I was playing Star Strike the last time, but I will get this running. I have the manual, after all.
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edit, actually, it might have been on the back...it's been forever since I touched one
It was along the right side. I remember it helped to sit a little bit to the right, or angle the keyboard a bit, when playing a two player game, so that the leftmost player's joystick cord would reach.
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Big keyboard jack, serial for mouse, parallel for printer
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Don't forget the serial input for gamepads and joysticks in the dedicated sound board for some reason
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Except that wasn't a serial port, it was midi, and the reason it was on the sound card was because the input was analog.
Your joystick was just two fancy potentiometers, and your soundcard decoded the voltage on the middle legs into a position.
Soundcards handled joysticks because they had the fastest ADCs.
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Early PC only had 5 card slots, and the only jack on the motherboard was the keyboard. One slot is going to be used by a video card, one’s probably being used by a hard drive controller, one’s probably used by a parallel + serial card. Soundcards also included controller ports to try to save a slot.
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And because the PC only have 1 serial port, you disconnect the printer and use a parallel to serial adapter.
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@josefo@leminal.space @JoMiran@lemmy.ml
Technically speaking, the joystick involved analog voltages to be converted to digital signals... And what else have ADC (analog-to-digital converters) chips? Soundcards, because ADCs are used to convert mic input, alongside the "line in", both of which are analog voltages, into PCM signals, which are discrete (as in "non-continuous") streams of bits. Something inverse happens for "headphone", "speakers" and "line out" pins: a PCM stream coming from the sound driver is converted to analog voltages using a DAC.
While other ports also happened to deal with analog-digital conversion, a soundcard was particularly specialized at this job, alongside graphic (VGA) cards (VGA has lots of analog signals), but graphic cards were already too busy with thousands/millions of pixels and, well, with computation of graphics.
Other boards aren't so fitting for analog-digital job. For example: a NIC (Network Interface Card) already deals with digital signal so, theoretically, no conversion is necessary from/to analog. Parallel ports (those for printers) also natively deals with digital signals. Expansion cards with USB ports, same thing. And so on...
(Apologies for my blank reply if my deletion didn't federate due to insufficient Sharkey-Lemmy federation, I mistyped enter as I was getting ready to write my message)
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And because the PC only have 1 serial port, you disconnect the printer and use a parallel to serial adapter.
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Nailed it! I was going to post the DIN-5 kb connector.
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I'm in this picture.
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In my day, the RJ-11 jack was for connecting the keyboard, not the phone line.
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Okay that's something I had no idea about hahaha
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The first three Macs had this jack in the front for the keyboard and a PC-like serial port in the back for the mouse. With the Mac SE and II, the switched to ADB, which looked like a PS/2 port, but you could daisy chain your mouse, keyboard, and other inputs like tablets or joysticks all into one jack in the back of the computer.
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I remember those days.
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removed
please.
(Kidding, you’re not a removed and this isn’t a contest. But if it was…)
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I don't recognize this... Is it some sort of RF switch for connecting a computer or game system to a TV while still passing through the antenna signal? Why does it have two cables coming out the side?
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Yes, it's for an old game console or computer.
There were two common ways to connect to the TV, and this box supports both: Coaxial (still around of course) and that flat ribbon cable, which ends in two separate U shaped clips. The screws on the bottom are for the clips on the ribbon cable from the physical antenna likely mounted on the roof.
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Yes, back when you could use a tube tv as a monitor over RF.
e: mine still works, and I’ve connected my ancient equipment to my newer flat televisions with it.
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I still play my 2600.
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I think the coleco vision had that.
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The time of the classic "Keyboard missing. Press F1 to continue."
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You know that thing that you don't have? You should press buttons on it.
Fuck you computer....
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Way back, there were some rare keyboard / motherboard combinations where the motherboard couldn't detect there was a keyboard attached unless a key was pressed on it. That message was for those people with those combinations.
You pressed F1 and the computer would be like "my bad, there is a keyboard there, thanks for your help", or rather it would just shut up and boot.
The message could have been different but it had to fit in a small amount of BIOS ROM, so we got stuck with the one that covered all the bases the best, and unfortunately, most people who saw it didn't actually have a keyboard plugged in, thus, irony.
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The error message sounds bad, but it was actually a good thing. A better phrased error message might have been "Keyboard missing. Connect a keyboard and press F1 to continue." But, in the early days every byte mattered.
The system wouldn't work without a keyboard, and if you get further into the boot process you might not be able to shut down cleanly if you didn't have a keyboard attached. That error message gave you a chance to attach the keyboard, or to troubleshoot why the keyboard wasn't being properly detected (like the plug got bumped and wasn't making good contact anymore).
It was annoying when the lack of a keyboard was intentional. Like, you wanted to use the machine as a server. But, AFAIK you could disable this check if you knew the machine was going to be a server with no permanent keyboard attached.
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Fairly certain my first computer used something like this for the keyboard. I did not have a mouse.
