Technological advancement and such...

[audiomick]

A few minutes ago, I caught myself groaning about the slow W-LAN ( I think that is called Wi-Fi in many places outside of Gemany...) where I am right now. That got me thinking about where the "state of the art" was 20 years ago. If I remember rightly, I did have a wireless LAN at home 20 years ago, but the internet access was still via an ISDN Modem.

Go back 20 years, mobile phones were not a matter of course, and could only make phone calls.

Back anotherr 20 years, CD was a brand new, exciting, and revolutionary audio format.

20 years before that I can't remember, as I was only just born, but I can remember cars from that period, for instance. And I know that there was no TV in my home when I came home from the hospital as a new born. I think there was a phone, but it had a cord. The car had a push-rod motor, and cross-ply tyres.

The world has really changed, hasn't it?

Why the W-LAN got me on to this train of thought? I'm on a train from Hamburg to Munich (and it's the middle of the night, I'm bored and I should actually be trying to sleep...), using the free on-board W-LAN. On a train.Once again: free on-board W-LAN on a train. 

Wonders never cease, and it never ceases to wonder how quickly one becomes accustomed to the wonder. And impatient when it doesn't work as well as one might wish.

 

 

Edited July 7 by audiomick

[gstallons]

You should be old enough to remember 33 1/3 LPs and 45s playing on a stereo phonograph . Then 8-tracks , cassettes, CDs and on and on.

 BTW , we used to have a RCA Victrola that would play 78s . These records were as heavy as a flywheel . The big fun was to play 33s on 45 or 78 RPM or any combination of speeds. They would sound like Frankenstein or Alvin & The Chipmunks . Also to remove the center disc from a 45 where it would be off center and sound silly . We would laugh until we peed all over ourselves .  

Edited July 7 by gstallons

[audiomick]

Yep. Not so much the sound altering "something", but the bean bags and LPs for sure.

 

[gstallons]

Listen , pot made music sound better than it ever sounded before . It also affected your sense of taste the same way .

[gstallons]

Instead of editing info out , I should have left everything in .  I keep forgetting not everyone was as much an explorer as I was. 

[p6x]

17 hours ago, audiomick said:

W-LAN ( I think that is called Wi-Fi in many places outside of Gemany...)

WAN and LAN; wide area network and local area network.

Internet used to only be gotten via a wired cable from either a switch or a router connected to a modem.

In any case, WAN and LAN are still valid terminology. Some of my equipment is connected to my modem router via an Ethernet cable, not much, but I have my own "Cloud Storage".

Let us not forget that Ethernet cables have also evolved and have much more bandwidth than WiFi itself. A cable can move 1 Gbyte per second, much better than the best WiFI.

My ISP provides my Modem Router, and I have no clue what WiFi standard is in use. Today's latest is WiFi 6.

I have had access to email since the early days, when I connected to my company's main frame via an acoustic coupler. Lol, do you remember those? you plugged your phone receiver into them.

[audiomick]

On 7/8/2024 at 6:58 PM, p6x said:

.... acoustic coupler. Lol, do you remember those?

I don't think I ever used one, but yes, I know what that is. Those were the days....