# Short lived tech



## Devon68 (Mar 25, 2019)

Do you know any tech that seems like it was a good idea but it never took off in popularity. There are a few things that come to mind.
For one I remember the HDD/ssd dock that could be found on cases like the Thermaltake Dokker, CM Storm Stryker


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## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

Two computers in one PC case? (Full size ATX motherboard plus a Mini-ITX motherboard)


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## E-Bear (Mar 25, 2019)

What about Firewire that was faster than USB but got surpassed by USB. Little bit like VHS did to Beta-Max.


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## Toothless (Mar 25, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Two computers in one PC case? (Full size ATX motherboard plus a Mini-ITX motherboard)


I need two of those for four of my rigs. Space saving!


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## Jetster (Mar 25, 2019)

100mb zip drives





Betamax






Google Glass


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## hat (Mar 25, 2019)

I got one: Laserdisc!


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## Kursah (Mar 25, 2019)

I might still have a functioning Iomega ZIP drive in storage.

HD-DVD?

16:10 monitors? Maybe there's still some around, but man they went by the wayside quickly and unfortunately.

Windows ME... 

FreeWWWeb Free Dial-Up... we got about 6 months, which was sweet. Then Juno bought em' out...probably didn't cost much. 

Netburst Arch...R.I.P. P4, but the Core2 era was so much better and more fun for OCers. That was my golden era. I still have my P4 630, in all its hot running useless glory.


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## spectatorx (Mar 25, 2019)

HD-DVD seemed to be interesting but didn't pull out, lower capacity in comparison to blu-ray discs is definitely one of reasons.

Double-sided optical discs, didn't see any in my entire life and i burnt a lot of CDs and DVDs.

As already mentioned firewire was superior over usb and unfortunately didn't last well.

1TB magnetic tapes, do not remember name of that standard, released in 1997 i think.

Gigabyte's i-ram which was hardware ramdisk, awesome thing but it's price killed it.

Dedicated PPU (Physics Processing Unit), similar case as i-ram's, price killed it and nVidia bought out Ageia, ported technology to be processed by gpus.

I can add few more example when i will remember something interesting.


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## hat (Mar 25, 2019)

Atari's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial


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## Kursah (Mar 25, 2019)

spectatorx said:


> Gigabyte's i-ram which was hardware ramdisk, awesome thing but it's price killed it.



Speaking of ram, RDRAM from RAMBUS. I still have some for my original P4 build. Runs hot, slow and was too expensive for what it offered.


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## E-Bear (Mar 25, 2019)

hat said:


> I got one: Laserdisc!



i have two movies for it at home.


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## droopyRO (Mar 25, 2019)

Ageia Physx cards.


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## Fouquin (Mar 25, 2019)

hat said:


> I got one: Laserdisc!



The crazy thing is they were still producing LaserDisc players until 2009. 30 year production cycle hardly counts as short lived!


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## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

Here's another, no wonder these types of cases didn't catch on. This one is huge with the price to match.
Thermaltake Core W200 Super Tower Chassis - https://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002894

Also a Lian Li had a case with space for two separate systems inside. "Designed for hardcore enthusiasts, the case will eventually go on sale for somewhere around $400."


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## dorsetknob (Mar 25, 2019)

LS120 Floppy Drives


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## Fouquin (Mar 25, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Here's another, no wonder these types of cases didn't catch on. This one is huge with the price to match.
> Thermaltake Core W200 Super Tower Chassis - https://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002894



Isn't this a thing still? Like, there were dual-system cases at Computex just last year. Bit early to call it a dead trend, don't you think?


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## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

Fouquin said:


> Isn't this a thing still? Like, there were dual-system cases at Computex just last year. Bit early to call it a dead trend, don't you think?


I don't see were it really caught on, but maybe it is to soon?


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## Darmok N Jalad (Mar 25, 2019)

Windows Phone!  (and Zune, Groove, Band, etc) Windows RT was just starting to get decent with Surface 2 as well.


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## spectatorx (Mar 25, 2019)

Fouquin said:


> Isn't this a thing still? Like, there were dual-system cases at Computex just last year. Bit early to call it a dead trend, don't you think?



Yep, dual system pc cases are still designed and released from time to time. Fairly rare and definitely not widely marketed in mainstream tech media but definitely not dead by any means, more like niche category of things.


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## theFOoL (Mar 25, 2019)

*Tape*-*Drives*



 https://statewideinventory.org/volkswagen-0-60-times​


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## dorsetknob (Mar 25, 2019)

*rk3066*

Tape Drives are still a thing
Capacities have risen to keep current (sort of ) to spinning Rust


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## Fouquin (Mar 25, 2019)

rk3066 said:


> *Tape*-*Drives*
> 
> 
> 
> ​



Now hang on
just one gosh
darn second.


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## Devon68 (Mar 25, 2019)

There were GPU's that used GDDR 4 ram that were fast replaced by GDDR 5
Dell ATI FireGL V7700 512MB GDDR4 SDRAM


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## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

rk3066 said:


> *Tape*-*Drives*
> 
> 
> 
> ​


Obselete tech living on borrowed time is all tape drives are but who's to say they may never completely disappear.


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## moproblems99 (Mar 25, 2019)

RTX 20 Series

Scratch that, wasn't even good idea.


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## overvolted (Mar 25, 2019)

Fouquin said:


> Isn't this a thing still? Like, there were dual-system cases at Computex just last year. Bit early to call it a dead trend, don't you think?



I'm actually considering adding a mini ITX to my existing system.
I don't see it as a bad thing. I think it's actually pretty cool. A lot better than two separate cases.


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## Jetster (Mar 25, 2019)

Rambus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambus













The ATI All in Wonder card


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## biffzinker (Mar 25, 2019)

How about eSATA? Created in 2008, doesn't seem like it stuck around for very long.

How about wireless charging built into a desk?

Where did BTX go or Mini-DTX?


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## GorbazTheDragon (Mar 25, 2019)

The OP with in case drive docks is kinda funny to me because I and several of my family members have one (or more) USB drive docks lying around our desks... I guess not having it stuck on the case is quite big in terms of ease of use.

My input is the rotating fan-heatsink thing: https://techreport.com/news/27637/cooler-master-kinetic-engine-turns-rotating-heatsink-into-a-fan






Though i guess whether it was ever alive is disputable...


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## spectatorx (Mar 25, 2019)

Devon68 said:


> There were GPU's that used GDDR 4 ram that were fast replaced by GDDR 5
> Dell ATI FireGL V7700 512MB GDDR4 SDRAM
> View attachment 119481


I owned one of gpus using gddr4: sapphire hd2600xt, good card at its time. There were few gpus with gddr4: x1950xtx, hd2600xt, hd2900xt and as i just learned sapphire did use it on their hd4670 512MB.


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## DR4G00N (Mar 25, 2019)

GorbazTheDragon said:


> My input is the rotating fan-heatsink thing: https://techreport.com/news/27637/cooler-master-kinetic-engine-turns-rotating-heatsink-into-a-fan
> 
> Though i guess whether it was ever alive is disputable...


These still exist, just a bit different to the original design. They're expensive and not amazing, but they are very low profile.
https://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002957


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## Darmok N Jalad (Mar 25, 2019)

Devon68 said:


> There were GPU's that used GDDR 4 ram that were fast replaced by GDDR 5
> Dell ATI FireGL V7700 512MB GDDR4 SDRAM
> View attachment 119481


My Radeon 3870 was another one. I loved that card—it played Bioshock so well.


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## GorbazTheDragon (Mar 25, 2019)

DR4G00N said:


> These still exist, just a bit different to the original design. They're expensive and not amazing, but they are very low profile.
> https://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002957






11/10 marketing


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## Darmok N Jalad (Mar 25, 2019)

GorbazTheDragon said:


> View attachment 119482
> 
> 11/10 marketing


I’m waiting for the revision that adds a turbo-encabulator.


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## phanbuey (Mar 26, 2019)

It stays cool while the rest of your system burns your house down! The radial gaps ensure that the pesky heat from the processor core never makes it to the metallic fan, and our patented metallic fan base bounces the heat right back to the processor core, where it came from and belongs!

Go home heat!  Get outta here!

My favorite part of that picture is that the scale goes up to 45C... which is basically slightly above idle.  Explains why the hub of the exhaust fan is glowing red lol.


