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5 things I don’t miss about the good old days

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I am an IT Professional that has my own blog as a hobby project in my spare time. I have been in the IT business since 1996 and want to share some of the thing I have picked up over the years with people who visit my blog...

Thomas has written 1 article for ComLuv.com
I normally write at http://www.techwork.dk

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June 2, 2011 By 64 Comments
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Old tech I don't miss anymore

I don’t miss everything about the good old tech days

The other day I had to fix an old server with a bad hard drive. The server was crashed and was not able to boot anymore. The server was a Compaq server, yep didn’t I told you that it was old…! It is one of those babies with floppy drive and everything. Not sure exactly how old the server is, but its BIOS version was from 2002 :-)  While testing my patience working with this old piece of hardware I got the idea for writing this post about “Technology in the Good Old days” that I don’t miss that much. I order to do this I will take you down memory lane mentioning 5 old tech stuff that I don’t miss about “The good old days”.

1. I don’t miss the floppy disk

I don't miss floppy
I just can believe that we used those slow low capacities media not that many years ago. If we think about the amount of data we share on the Internet today it is just crazy that we only was able to store 720 KB or 1.44 MB on those disks not to mention the big 5 ¼ disks :-) I remember that I once installed Lotus Smart Suite from floppy disks. There were 27 disks and when I put in number 25 it was broke..! I am just glad I don’t have to install anything using floppy anymore. I really don’t miss floppy disks.

2. I don’t miss Dial-up modems

I don't miss dial-up modems

I you was on the Internet back in the 90’s you might remember how one of these devices sound. You might also recall the numbers 14.4 or 19.2 baud. Those were the days where we was sitting patient and waited for a webpage to load from the top and down and where we paid for Internet for how much time we have used and not how much data we downloaded. Imagine if we still was paying for the time we spend on the Internet..! I don’t miss dial-up modems.
 

3. I don’t miss Hard drive jumpers

I don't miss hard drive jumbers
Oh yeah, in the old day with IDE drives and SCSI drive we actually need to move small plastic jumpers to tell the computer what ID each disk had or if it was a Master drive or a Slave drive. I don’t miss moving plastic jumpers. Today we just plugin in our SATA drives and power up our computers. I don’t miss Hard drive jumpers.

4. I don’t miss Serial communication

I don't miss serial communication
Serial communication was the only way for modems and mouse’s to work back in the old days. Even some printers were using serial communication. Today I almost never use serial communications, but it can be handy working with switches or routers from time to time, but I don’t miss working with it in a regular basic.

5. I don’t miss CRT Monitors

I don't miss CRT monitors
For my final one I have to mention this big heavy piece of hardware that was filling up our entire desk back in the good old days. They were expensive heavy to move around and not very nice to look at for an entire day. I don’t miss CRT monitors, but actually I still have one standing at home. Maybe it is time to let it go.

PS. This is my first guest post. Not just here on Comluv, but my first ever guest post at all. I am really excited about it and hope that some of you will come and visit my own blog :-)

How about you? Do you miss all the old tech stuff we used to deal with?

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Comments

  1. instanthelpdoteu says:
    June 2, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    wow thats an old compy dude, thansk for the photos, its been a long time i didn’t see those old stuffs, thanks fo rthe post

    Reply
  2. Patricia
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 2, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    Hi Thomas

    Congratulation on your first Guest Post. Wow, the good old days eh??!! I can remember a few of the things you mentioned and I came late to the internet age!

    Being a baby boomer, I didn’t grow up with computers. A fact my Gen Y nephew cannot even imagine LOL Yet now I have my blog and my online business up and running.

    Amazing how much one can learn when motivated. And in a few years we will be looking at the way we do things now and calling them the “good old days” too.

    Patricia Perth Australia
    Patricia recently posted..A Pain in the Butt No worries-lavender to the rescue!My Profile

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    • Thomas
      Twitter:
      says:
      June 2, 2011 at 4:48 pm

      Hi Patricia
      Thank you very much. This will make you my first ever guest post commentator :-)
      Yep the technology is going so very fast it is difficult to keep up with it all. I think the new generations growing up with computers, smartphone, twitter and Facebook are to be quit scaring in the future. They have no fair for new technology and just go straight forward and learn it all in a minute making the rest of us looking pretty stupid. Try and give a teenager today a smartphone they have never seen before and ask if they can help change the ring tone or something like that. Before you can blink the task is completed.
      Thank you so much for taking your time to comment Patricia.
      Thomas recently posted..How to Change Windows Explorer default startup folderMy Profile

      Reply
  3. Adrienne
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 2, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    Great post Thomas and I can definitely sympathize with you on the things I use to use. :-)

    I can’t believe that machine you had to fix had run that long. Okay, maybe I can because my parents computer lasted a pretty long time. I remember DOS, I remember the black screens with green type, I remember floppies and I don’t miss any of those.

