@heartny@phendrick Oh yeah, I’m even worse than that. I would still use XP if I could get away with it.
My POV is that the “genius” of Windows was backwards compatibility. I can still run Paint Shop Pro from 1995(?) on my Win10 laptop. HOWEVER, backwards compatibility co$t$ money to pay slobs like me to maintain it, so abandoning that paradigm in the name of doing things the iOS way (but with clunky/obvious surveillance) is game over, man. The unilateral cancellation of hardware compatibility on a whim is part of the same degradation of W11.
I don’t think Win 7 can run any longer. Just walk (with a cane).
I have a circa-2010 Dell Latitude e6420 that can run W7 or W10 or Linux. Back then I settled on laptops that have hard disk access panels that make it easy to cold-swap. I could have any OS running and keep the others in my backpack.
Even now I want to make a little panel in the bottom of my current laptop in order to swap NVME drives.
The e6420 still has old W7 legacy work on it that I revisit from time to time. I also use it for e-mail download via Thunderbird. … sigh … I should really back that puppy up.
/showme caveman programmer named “cfg83” with ancient laptop running windows XP, and loving it!
@cfg83 Fred Flintstone’s cousin, perhaps?
And I would use XP if I could as well. Fortunately I can still use Win7 but lately have run into a few incompatible programs wanting me to upgrade.
Regular stereo speakers connected to a CRT TV through the headphone jack. The TV only gets used for NES and SNES so it’s not like surround would do anything.
@brennyn Are you powering external speakers with the television’s own built-in audio amplifier (the one that normally drives the TV’s built-in speakers)? I am surprised it is powerful enough to do that.
@PooltoyWolf They’re powered speakers with their own amplification and RCA inputs on the back. Running cables straight from the consoles to the speakers would be doable and probably better, but effort.
2.1 stereo. Two Realistic Minimus 3.5s and an RCA branded powered subwoofer probably made in the early 2000s, all driven by a Lepai LP-2020A+ amplifier. Surprisingly good combo.
@chienfou@PooltoyWolf I had an Allied open-reel tape recorder from Radio Shack I splurged on with my first paycheck from a summer job after I got my bachelor’s degree before I went active duty in the USAF (encouraged by an Army draft notice during 'Nam war). Great machine: 4 track, sound on sound, sound with sound, live monitoring of taping, selectable speeds w/o capstan change from 1 7/8 up to 15 ips, decent detachable speakers folded onto front, could do a seek by index position, and the unit even looked profesional with its VU meters, etc . Even recorded a few live performances at clubs (with permission). Used it until the frippin drive belt broke and couldn’t find the $1 part anywhere , including RS/Tandy/Allied. Any belt that was right diameter and thickness to fit didn’t have the correct stretchiness. Very frustrating. Followed it with Roberts, Teac recorders and they were not as good, IMO.
@cfg83 I bought two of those! Used them for a long time even though they both smelled like seawater or something. It was a great deal! When I moved I’m not sure, but I think I donated them to the Habitat ReStore.
Sennheiser HD 598 Cs closed-back* headphones that I’ve modded to a 3.5mm jack to allow me to connect a V-Moda mic to them. Then I watch on my laptop. Much more flexible than a TV, and I can kibitz with people on Discord.
*-Way too much background noise everywhere I’ve lived for open-back headphones to be practical. Any gain in sound quality would be massively offset by all the white noise from fans, traffic outside, etc.
Surround sound speakers and subwoofer connected to audio receiver. HDMI out to my projector.
There is an actual TV, housed in a cabinet, and like @brennyn above I have it connected to a pair of powered computer speakers from the output jack. It gets turned on in the rare event that I want to watch an OTA program. Or (mostly) when the grandkids come and want to use the PlayStation. Mine IS an LED not CRT though.
@kittykat9180 Recordable CDs actually. Back when the Yahoo groups were a thing, we would “trade” by mail. It worked like a tree. One would receive a cd, make 2 copies and pass them on down the line. It was fun and interactive. Nowadays I just go out, alone, put my eyepatch on, and download binaries or mp3s from sharing websites.
I got some “rare” gems that aren’t all that politically correct nowadays and really, I have so much I’ll never live long enough to hear them all
But sometimes it’s fun to listen to some internet streams like Antoch Old Time Radio. They “broadcast” the same day in history if available and I’m still awed by the fact I’m listening to something from decades ago on the same date they were broadcast. Distant voices thru the wires and all that.
You can find them at https://radio.macinmind.com
@therealjrn one of my best friends I meet in Yahoo forums. We were friends for years before ever meeting in person (despite living in the same city). Thirteenish years later and we still talk every day (though I’ve moved away).
