[HN Gopher] Childhood toys: 40 years on 2-XL works just fine ___________________________________________________________________ Childhood toys: 40 years on 2-XL works just fine Author : jgrahamc Score : 93 points Date : 2022-10-30 12:22 UTC (10 hours ago) (HTM) web link (blog.jgc.org) (TXT) w3m dump (blog.jgc.org) | heywire wrote: | Techmoan somewhat recently did a video on the 2xl, including | breaking down the various tracks on the 8-track. | | https://youtu.be/amuRIydCoJk | jgrahamc wrote: | That's cool. In the clip I posted I swear the initial sound | effect is actually RTTY. Anyone ever try to decode it? | lb1lf wrote: | I was thinking the same thing. I am not sure it is 45.45 baud | w/170Hz shift (taken from memory) ham RTTY, but I figured I'd | run it through a decoder once I got back inside the shack | just to see if it is an Easter egg or just random... | jgrahamc wrote: | I don't have much time to look deeper but around 3kHz there | are two peaks 300Hz apart. Wouldn't surprise me if there is | a signal there and could be ASCII. | jgrahamc wrote: | Let's see which one of us gets there first! | smcl wrote: | One other thing I learned from Techmoan is that one of the few | remaining companies making cassette playback mechanisms today | is a company called "Tanashin" - and I only bring that up | because that name is on a sticker in one of the photos inside | this 2-XL in jgrahamc's post. | mrob wrote: | According to https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the- | last-cassette-pl... , Tanashin no longer makes tape | mechanisms. The so-called "Tanashin" mechanisms found in | modern products are actually Chinese mechanisms based on old | Tanashin designs. | Aeolun wrote: | It looks like Tanashin is out of business now. At least | their website returns a 401 and has for the past year or so | (according to the internet archive). | | Last snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20210117133724/h | ttps://www.tanas... | smcl wrote: | Ahhh very interesting! I had no idea | jccalhoun wrote: | Another youtuber, VWestlife, has more technical and has | talked more about this. As another poster notes most of these | are knockoffs and even the motors are knockoffs that go so | far as to put the label of a more reputable company on them. | askew wrote: | I wonder if this acted as some inspiration for the 2-Bit | character in Deathloop: the vocals in particular are similar. | nahuel0x wrote: | Today this will be an app, probably much better in many aspects. | But some magic is lost by not being an specific object designed | for a single purpose. | m_t wrote: | There are plenty of "Story box" that exist now. Mixed Ng the | advantages of an app and the tangibility of a real object. One | example I know of: https://lunii.com/en-gb/ | wglass wrote: | I'm surprised the 8 track cassette was still good. I remember | finding an old box of 8 tracks in the late 80s and they were | disintegrating. Assumed they weren't built to last for decade | plus. But maybe those were just stored poorly. | leobg wrote: | Pictures of this old, clunky circuit board bring up fond | memories. | madengr wrote: | LOL I had one of these. They made them with both red and green | LED for the eyes. I only got a Big Trak when I was 40 and they | re-released it. | jvanderbot wrote: | > On opening 2-XL by removing 13 screws I was ready for an | internal mess and had the air duster ready. But the insides were | pretty clean for something 44 years old. | | If you don't have re-circulation / ventilation fans, it really | shouldn't get that messy if the exterior case is moderately | tight. My image of "old electronics" is mainly from old | mainframes / desktops, and those have copious fans to really suck | in all the dust and pet hair. | ilyt wrote: | It generally heavily depends on room it is in. My PC at home | (no AC, middle of city) pretty much needs yearly dusting, one | in office (AC) barely gets any dust, servers in datacenter even | less even after near decade of use (we had some legacy stuff) | [deleted] | snickmy wrote: | There was an Italian equivalent version of this. I don't remember | the name but it was grey and blue, and it was sold circa early | 90s. It had the exact shape and look of this: | https://www.etsy.com/listing/694191660/vintage-1992-tiger-2x.... | but without the 2xl logo. Loved how Italy was rebranding | everything | | I had almost worked out myself how it worked by playing those | special tape in a normal recorder. | Sephiroth87 wrote: | Unless there were weird bootlegs going around, it was still | called 2-XL with the same branding | (https://youtu.be/aVXwo6raHoA) ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-10-30 23:00 UTC)