I'd guess I like both modern and vintage technology, especially if it's something electical related. My first game system was released a little later than most you which was the N64 but I still occasionally fire it up and play a couple games on it (anyone remember blowing on the cartiridge pins before inserting it ).

I also prefer listening to vinyl records over CDs and Mp3s when possible but sometimes it's just more convenient to listen to the latter two but I still use vinyl the most, I also have a older component stereo system to play back my my records and tapes on that I put together from various garage sale and thrift store finds.

One of my other interested that I might have mentioned before was old electrical switches, relays, and electromechanical devices such as old sign flashers espeically the nice click-clack sound they make when switching on/off. 

That's it for now but I'll add more as I think of them 

Ok, ok...since we're on the topic of vintage gaming and such...and, this thread is becoming quite interesting and enjoyable BTW:

@ John...do you remember ever using a Commodore P.E.T. computer?  I remember in the fall of 1981, my third grade class was ushered quite frenetically down to the newly established "computer lab" to experience the brand new computers that were purchased by the school.  We learned a few B.A.S.I.C. commands (for those of you who don't know what that stands for, it is "Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code") and it was believed back then that B.A.S.I.C. would reign supreme as a programming language since anyone could learn it rather easily.  Interestingly enough, the computers we were using at the time only had 38KB of RAM.  Imagine!  Today, a mere web browser uses that much RAM just to open up!  And those same computers didn't even come equipped with a floppy drive...a floppy drive was optional...and we used a modified cassette deck to record programs!

Anyhow, the first game I remember playing on those computers was a "Lemonade Stand" game.  It was so primitive.  You'd buy supplies to run a "Lemonade Stand" and then, randomly, through a B.A.S.I.C. programmed "read-and-data" loop, certain circumstances would affect your lemonade sales and you either succeeded or failed at the game by making (or not making) a profit.  Then there was another game called "Wizard Wor II".  You would navigate through a crypt trying to "score" certain treasures while battling different monsters with different levels of attacking capabilities...yet there were NO graphics...it was a text-only game.  OLD!

Shortly after that, I got an Atari for Christmas (somewhere around 1982).  "Frogger" was my absolute favorite game.  After about a month or so of my dad and I playing it while hooked up to our color TV in the living room, the game console got moved to my bedroom, where I played it on my old G.E. B&W TV set.  My parents used to get mad at me when they would hear me late at night throwing the joystick on the floor when I lost a game.  "Go to bed!!!" they would yell.

Sometime around late 1984, I had earned enough money putting together the loose sections of the Sunday "New York Times" at the corner delicatessen that my mom took me to Service Merchandise to purchase my very own Commodore 64 computer (which cost $159.99 before tax).  As a gift to me, for having worked hard to save for such a "big" purchase at 12 years old, my mom bought me a "Datasette" for $35.00, which was nothing more than a cassette deck that recorded computer programs from the computer I bought myself.

For the next few months, I taught myself enough about the B.A.S.I.C. programming language that I actually won first place in a school-wide programming contest in May of 1985.  My mom was so happy for me that she bought me a floppy-disk drive.  She and my computer teacher had organized it so that when I received my first place price, my computer teacher handed me the disk drive and announced it to the entire school that I was a "hard-working" computer programmer and that I was getting a disk drive to ensure that all my hard work would be saved. 

Strangely enough, after that accomplishment, my interest in computers waned until the fall of 1987 when I got my first Nintendo.  A year after that, I lost interest in computers entirely.

I only "rekindled" my love for computers in September of 2008, having never owned my own computer of ANY sort until then.  Can you believe it?

LOL I do remember playing a form of that text-based "Lemonade Stand" game on the old Apple :shock: i'd completely forgotten about that one til now. A couple more games i played back then were:
* "NORAD" ... it had a map of the US and you had multiple 'missile bases' you used to take down incoming  'missile bases' (very simple graphics ofcourse)
* "Lode Runner" You had a little guy that you had to get through a building & collect packages (i actually have a Windows 3.1 version of this one...(wish i coulda found norad as well LOL)

Then there was "Apple Piano" .. not a game, but pressing keys on the keyboard would make different sounds...LOL i wasted lots-o-time making noise with that one

Also remember doing little programs in BASIC and LOGO :shock: really old stuff, but cool 8-)

More recent (but still old- win 3.11) I used Visual BASIC & made alittle program to control lights through the printerport 8-)

@Brian, no, we simply used them for their primitive word processing.  The first one we owned was a Tandy unit from Radio Shack.  It was a total POS.  We later got an Apple IIc, which had dual 5 1/2" floppy drives, so you could put both the start up disc and the operating disc in!  Again, mostly used for doing homework assignments.
I always LOVED Frogger!!!  I had the little hand held mini arcade version of it, which had a vacuum fluorescent display.  I literally WORE that thing out.  It burned up inside and smoked the circuit board.  That was probably my favorite ever game.  I also really liked "Joust" for the Atari 6400.  I wore out multiple sets of "paddles" playing that game and the whole console eventually took a dump.  I never played these games much, except late at night or on rainy days, as I was always outside fishing, riding my bicycle or ATV, but when I played them, I played the HELL out of them!
I wish I had kept the old firt generation Nintendo I had.  I bought a first generation Playstation (which I still have) and gave the Nintendo away.

