sometimes i use macvim so i can move quickly to that program in particular and do other stuff in the terminal, since i use it for general distraction free writing
technically macvim is not vi, but i guess both are considered outdated in an age where if you tell your iphone not to sync to the cloud it erases days on notes on nazis.
(the whole point of privacy was autonomy, not shoving things up to an unencrypted cloud to get a bullshit warrant served on it and tim cook has forgotten what the world was like when storage was scarce)
Makefiles seem to be making a comeback. My current and previous teams use them extensively across projects in multiple languages and I don't have any major gripes.
I have taken a huge liking to Mill. It is a build tool written in Scala, but it is not only for Scala at all. The author’s blog post is quite informative (https://www.lihaoyi.com/post/SoWhatsSoSpecialAboutTheMillSca... ), but the core idea is that a functional program’s call stack maps one-to-one to a build description, where functions are build steps.
Something as simple as
def cSources = ..
def compile() = T {
proc(“gcc”, cSources(), “-o”, outputBinary)
Path(outputBinary) // last expression is result
}
def link() = T {
// similar to previous one, using compile() somewhere
}
will automagically convert this description into a build graph, that can be executed parallel and cached.
Makefiles have never left for me. They execute jobs related to build and packaging, and they do that job super well. Also helps that make is installed by default on most Linuxes
I went shopping for a new bed the other day and hadn't for decades. So I got some future shock when I found out that they now not only have wifi and bluetooth, but also artificial intelligence. The salesman pitched me an $11,000 Smart Bed. Fascinating. Call me a Luddite but I honestly prefer a dumb bed.
What outdated tech are you still using and are perfectly happy with?
- Spinning rust. My daily driver has 7200 RPM drives and an old Core i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz. It's connected to my old Sony receiver from 1998 and using VLC to play music from the 70's at the moment, shaking the house. The drive has registered a lot of errors but keeps on working.
- 1990's Sony reference line receiver. It's not green-tech but helps warm the room in the morning, offsetting the wallboard heaters so the wasted energy is a wash. That plus my old JBL's I bought from a coworker in the 90's keep hibernating animals out of the ceiling.
- ICE vehicles. Truck, side-by-side, etc... and a 1947 Fordson 2N tractor that still out-performs horses though both tractor and horses have their moments. I buy all vehicles used and extend their life.
- Manual hand operated tools. Sometimes battery tools are more of a hassle when I have a quick thing to get done. They are perhaps useful to keep around when electricity is no more. The scythes and related tools are also good exercise.
- SFTP for transferring files. It's not really outdated, just fallen out of popular use. To be outdated bots or humans would have to be able to exploit due to being unmaintained or something else would have to be faster. Can't beat lftp+sftp for splitting big files into multiple TCP streams through firewalls. Torrents can come close but have other negative characteristics including being useless for private files.
- Cheap wired headphones. No batteries to replace or fail which is good given many Bluetooth headphones do not have user serviceable batteries. No RFI. No hacking or leaking data. Less junk in the landfill. They seem to still be popular for audiophiles.
- Wired keyboards and mice. Not sure if that is considered outdated tech.
- Wired switches, appliances, lights, Ethernet, surveillance cameras will always be perfectly good for me.
- I have a GPS map in the truck but I also keep paper map books in the truck and am happy to use both. GPS may be jammed soon.
- All the free notebooks and pens vendors gave me over the years for taking notes, to-do lists, reminders.
I have the same cpu. It’s crazy to think I’ve had it for almost ten years. Sometimes I feel like I want to buy I new system but I really don’t have any reason to.
- Still going strong on my Macbook Pro 2014 Retina. Battery needs to be replaced soon but otherwise, runs smooth like butter. The latest M1/M2 macbooks look like plastic in front of it at least asthetically.
- Love my 2010 Acura TL and the engine is as solid as it can be. Going strong at 125K miles.
This is what worries me. I bought an M1 for someone else and the thing looked like cheap plastic. My 2014 macbook pro is soooo much better than that thing.
* Going even further, a development environment based on the command-line. My entire IDE is in the terminal. I wrote about it too. [1] That post is a little outdated, though.
I have a LG plasma TV from 2008 that still works great. It's not a smart TV so I don't have to worry about keeping it up to date or having it slow down. I've gotten more than my money's worth.
I have a Samsung 1080p non-"smart" tv that just won't die. Sure, it's not the best picture available, but it's good enough for what I need and doesn't send my viewing habits to any motherships.
Plasma draws the pixels, so it does native resolution with no interpolation for all its supported resolutions. Is that correct? If so other than higher power draw suggests that is ideal.