I use a USB TV tuner thingie with a Windows app in my PC as my primary TV, so it’s the PC’s on-board sound capabilities which feeds a simple stereo 1/8-inch phone jack to my Cambridge Soundworks 4.1 system which has only the front small speakers and the woofer connected.
If/when I ever hook up either or both of my flat-screen TVs, I’ll probably be using just the internal speakers unless one of them happens to be next to my stereo system which I also haven’t hooked up yet.
@rancho It’s a Hauppauge 1595 WinTV-dualHD USB tuner and it works very well even at USB speeds. I use it for over-the-air reception. The Windows app it comes with isn’t great, so I use MediaPortal on both Windows and Linux. I paid $80 for it three years ago.
@ItalianScallion Thanks, ota is what I use mine for. But I am living dangerously with an old Win7 and Media Center. My son is pushing me to make the jump to Plex. I did not know Hauppauge did a USB, I will have to take a peek at it. thank so much
I have a Denon receiver with the left over Panasonic speakers from a 5.1 surround set where the amp died. I have the rear speakers behind the side edges of the screen facing 45° out to the side walls. The subwoofer has a different connection, so it isn’t currently hooked up, but overall, it does the trick.
No television, no sound system.
@heartny You are missing out!
@heartny But you have a device to post here. Is it an infernal smart thing or a lap warmer?
Are you one of those hard core text based web browser fellows?
@cfg83 Mobile phone or OG desktop computer running Windows 7.
@heartny same
@heartny Right on! IMO Windows 7 is the last “good” Windows.
@cfg83 @heartny I don’t think Win 7 can run any longer. Just walk (with a cane).
@cfg83 @heartny I agree on “last good” iff you’re talking the UI/UX. Since then, I tolerate Win D’ohs only when I absolutely have to.
@heartny @phendrick Oh yeah, I’m even worse than that. I would still use XP if I could get away with it.
My POV is that the “genius” of Windows was backwards compatibility. I can still run Paint Shop Pro from 1995(?) on my Win10 laptop. HOWEVER, backwards compatibility co$t$ money to pay slobs like me to maintain it, so abandoning that paradigm in the name of doing things the iOS way (but with clunky/obvious surveillance) is game over, man. The unilateral cancellation of hardware compatibility on a whim is part of the same degradation of W11.
@heartny @phendrick
I have a circa-2010 Dell Latitude e6420 that can run W7 or W10 or Linux. Back then I settled on laptops that have hard disk access panels that make it easy to cold-swap. I could have any OS running and keep the others in my backpack.
Even now I want to make a little panel in the bottom of my current laptop in order to swap NVME drives.
The e6420 still has old W7 legacy work on it that I revisit from time to time. I also use it for e-mail download via Thunderbird. … sigh … I should really back that puppy up.
/showme caveman programmer named “cfg83” with ancient laptop running windows XP, and loving it!
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “caveman programmer named cfg83 with ancient laptop running windows XP, and loving it!”
@mediocrebot Yeahhhh, that’s about right.
@cfg83 Fred Flintstone’s cousin, perhaps?
And I would use XP if I could as well. Fortunately I can still use Win7 but lately have run into a few incompatible programs wanting me to upgrade.
Soundbar, subwoofer and two rear speakers.
/showme dogs and cats as the speaker and subwoofer for a sound system
@mycya4me Here’s the image you requested for “dogs and cats as the speaker and subwoofer for a sound system”
@mediocrebot that s what you call a Dog Gone sounds system.
@mediocrebot @mycya4me
Yikes. Creepy!
@Kyeh @mediocrebot @mycya4me
That’s doggone nutz!
@mediocrebot @mycya4me At first I wanted this and then I thought about what would happen when they got hangry.
@mycya4me sub-woof-er
@mycya4me You’re missing a tweeter. Shouldn’t it be a dog and a couple of birds? (Thuffering thukatash! I tawt I taw a tweety bird!)
@Kyeh @mediocrebot @therealjrn Yep I agree!
@ItalianScallion You can make the image of the Perfect system that is the True Cat’s Meow & is so Dog Gone good!
Regular stereo speakers connected to a CRT TV through the headphone jack. The TV only gets used for NES and SNES so it’s not like surround would do anything.
@brennyn Are you powering external speakers with the television’s own built-in audio amplifier (the one that normally drives the TV’s built-in speakers)? I am surprised it is powerful enough to do that.
@PooltoyWolf They’re powered speakers with their own amplification and RCA inputs on the back. Running cables straight from the consoles to the speakers would be doable and probably better, but effort.
@brennyn Oh! That makes much more sense!
2.1 stereo. Two Realistic Minimus 3.5s and an RCA branded powered subwoofer probably made in the early 2000s, all driven by a Lepai LP-2020A+ amplifier. Surprisingly good combo.
@PooltoyWolf
Nice. Radio shack actually had some pretty good s*** back in the day…
@chienfou Yes they did!