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## Solaris17 (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Obselete tech living on borrowed time is all tape drives are but who's to say they may never completely disappear.



I've still used LTO 6 and LTO7 tapes for backups. I can almost guarantee it isn't going anywhere soon. They are spec'd out to LTO12 on roadmaps. Its just so cheap for the amount of storage you get. For pretty much all companies known to man that have to hold patient, finance, employee records for years and years for compliance nothing even in spinning rust land comes close to the densities of data per sq/ft


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## natr0n (Mar 26, 2019)

Laser keyboards


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## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

Solaris17 said:


> I've still used LTO 6 and LTO7 tapes for backups. I can almost guarantee it isn't going anywhere soon. They are spec'd out to LTO12 on roadmaps. Its just so cheap for the amount of storage you get. For pretty much all companies known to man that have to hold patient, finance, employee records for years and years for compliance nothing even in spinning rust land comes close to the densities of data per sq/ft



I've tape here at home and we use LTO7's at work..  It's not such a bad thing to have they are ok I suppose   I do wonder how easy it would be to re-store something from them when you need it mind....  Still, the tapes and the tape drives are massively expensive..  Not sure how anyone would want them bar the big companies unless they use Cloud storage...  ??


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## Caring1 (Mar 26, 2019)

Jetster said:


> The ATI All in Wonder card


Only died due to Digital Terrestrial TV replacing Analogue, All in Wonders were around for years prior to that.


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## Solaris17 (Mar 26, 2019)

phill said:


> I do wonder how easy it would be to re-store something from them when you need it mind.



Remember the sysadmin wisdom. "There are no successful backups, only successful restores." 

back on topic. 

NFORCE chipsets! I miss nvidia making chipsets im not sure why they stopped but honestly liked them alot for the time.


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## GorbazTheDragon (Mar 26, 2019)

Yeah was on the fence about getting some nvidia chipset mobos when I was looking around for LGA775 boards to play with, unfortunately the good boards were rather hard to come by.


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## spectatorx (Mar 26, 2019)

Solaris17 said:


> Remember the sysadmin wisdom. "There are no successful backups, only successful restores."
> 
> back on topic.
> 
> NFORCE chipsets! I miss nvidia making chipsets im not sure why they stopped but honestly liked them alot for the time.


And wonderful times when SLI was officially evailable only on nForce chipsets. Would you really want it back? Fortunately at that time there were modified ngo drivers created by, still present here, Eran "regeneration" Badit who figured out how to make sli work on intel's chipsets as well. On ngo drivers i may be a bit incorrect so he himself can correct me. I really miss ngohq.com.

Fortunately now sli works on all chipsets, even amd's, since sb9xx chipset series.


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## Solaris17 (Mar 26, 2019)

spectatorx said:


> And wonderful times when SLI was officially evailable only on nForce chipsets. Would you really want it back? Fortunately at that time there were modified ngo drivers created by, still present here, Eran "regeneration" Badit who figured out how to make sli work on intel's chipsets as well. On ngo drivers i may be a bit incorrect so he himself can correct me. I really miss ngohq.com.
> 
> Fortunately now sli works on all chipsets, even amd's, since sb9xx chipset series.



I feel about the same about it as I did crossfire only boards. Or how bout when AMD and Intel decided not to share CPU sockets anymore?

Yes they were sweet chipsets and I would want them back.


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## windwhirl (Mar 26, 2019)

Audio/Modem Riser. I always looked at that as if it were a complete waste of space/time/money and other resources.


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## eidairaman1 (Mar 26, 2019)

Jetster said:


> 100mb zip drives
> 
> 
> 
> ...



250MB drives


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

I think the OP was looking for tech with the potential to be a knock out but instead fizzled out. Less to do with obsolete tech like compact disc.

Whatever happed to the tech thatprojected a keyboard on desk? Was that the laser keyboard someone mentioned?


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## spectatorx (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I think the OP was looking for tech with the potential to be a knock out but instead fizzled out. Less to do with obsolete tech like compact disc.
> 
> Whatever happed to the tech thatprojected a keyboard on desk? Was that the laser keyboard someone mentioned?


Interesting idea but very bad from ergonomic standpoint, you would feel fingers and palm aches after minutes of using something like it. Good for typing few letters long text, navigating some simple interface but... touchscreen already does it better, for example in kiosk-type devices.


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

spectatorx said:


> Interesting idea but very bad from ergonomic standpoint, you would feel fingers and palm aches after minutes of using something like it. Good for typing few letters long text, navigating some simple interface but... touchscreen already does it better, for example in kiosk-type devices.


I thought the idea was it made the keyboard bigger for typing compared to a virtual keyboard. The projected keyboard could be split the same as a ergonomic keyboard for added comfort.


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## Dinnercore (Mar 26, 2019)

How about them PDs?






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-change_Dual

Got a drive and some still sealed disks from my granddad.


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## Darmok N Jalad (Mar 26, 2019)

I think NVIDIA chipsets died when CPUs took on memory control on their own, and it was for sure a lost cause once the IGP came into existence.


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> How about them PDs?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I raise you a hard disk drive with removable platters.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SyQuest_Technology



Darmok N Jalad said:


> I think NVIDIA chipsets died when CPUs took on memory control on their own, and it was for sure a lost cause once the IGP came into existence.


Doesn't help Intel refused to renew the license for their FSB to Nvidia. Didn't Nvidia call it quits after AMD bought ATI? Pretty sure Nvidia still made chipsets for the AMD platform even after AMD moved the memory controller on-die.


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## rtwjunkie (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> How about eSATA? Created in 2008, doesn't seem like it stuck around for very long.


At least through Z97. My main rig has eSATA port which goes to my storage drive.  I keep using the port because A)it just works and is pretty fast, and B) the external HDD enclosure is eSATA. I will just use it till it breaks.



Solaris17 said:


> NFORCE chipsets! I miss nvidia making chipsets im not sure why they stopped but honestly liked them alot for the time.


I had one for awhile.  Definitely required some work. They were not basic user friendly.  I loved it though!


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## R-T-B (Mar 26, 2019)

dorsetknob said:


> LS120 Floppy Drives



I have a box of IBM 4MB floppy disks somewhere (roughly 2.8MB formatted capacity).

Some weird propietary shit from that era that obviously, didn't pan out.  Look like normal floppies but no work in a normal 3.5" drive.


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> I have a box of IBM 4MB floppy disks somewhere (roughly 2.8MB formatted capacity).
> 
> Some weird propietary shit from that era that obviously, didn't pan out.  Look like normal floppies but no work in a normal 3.5" drive.


Didn't Microsoft use those as installation disks for at least one version of Windows?


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## windwhirl (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I thought the idea was it made the keyboard bigger for typing compared to a virtual keyboard. The projected keyboard could be split the same as a ergonomic keyboard for added comfort.



I could never use a projection keyboard. I need to feel the keys, mostly to know how much I have to move my fingers and in which direction, to reach a desired key or keys. 

Even to this day I don't feel comfortable with smartphones, and it's all because of the on-screen keyboard...


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## R-T-B (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Didn't Microsoft use those as installation disks for at least one version of Windows?



Unlikely since you need a special floppy drive just to read them.  I did homework on it way back when I found them, in hopes they'd become more than the fun conversation piece they are now.

Wikipedia only says this:



> In 1988 IBM introduced a drive for 2.88 MB "DSED" (Double-Sided Extended-Density) diskettes in its top-of-the-line PS/2 models, but this was a commercial failure.



Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

windwhirl said:


> Even to this day I don't feel comfortable with smartphones, and it's all because of the on-screen keyboard...


Same for me, sound and vibration doesn't help the experience.


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## R-T-B (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Same for me, sound and vibration doesn't help the experience.



I liked the original droid smartphone thing.  Why did real keyboards on phones die?

Example:






While we are at it, how about removable batteries?  I miss them.

Oh yes, it was all sacrificed for our own good, so we could have the cool glass "IT'S ALL SCREEN" fun we have now.

Give me back the past.

Then again, I had a model M for years and...  nvm.  I'm turning into a grumpy old man and I'm only 30.


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> .. nvm. I'm turning into a grumpy old man and I'm only 30.


There is the Blackberry KEY2 with a physical keyboard. 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7TJQ83


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## ShurikN (Mar 26, 2019)

Literally 50% of the stuff Sony created back in the day. 
With them it was either huge success or a major flop.