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The venerable DIN connector!
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That thing was a monster!
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IIRC, that's electrically compatible with the smaller, more fragile PS/2 connector. The adapters are just wiring it down to the smaller connector (and maybe some impedance matching resistors?).
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"do you know what ps/2 ports are?"
"holy cow, PlayStation 2? you must be AT LEAST 25!"
[dying inside intensifies]
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"how old are you?"
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Mmmm - turbo button. Classic.
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TURBO!!!
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The "Turbo" function was a masterstroke of marketing.
The actual function of the turbo is to slow the machine down, so it can be compatible with older games and software that ran too quickly on those newer systems.
Of course calling it a "slow down" button wasn't very sexy, so just flip the function around and label it turbo instead!
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Gotta have an LED display so everyone can see your speed in megahertz.
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I'm this old
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Shit. I know what this is. Goddammit.
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Sorry bro
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DB9 is still used on for MIDI on electronic instruments, though some manufacturers are moving to doing it with a TRS 3.5mm plug since it only uses 3 pins.
I had a mouse that plugged into the serial port, but my first computer was a Commodore 64.
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The ol' RS232?
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No, this is the rs232 connector (officially the DB9)
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Back in my day they weren't color coded.
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Back in my day days didn't exist /s
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I'm this old.
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I'm punchcard Fortran old.
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love some fuckin trash80
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PS/2
No, not the PlayStation.....
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First one at home for me too.
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Haha yeah I was hoping someone would make a PS/2 not PS2 joke!
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Look at you with your fancy ps/2 keyboard port. Where's my AT port and 9 pin serial mouse.
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Look at you with your fancy AT port.
Where's my altair with front panel register switches
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Ok, I'm not that old either, but still
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Old enough
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"hey guys--"
JOYSTICK PORT!
"not what I'm called."
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Yeah a 9 pin dsub. Still used widely in industry applications and other Fields. Edit: just saw that these were used for mouse or keyboard input, wth. This is truly old.
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This belongs on a sound card for some reason!! :D
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Joystick and MIDI interface port
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I can tell that this particular port is more or less from the same time as the PS2 ports in the post's photo because of the color. The standardization of this port happened long before the standardization of colors to indicate the capabilities of said port. We mostly only see this in variously capable USB ports today. If I remember correctly this yellow color would have been used for a joystick or controller of some kind, but there may have been other ports with the same shape and pin configuration that would have different purposes.
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if I remember correctly my first PC had the bigger DIN connector for the keyboard and a DSUB9 for the mouse. Guess I'm old ;)
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Same. I remember needing converters for these newfangled PS/2 connectors. Then again, I am old enough that I remember why floppies were called floppies, and used tape for more than just backup. And hard drives being as big as a shoe box and with less storage than you now have as CPU caches.
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lol PS/2 ports are the newer ones. There were larger AT ports and ADB ports in addition to the 25-pin(!) LPT port (printer mostly) and COM ports (random peripherals including early mice, pre ps/2)
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You guys had keyboards?
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But the keyboard is the computer, mice haven’t been invented yet and where do I plug the tape deck in?
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I can also use cartridges!
Well, I could use cartridges...before I loaded a custom ROM via the cartridge slot, and it does almost everything faster, but now I cannot function without it.
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Yeah well my first computer typed in cuneiform so get off my lawn you kids
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Typed! Back in my day we just got a wire that you had to lick in binary to tell the computer what to do.
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A wire!? We just got raw sand and had to scratch out a calculation ourselves.
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Oh I first learned to type by typing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs" over and over on a wireless keyboard.
Called a typewriter.
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Me too. But in early 2000s
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An elegant port for a more civilized time
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Nothing civilized about no hot plugging. Had to restart the whole damn computer, if the cable was loose or out at startup.
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Hokey connections and ancient peripherals are no match for a good dongle at your side, kid.
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A yung'un huh
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My brother in Christ, I also used this
And I'm 17
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old
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the computers at my first school still used ps/2 regularly when i went there and im 15.....
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I remember a time when they weren't colour coded...
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These aren't old. I had one in the early 2010s, it was handed down by a relative because my parents were poor.
I'm Gen Z
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I said the real two genders.
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There where three. The full din keyboard plug, serial for your mouse and that unholy thing on the back of your sound blaster on which you could connect a joystick.
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Somewhere in my giant box of cables I have an adapter for attaching MIDI cables to the joystick port. When I actually used a MIDI keyboard with it, I had... variable success.
The first time I had a MIDI keyboard that just worked, it used USB as transport. (And it has worked great since. I think it's the only USB Mini plug device device I still regularly use.)
Crazy thing is, MIDI is absolutely ancient. You'd imagine it'd work fine on the gameports, but nope. Legacy PC ports are cursed. Except audio jacks and serial ports, and VGA if you're really into screwing things in place.
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PS/2 isn't vintage. I'm still using an adapter to connect my Microsoft Natural keyboard through USB.
Oh, wait...