Also analog tv was much more fun than digital one.

Which had in my opinion also something to do with the general approach to make TV, which has changed dramatically. Today the play-out is automated. In the old days it were humans in the control room. No surprise that today's TV output looks so sterile.

Old broadcasting technology, anyone? I recently found the explanation for something that was a mystery to me since I was a child. It concerned the typical comet tails that old TV cameras showed on moving lights ("moving" of course includes the camera panning over the scene). So far not that weird, human vision has such an effect, too, and it's easy to guess that it all is just the result of the blinding light. But why were the last half or even two thirds of these comet tails red?

In case I'm not the only one who finds the answer interesting: Many old TV cameras used pick-up tubes with a target made of lead oxide (mostly known under the Philips brand Plumbicon). The only problem with these otherwise excellent tubes was lacking sensitivity for red light. It has been found that adding lead sulfate to the target helped with this, but at the expense of increasing the lag. Thus only tubes for the red channel of colour cameras have been prepared this way, with the result that can be seen in many old video tapes.

What fascinated me in particular in an outside broadcast were also – the lights they brought in. It was the first contact with MH lamps I can remember. It was a bunch of floodlights, with the lamps not having a short arc I think, so it could well have been the NC 1000-62 lamps from Narva.

I too like old electronics. I have a small collection of old radios, computers (Commodore 64,128, Atari 520 ST, various PCs), vacuum tubes and other electronic components. A lot of it was given too me by people instead of throwing it away, and much of it was bought very cheaply at auctions and thrift stores. I have some books from the 1920s about electricity and technology. Interesting stuff.

I had a lot of fun with analog TV. Before they shut down the analog broadcast network in my area and forcing everyone to buy a digital receiver, there was a time when I often went out bicycling with an old 12" black and white TV on the bike, powered by a 12 volt lead-acid battery. I also had a 5.5" b&w TV. The reception on two of the three channels I had was really good, because my town has a local repeater for them because the reception from the big transmitters is bad.

There are still about 40 analog (and unencrypted) satellite channels in Europe. The picture quality is very good for analog TV. This site has lots of info on it: analoguesat.co.uk. I think that watching TV that has been sent via a satellite in geostationary orbit around the earth at a height of 36 000 km above the equator, and is being received by a small dish on the roof, is truly amazing.

I still have some analog satellite remodulators in use. luckily most of digital televisions have analog receiver too(I have some analog CRT tv:s too still in use). Also, I was able to salvage some analog broadcast transmission network equipments when analog tv network was taken down. unfortunately, I could not save all the equipments I wanted to.  Iv been searching reasonable price DVB-T(MPEG-2) modulators but the ones I have found have been too expensive for me. also, those have had only ASI input so I would need some other equipment for signal conversion.(and I have a feeling that those equiptments would not be cheap at all) Analog RF modulators were much cheaper and simplier.

   http://facebook.com/will.tobin83

i'm on facebook as Powell Way. If you send me a request put a note in to me. I collect old radios.... and I have a Siberian Husky and a mutt, Jolene, my heart dog. I am into wolves and wolfdogs and that is where I learned my canine behaviour. Mickey, my "silly Sibe" is howling at me. I think he wants to go out for a walk. It's more like WARP 10 CAPTAIN !!!

John (Diesel Nut ) I couldn't find you on facebook!

Brian, Mercury Man, can't find you either!



Powell

HERES my facebook page if anyone wishes to add me

I have Facebook too, i have passion for vintage electronics , i also have 5 nentendos  gaming system
In my collection as and few games as i find them junking as i go, i also have a passion to Play the old
Classic coin op games when i get a chance.
 Also i have disability too as well,  i have a passion
For light since i was growing up. And i cant. Sleep
With out having a light on.   

I completely forgot to mention in my earlier post that me and my Dad share an interest in retro gaming.

Brian, I'm too young to remember the Commodore 64 but my Dad has one somewhere and a Sinclair Spectrum. There's a Sega Saturn, a Mega Drive and a Master System in my bedroom, I'm more of a Sega person and most of the old Nintendo stuff is in the loft.

used to have one of those and would argue with my younger brother and sister ad nauseam over who was the best Revenge of the Mutant Ninja Turtles player and with my then best mate from college who was the better Blue Max player out of the two of us!