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## Jetster (Mar 26, 2019)

Solaris17 said:


> Or how bout when AMD and Intel decided not to share CPU sockets anymore?



Don't recall them every sharing a socket, did they? I've been working on boards from the 80286

EDIT:
No shit ..1994 ...Socket 5 and 7


Remember Cyrix chisets?


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Don't recall them every sharing a socket, did they? I've been working on boards from the 80286


Super socket 7 for AMD while Intel made the move to Slot 1. Having trouble remembering the socket for the Pentium Pro.


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## ratirt (Mar 26, 2019)

Jetster said:


> Don't recall them every sharing a socket, did they? I've been working on boards from the 80286
> 
> EDIT:
> No shit ..1994 ...Socket 5 and 7
> ...


I think you mean Via chipsets. Cyrix was a processor. Unless the company moved to motherboards as well.
How about Blueray? Are they being used still ? I know ps3 has support for this. Does ps4 have that too?


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## Jetster (Mar 26, 2019)

ratirt said:


> I think you mean Via chipsets. Cyrix was a processor. Unless the company moved to motherboards as well.
> How about Blueray? Are they being used still ? I know ps3 has support for this. Does ps4 have that too?


Yes that correct,
Blueray an't groin anywhere soon. Still used movies and backups


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## Mats (Mar 26, 2019)

Broadwell S






SATA Express





Windows SideShow


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## Athlonite (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Didn't Microsoft use those as installation disks for at least one version of Windows?



It was an expansion set called Microsoft Plus for windows 95 I still have the disk set and a little program that would format 1.44MB floppies to their 2.88MB but it was only the first disk in the set that was used as an early form of copy protection because most DOS and windows formating programs would allow for the higher capacity to be formated



R-T-B said:


> Unlikely since you need a special floppy drive just to read them.  I did homework on it way back when I found them, in hopes they'd become more than the fun conversation piece they are now.
> 
> Wikipedia only says this:
> Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk



not quite right any 3.5" floppy drive could read the 2.88MB floppies


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## Caring1 (Mar 26, 2019)

Slightly computer related due to the amount of tech involved.


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## racer243l (Mar 26, 2019)

PSP and PS Vita. At least I don´t know anyone using them anymore.
 Xbox Kinect also comes to mind


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## ratirt (Mar 26, 2019)

racer243l said:


> PSP and PS Vita. At least I don´t know anyone using them anymore.
> Xbox Kinect also comes to mind


I did over a year ago when I gave them away to small kids so they can play with it  It still works and you can buy games. I mean you could half a year ago at least.


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## FordGT90Concept (Mar 26, 2019)

hat said:


> Atari's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial


Contracts signed in July 1982.  Developed in 5.5 weeks. Released in December 1982. Buried in a landfill in September 1983.

Short development. Short shelf-life. Quickly covered up (literally).


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## sepheronx (Mar 26, 2019)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_CD32

Amiga System CD 32.

Not a full year.


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## Rahnak (Mar 26, 2019)

MiniDisc. My very first high tech purchase was a Sony MD player. Loved it.


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## P4-630 (Mar 26, 2019)

CDi players:

I still have one like this





I still have my large cdi game collection and movies.
In the 90's I used it for internet as well, with a dial-up modem and a keyboard.

















https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i

"_Lifespan 1991-1998_"

Maybe not really that "short lived" but they aren't produced anymore for a long time...


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## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

sepheronx said:


> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_CD32
> 
> Amiga System CD 32.
> 
> Not a full year.



I have one of these, such a shame


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## Zyll Goliat (Mar 26, 2019)

Somewhere in 1984 Retronics made"Wafadrive"peripheral for the Sinclair Zx Spectrum home computer, intended to compete with Sinclair's ZX Interface 1 and ZX Microdrive....well it didn´t last for long.....


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## sepheronx (Mar 26, 2019)

phill said:


> I have one of these, such a shame



oh man.

What is your experience with it?


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## natr0n (Mar 26, 2019)

TMD fans


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## Darmok N Jalad (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Doesn't help Intel refused to renew the license for their FSB to Nvidia. Didn't Nvidia call it quits after AMD bought ATI? Pretty sure Nvidia still made chipsets for the AMD platform even after AMD moved the memory controller on-die.



Yes they did. I had an Nvidia S754 nForce3 chipset—that was a single channel A64 board, and fairly popular for its time. Ironically, it was one of the culprits that made Vista so bad due to poor driver support. Nvidia also made a few Core 2 chipsets, as Macs used them up until about 2010. Once both players got serious about integrated graphics, Nvidia had no choice but to abandon the segment and instead started making ARM chips.


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## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

sepheronx said:


> oh man.
> 
> What is your experience with it?



I bought it for my Retro collection mostly.  I have a few Amiga's at home, A500 and a couple of Amiga 1200's too.  Gotta say, even after this long a time, the hardware just works and the games still draw me in even after so long 
The CD32 I've not used massively, having a 1 month old baby girl is a little time consuming but I do hope to grab a few games for it and enjoy it at some point   They do hold their money rather well so I can't grumble at that   It was a bit like the other CD based consoles that released about that time, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, they all had to compete to the Sony Playstation..  Well lets face it, that won hands down


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## INSTG8R (Mar 26, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Doesn't help Intel refused to renew the license for their FSB to Nvidia. Didn't Nvidia call it quits after AMD bought ATI? Pretty sure Nvidia still made chipsets for the AMD platform even after AMD moved the memory controller on-die.


I have a dead laptop in my closet(power brick packed in) AMD Turion X2 on Nforce Chipset, with NV 8400M MXM Graphics.  Back when everyone was still friends. Had it running well on Win 10 64 before it packed in. 
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspire-7520G.7703.0.html


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## SLA1N (Mar 26, 2019)

windwhirl said:


> I could never use a projection keyboard. I need to feel the keys, mostly to know how much I have to move my fingers and in which direction, to reach a desired key or keys.
> 
> Even to this day I don't feel comfortable with smartphones, and it's all because of the on-screen keyboard...


I owned one . It was completely terrible to use.


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## P4-630 (Mar 26, 2019)

natr0n said:


> TMD fans
> View attachment 119540



Never seen one before!


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## Solaris17 (Mar 26, 2019)

P4-630 said:


> Never seen one before!



Same! What was the use case for these?


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## natr0n (Mar 26, 2019)

Solaris17 said:


> Same! What was the use case for these?

















Socket A cooler I have 2 of them.


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## kurosagi01 (Mar 26, 2019)

Sega Megadrive/Genesis 32X add-on 
Atari Jaguar 
We used to have laserdisc until it got knicked.


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## biffzinker (Mar 26, 2019)

natr0n said:


> Socket A cooler I have 2 of them.


I use to have one back during the Athlon XP era



Solaris17 said:


> Same! What was the use case for these?


Magnets in the corners allowed the middle hub to shrink in size allowing more airflow to the heatsink instead of the big motor dead spot in the middle for a normal fan.


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## commander calamitous (Mar 26, 2019)

e-book readers



R-T-B said:


> I liked the original droid smartphone thing.  Why did real keyboards on phones die?
> 
> Example:
> 
> ...



I love the software swipe predictive keyboards tbh, and would not want the additional weight of an extra keyboard.  Perhaps it could be an option


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## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

kurosagi01 said:


> Sega Megadrive/Genesis 32X add-on
> Atari Jaguar



I've the 32X here as well, never really got interested in the Atari's for some reason but really enjoyed the 32X


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## kurosagi01 (Mar 26, 2019)

phill said:


> I've the 32X here as well, never really got interested in the Atari's for some reason but really enjoyed the 32X


Being a kid at the time I was only able to get into any next generation gaming is through my parents either for christmas or birthday. So I missed out on the whole add-ons and even the inbetween systems released. Went straight for the PS1 after the Megadrive/Genesis after year and half of the initial release of the PS1.

The Nintendo WiiU died pretty quickly too in my opinion.


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## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

kurosagi01 said:


> Being a kid at the time I was only able to get into any next generation gaming is through my parents either for christmas or birthday. So I missed out on the whole add-ons and even the inbetween systems released. Went straight for the PS1 after the Megadrive/Genesis after year and half of the initial release of the PS1.
> 
> The Nintendo WiiU died pretty quickly too in my opinion.



