terminology
 

"ChrisM" wrote in message
...
In message
,
Dr Hfuhruhurr Proclaimed from the tallest
tower:

On 8 Jan, 03:41, "Bill Wright" wrote:
I've got used to the fact that when a customer says 'analogue' they
probably mean 'terrestrial'.

Bill

Thirty Five years ago I was at school doing PE and the teacher asked
us to spin around clockwise. One kid sat down crying "but i've got a
digital watch".

Doc

35 years ago...? Were digital watches commonly available in 1973? Or was
this a very rich kid...?

...Or was it just a joke?


--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)

The first digital watch appeared in the Kojak TV program ~1973. They had
LED displays IIRC, moderately accurate and you had to press a button to see
the time. The soon appeared in Samuels at ££££.

By 1978 LED watches were fairly common and cheap.

In 1979 I bought a Texas watch with an LCD 'Trilite' display for around £20.
Unfortunately the case was plastic and soon failed mechanically. A CBM
replacement in ~1980 with stopwatch etc. lasted somewhat longer - LCD
leaked.

The current watch is a Casio - it is radio controlled, solar powered and
good to 100m. Lasted a few years already and I hope to get more. Looks OK
and cost ~£100 IIRC (actually a gift).

terminology
 

"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:58:43 -0000, "ChrisM"
wrote:

In message ,
Steve Wolstenholme Proclaimed from the
tallest
tower:

I had a LED digital watch about 35 years ago. It was silly money but I
didn't buy it. It was a present. I had to press a button to switch on
the display which was a stupid idea but, as I said, it was a present.

Steve

Ahh yes, being a bit bored, I just had a look at the history of digital
watches. Between 35 and 30 years ago was exactly when they were first
emerging.
35 years ago, you could buy one but it'd set you back a grand. 31 years
ago,
you could buy one for a fiver...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1006534


I know my present was expensive but I don't think it would have been a
grand. Maybe a few hundred. The batteries were also very expensive and
they needed to be replaced quite often. The watch still ran with
"flat" batteries but the display was only bright enough at night:)
What started as a novelty became an embarrassment. I gave the LED
watch away when LCD watches became available at a reasonable price.

There's the notorious Sinclair Black Watch, £25 in 1975:
http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/other/blackwatch.htm

--
Max Demian

terminology
 

"David" wrote:

"ChrisM" wrote in message
35 years ago...? Were digital watches commonly available in 1973?

Yes they were but "digital" meant different then.
The watch would have numbers to display the time, rather than hands.

LCD watches were certainly available worldwide in the early 70s, because
I remember seeing one in a shop window in Swansea around about 1974. It
was a Seiko, I think. Its display had six digits, and I remember being
very impressed by the changing seconds display because I'd not seen or
heard about anything like it. The display was clear and attractively
coloured with the digits appearing as a sort of semi-reflective brown on
a light green background. I forget the price, but I do remember that it
was astronomical by my standards as a kid. I didn't see it again and I
didn't see another LCD watch anywhere for another few years.

I remember that this was about a year before LED watches appeared, and
another couple of years before competitively priced LCD watches appeared
with their boring four-digit displays with dull grey digits on a light
grey background.

--
Dave Farrance

terminology
 

In article ,
says...
"David" wrote:

"ChrisM" wrote in message
35 years ago...? Were digital watches commonly available in 1973?

Yes they were but "digital" meant different then.
The watch would have numbers to display the time, rather than hands.

LCD watches were certainly available worldwide in the early 70s, because
I remember seeing one in a shop window in Swansea around about 1974. It
was a Seiko, I think. Its display had six digits, and I remember being
very impressed by the changing seconds display because I'd not seen or
heard about anything like it. The display was clear and attractively
coloured with the digits appearing as a sort of semi-reflective brown on
a light green background. I forget the price, but I do remember that it
was astronomical by my standards as a kid. I didn't see it again and I
didn't see another LCD watch anywhere for another few years.

