What's some technology of the past that you wish you had?

[Noah_S]

I want a typewriter. The sound they make calms me.

[Indigo]

The PS2 or Game Cube. I miss those from my childhood. Or that colorful MacBook from the early 2000s. Or an MP3 player.

[Dan Q]

I want a typewriter. The sound they make calms me.

Get one! There's all kinds of them for sale pretty cheap on online and offline marketplaces.

My metamour buys old broken ones on eBay for pennies, strips them down, repairs them (often all they need is cleaning and re-greasing), and then sells them for a profit! Well, that's the theory at least... I notice that the house we share is slowly filling up with typewriters...


I'd like like to own - and learn how to use - a sextant or octant. In fact, I'd quite like to try to do a geohashing or geocaching expedition using one: see if it's possible!



Something I do own is a Rolls Razor. This amazing invention is a self-sharpening (single) fixed-blade safety razor. Mine's almost a hundred years old and still works great, still with its original blade, handle, stone and strop. It's an amazingly clever design: it packs into its own travel case and you can open one or the other side of it which "configures" it either for sharpening (pushing blade against stone) or honing (pulling blade across leather). But move the handle to a different position and the thing lifts out and it's a safety razor.

It's so much cooler than a normal safety razor 'cos you never have to buy blades for it, but it's still safer (and much easier to maintain) than a straight ("cutthroat") razor.

I think the world needs this thing to come back. You can get second/third/umpteenth-hand ones on eBay and in charity shops, but they're getting harder to find and I think they need a proper comeback. Maybe I should start a Kickstarter or something, pair up with a metal foundry that can bulk manufacture them, and make one for the 21st century?

[Pip]

I have a dumbphone, but in the current world of 3G shutdowns, and, in Canada, 4G allowlists, a working dumbphone with a NICE UI and more working, basic apps / utility would be a godsend.

There's a few options in the US market but euf, its rough out there. I mainly just use mine for talk and text. Hoping the dumphone 2 expands to Canada seamlessly next year as-planned, that one uses the TCL Flip for the hardware, which is one of the few supported flip phones up here right now.

[ashton]

t-mobile sidekicks
not the 2018 remaster but the early 00s OG
i wanted one so bad as a kid, easily the coolest phone to me (still  )
the full keyboard, the swivel screen, the gameboy advance adjacent form factor... it was perfect

[Seryndelle]

A CRT monitor!

I tend to play games from the early-to-mid–2000s more often than not (WoW, Morrowind, etc.), and I think they'd look absolutely fantastic on the type of monitors that they were designed to be played on. But it's not just older games: modern games with pixel art, like Stardew Valley, would look absolutely swell on a CRT.

I'd be even happier if I were able to pair it with a "beige box" style of computer, running perhaps a distro of Linux designed to look a lot like Windows XP. Or maybe I'll just get XP installed and keep it disconnected from the internet?

[rnottelovesowls]

#1: a CD copy of adobe premiere and photoshop 5.0 or earlier. you know, back when adobe software was actually good

#2: a CRT TV. not that my current TV isn't good, but i have a gamecube, and i want to at least try out the "authentic" retro game experience

#3: an MP3 player, to put my bandcamp purchases on and listen to without using a phone

(i would've also included a VHS and/or DVD-R camcorder if my aunt didn't already give me both of hers last month)

[candycanearter07]

shortwave/cb radio, i think it would be fun to try and get a connection to someone and i think it has better range than my ham radio. also, a pda would be cool

[MrsMoe]

A Nintendo DS! I've been meaning to get one for a while, but I want to have enough spare money saved up for it. I mainly want one so I can pull it out in public whenever I want and casually play Animal Crossing: Wild World or Pokemon. Just a better alternative to boring and repetitive mobile games.

[Dynaknights]

Many, many, many things... The first thing that comes to mind for me are older consoles: mainly a PS1, N64, Dreamcast, Saturn, and N64... I remember seeing a PS1 bundled with a DualShock and some games for only $65 USD on eBay, so maybe I could own one of these systems one day to live alongside my 3DS, but I've been too worried about their lifespans since they're so old...