I grew up in the 80's so when all the Mega Drives and SNES came out originally, it was an amazing site to see Doom running for the first time and everything starting off in 3D   Really enjoyed gaming back then   Now, meh, not so much...

But most of the older 'retro' consoles I do have now and think that was definitely a brilliant time for games and consoles, even PC's/Amiga's/Atari's etc


----------



## MrGenius (Mar 26, 2019)

DVD-RAM was never as popular as it should have been. I've always thought that OCZ DDR Booster was a cool idea too. Pretty impractical though(potentially taking up two RAM slots). And there are other ways to easily feed 3.3V to your RAM(and the 3.7V you could get from the DDR Booster didn't really help that much over 3.3V, if at all).


----------



## deemon (Mar 26, 2019)

G-Sync
.... too early?


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 26, 2019)

Window Pen Edition ( windows for workgroup 3.1 with e pen addon) ) had this on a 486 laptop


----------



## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

What about the turbo button on some of the very early DX2/DX4 machines and I think early Pentium CPUs??   that was pretty cool but I don't think it lasted so long...  Not sure if that was basic overclocking or what...   Anyone else remember that??


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Mar 26, 2019)

phill said:


> What about the turbo button on some of the very early DX2/DX4 machines and I think early Pentium CPUs??   that was pretty cool but I don't think it lasted so long...  Not sure if that was basic overclocking or what...   Anyone else remember that??


I think it had to do with supporting old software. You had to throttle down to get the program to run. Ah, the days of in-order execution!


----------



## phill (Mar 26, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> I think it had to do with supporting old software. You had to throttle down to get the program to run. Ah, the days of in-order execution!



Back in the early days of when I first got into PCs...  1996 I believe when I started college in my first year...  After my Amiga went pop, I had to turn to the dark side...  I wish I had taken some more pictures of it and the hardware that was in it...  Was amazing for the time 
I never knew how it worked, just that it did make a difference lol


----------



## vectoravtech (Mar 27, 2019)

UT2004, it needs a revamp into something with cube2's errorless and low latency aspects but also retain the flexability of C++. Maybe a server background reset that noone would know about; like a duplicate ghosted so they are always the same (a lag calculator) but its in the software to keep the server uninterupted. Or create an automatic file checker before they load that fixes itself and the files.


----------



## king of swag187 (Mar 27, 2019)

Kursah said:


> I might still have a functioning Iomega ZIP drive in storage.
> 
> HD-DVD?
> 
> ...


16:10 is seeming to come back, and atleast *Apple *still uses it


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

Caring1 said:


> Only died due to Digital Terrestrial TV replacing Analogue, All in Wonders were around for years prior to that.


I wish AMD would make another AIW Card. RV7 or Navi? Yes please, I'd get one.


----------



## theFOoL (Mar 27, 2019)

*Google Glass*

**

I loved the tech.. Do ya think Google should bring it back?​


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> 250MB drives


And 750MB


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 27, 2019)

natr0n said:


> TMD fans
> View attachment 119540



The idea of using magnets to drive a fan didn't die with them though.  Maglev's from Sunon and Corsair (licensed from Sunon I suspect) still live on in both industrial and enthusiast enviroments.  I'm not sure they function exactly the same, but they are both magnet driven at least...


----------



## Fouquin (Mar 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Having trouble remembering the socket for the Pentium Pro.



Socket 8. Supported only 7 retail P6 processors (8  if you include the 133MHz prototypes) from 150MHz (Pentium Pro) to 333MHz (PII Overdrive). Introduced the world to a full TeraFLOP of processing power, as well as Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities (discovered 23 years later).


----------



## Solaris17 (Mar 27, 2019)

rk3066 said:


> *Google Glass*
> 
> *View attachment 119602*
> 
> I loved the tech.. Do ya think Google should bring it back?​



I do I was sad that it was exclusive I’d totally buy a pair


----------



## vectoravtech (Mar 27, 2019)

rk3066 said:


> *Google Glass*
> 
> *View attachment 119602*
> 
> I loved the tech.. Do ya think Google should bring it back?​


they should gear it for the masses and make the screen the whole glasses then they can go the AR route.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> I liked the original droid smartphone thing. Why did real keyboards on phones die?


Exactly. There is a new phone coming soon with a physical keyboard. I'm getting one.
https://www.androidauthority.com/fxtec-pro1-review-960653


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 27, 2019)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> I think NVIDIA chipsets died when CPUs took on memory control on their own, and it was for sure a lost cause once the IGP came into existence.



No only after AM2/AM2+, considering they sold a sli controller to board makers since Crossfire was already implemented on intel and AMD chipsets...



lexluthermiester said:


> Exactly. There is a new phone coming soon with a physical keyboard. I'm getting one.
> https://www.androidauthority.com/fxtec-pro1-review-960653
> View attachment 119603



Hopefully you can get a tri layer protective case.

Ah the TMO sidekick reborn...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hopefully you can get a tri layer protective case.


Wouldn't personally need one, I'm careful with my phones.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 27, 2019)

lexluthermiester said:


> Wouldn't personally need one, I'm careful with my phones.



I am too but the case has saved my bacon a few times. (Fall out of pockets).

Im on a S5 G900T


----------



## remixedcat (Mar 27, 2019)

having a keyboard would be nice... however I swype a lot tho. but better in colder weather.  One thing we need is a waterproof nexus 6 with better specs... the mix of features are nice on it, wireless charging, headphone jack, still physical buttons... with the phone market you gotta sacrifice something. the energizer thick brick is a joke it's so thick but no headphone jack or full usb... wtf were they thinkin?


----------



## Jetster (Mar 27, 2019)




----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

Jetster said:


>


Beepers were not short-lived. They were around for a solid 20 years.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 27, 2019)

Rahnak said:


> MiniDisc. My very first high tech purchase was a Sony MD player. Loved it.


I had a Sony MiniDisc player, bought it from Sears. Don't recall what happened to it other than I gave up on using it.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I had a Sony MiniDisc player, bought it from Sears. Don't recall what happened to it other than I gave up on using it.


I had one too. Loved it.


----------



## r9 (Mar 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Here's another, no wonder these types of cases didn't catch on. This one is huge with the price to match.
> Thermaltake Core W200 Super Tower Chassis - https://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002894
> 
> Also a Lian Li had a case with space for two separate systems inside. "Designed for hardcore enthusiasts, the case will eventually go on sale for somewhere around $400."


That Lian Li case, it's hard for me to see what the advantage would be vs two computers just side by side.


----------



## kapone32 (Mar 27, 2019)

Flat screen CRT TVs


----------



## theFOoL (Mar 27, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> Flat screen CRT TVs


Boy do I remember that 32 inch TV ￼￼ from RCA


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 27, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> Flat screen CRT TVs


Had one, I forget the brand but it had a black/gray color, and was 25 inches. Don't miss trying to move those heavy monitors around if moving was necessary. Want to say it was Viewsonic but I'm not sure.


----------



## theFOoL (Mar 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Had one, I forget the brand but it had a black/gray color, and was 25 inches. Don't miss trying to move those heavy monitors around if moving was necessary. Want to say it was Viewsonic but I'm not sure.


we just sold ours for 35 when we moved


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 27, 2019)

rk3066 said:


> we just sold ours for 35 when we moved


Only worth 35? Sure it's old but at this point a bit rare.


----------



## theFOoL (Mar 27, 2019)

No no this was back in 2006


----------



## kapone32 (Mar 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Had one, I forget the brand but it had a black/gray color, and was 25 inches. Don't miss trying to move those heavy monitors around if moving was necessary. Want to say it was Viewsonic but I'm not sure.


 Yep those TVs really tested your weight lifting skills I learned quickly was the best way to move them was with the screen facing the floor. I had a Samsung 32" gave it to my nephew.


----------



## biffzinker (Mar 27, 2019)

kapone32 said:


> Flat screen CRT TVs


Not just TVs, newer CRT monitors had the inverted tube that gave a flat screen. Before the flat screen CRT was a Sony Trinitron 17 inch with VGA. Never knew what the two tiny/thin wires in the tube were for until the monitor was long gone.


----------



## Lorec (Mar 27, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> I had a Sony MiniDisc player, bought it from Sears. Don't recall what happened to it other than I gave up on using it.





lexluthermiester said:


> I had one too. Loved it.



