Life before the internet???

[baraff]

Originally Posted by rgvtexan

We still have one of those. But he no longer works everyday, but if he is there he can find most anything in his Trustworthy, Ranch and Farm store. His daughter is learning fast.

You should try and get parts from the "Kid" for an MG.
You sure you don't mean GM? How do you spell that? We don't have parts for Chinese cars. etc,

Or a Triumph. I actually had a kid at Autozone ask me if Ford made that.

[Mr.Mark]

Wow, this is a cool thread! I'm not really a very mechanical person so I haven't worked much on cars. In my late teens, I did change the starter on my 5 yr. old '72 Dodge Charger with the help of my older brother and greased a few wheel bearings.

One of the things that I cherish is that I was very close to my paternal Grandfather's sister, my great aunt. I ended up taking care of all her affairs as she got older, she lived to be 101.

She was born in 1900 and passed in 2001. Can you imagine the changes that she saw in her lifetime? Born in Italy, they lived on a farm and her Dad was a shoe maker. When the wrath of Mussolini took over in the early 1900's, most of my Italian family, which included my infant father, immigrated to the USA.

The stories she told me were amazing. She and my great Uncle ran a business, she couldn't write english very well and spoke with a strong Italian accent. When paying bills, she would insert a check into a mechanical machine that would write the amount of the check numerically and it would print the written amount on the written line. The machine is called a TODD PROTECTOGRAPH.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/358317714086582581/

I still have that machine which measures about 16" wide, 5" tall and 5" deep. Once you have all the numbers set like you want, then you turn the hand crank. I remember her using it several times but can't quite figure it out. The ribbon needs to be replaced.

Seeing the changes that she went through in her lifetime, I hope that I'm around long enough to see the continued changes we have today. Innovation is amazing!

BTW, I still have never had a ATM card, I write checks and/or have auto deductions and use CC's.

Safe travels,
Mark

[Electra 225]

You know the thing that amazes me?
Out of all of time, countless years upon years.....that most all of this explosion of innovation.....in whatever realm, is confined to the last 140 years or so. I find that very interesting in itself.

[GypsyR]

I'm still amazed that only 66 years passed between the first powered airplane flight and a couple of guys walking around on the moon.

[nbluesky]

Technology has exponentially gained ground so quickly it is almost scary. I can't imagine where things will be in another 100 years. Maybe my grandkids will find out

[Radacravitz]

Originally Posted by vlamgat

I still have one! And a PCMCIA card adaptor for the first GSM phone that coupled to a DOS powered HP200LX to surf the web at 5600 baud on a plane! Many times did log into those phones to get email in the early 90s.

funny ... I’ve got three 200lx’s + manuals and all the goodies in my data center / home office closet. I got my first one in ‘95 and picked the others up over time.

can’t believe it’s 25+ years already ....

[rgvtexan]

My kids grew up with Teletypes. We used them as terminals at work, and when we upgraded to Decwriter LA36s, I bought 6 surplus Teletypes to use as printers for the TRS80 and SW Technical Prod. 6800. Converted 2 of them and donated the others to the local Jr. Collage.

[gvjackson]

Originally Posted by rgvtexan

... Teletypes to use as printers for the TRS80 and SW Technical Prod. 6800...

Never would have expected to come across the mention of a SWTPC 6800 on an RV forum. I cut my programming teeth on one in 1976 as part of a Senior project to automate the analysis of Emission Spectrophotometry results in the Chemistry dept of the University of Alabama. The prof handled/built the hardware and I was developing code in Hex. When we got the second K of static RAM working, What A Day!!! This one semester assignment wildly changed the course of my 40 year career from just another rubber chemist to a multi-discipline problem solver.

Thanks for the memories!

[richard5933]

Prior to text messages and email to communicate across a large office, there were pneumatic tubes. It used to be a big thrill when my dad would take us to his office for a day in NY, and my brother and I would spend hours sending silly notes to each other through their complex web of the tubes.

[EdInArk]

Originally Posted by richard5933

Prior to text messages and email to communicate across a large office, there were pneumatic tubes. It used to be a big thrill when my dad would take us to his office for a day in NY, and my brother and I would spend hours sending silly notes to each other through their complex web of the tubes.

There was a department store with those in downtown Little Rock. You'd go make a purchase and they'd put your cash in one and send it to a balcony. There someone would take that cash and send the change back down. It was a novel system to control the money.

[IC2]

The last of the remote cashier systems I recall was in my favorite hardware store in Schenectady, NY called Wallace Armer. It wasn't the pneumatic tube but a pulley and little cable car system. You could watch those little cars run through that very large store. The owner passed away in the early '90s and the store finally closed about 1995. There were a couple other stores in town that had the pneumatic tube system - fascinating to watch but not as much fun as the hardware store's system. None of this fancy computer controlled systems that control and even order inventory. They used real people, telephones and *gasp* mail and stamps to order products. I even recall when we went from an operator, party lines to dial phones in the mid '50s (yep, I AM that ancient and even recall our first phone number, 2-7596 with no prefix letters or numbers.

[vlamgat]

Originally Posted by Radacravitz

funny ... I’ve got three 200lx’s + manuals and all the goodies in my data center / home office closet. I got my first one in ‘95 and picked the others up over time.

can’t believe it’s 25+ years already ....

I have 3 as well and also started with the 95. Every copy of the Digest ever published and every accessory ever made for it including the Newton key board, the external hard drive mount, printer, double speed chip, and the 3 1/4" disk drive. With the DOS app Framework 2, it worked just like our W10 suite does today just monochrome and all on 2 AA batteries.

[Electra 225]

Fascinating stuff guys.
Regarding the pneumatic tubes.....they're still in use at most bank drive through(s)

[TexasJeff]

I've pondered the facial expressions of ol' Ben Franklin, Washington, or even my dad if they could sit next to me in the Jeep with its LED lights, 8" in-dash screen and capability of routing through traffic or making reservations at a restaurant. Or, the concept of being a day's ride in to town back in the day, and the overnight stay to complete the round trip and now days even just cruising along a highway at 60 mph.