    I have a friend that still has a dial up modem only because she lives in the country and they still don’t have updated internet connection. One reason I guess I’m not moving to the country any time soon.

    Thanks for the memories, bringing back thoughts of what use to be. Glad they are all behind us and technology has advanced so much. Sure makes life a lot easier.

    Enjoyed the post and congratulations on your first guest post. Wow.. A guest post on ComLuv. I’m very impressed my friend, very impressed.

    Have the best day ever.

    Adrienne
    Adrienne recently posted..Why The Heck Are You Really HereMy Profile

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    • Thomas
      Twitter:
      says:
      June 2, 2011 at 8:14 pm

      Thank you for the kind words Adrienne.
      So many bloggers has told me that I should start doing some guest posts and the first place in my mind was here at Comluv. I have made a lot of comment here on others bloggers guest posts so it seemed so obvious that it should be here. I really love Comluv and Andy is a great and helpful guy so it all made sense to me.
      If I am going to move anywhere in the future I will start checking out what kind of Internet I can get. I am addicted to it and it better be fast and cheap :-)
      Thomas recently posted..How to Integrate a Command Prompt into Windows ExplorerMy Profile

      Reply
  4. Barry
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 2, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    Hi Thomas,

    Congratulations on your first guest post. It did make me smile, I’m not that techi’ that i dare get into the nuts and bolts of a computer.

    I was another late starter but I did have a spell using the floppies. Boy oh boy how did we use them…… I’ve still got some somewhere, probably broken or full of embarrassing efforts :lol:

    To think my daughter does nearly everything with her phone now, socializing not working that is. Still it shows how things have moved on. I have to call on her youth at times and get her to show me how to do things, again it can be quite embarrassing at times., still such is life ha ha.

    Barry
    Barry recently posted..Journey to success part 2- Develop specific goals to attain your dreamsMy Profile

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    • Thomas
      Twitter:
      says:
      June 2, 2011 at 8:27 pm

      Hi Barry
      Thank you for the comment.
      Let me take a look around my little home office…. Yep I have floppies too. A lot of them actually, but I don’t have any floppy drive in my PC :-) Why don’t I get rid of them? I have no idea. Maybe I have just got used to them being there.
      When it comes to smartphones and Facebook and stuff like that we don’t stand a change to the generations that have been using it most of their life. I don’t know if it is scary or funny but they just learn so fast. I have seen kids in kindergarten using computers. They can’t even read but they can use a computer no problem :-)
      Thomas recently posted..Follow your Twitter stats with Twittercounter- part 2My Profile

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  5. peterse says:
    June 2, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Good Post. I am still glad to not have to worry about floppy disks anymore. They were prone to getting corrupted. The excuse “the floppy drive is bad,” was my generations “the dog ate my homework.” It usually went over just as well with the teacher too. I am very happy that we have USB flash drives now, makes my life so much easier.
    peterse recently posted..My Spiritual Gift is Looking StupidMy Profile

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  6. Barbara Ling, Mama Bear
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 2, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    I *do* miss the Classic Cows!!!!

    http://www.clasohm.com/cows/guide1.html

    Now *that*….is graphics. :)
    Barbara Ling, Mama Bear recently posted..How To STOP Brother and-or Sister Teasing From Destroying Your FamilyMy Profile

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  7. Dennis Edell
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 3, 2011 at 1:14 am

    Ah yes, one of my favorite movie scenes of all times is in Wa Games, when he puled out the 8″ floppy disk! LOL!
    Dennis Edell recently posted..Your Home Business – Is It Your Business or HobbyMy Profile

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  8. Ray says:
    June 3, 2011 at 4:47 am

    I still have a few 3 1/2 floppy disks lying around. I don’t have a clue what is on them anymore though. I do remember the bigger 5 1/4′s too. I can’t image how we used to get anything done with dialup. Makes me wonder if we will be saying the same about the things we use right now in 10+ years from now.
    Ray recently posted..When Technlogy FailsMy Profile

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    • Thomas
      Twitter:
      says:
      June 3, 2011 at 7:55 am

      Hi Ray
      I am glad that I am not the only one still having those floppies lying around. However I don’t have any of the 5 1/4 disks anymore :-)
      Thanks for stopping by Ray.
      Thomas recently posted..My Google analytics stats for Q1 2011My Profile

      Reply
    • Dan
      Twitter:
      says:
      June 3, 2011 at 8:49 am

      I remember those 5 1/4″ disks – they were brilliant! You could actually touch the disk – although that did tend to corrupt it! I remember when the smaller tougher harder ones came in and it felt as significant as the change from cassette to CD was!