I still have it lol


----------



## Rahnak (Mar 27, 2019)

Lorec said:


> View attachment 119670
> I still have it lol



Awesome. I have kept mine as well.


----------



## deemon (Mar 27, 2019)

Fouquin said:


> Socket 8. Supported only 7 retail P6 processors (8  if you include the 133MHz prototypes) from 150MHz (Pentium Pro) to 333MHz (PII Overdrive). Introduced the world to a full TeraFLOP of processing power, as well as Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities (discovered 23 years later).



Not discovered, but REVEALED!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 27, 2019)

Lorec said:


> View attachment 119670
> I still have it lol


WOW! You had one of the very rare Victor models! Very nice!


Rahnak said:


> Awesome. I have kept mine as well.
> View attachment 119672


Also nice! I do not still have mine, sold it on Ebay years ago to someone who needed spare parts.


----------



## M0rafic (Apr 2, 2019)

I give you the Next Cube, commercially a complete flop, but without it we may well not be communicating 






For it was on such a beast at Cern that Tim Berners-Lee developed and hosted the world's first web server, called  WorldWideWeb.  Hence web addresses that start www   It also led to the development of the mac pro ....


----------



## freeagent (Apr 2, 2019)

Magnavox odyssey 2, Ive got one one at my moms under the basement stairs.. I got it in 1989 as a gift. It was in mint condition, even the box was sweet. I guess it lasted 6 years, so maybe not that short lived..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnavox_Odyssey²


----------



## vega22 (Apr 2, 2019)

biffzinker said:


> Doesn't help Intel refused to renew the license for their FSB to Nvidia. Didn't Nvidia call it quits after AMD bought ATI? Pretty sure Nvidia still made chipsets for the AMD platform even after AMD moved the memory controller on-die.



intel stopped using the old fsb data path after 775 and didn't license rights to anybody after that. 

i think they had their hayday with nf4. You could get ram running so much tighter than p65 but they lost out there when pushing the fsb silly high. Nf6 and 7 were much the same but p35 and p45 handled the 45nm duo and quads like nothing else. I think intel stopped sharing info with them at this time.

The nfa chipsets lived on for years with the likes of ECS and asrock.


----------



## Deleted member 197986 (Jun 21, 2020)

Logitech SoundMan Wave (Jazz16/OPL4):


----------



## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 21, 2020)

Video cards with inputs, it was quite handy very occasionally.


----------



## Boatvan (Jun 21, 2020)

I know this thread was necro'ed but what about 3d televisions? My parents bought one with special glasses in like 2008. The glasses were used once right at purchase, then put in a drawer to collect dust. There were supposed to be dedicated 3d channels on TV like it was the future. They advertised watching sports in 3D (sounded cool but was actually pretty lame and you ended up switching back to normal) It never took off and faded into obscurity.









						3D television - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## Recon-UK (Jun 21, 2020)

Saturn.





DC.


----------



## Frick (Jun 21, 2020)

theoneandonlymrk said:


> Video cards with inputs, it was quite handy very occasionally.



The AMD All in Wonder cards were not uncommon back in the day iirc...


----------



## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 21, 2020)

Frick said:


> The AMD All in Wonder cards were not uncommon back in the day iirc...


I still have one sat in my old sidelined but fave GPU box , kin quite the collection now without the intent to collect.


----------



## dorsetknob (Jun 21, 2020)

Frick said:


> The AMD All in Wonder cards were not uncommon back in the day iirc...


and more than a few ATI  cards also had VIVO ports
ps i also got a couple AIW cards


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Jun 21, 2020)

Boatvan said:


> I know this thread was necro'ed but what about 3d televisions? My parents bought one with special glasses in like 2008. The glasses were used once right at purchase, then put in a drawer to collect dust. There were supposed to be dedicated 3d channels on TV like it was the future. They advertised watching sports in 3D (sounded cool but was actually pretty lame and you ended up switching back to normal) It never took off and faded into obscurity.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I’m glad 3D didn’t make it. Watching TV is a lazy activity, so taking the extra step of slapping on glasses just seemed like a tough sell to me. I think VR probably stepped in to make sure 3D never took off.


----------



## windwhirl (Jun 21, 2020)

Darmok N Jalad said:


> I’m glad 3D didn’t make it. Watching TV is a lazy activity, so taking the extra step of slapping on glasses just seemed like a tough sell to me. I think VR probably stepped in to make sure 3D never took off.



The price was a little too much, for starters, and it all hinged on the availability of 3D content. It could make sense if you spend a lot of time looking at 3D content that was actually worth it. Otherwise, it was just a very expensive TV.

VR feels like a natural evolution for 3D TVs on the other hand. Why limit yourself to 3D content confined into a screen taking away maybe 40 to 60% of your field of view and to sitting on a couch when you can interact (sort of) with a 3D world taking a lot more of your FOV and with a nearly surround sound experience without surrounding yourself with speakers?


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 21, 2020)

Frick said:


> The *ATI* All in Wonder cards were not uncommon back in the day iirc...


Fixed that for you. With the exception of the 3650 AIW-HD, it was purely an ATI era thing. Which is a shame..


----------



## phill (Jun 21, 2020)

Recon-UK said:


> Saturn.
> 
> View attachment 159706
> 
> ...


I still have these...  Not bad consoles just sadly not what they could have been....  But that said, Sega Rally and Crazy Taxi and The House of the Dead...  Pure awesomeness!!


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 21, 2020)

phill said:


> I still have these...  Not bad consoles just sadly not what they could have been....  But that said, Sega Rally and Crazy Taxi and The House of the Dead...  Pure awesomeness!!


My fav Dreamcast game was easily "Toy Commander". Brilliant fun.


----------



## Devon68 (Jun 21, 2020)

Microsoft Kinect.  - when it was released I was kind of excited that I would be able to play games and physically move around.  Well it faded pretty fast.  Even when Nitendo released the Wii I was hoping to get one but that died pretty fast as well.  I guess I need to get into VR gaming before it dies too.


----------



## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 21, 2020)

Devon68 said:


> Microsoft Kinect.  - when it was released I was kind of excited that I would be able to play games and physically move around.  Well it faded pretty fast.  Even when Nitendo released the Wii I was hoping to get one but that died pretty fast as well.  I guess I need to get into VR gaming before it dies too.


Get on that, I can't see Vr dying either.


----------



## xkm1948 (Jun 21, 2020)

I will add HBM gen 1. Pretty sure only a few Fiji and some workstation FIji GPU used those

Pretty damn sexy die. Too bad only 4GB was achievable.


----------



## phill (Jun 22, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> My fav Dreamcast game was easily "Toy Commander". Brilliant fun.


Googling now!!


----------



## Gmr_Chick (Jun 22, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> How about eSATA? Created in 2008, doesn't seem like it stuck around for very long.
> 
> How about wireless charging built into a desk?
> 
> Where did BTX go or* Mini-DTX?*



Asus makes what I think is the only "mainstream" Mini-DTX board currently, in the Crosshair VIII Impact X570 board. I actually owned one for a time. It was...interesting. rear I/O cover (which also had two 30mm fans in it) was way too long and actually took a bite out of the backplate on the MSI 5700XT Gaming X I'd been using. It was a love-hate kind of mobo for me that has long since been returned.


----------



## Flanker (Jun 22, 2020)

Lucid Hydra?  They tried to make multi-GPU work between AMD and Nvidia cards, went as far as getting decent benchmark scores but actual gaming performance just said no.


----------



## Gmr_Chick (Jun 22, 2020)

Ahhh, seeing people posting all the old video game consoles makes me miss my childhood  

Was born in the 2nd half of the 80's, so I grew up in the 90's, fought in the first Console War (Genesis vs. SNES) in the early 90's, and then in the second Console War (OG Playstation vs. N64)...Man, remembering all of the amazing games that came out during that era...those were the days, man. Back then it was just you (or a buddy or two) and the game. No DLC or microtransaction BS, or a shit ton of patches or snot-nosed little shits in online multiplayer talking to you like they got a pair when really, they haven't even probably dropped yet. 

All I can say is, thank the Maker for emulators.