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My turn:
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MattDamonAging.gif
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This old
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Nice, I have the Radio Shack rebadged one. It's murder on batteries though.
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How are old you
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You why are old
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Edit: I never used one of these, I'm just as old as one. First computers I used were a Macintosh 128k and an Apple ]|[, unless you count the TI 91-a as a computer and not a console, but that machine is older than me
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what the actual hell is that? a port connector for the borg?
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It's a connector for an IBM 7000 series mainframe.
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Is your username a beyond all reason reference or a late Roman Empire reference?
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- Runs on AMD Artix 7 FPGA
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Maybe I'm an idiot, but I ordered one when they announced it. I have 2 perfectly good C64s already but the CRT whine drives my dog and kid nuts, so looking forward to HDMI!
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The computer mouse I still use today has a ball in it
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Me too. As a toolmaker and engineer, space mice were a thing. But they were stupidly expensive and still are. I was unwilling to spend the money for one. So I use a ball mouse and I still do for when I need to do serious CAD work these days-- designing my next model steam engine.
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I have a 286 which connects through a COM (serial) port. Its mouse also has a ball since solid state lasers hadn't been invented
I'm very glad those mouses are maintainable and seem to last forever
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Many professional gamers still depend on them because they have lower latency than USB.
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That's a myth that should die out. It used to be true, decades ago, but not anymore.
The PS/2 protocol interrupts the CPU and sends a packet. USB has the CPU poll the connection and then gets the packet. However, the polling and clock rate of USB is so high that it can hit it several times before the PS/2 is done transmitting a single packet.
NKRO is also no longer an issue in newer USB versions. You have to get a more expensive keyboard to make it work--cost of all the diodes adds up--but that was just as true of PS/2.
Here's a Ben Eater video that goes over the details with an oscilloscope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdgULBpRoXk
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They've finally started removing them from boards, and I'm annoyed. I want my NKRO.
Most of them are internally connected via USB apparently so there's no difference. Not that the average e sports player would even notice.
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I want my NKRO.
Which can be done over USB, cheap keyboards just aren't wired for it.
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My first PC was a Timex Sinclair 1000 and I wrote a text-based choose your own adventure game in basic for it and saved the program on audio cassette.
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my "first" pc was a pc xt dad had in the basement. actually no because i didnt own it (so technically my first was a 2008 netbook) but i did use it quite some times before mom gave me her old netbook so i still count it
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(シ_ _)シ
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Like 30 something?
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(Apple IIe)
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My parents got rid of mine without asking when I went to college in the 2000s :(
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I tried to explain these ports to a salesperson at micro center, and they have me the dull cow stare.
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I was looking at some PC's at Best Buy and a salesman came up to try and give me the hard sell. I asked if I could buy the PC without Windows on it for a discount.
"How would you use your computer without Windows on it?"
"I'm going to install Linux"
"What's that?"
"It's an operating system"
Blank stare
"Like Windows or OS X..."
Blank Stare
Sigh "I already have a copy of Windows at home"
"Oh! Well I don't think you can do that, no."
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To be honest, I think that was probably to appropriate response. Information about ps/2 is not really relevant to them or any customer that they are going to help
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Um , b4 that there were serial mice on my tandy
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I thought I was hot shit when I got a tape drive for my Tandy that worked about 60% of the time
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Dam don't remember that. My co worker was telling me about hole punch paper when he worked with his father that he inserted instead of magnetic storages.
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I actually wanted a PS2 port because it works with interrupts rather than polling but they aren't really included anymore.
I feel like they don't make boards for people like me who want small boards with a super niche port.
When a MoDT Mini-ITX board comes out with a PS2 port I will buy that instantly
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Listen up, computer, I'm typing NOW. Not whenever you get around to polling the USB device. Sheesh.
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Can you actually notice the latency?
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I only had it briefly a long time ago,
I think certain things can stall the computer from polling, so if you're computer is super weak or youre doing something super heavy it would suffer
Maybe its a placebo effect but I did notice it handle itself better when running multiple things.
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Box o’ “useless” cables gang represent
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I remember the adapters that went from the larger version of this to smaller as well as using the serial port.
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I remember when mice were a neat new peripheral for use with graphical interfaces instead of typing in a command line.
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i have a gaming pc built this decade that has both of those ports dude
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People knew what I meant when I would verbally say PS/2 in conversation, then people started thinking they were USB because that's what was used in their PlayStation 2
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Are these not still in use?
I've not built a tower in a few years granted, but the last one I built had PS2 ports. Heck it even had VGA for the onboard graphics.
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They are. Lots of motherboards still include these. There are a lot of special PS/2 input devices that are still around in business/industrial settings and gamers sometimes need them for use with flight sticks, steering wheels, mechanical keyboards etc.
Usually it's a combo port now instead of a separate port for keyboard/mouse.
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ive only seen them as separate ports tho even in recent pcs
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Wait!! You had COLOURS?? I'm from the time before that!
315 comments