      I totally agree with you on the CRT monitor front – especially the really big ones… blimey they were heavy! I can also just about remember when they were a kind of green colour on the early amstrad pcs.

      Still, I do miss the old games (I know you can still get them) but Elite, Chuckie Egg and Pacman had a kind of charm that’s really lacking these days!
      Dan recently posted..Finding it Hard to Build Your Self-EsteemMy Profile

      Reply
  9. Alex says:
    June 3, 2011 at 10:58 am

    Ha ha ha you really made may day with this post. You moved me into kind of nostalgic mood. It’s good to have progress in some areas. I am also in IT business for over 10 years now and can share your thoughts. I am not a system administrator, more of a software guy, but can totally feel you with this things.

    Great post and congrats for the first guest post.

    Cheers,
    Alex
    Alex recently posted..Why is my blog a DoFollow blogMy Profile

    Reply
  10. Dana says:
    June 3, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    Thomas…wow, you brought back some *fond* memories for me with your first guest post. Here’s one I thought of…those mailers that I got every other month from AOL with a disk to install their service. My colleagues and I used to pool them together and reformat them — one year we had over 50! Thanks for a great post…this is a perfect way to start off the weekend (well that and a margarita on my floppy disk “coasters”)….

    Reply
  11. Sheen says:
    June 3, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    The difference of oldies to newbies, it is more durable than new techno, I observed that the old appliances are long lasting than newer ones. Well, thanks for sharing the old photos and I had fun reading your blog.
    Sheen recently posted..Does Big Butt Prolongs LifeMy Profile

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  12. Jack Norell says:
    June 3, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    Hah, that’s all new stuff!

    Remember the tape drives for the Commodore VIC 64? Where you had to scrape out a little hole in the lid so a screwdriver could be used to adjust the azimuth?

    And of course, you needed an azimuth tape with data on different levels of the tape, so you could always load the software first, before switching tapes, adjusting the tape head, and load your actual program!

    I *really* don’t miss those.

    @Andy – I can’t get the comment submit button to work in Firefox 3.5?
    Jack Norell recently posted..Hearst Castle- CaliforniaMy Profile

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  13. Radu says:
    June 3, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    Great article! I also catched those times, and you are totally right! :)
    Radu recently posted..Used notebook computerMy Profile

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  14. Brian says:
    June 3, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    Hi Thomas,

    One thing I won’t miss (and they’re on their way out) is the CD-R. They were great and revolutionary back around 1995-2000, but now they are such an inconvenience compared to a pen drive. I recently tried to copy a music CD that was scratched and my car stereo only reads CD-R disks. Unfortunately my car doesn’t have an Aux input. So I started looking for the mysterious CD-R. I looked high and low in my place and couldn’t find one CD-R…however, I did find an extra pen drive in my hunt! I ended up having to buy a stack of 50 CD-R’s because the stack of 50 was the same price as a stack of 25. Now I have 49 CD-R’s that I may never use.
    **Not going to miss the CD-R**
    Brian recently posted..How to Sell the Client Portal to Reluctant ClientsMy Profile

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  15. Bret
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 3, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    I have worked in the computer industry since 1985.

    Here are some even older things I don’t miss:

    Monochrome monitors (green or amber)
    Editing autoexec.bat & win.ini files
    Multimedia kits (addresses & interrupts)
    Managing Extended memory
    BIOS hard drive settings
    Word Perfect & Lotus 123

    Bret
    Bret recently posted..The High Cost of Drugs and CrimeMy Profile

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  16. Mike says:
    June 4, 2011 at 5:37 am

    How about computers with no hard drives but dual floppy drives. Incredible. And those old dot matrix printers would spew along for hours printing out a form.
    Mike, USA Job Blast – Job Search.

    Reply
  17. Zarina Hussain says:
    June 4, 2011 at 5:57 am

    Great article. I do not miss those floppies either. It is amazing how technology has developed so vastly. I save a backup of important folders by compressing into a zip file and sending myself an email. How convenient!

    Reply
  18. over40testqueen
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 5, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    I am an over 40 trying to keep up with all this technology. I found our old dinasaur computer in the basment when we were getting ready to move. I had a good laugh! Great article.