----------



## tabascosauz (Jun 22, 2020)

Although Asus is still doing vertical daughterboards for its DIMM.2, audio and M.2 solutions, I think it's safe to say that the ITX VRM daughterboard is pretty much dead at this point. It was the most significant feature of its Z87, Z97 and Z170 Impact boards (VI, VII, VIII), although undoubtedly a pain for larger and topflow air coolers. It spilled over the mainstream only once, with the Z87I-Deluxe. The subsequent Z97I-Deluxe went back to a traditional design.






Asus has instead moved onto supplanting proper heatsinks with active VRM fans and uselessly large form-over-function rear shrouds that house I/O, VRM, PCH and the fans that cool them all. Since everyone seems to be prioritizing plastic bling over properly finned heatsinks on ITX, I don't think the advent of 70A and 90A SPS parts will bring us better VRM cooling design on ITX.

Especially since the TDA21472s won't even break a sweat if they didn't have a metal heatsink of any kind.


----------



## newtekie1 (Jun 22, 2020)

theoneandonlymrk said:


> Video cards with inputs, it was quite handy very occasionally.



I had a couple ATI cards with built in TV tuners!


----------



## jrocket (Jun 22, 2020)

Kaby-Lake G, that time when Intel and AMD briefly got along.


----------



## Caring1 (Jun 22, 2020)

Video discs.
Probably a collectors item now.


----------



## newtekie1 (Jun 22, 2020)

Does anyone remember those nVidia cards that had dual GPUs, but one GPU was high end and powerful and the other was like a low end GPU that you were supposed to use for dedicated PhysX?  LIke it was a GTX 680 with a GTX 650 on the same PCB, but maybe not that series. I can't remember what exact generation they came out in.

*Edit: *Apparently they were way older than I thought.


----------



## Caring1 (Jun 22, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> Does anyone remember those nVidia cards that had dual GPUs, but one GPU was high end and powerful and the other was like a low end GPU that you were supposed to use for dedicated PhysX?  LIke it was a GTX 680 with a GTX 650 on the same PCB, but maybe not that series. I can't remember what exact generation they came out in.


The man to ask would have to be @Fouquin


----------



## Flanker (Jun 22, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Ahhh, seeing people posting all the old video game consoles makes me miss my childhood
> 
> Was born in the 2nd half of the 80's, so I grew up in the 90's, fought in the first Console War (Genesis vs. SNES) in the early 90's, and then in the second Console War (OG Playstation vs. N64)...Man, remembering all of the amazing games that came out during that era...those were the days, man. Back then it was just you (or a buddy or two) and the game. No DLC or microtransaction BS, or a shit ton of patches or snot-nosed little shits in online multiplayer talking to you like they got a pair when really, they haven't even probably dropped yet.
> 
> All I can say is, thank the Maker for emulators.


I was born around the same time in Taiwan and we had a lot of those NES knock-offs with unlicensed games. Most manufacturers didn't bother translating those games. Good fun those days when we didn't understand English or Japanese trying to figure out what each option does


----------



## windwhirl (Jun 22, 2020)

I'd say netbooks could be considered short-lived.



Gmr_Chick said:


> Was born in the 2nd half of the 80's, so I grew up in the 90's,* fought in the first Console War (Genesis vs. SNES) in the early 90's, and then in the second Console War (OG Playstation vs. N64)*


You know, I'm sort of picturing young Luke Skywalker saying "You fought in the Console Wars?" right now 

I do wonder, though, what would have been my choice if I had been at the right age at the time 


Gmr_Chick said:


> ...Man, remembering all of the amazing games that came out during that era...those were the days, man. Back then it was just you (or a buddy or two) and the game. *No DLC or microtransaction BS, or a shit ton of patches or snot-nosed little shits in online multiplayer talking to you like they got a pair when really, they haven't even probably dropped yet.*
> 
> All I can say is, thank the Maker for emulators.


DLC is sort of fine, sometimes, it's like the expansion packs of old. But it bothers me when the developers purposely hold back content just to milk the players' wallets, or when the game launches and on day 1 you already have paid DLC not for, say, a skin or the "behind-the-scenes" stuff, but for story content.

Agreed on the microtransactions when the content can't be found by grinding/farming (reasonably, not grinding for ten days to obtain one of the twenty million pieces of unobtanium needed for a shitty upgrade) or when the game becomes pay-to-win.

The patches... a trade-off for the constantly rising complexity of the hardware and software involved, I guess, but yeah, I cringe when I go to reddit and very frequently I see WWZ players posting their games suddenly throwing errors, on a console of all things, where it should be far more stable than a PC, due to consoles having few to none variations in configuration or specs.

Random players online can be a blessing or a curse during a game. I'm lucky to say that most of the time the randoms have been fun to have around.

And finally, emulators... so many games that have been preserved for future generations, thanks to the individual and collective efforts of a bunch of people that had a little free time.



Flanker said:


> I was born around the same time in Taiwan and we had a lot of those NES knock-offs with unlicensed games. Most manufacturers didn't bother translating those games. Good fun those days when we didn't understand English or Japanese trying to figure out what each option does



I remember I had a Dragon Ball Z bootleg that was halfway translated to English while the rest of the game was a gibberish of Japanese characters


----------



## Darmok N Jalad (Jun 22, 2020)

Palm Pre and the awful Garmin phone with the resistive touch screen..


----------



## remixedcat (Jun 22, 2020)

Nothing can suck worse than the MS KIN PHONELET.... lol.

Oh and about the netbook thing I got 4 of those lol.. 2 Lenovo x140e and 2 Daktek plaid mates.. 

Yesss plaid mates.. by Daktek.. thought they were part of daktronics but confirmed they aren't.. lol..


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 25, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> I had a couple ATI cards with built in TV tuners!


Those where called "All-In-Wonder" cards and they were not short lived. They were around for a solid decade. I wish they were still around.


----------



## Super XP (Jun 25, 2020)

Most of the time it was COST that held back tech from becoming something wondrous.



lexluthermiester said:


> Those where called "All-InWonder" and they were not short lived. They were around for a solid decade. I wish they were still around.


Oh boy, I remember the good old ATI AIW cards. They were very successful in their own right with a pretty large following. I agree, wish they were still around too.


----------



## hat (Jun 25, 2020)

I had an AIW card quite a while ago. I'm not sure what happened to it, but I remember using it to connect a computer to the old tube TV I had at the time. These days, it's far too easy to run a Plex server or something instead, and connect to it with your smart TV/Roku box/Android box.


----------



## Jetster (Jun 25, 2020)

I had the ATI all in wonder 9600 XT. I still have the cords but not the card. It was pretty cool for the time. You could record shows and save them. YOu could also take VHS tapes and make digital


----------



## Caring1 (Jun 25, 2020)

I had an AIW card in a home theatre setup in the loungeroom, complete with Windows Media player remote, I tossed it once TV went digital as it was obsolete then.


----------



## theonek (Jun 25, 2020)

don't forget dual chip ati cards from time in the past, like fury maxx sort of, don't mention dual chip voodoo cards as they never reached mass production and consumer adoption...


----------



## windwhirl (Jun 25, 2020)

theonek said:


> don't forget dual chip ati cards from time in the past, like fury maxx sort of, don't mention dual chip voodoo cards as they never reached mass production and consumer adoption...



Would dual chip cards qualify for short-lived tech? I mean, ATI/AMD kept doing one of those for nearly every product line since the HD 3000 series until the Rx 300 series. After, they reserved it for really niche products, although the most recent example is the one available for the Mac Pro, the Radeon Pro Vega II Duo (man, that's a lot of name). Nvidia also did it every once in a while, the most recent one being the Titan Z from 2014 though...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jun 25, 2020)

theonek said:


> don't mention dual chip voodoo cards as they never reached mass production and consumer adoption...


Yes, they did.


----------



## Kissamies (Jun 25, 2020)

Kaby Lake-X & Broadwell comes first into my mind. Didn't read the whole thread if someone had already mentioned those


----------



## John Naylor (Jun 25, 2020)

Their are things that failed because consumers were stupid and things that failed because something better came along quickly.

Betamax has far superior but sales were driven buy CMas shopping non tech folks who prefferred the $289 VHS over the $2999 Betamax.

All of the various larger proprietary storage options whih folks stayed away from because no on knew who would win.

Tape doesn't qualify on subject matter is it was the prevailing backup option for over a decade.