Alternatively, I'd like an MP3 player, or maybe some CDs with a radio. I was considering buying one of the cheaper 'modern' MP3s online, but a friend said me not having any sort of mainstream music service thing pissed her off, so now I have Apple Music for free. Plus, I've heard a 3DS can work as an MP3 player maybe? I'll have to try it with mine!

[knifex]

I want a CRT so bad it makes me look stupid. Alas all I have is the shell of one.
I'd also want our childhood gamecube but Im pretty sure one of my sisters has it lol.

I will be using this opportunity to show off my actual collection of old tech under spoilers. As a treat.

Spoiler

NOTES:
- the lil NES and PS1 are emulators.
- I literally have this DS twice. Unforchunately I keep loosing the chargers.
- We also have a 3DS which I've been playing with a bit recently.
- Also not pictures is another blackberry that I use for notetaking and stuff. the keyboard is AWESOME.

[close]

[ilikepie]

I already have a good collection of old tech ranging from the PS1, the classic iPod, and a CRT computer monitor yet I find that the technology I still crave the most is flip phones, in particular the 2004 Motorola RAZR... My cousin had one when I was younger in the mid/late 2000s and I thought it was one of the coolest phones ever, and still, now currently in my mid 20s, I still think the exact same.

I will admit that I think modern phones are nice, in the sense that it is actually convenient to have access to my email and school stuff while I'm on the go and having a GPS too (and I will add that I don't care for having social media on my phone), but man do I wish those types of flip phones made a comeback. I'd also like a computer with a Windows XP OS, and not just an emulator.

[sphinx]

All I really want is an old computer that will successfully run Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on CD-Rom. I played originally on the family computer. It was a Compaq Presario running Windows Millennium and it totally got me and my sister through a very boring summer and many boring weekends away at our dad's house.

I think if I had kept up with computer games after that I would probably think the game was very janky and dull if I replayed it. But my experience with gaming kind of ends in that era so I think it would feel very familiar and cozy. I know we're not supposed to like Harry Potter these days, and personally it's not a franchise I think about often, but man I miss playing that game. It was just the right amount of difficulty. I've tried playing games nowadays and they're either way too hard to follow, uninteresting, or too flashy and overstimulating.

I think I'd like to try other pc games from around that time when HP came out. Seems like my pace. Give me an old computer please!


Bonus answer: Those devices at the store that are hung in random aisles and spit out coupons. I don't have a smartphone and I don't like signing up for things. I'd never go coupon crazy with the 3-ring binders or anything like that, but I think I would just rather carry a paper coupon or two. Plus those little devices add a tiny little element of fun and whimsy to the mundane task of grocery shopping. Like yeah, I'll buy your half-off baked beans if it means I get to see the little robot regurgitate a tiny piece of paper.

[Seechain]

Without a doubt a MiniDisc player, they were so beautiful, and they even recognized WMA files. (for some reason back then I was obsessed with WMA files)
But then I moved on to a portable CD player and then to a portable MP3 player. Technology changed so much in just a few years. 

[fablefound]

i dunno if this counts, but i'd really like a simple sewing machine. one without all the fancy computation stuff. all it's gotta do is not constantly unthread itself 

i'd also really like an i-cat someday. they're just so cute!! i have an i-dog, but i've always been more of a cat person...


really though, i already have a lot of the older tech i've wanted over the years... and it's all stuff i use every day, more or less!
* very cute barbie clock radio (i customized it a bit but this is pretty much what it looks like)

* hand-me-down ereader
* two vintage omnichords
* homebrewed 3ds and dsi
* 15-year-old digicam i've recently given new life
* a couple hand-me-down amps for my vintage omnichords

also, not REALLY tech of the past because they're still being made and used, but my in-home ddr pad has been my go-to workout tool since i got it  wasn't cheap, but worth every cent!!