4 ms·

I don’t miss the key locks. I do miss the Turbo key.

by leshokunin 7y ago

altmind 7y ago
But it was not a Turbo key! It was a "degrade the performance for legacy software" key.
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  Tomato, tomato.
  - benj111 7y ago
    My internal monologue just pronounces that as Tomato, tomato. So I still don't know which was the tomayto, and which was the tomahto, and I don't know if you were pronouncing either correctly, and what were we talking about again?
- brewdad 7y ago
  AKA Turbo lag.
- leshokunin 7y ago
  Right! You want me to believe it wasn't a magical key that 2x'ed my CPU speed? Next thing you're gonna tell me the 640Kb limit wasn't a clever design to teach everyone about memory management and making custom autoexec files!
  - samplatt 7y ago
    I really miss custom autoexec and config.sys files. I understood computers back then. Windows is almost a black box to me, now.
    - wumms 7y ago
      Memory paints with a golden brush.
    - adrianN 7y ago
      You might enjoy running OpenBSD.
      - samplatt 7y ago
        I liked it because it was simple :P
    - fred_is_fred 7y ago
      The hardest part of playing games like Wing Commander 2 and Ultima was getting them to load in the first place
rkeniger 7y ago
I used to do on-site IT support and I lost count of the number of times I made people very happy by pressing the turbo button to make their "really slow" computer fast again.
kalleboo 7y ago
LGR, the creator of the linked video, also did a video on Turbo buttons! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2q02Bxtqds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2q02Bxtqds
- ClassyJacket 7y ago
  LGR is one of my favourite channels on YouTube (along with Captain Disillusion and Techmoan). Technically informative and entertaining. He's remarkably consistent in style and content, but not in a bad way. His Tech Tales series is a fantastic look at the rise and fall of various tech companies, and his reviews of old computing devices are loads of fun. That video is where I learned that Turbo buttons are in fact the opposite - they lower performance for compatibility with older software.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    As a fan of LGR and Techmoan I'll definitely be checking out Captain Disillusion, thanks for the recommendation. Just for the benefit of anyone looking at this list and looking for similar YouTube recommendations, I wanted to throw The 8-Bit Guy (restoring old hardware), Nostalgia Nerd (general vintage computing/gaming with a British twist), Larry Bundy Jr (gaming history), MetalJesusRocks (game collecting and history), and Modern Vintage Gamer (he was heavily involved in the Xbox / Xbox 360 homebrew and modding scene) into the mix.

I don’t miss the key locks. I do miss the Turbo key.

altmind 7y ago

But it was not a Turbo key! It was a "degrade the performance for legacy software" key.

RandomBacon 7y ago
Tomato, tomato.
- benj111 7y ago
  My internal monologue just pronounces that as Tomato, tomato. So I still don't know which was the tomayto, and which was the tomahto, and I don't know if you were pronouncing either correctly, and what were we talking about again?
brewdad 7y ago
AKA Turbo lag.
leshokunin 7y ago
Right! You want me to believe it wasn't a magical key that 2x'ed my CPU speed? Next thing you're gonna tell me the 640Kb limit wasn't a clever design to teach everyone about memory management and making custom autoexec files!
- samplatt 7y ago
  I really miss custom autoexec and config.sys files. I understood computers back then. Windows is almost a black box to me, now.
  - wumms 7y ago
    Memory paints with a golden brush.
  - adrianN 7y ago
    You might enjoy running OpenBSD.
    - samplatt 7y ago
      I liked it because it was simple :P
  - fred_is_fred 7y ago
    The hardest part of playing games like Wing Commander 2 and Ultima was getting them to load in the first place

rkeniger 7y ago

I used to do on-site IT support and I lost count of the number of times I made people very happy by pressing the turbo button to make their "really slow" computer fast again.

kalleboo 7y ago

LGR, the creator of the linked video, also did a video on Turbo buttons! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2q02Bxtqds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2q02Bxtqds

ClassyJacket 7y ago
LGR is one of my favourite channels on YouTube (along with Captain Disillusion and Techmoan). Technically informative and entertaining. He's remarkably consistent in style and content, but not in a bad way. His Tech Tales series is a fantastic look at the rise and fall of various tech companies, and his reviews of old computing devices are loads of fun. That video is where I learned that Turbo buttons are in fact the opposite - they lower performance for compatibility with older software.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  As a fan of LGR and Techmoan I'll definitely be checking out Captain Disillusion, thanks for the recommendation. Just for the benefit of anyone looking at this list and looking for similar YouTube recommendations, I wanted to throw The 8-Bit Guy (restoring old hardware), Nostalgia Nerd (general vintage computing/gaming with a British twist), Larry Bundy Jr (gaming history), MetalJesusRocks (game collecting and history), and Modern Vintage Gamer (he was heavily involved in the Xbox / Xbox 360 homebrew and modding scene) into the mix.