The reason SLI usage diminished was because nVidia wanted it to.  Margins are far greater on an x80- than they are on two x70s ... when AMD stopped being competitive in the top tiers, nVidia was competing only with itself and losing money when folks bought two x70 sales instead of one 780 for the same amount of money and +40% performance.   Note that SLI perfrmance remains beneficial at 4k, but not at 1080p and 1440p....it should not matter unless it's being nerfed.   If AMD gets competitive again at the upper tiers , I think SLI will make a comeback for the extreme high end

Built in HD docks are great... Have an Antec D85 case with a unobtrusive 2.5' dock and SATA backplane where all 5.25" and 3.5" bays slide into the backplane for power and data connections.  At a loss as to why this is not provided as a case accessory option.

Treo 650 ... still the best smart phone I ever used.   Im talking phone as a tool .... (make calls, edit documents, get needed info) not as a entertainment device (showing colleaugues cat videos, games and other mental masturbation activities).

Laptop docking stations.


----------



## dragontamer5788 (Jun 25, 2020)

Ice-energy has gone bankrupt. For now, this technology is busted.

Ice-bear was selling "air conditioning energy storage", storing many dozens of kW-hrs of air conditioning in 40F (4.5C) water. It worked like this: your air conditioning would sense when the grid had excess energy (most likely: solar panels on your roof are giving you free energy at 12noon through 5pm). During this period, it would chill a mass of water (over 200 gallons) of water down to 40F.

When you ran out of "free energy", your refrigerant from your AC would be pumped through the 40F water. As such, your only electricity use is the pump and fans of your AC unit, effectively storing dozens of kW-hrs. You still needed some energy to run the pump and fans, but its far less than actually running your AC.

It seems like the unit above was slightly different than the most recent ice-bear models (in that it actually made ice). But the more recent designs were only ~40C, but I can't find those pics anymore. (Company is bankrupt after all. The website has been taken down). The above infographic is still useful for the general idea though.

-------------

In effect: this invention turns water into energy storage. No chance for explosions, no chance for fires. No rare-earth elements (ie: Cobalt) from war-torn nations in Li-Ion batteries. Just water, and a slightly modified air-conditioner, to get this energy storage working. For anyone in the "hot" states, your AC is probably your biggest user of daytime energy. So if you got a Li-Ion battery pack, it'd mostly be doing the functionality of this ice-bear thermal energy storage (with less efficiency and greater costs).

A general battery works on everything however, not just AC.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 25, 2020)

Super XP said:


> Most of the time it was COST that held back tech from becoming something wondrous.
> 
> 
> Oh boy, I remember the good old ATI AIW cards. They were very successful in their own right with a pretty large following. I agree, wish they were still around too.


I used mine to input my PS2 I think for AA nice



lexluthermiester said:


> Yes, they did.


I have a boxed agp one here.


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## Caring1 (Jun 25, 2020)

John Naylor said:


> Laptop docking stations.


They still exist and are an option.
Although I have only seen Lenovo offer models specific to their laptops, not general docking stations which tend to be external hubs.


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## phill (Jun 26, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> They still exist and are an option.
> Although I have only seen Lenovo offer models specific to their laptops, not general docking stations which tend to be external hubs.


We use them at work, mostly HP and some Lenovo based ones...  They can be handy when some of the more recent laptops I have had through work to setup with their 1 or two USB ports and nothing much else on them, docking stations seem to be a good way forward if you wish to treat your laptop as a desktop....



theoneandonlymrk said:


> I have a boxed agp one here.



Please do show over in the Nostalgic thread!!


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## A Computer Guy (Jun 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Those where called "All-In-Wonder" cards and they were not short lived. They were around for a solid decade. I wish they were still around.



It would be something if they had a rx5700 AIW.  With streaming being so popular these days who knows AIW might make a comeback.
If I recall correctly I think Mechwarrior 2 ATI edition might have been included with an AIW card at one point.

I used to have a Kenwood's 72X True X CDROM Drive


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2020)

A Computer Guy said:


> It would be something if they had a rx5700 AIW.  With streaming being so popular these days who knows AIW might make a comeback.
> If I recall correctly I think Mechwarrior 2 ATI edition might have been included with an AIW card at one point.
> 
> I used to have a Kenwood's 72X True X CDROM Drive


You know, the funny thing is that a true 72X drive is possible, but requires multiple laser pick assemblies. CD/DVD/BD would be hella fast if there were drives that had triple or even quad laser pickups.



A Computer Guy said:


> It would be something if they had a rx5700 AIW. With streaming being so popular these days who knows AIW might make a comeback.


Agreed. I would ditch my Geforce cards if AMD did this and made it as solid as the ATI AIW cards.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> They weren't short lived though, both ATI and Nvidia offered at least 10 different models over the years with built in tuners.


That's right, NVidia did have a few, didn't they. I think they weren't as feature rich as the AIW cards. Still, if it gets the job done..


----------



## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> That's right, NVidia did have a few, didn't they. I think they weren't as feature rich as the AIW cards. Still, if gets the job done..








						NVIDIA GeForce FX Personal Cinema Roundup - Asus, Chaintech, eVGA, and MSI
					






					www.anandtech.com
				








						eVGA's GeForce FX 5700 Personal Cinema  -  Nipping at ATI's heels
					






					www.anandtech.com


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## Gmr_Chick (Jun 26, 2020)

^ I just looked at those reviews for shits and giggles. Back then, I wasn't even interested in PCs like I am now -- used/enjoyed them, but that was it. Just like the average user. Anyway, wow! Looking back at old cards like that really shows you just how far GPU tech has come. A fun read indeed!


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## windwhirl (Jun 26, 2020)

A Computer Guy said:


> I used to have a Kenwood's 72X True X CDROM Drive



Quick search through DDG and came across this couple reviews from quite a while ago. Pretty impressive performance, although the drive was somewhat picky about how it should be set up and had some troubles or lower speed with some kinds of media.



			https://www.cdrinfo.com/d7/content/kenwood-72x-truex-cd-rom
		









						Kenwood's 72X True X CDROM Drive
					

Kenwood's 72X True X CD-ROM Drive No "specsmanship" just performance!       Once in a blue moon, we get a product in here at




					hothardware.com
				






lexluthermiester said:


> You know, the funny thing is that a true 72X drive is possible, but requires multiple laser pick assemblies. CD/DVD/BD would be hella fast if there were drives that had triple or even quad laser pickups.



Yep. There was this nice diagram there about it.





The company that made the design was called Zen Research N.V.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2020)

windwhirl said:


> Yep. There was this nice diagram there about it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interesting. Not what I was talking about though. When I said multiple laser pickups, I meant multiple individual laser assemblies. A 5.25" drive could easily house 4.


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## Super XP (Jun 26, 2020)

Jetster said:


> I had the ATI all in wonder 9600 XT. I still have the cords but not the card. It was pretty cool for the time. You could record shows and save them. YOu could also take VHS tapes and make digital


AIW cards were amazing, and had a strong cult following. Play games and record shows or connect them to pretty much anything that had the correct connections. Back in the day, they were fantastic.

*HD DVD*
They should have stuck with one High Def standard back in the day instead of battling with each other. Anyhow, HD DVD had many 1sts in terms of technology & quality in picture & sound. At the end, it didn't have the full backing of the studios.


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## sepheronx (Jun 26, 2020)

Dunno if this was posted on here yet but the 3DO Blaster creative card:





						3DO Blaster - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




I used to see this quite frequently at the Futureshop stores back in Winnipeg during the mid 90's.  I never of course purchased one due to the price as I wasn't that active in computers nor the 3DO game console.


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## lexluthermiester (Jun 26, 2020)

sepheronx said:


> Dunno if this was posted on here yet but the 3DO Blaster creative card:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yuppers, that qualifies! Bizarre!


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

sepheronx said:


> Dunno if this was posted on here yet but the 3DO Blaster creative card:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


In all fairness, Creative has made a bunch of really odd products over the years, many which never took off.
This for example.





						Creative 740 Soundworks Radio CD : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo
					

Shop Creative 740 Soundworks Radio CD. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders.



					www.amazon.co.uk
				




Then there was the purchase of 3DLabs and their terrible (for consumers) graphics cards and the bizarre ZiiLabs spin-off from that...





						ZiiLABS - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




Oh and this thing, I think this was their first Nomad MP3 player. I remember using one of these for a while, as we got a review sample in at work. I guess it was pretty good at the time, but oh so bulky.