@chienfou @PooltoyWolf I had an Allied open-reel tape recorder from Radio Shack I splurged on with my first paycheck from a summer job after I got my bachelor’s degree before I went active duty in the USAF (encouraged by an Army draft notice during 'Nam war). Great machine: 4 track, sound on sound, sound with sound, live monitoring of taping, selectable speeds w/o capstan change from 1 7/8 up to 15 ips, decent detachable speakers folded onto front, could do a seek by index position, and the unit even looked profesional with its VU meters, etc . Even recorded a few live performances at clubs (with permission). Used it until the frippin drive belt broke and couldn’t find the $1 part anywhere , including RS/Tandy/Allied. Any belt that was right diameter and thickness to fit didn’t have the correct stretchiness. Very frustrating. Followed it with Roberts, Teac recorders and they were not as good, IMO.
@chienfou @phendrick Bet you could find that belt nowadays somewhere!
My TV’s sound system is the built-in speakers. Not as crappy as my hearing, so
/shrug.
If I want better, I use wireless headphones,
I got this for my Dad eons ago :
There is also a Sony soundbar I got at a thrift store, but that is not in use right now.
@cfg83 I bought two of those! Used them for a long time even though they both smelled like seawater or something. It was a great deal! When I moved I’m not sure, but I think I donated them to the Habitat ReStore.
@therealjrn
Sennheiser HD 598 Cs closed-back* headphones that I’ve modded to a 3.5mm jack to allow me to connect a V-Moda mic to them. Then I watch on my laptop. Much more flexible than a TV, and I can kibitz with people on Discord.
*-Way too much background noise everywhere I’ve lived for open-back headphones to be practical. Any gain in sound quality would be massively offset by all the white noise from fans, traffic outside, etc.
meh
Onkyo receiver and surround sound speakers. Both purchased from Meh.
Surround sound speakers and subwoofer connected to audio receiver. HDMI out to my projector.
There is an actual TV, housed in a cabinet, and like @brennyn above I have it connected to a pair of powered computer speakers from the output jack. It gets turned on in the rare event that I want to watch an OTA program. Or (mostly) when the grandkids come and want to use the PlayStation. Mine IS an LED not CRT though.
Marantz 7.1 surround sound with ELAC speakers connected to a Sony Bravia 4k.
Non-existent as I have no TV.
Do you have a radio @kittykat9180?
@therealjrn In my car.
But the poll question is about television sound system.
@kittykat9180 I like to listen to long-form radio like NPR and I also collect old time radio shows.
@therealjrn can you explain how you collect old radio shows?
Like on DVD?
@kittykat9180 Recordable CDs actually. Back when the Yahoo groups were a thing, we would “trade” by mail. It worked like a tree. One would receive a cd, make 2 copies and pass them on down the line. It was fun and interactive. Nowadays I just go out, alone, put my eyepatch on, and download binaries or mp3s from sharing websites.
I got some “rare” gems that aren’t all that politically correct nowadays and really, I have so much I’ll never live long enough to hear them all
But sometimes it’s fun to listen to some internet streams like Antoch Old Time Radio. They “broadcast” the same day in history if available and I’m still awed by the fact I’m listening to something from decades ago on the same date they were broadcast. Distant voices thru the wires and all that.
You can find them at
https://radio.macinmind.com
@therealjrn one of my best friends I meet in Yahoo forums. We were friends for years before ever meeting in person (despite living in the same city). Thirteenish years later and we still talk every day (though I’ve moved away).
I use a USB TV tuner thingie with a Windows app in my PC as my primary TV, so it’s the PC’s on-board sound capabilities which feeds a simple stereo 1/8-inch phone jack to my Cambridge Soundworks 4.1 system which has only the front small speakers and the woofer connected.
If/when I ever hook up either or both of my flat-screen TVs, I’ll probably be using just the internal speakers unless one of them happens to be next to my stereo system which I also haven’t hooked up yet.
@ItalianScallion I am using an internal tv tuner, but it is starting to flake sometimes. What type is your USB?
@rancho It’s a Hauppauge 1595 WinTV-dualHD USB tuner and it works very well even at USB speeds. I use it for over-the-air reception. The Windows app it comes with isn’t great, so I use MediaPortal on both Windows and Linux. I paid $80 for it three years ago.
@ItalianScallion Thanks, ota is what I use mine for. But I am living dangerously with an old Win7 and Media Center. My son is pushing me to make the jump to Plex. I did not know Hauppauge did a USB, I will have to take a peek at it. thank so much
I have a Denon receiver with the left over Panasonic speakers from a 5.1 surround set where the amp died. I have the rear speakers behind the side edges of the screen facing 45° out to the side walls. The subwoofer has a different connection, so it isn’t currently hooked up, but overall, it does the trick.