    Reply
  19. HKR
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 6, 2011 at 9:31 am

    I still miss the CRT monitor. It used to be great while Photoshop-ing :) . Nice thing to post on, made my day.
    HKR recently posted..Twitter Up Your BlogMy Profile

    Reply
  20. stevepapas says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Indeed, floppies are long gone, fortunately. I still remember how excited we were when we could zip a file and fit it into and floppy disk… As time passes we will be needing bigger and bigger storage solutions. CRT were big pain too!
    stevepapas recently posted..Constellation Energy Promo CodeMy Profile

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  21. Joice says:
    June 6, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    Oh gosh, the floppy disk! I hated it!
    Joice recently posted..Bridesmaid speech weddingMy Profile

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  22. Home Improvement Contractors
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 6, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    What a great list. I really disliked the floppy disk. Glad that things changed to the better over the years. I guess 15 years from today, someone might just have a list with today’s technology as outdated as these above. Lives moves, technology changes, sometimes is hard to keep up with the latest.
    Home Improvement Contractors recently posted..Basement Renovation IdeasMy Profile

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  23. Brian O'Connell says:
    June 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    I actually do miss the giant floppy disks, but I don’t miss the old monitors, especially the monochrome one that Bret mentions.

    I never got the chance to work with cradle modems or the Commidor 64 but I’ve heard that while both were integral to tech at the time, they won’t be missed. Unless you’re a die hard C64 coder.
    Brian O’Connell recently posted..How to Sell the Client Portal to Reluctant ClientsMy Profile

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  24. Antonia says:
    June 10, 2011 at 5:12 am

    OMG, the floppy disk! I remember installing Windows 95 from floppy disks, those were the fun days :) )
    Antonia recently posted..Hypnosis Training – The 4 Stages Hypnosis ProtocolMy Profile

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  25. Ileane Smith
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 12, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    Thomas, this is a riot! Thanks for reminding me of what a pain in the neck those old floppy discs were. I can’t say I miss the old CRT monitors because I still have one sitting nearby (collecting dust of course). Great post and a nice trip down memory lane.
    Ileane Smith recently posted..Interview with Blogger and Online Marketer Stella AnokamMy Profile

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  26. Gabriella - The Stepford Wife
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 13, 2011 at 3:08 pm

    CRT monitors were ugly. The Windows OS design was ugly. But I liked those cute side-platform games. The traditional arcade type games you could also find on a PC – those were cool!
    Gabriella – The Stepford Wife recently posted..Funny or Forward – internet humour todayMy Profile

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  27. Thomas
    Twitter:
    says:
    June 13, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    Haha. I agree some of the old arcade games was kind of fun :-)
    Thomas recently posted..Windows Powershell for NewbiesMy Profile

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  28. Allyson Stewart says:
    June 15, 2011 at 1:27 am

    Hey, Thomas! What a great first post. I remember those large floppy disks, CRT monitors and dial-up modems. Like you, I don’t miss them one bit. I hated losing all my files when my floppy broke. We’ve come so far, thank God.

    I’ll talk with you again soon. Until next time…

    Reply
  29. sadek says:
    July 12, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    Great info. I used to spend alot of my time yachting and being involved in sports. It was most certainly the most memorable period of my young life and your info kind of reminded me of that. Thanks
    sadek recently posted..HP Veer Small Smartphone with webOSMy Profile

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  30. CoachNotes
    Twitter:
    says:
    July 13, 2011 at 1:10 am

    Man what a trip down memory lane! Thomas, you will be pleased to know “you are not alone” with still having an old CRT monitor. I’ve got one of on one of my desks connected to my main computer. :) It still works fine but a young friend (who probably had only seen one in pictures) thought it was just an old broken-down piece of junk resting on the desk. LOL

    Yeah, the good ole days! These days our technical challenges are a horse of a different color.
    CoachNotes recently posted..Guest Post on BasicBlogTips: Blogging LegacyMy Profile

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  31. Patrece says:
    September 20, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    I too don’t miss floppy disk, it’s troublesome and the price was unreasonable. New technologies are emerging fast. It will not be long until the latest gadgets and gizmos we have now will lead us to memory lane soon.
    Patrece recently posted..The Art of A Good Photo for an Average Geeks updated Mon Sep 5 2011 4:45 am CDTMy Profile

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  32. Liana says:
    September 21, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    I’m not really a fan of new technologies, in fact i still use those jumpers.
    Liana recently posted..Ideas to Help the World updated Tue Sep 13 2011 12:27 am CDTMy Profile

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