My understanding is that plasma panels have a native resolution, similar to a LCD panel. If that native resolution isn't the same as the input resolution, there's typically a scaler in the plasma display that will massage the content to fit, very similar to a LCD panel.
Plamsa panels were commonly available as 1920x1080 or 1366x768. As long as you're watching natural images (movies etc), both are really fine; native 1080 line plasmas are a better fit for computer generated imagery because they're much easier to feed at their native resolution and avoid the scaler; a lack of 4k plasma displays isn't really a big problem, 1080p is still beautiful. Plasma screens don't have support for HDR, but they do have amazing black levels.
My monitor is a 2011 Apple Cinema Display. I use an adapter to convert the output to USB-C. The webcam is very bad so I have an external one mounted on top. Otherwise it works amazingly for a 12 year old monitor!
My 2002 Acura. New enough to have fuel injection, airbags and seat belts. Simple enough that parts are cheap and most work can be done in the driveway with hand tools. Durable enough that I can drive it as long as gas is affordable. I did install a modern head unit with Bluetooth and USB (but not CarPlay - old school segmented LCD)
TBH, I've started to wonder after all the recall news... are airbags really a liability on any older car? As they age in place, how do you quantify the personal risk and unknowns as to whether you are driving around with a cluster of safety devices or anti-personnel weapons waiting to be triggered?
My Google Pixel 4a. I don't think it's outdated, but ask Google about that
Also my laptop that has no Windows 11 available for it because 7th Gen Intel isn't good enough anymore. I don't think it's outdated, but ask Microsoft about that
I made the switch from a Pixel 2XL to a 7 last year, and dang, the 2XL was better in most every respect. Fingerprint access with the 2 worked 99% of the time on the first try vs. about 10% (probably being generous) on the 7.
And voice-to-text is just as broken. I did side-by-side tests, and if you’re in perfect conditions, facing the phone directly, with no background noise (i.e., never), then the 7 performed okay, but it would fail horrible in any other case. The 2XL performed quite well, relatively. I even replaced the 7 thinking there was an issue, but the new one did the same thing.
Unfortunately, lack of updates means the 2 is no longer usable for many purposes.
The 4a strikes the perfect balance for me. It's one of the last flagship phones with both type C and an aux port. Plus no bezels and it has a great camera.
I have a few other nicer pairs, some open ear, some wireless with noise cancelling, yet I still pick up the HD-25 regularly. The design is 30 years old.
(As a side note, please bring back 3.5mm jacks on phones)
It broke calling static functions without the need to declare them as static.
It broke adding properties dynamicly to objects.
It broke easy string handling for many functions where null was rendered as an empty string. This is especially annoying as you often get null values from the database. It makes sense to have a null value for "Don't know the color of the car" in the DB. And it makes sense to render it as "Color: " in the user interface. The easy string conversion always was one of the strengths of PHP.
Dumb light switches. The installation, software updates, re-pairing, latency, security issues, and 3-5 year obsolescence seem like way too high a price to pay just to avoid getting off the couch and flicking a switch that works 100% of the time and never needs any maintanence.
I've been using the same Hue lightbulbs for at least 8 years now and never had any of the issues you describe. When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch." Also, I've rarely encountered smart lighting that didn't have a physical switch as a fallback option (for example, my Lutron Caseta switches have buttons on them that will work just fine if the network goes down, and my Hue bulbs are all connected to dumb switches), so the idea it doesn't work "100% of the time" is a strawman argument.
I’ve been using Hue lights for about 6 years now. They’re mostly not a pain, except for when they are.
Some examples:
- I used to move a lot, like every year or so. Each move required a few hours of setup in the new place. Compared to screwing in a few bulbs, that’s a big difference.
- I waited so long to update my base that my hue app will no longer connect to it. I have to reset the whole system to get it back. I’m not going to do that until I have to, so I basically can’t add or change any hue light configurations without resetting everything.
- sometimes the hue light switches just don’t do anything. I’m guessing this is if they’re having trouble connecting to the network or something. I’ll just keep tapping the “off” button until something happens 30s later.
Yeah, I wish the Hue switches worked better, they must have trouble waking up from sleep or something. For my office, I never even touch my physical switch or app; instead, a motion sensor turns the lights on when I enter and then off when there's no motion for 10 minutes. It's been working great for years now with the only annoyance being the need to occasionally change the battery on the sensor. That won't work in the living room where I like different lighting for different situations or times of the day, but that's where Homekit scenes come in handy (obligatory smart-home-enthusiast note: Home Assistant controls my house, but Homekit works great as a quickly accessible UI).