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## sepheronx (Jun 26, 2020)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yuppers, that qualifies! Bizarre!


Too bad I didn't buy one. I saw how much they go on eBay. Back then in 95 when I saw it at future shop, it was $130. From memory of course. $130 back then was a decent amount so it was pricy. But who would have thought....


----------



## newtekie1 (Jun 26, 2020)

Who remembers keyboards with LCD screens on them?






If they ever release a mechanical keyboard with a screen on it like this, I'd buy it immediately!


----------



## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

Sony's Mavica floppy disk based cameras. Also some using mini CDs.








						Sony Mavica - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



Sadly not as short lived as it should've been.


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## windwhirl (Jun 26, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> Who remembers keyboards with LCD screens on them?



What was the purpose of having a screen on the keyboard?? Because from what Logitech had on that, it seems like a pretty useless thing.


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## A Computer Guy (Jun 26, 2020)

I was going to add keyboards with large built-in trackballs but I see they still might be making them.
http://www.ergogeek.com/qtronix-ione-scorpius-35-pu-large-trackball-keyboard-ps-2-white-color.html


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

biffzinker said:


> I raise you a hard disk drive with removable platters.
> View attachment 119520
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SyQuest_Technology


Had one of their 135MB 3.5" drives. Got it cheap and was supposed to by for my old man to back up his computer on. He never figured out how to do the backups...



Mats said:


> SATA Express
> 
> View attachment 119527


Were there ever any SATA Express drives? I don't remember ever having seen a single one. Yet every motherboard had the connectors for years and years.


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## Caring1 (Jun 26, 2020)

windwhirl said:


> What was the purpose of having a screen on the keyboard?? Because from what Logitech had on that, it seems like a pretty useless thing.


I think it was meant to display stats like temps, fps etc.


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## A Computer Guy (Jun 26, 2020)

VESA Local Bus


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

A Computer Guy said:


> VESA Local Bus


It was still far more widely used than MCA and EISA...








						Micro Channel architecture - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				











						Extended Industry Standard Architecture - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



Even during a couple of years of working in computer shops, I think I only ever saw a couple of systems with either bus.

Oh and this.








						Cache on a stick - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




And then we have OverDrive processors, which I never really understood...








						Intel 80486 OverDrive - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				








						Pentium OverDrive - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



And this bizarre thing I'd never heard of.








						RapidCAD - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## Super XP (Jun 26, 2020)

newtekie1 said:


> Who remembers keyboards with LCD screens on them?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They need to release these again. I'm still using the G15 Logitech gaming keyboard with a LCD screen which helps keep track of play time. I'll only replace it with another LCD/LED display mechanical keyboard.



windwhirl said:


> What was the purpose of having a screen on the keyboard?? Because from what Logitech had on that, it seems like a pretty useless thing.


Far from useless. Keeps time and game stats, like loading up your game profiles for ammo and such. Love it.


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

Super XP said:


> They need to release these again. I'm still using the G15 Logitech gaming keyboard with a LCD screen which helps keep track of play time. I'll only replace it with another LCD/LED display mechanical keyboard.
> 
> 
> Far from useless. Keeps time and game stats, like loading up your game profiles for ammo and such. Love it.











						ROCCAT Launches Nyth MMO Mouse and Skeltr Keyboard
					

ROCCAT Studios rolls full-speed into late summer with a fresh and exciting design philosophy, and two groundbreaking new products to represent ROCCAT's trailblazing peripheral creation. Making their first appearances at Gamescom 2014 in Cologne, Germany this August, the Nyth gaming mouse, and...




					www.techpowerup.com
				











						ROCCAT Sova Horde AIMO Smartphone Tablet Holder by Lab3Dp
					

You're enjoying your Roccat Keyboard but still have no place for your phone or tablet? But you have a 3D printer and come to the right place ;) These two models are variations from the models you can find at https://en.roccat.org/Labs/3D and have been optimized for FDM printing. They are...




					www.thingiverse.com
				








						Amazon.com: EVGA Z10 Gaming Keyboard, Red Backlit LED, Mechanical Blue Switches, Onboard LCD Display, Macro Gaming Keys, 802-ZT-E101-KR: Computers & Accessories
					

Buy EVGA Z10 Gaming Keyboard, Red Backlit LED, Mechanical Blue Switches, Onboard LCD Display, Macro Gaming Keys, 802-ZT-E101-KR: Electronics - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases



					www.amazon.com
				





			Amazon.com


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## kapone32 (Jun 26, 2020)

Super XP said:


> They need to release these again. I'm still using the G15 Logitech gaming keyboard with a LCD screen which helps keep track of play time. I'll only replace it with another LCD/LED display mechanical keyboard.
> 
> 
> Far from useless. Keeps time and game stats, like loading up your game profiles for ammo and such. Love it.


 Hence why I am still using my G510


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## Berfs1 (Jun 26, 2020)

Short lived huh, how about budget motherboards costing less than 100$? *cough cough B550*

Alrighty, that probably isn't a good one, but what about OEM PCs using standard mATX/ATX form factor motherboards WITH removable I/O shields??


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## TheLostSwede (Jun 26, 2020)

Talking about motherboard, the BTX and DTX form factors.








						Form factor (design) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				



I remember Shuttle launching a BTX based SFF and they only made one, as the cooler added so much weight, that they had to put fewer units on each pallet... I guess this was for air shipping, but even so.

Let's not forget the HPTX oddity as well. I think that EVGA boards was the only board ever made using that form factor.


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## newtekie1 (Jun 26, 2020)

windwhirl said:


> What was the purpose of having a screen on the keyboard?? Because from what Logitech had on that, it seems like a pretty useless thing.



It was very useful.  When I had my G510(and G15 before that) I used the screen for the following:

Weather
Time/Clock
Notifications(new emails, instant messages, those sorts of things)
PC Stats(FPS, temps, clock speeds etc)

Each one of those had it's own screen, there was a button on the keyboard that you press to rotate between each thing.  But it would also automatically change when necessary.  Most of the time, while I was playing games, it was on the PC Stats screen.  But if I got an email or instant message, the screen would switch briefly to show me the message/email so I wouldn't have to switch out of the game to see it.

Though, now a days it is easier to just have a second monitor...


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 26, 2020)

Still use my G19s with AIDA64 for HW monitoring. My GPU page for example. I have like 4 can make 6


----------



## phill (Jun 26, 2020)

TheLostSwede said:


> Talking about motherboard, the BTX and DTX form factors.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I did love the fact that it was a sod to fit in any case bar a few!!  That said, I have both of those boards!!   I think there was one more board, the SR-X that was also a HPTX size...


----------



## biffzinker (Jun 26, 2020)

phill said:


> I think there was one more board, the SR-X that was also a HPTX size...


From the ATX Wikipedia:











						ATX - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## phill (Jun 26, 2020)

Never seen the SWTX size before...  I think I have about 3 or 4 different size boards...  Some of those, I've never seen before


----------



## Gmr_Chick (Jun 27, 2020)

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Nintendo's Power Glove, Power Pad, Virtual Boy, NES Zapper, or R.O.B(Robotic Operating Buddy) yet?!


----------



## sepheronx (Jun 27, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Why hasn't anyone mentioned Nintendo's Power Glove, Power Pad, Virtual Boy, NES Zapper, or R.O.B(Robotic Operating Buddy) yet?!



Power Glove and Pad werent really all that short lived though.  I remember it but not fondly.  ROB on the other hand was very short lived and only two games as far I am aware of, compatible.


----------



## INSTG8R (Jun 27, 2020)

Rahnak said:


> MiniDisc. My very first high tech purchase was a Sony MD player. Loved it.


I’m sure I could find mine still in it’s case with a bunch of discs. I loved how mine had an LCD on the inline remote that showed the track info.


----------



## newtekie1 (Jun 27, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Why hasn't anyone mentioned Nintendo's Power Glove, Power Pad, Virtual Boy, NES Zapper, or R.O.B(Robotic Operating Buddy) yet?!



Those are more short lived products, but not really short lived tech.

The power glove tech still lives on in motion joysticks for Wii and VR. The power pad still lives on in DDR pads and such. Virtual Boy tech lives on in VR headsets. The zapper tech still lives on in shooter arcade games.


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## DemonicRyzen666 (Jun 27, 2020)

Nokia N-gage.
Badly designed.


----------