I remember that this was about a year before LED watches appeared, and
another couple of years before competitively priced LCD watches appeared
with their boring four-digit displays with dull grey digits on a light
grey background.



I still have my first Timex LCD watch. One of these days I'll try and power
it up and see if it still works. Meanwhile it comes in handy as a boat
anchor, or for stunning rhinoceroses.

--
Halmyre

I'll just go and get my baton...it's in Chicago.

terminology
 

"Bill Wright" wrote:

That's exactly what I mean. They refer to satellite as 'digital' and DTT as
'analogue'. When they have an IDTV they have no idea that the transmission
is digital. All they know is that they have a new telly and it gets more
channels than the old telly, and that they also have Sky, which as everyone
knows is synonymous with 'satellite' and 'digital'. To differentiate between
the two they call everything that isn't Sky 'analogue'.

more astonishing stuff snipped

I see.

I did once take my TV into a shop for repair, and took into the back
where the backroom guy turned it on, looked at the flickering screen and
wrote "video fault" on my receipt. When I took the receipt back to claim
it, that guy had gone and a woman there tried to establish which TV it
was and confused me greatly with questions like "Was it just the video at
fault and was the rest of the telly OK?". (She assumed it had a built-in
VCR.)

--
Dave Farrance

terminology
 

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:52:00 GMT, "David"
wrote:


"ChrisM" wrote in message

35 years ago...? Were digital watches commonly available in 1973?

Yes they were but "digital" meant different then.

The watch would have numbers to display the time, rather than hands.
Same with radio displays, anologue would be a string pulling a pionter on a
scale, later we had "digital" tuning, a readout with numbers.

I believe that, as far as watches and clocks are concerned, "digital"
means exactly the same now as it did then: it's about the display. Re
radio tuners, some digital displays front an analogue functionality
(infinately variable, in principle), and others are "genuinely"
digital (will tune only a predefined set of discrete frequencies, eg
87.5-108MHz in 100KHz steps). But I don't think the meaning of the
word has changed in that context either: it's ambiguous now, as it was
then.
--
http://www.robinfaichney.org/

terminology
 

In message , Bill Wright
writes
I've got used to the fact that when a customer says 'analogue' they probably
mean 'terrestrial'.

Bill


Round these parts, people seem to be completely au fait with TV
terminology.

There are three types, Sky, Freeview, and Ordinary. ¬)
--
Ian

terminology
 

"Robin Faichney" wrote in message
...
Re
radio tuners, some digital displays front an analogue functionality
(infinately variable, in principle), and others are "genuinely"
digital (will tune only a predefined set of discrete frequencies, eg
87.5-108MHz in 100KHz steps).

So where does that leave those old rotary controls that had a large number
of click stops?

Bill

terminology
 

Steve Wolstenholme wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:04:28 GMT, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

Steve Wolstenholme wrote:

I had a LED digital watch about 35 years ago. It was silly money but I
didn't buy it. It was a present. I had to press a button to switch on
the display which was a stupid idea but, as I said, it was a present.

Didn't somebody come up with a plastic widget which slipped
underneath the watch, enabling the button to be pressed by
flexing the wrist?

Maybe they did but I didn't have one. IMO, that would have been
another crazy idea.

No argument there ;-)

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

terminology
 

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Steve Wolstenholme wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:04:28 GMT, Chris J Dixon
wrote:

Steve Wolstenholme wrote:

I had a LED digital watch about 35 years ago. It was silly money but I
didn't buy it. It was a present. I had to press a button to switch on
the display which was a stupid idea but, as I said, it was a present.

Didn't somebody come up with a plastic widget which slipped
underneath the watch, enabling the button to be pressed by
flexing the wrist?

Maybe they did but I didn't have one. IMO, that would have been
another crazy idea.

No argument there ;-)

A sundial on your bonce would be more practical.

Bill