Ultimately, I just don't get the fervent anti-smart-home sentiment. Sure, there are all kinds of silly products out there, and no, I don't use the app for my grill, but... oh well, I guess?
Playing with home automation has been a net gain for me. It's part hobby / part genuine improvements. Yeah, there are annoyances, but problem solving is often fun. YMMV...
> When you have a home with children and a fair number of rooms, you'll find that turning off the lights at night is not just a simple matter of "getting off the couch and flicking a switch."
What on earth are you talking about? My best guess is that your children turn on the lights, and you have to go around turning them off? Sounds like a parenting problem, not a technology problem.
Ha, I also don't always think to turn off lights when I leave a room, so I'm not going to be militant about my kids doing it if I can't. Do you seriously object to me solving this problem with tech? Do you even have kids??
As antagonistic as it sounds, I'm not trying to be a dick. I genuinely believe it's a bad thing to try and solve this problem with tech.
It's a parenting problem, so when it's solved with technology, it's not solved at all. The problem isn't the lights being left on, it's kids needing to learn responsibility and mindfulness. This is normal and fine, but if you solve it with tech, you're robbing them of the (difficult!) parenting necessary in this area.
I could be perfectly content with a traditional up/down physical light switch. But depending on the smart bulbs you choose, there's a lot of really cool features that might make it worth it to you despite the slightly more complex setup. And additionally, you can set up physical switches for these devices too.
> Safety. On vacation and want to change the room lights so potential thieves casing the joint don't suspect it's unoccupied? Easy to set up.
> Easily dim lighting via software to the level you want to reduce eye strain or a headache.
> Colorful lights are fun, and can impact mood in ways you like. Add a little orange to the light for comfort. Make it a little bluer for focus. And it makes sexy time more fun.
> It's sort of a social thing. It's pretty cool when you invite people to a party and you have unusual colored lights, or set it up to bounce to the music. Or program some red and green lights to make a christmas party have a cool theme.
152 comments
[ 6.2 ms ] story [ 220 ms ] threadsometimes i use macvim so i can move quickly to that program in particular and do other stuff in the terminal, since i use it for general distraction free writing
technically macvim is not vi, but i guess both are considered outdated in an age where if you tell your iphone not to sync to the cloud it erases days on notes on nazis.
(the whole point of privacy was autonomy, not shoving things up to an unencrypted cloud to get a bullshit warrant served on it and tim cook has forgotten what the world was like when storage was scarce)
(Make syntax requires tabs)
Autoconf emits a source distribution that's build-configured using a famous 'configure' shell script.
Since POSIX is still a thing I wouldn't even put autoconf as outdated. It still has purposes.
For example I'd say that outdated tech would be running your website using CGI, preferably using C backend for extra mushiness.
Something as simple as
will automagically convert this description into a build graph, that can be executed parallel and cached.[^1]: https://ninja-build.org/
That's not a given in today's world
- Spinning rust. My daily driver has 7200 RPM drives and an old Core i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz. It's connected to my old Sony receiver from 1998 and using VLC to play music from the 70's at the moment, shaking the house. The drive has registered a lot of errors but keeps on working.
- 1990's Sony reference line receiver. It's not green-tech but helps warm the room in the morning, offsetting the wallboard heaters so the wasted energy is a wash. That plus my old JBL's I bought from a coworker in the 90's keep hibernating animals out of the ceiling.
- ICE vehicles. Truck, side-by-side, etc... and a 1947 Fordson 2N tractor that still out-performs horses though both tractor and horses have their moments. I buy all vehicles used and extend their life.
- Manual hand operated tools. Sometimes battery tools are more of a hassle when I have a quick thing to get done. They are perhaps useful to keep around when electricity is no more. The scythes and related tools are also good exercise.
- SFTP for transferring files. It's not really outdated, just fallen out of popular use. To be outdated bots or humans would have to be able to exploit due to being unmaintained or something else would have to be faster. Can't beat lftp+sftp for splitting big files into multiple TCP streams through firewalls. Torrents can come close but have other negative characteristics including being useless for private files.
- Cheap wired headphones. No batteries to replace or fail which is good given many Bluetooth headphones do not have user serviceable batteries. No RFI. No hacking or leaking data. Less junk in the landfill. They seem to still be popular for audiophiles.
- Wired keyboards and mice. Not sure if that is considered outdated tech.
- Wired switches, appliances, lights, Ethernet, surveillance cameras will always be perfectly good for me.
- I have a GPS map in the truck but I also keep paper map books in the truck and am happy to use both. GPS may be jammed soon.
- All the free notebooks and pens vendors gave me over the years for taking notes, to-do lists, reminders.
- Love my 2010 Acura TL and the engine is as solid as it can be. Going strong at 125K miles.
* Command-line tools in general. I wrote one too.
* Going even further, a development environment based on the command-line. My entire IDE is in the terminal. I wrote about it too. [1] That post is a little outdated, though.
[1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2020/12/my-development-environment-a...
Plamsa panels were commonly available as 1920x1080 or 1366x768. As long as you're watching natural images (movies etc), both are really fine; native 1080 line plasmas are a better fit for computer generated imagery because they're much easier to feed at their native resolution and avoid the scaler; a lack of 4k plasma displays isn't really a big problem, 1080p is still beautiful. Plasma screens don't have support for HDR, but they do have amazing black levels.
Also my laptop that has no Windows 11 available for it because 7th Gen Intel isn't good enough anymore. I don't think it's outdated, but ask Microsoft about that
And voice-to-text is just as broken. I did side-by-side tests, and if you’re in perfect conditions, facing the phone directly, with no background noise (i.e., never), then the 7 performed okay, but it would fail horrible in any other case. The 2XL performed quite well, relatively. I even replaced the 7 thinking there was an issue, but the new one did the same thing.
Unfortunately, lack of updates means the 2 is no longer usable for many purposes.
I have a few other nicer pairs, some open ear, some wireless with noise cancelling, yet I still pick up the HD-25 regularly. The design is 30 years old.
(As a side note, please bring back 3.5mm jacks on phones)
My iPhone 13 pro has intermittent charging issues because of headphone usage.
PHP 8 introduced too many breaking changes. Many of them making the language worse.
At our company, we ported all public facing projects to PHP 8 over the last 4 months. A pain in the ass.
All internal projects will stay on PHP 7, running in Docker containers, and will be ported to Python in the coming months.
Python is hopefully less likely to come with breaking changes in the future.
It broke adding properties dynamicly to objects.
It broke easy string handling for many functions where null was rendered as an empty string. This is especially annoying as you often get null values from the database. It makes sense to have a null value for "Don't know the color of the car" in the DB. And it makes sense to render it as "Color: " in the user interface. The easy string conversion always was one of the strengths of PHP.
It feels like Java all over again.
It's a lesson they're supposed to have learned going from 2 to 3.
Vim (ok this is a timeless classic)
Going back from react/next/spa style to server rendered templates (thanks to htmx which I guess is not really outdated?)
Some examples:
- I used to move a lot, like every year or so. Each move required a few hours of setup in the new place. Compared to screwing in a few bulbs, that’s a big difference.
- I waited so long to update my base that my hue app will no longer connect to it. I have to reset the whole system to get it back. I’m not going to do that until I have to, so I basically can’t add or change any hue light configurations without resetting everything.
- sometimes the hue light switches just don’t do anything. I’m guessing this is if they’re having trouble connecting to the network or something. I’ll just keep tapping the “off” button until something happens 30s later.
Ultimately, I just don't get the fervent anti-smart-home sentiment. Sure, there are all kinds of silly products out there, and no, I don't use the app for my grill, but... oh well, I guess?
Playing with home automation has been a net gain for me. It's part hobby / part genuine improvements. Yeah, there are annoyances, but problem solving is often fun. YMMV...
What on earth are you talking about? My best guess is that your children turn on the lights, and you have to go around turning them off? Sounds like a parenting problem, not a technology problem.
As antagonistic as it sounds, I'm not trying to be a dick. I genuinely believe it's a bad thing to try and solve this problem with tech.
It's a parenting problem, so when it's solved with technology, it's not solved at all. The problem isn't the lights being left on, it's kids needing to learn responsibility and mindfulness. This is normal and fine, but if you solve it with tech, you're robbing them of the (difficult!) parenting necessary in this area.
> Safety. On vacation and want to change the room lights so potential thieves casing the joint don't suspect it's unoccupied? Easy to set up.
> Easily dim lighting via software to the level you want to reduce eye strain or a headache.
> Colorful lights are fun, and can impact mood in ways you like. Add a little orange to the light for comfort. Make it a little bluer for focus. And it makes sexy time more fun.
> It's sort of a social thing. It's pretty cool when you invite people to a party and you have unusual colored lights, or set it up to bounce to the music. Or program some red and green lights to make a christmas party have a cool theme.
I'll rather just say "Siri, movie time" and the lights fade out automatically.
And if I get up, a motion sensor will light the way to the kitchen or bathroom automatically.