Same. They are super easy to mod to unlock them, so I used them for books, cds, etc.

They were so freaking cheap back in the day.

I'm pretty sure I still have one of those in a box somewhere. I got it to hack it as a generic barcode scanner, but never even bothered to actually do that.

I used one to scan the ISBN barcode of my wife's book collection into an open source book database. You can do the same today with a phone app.

Thank you!
Related: https://cuecat.com/ (The invention that bridged print and digital two decades before the world was ready...)

I think that Palm Pilots (and so probably Treo phones) just ran the apps in-place (from the flash memory or ram). So if you pushed the "calendar" button it just switched to running it. No loading involved.

I see what you mean. I had a similar thing back in the day (OTA tuner card). Amd honestly, I think those were actually the downfall of the HTPC (if we allow HTPC to mean a PC that is meant to be used from the couch on a TV).

An ideal DVR has almost the opposite hardware you'd want in a PC—a low-power CPU, and niche hardware for tuning (ideally more than one). The DVR needs to be always-on amd more or less run forever. That sounds more like one of my headless servers than a (desktop) PC.

I found I didn't end up using my HTPC as a DVR even when I had the hardware in it. I more used it for games and eventually streaming (when that eventually became a thing). I've got a Jellyfin server set up at home now too.

I guess what I mean is: there's never been a better time to have a dedocated PC for your TV. With ad invasions and general enshittification dominating the entertainment industry, having full control of your media PC feels great.

I think "HTPC" is rather distinct from "Another box (even super suped up box) for streaming services"

HTPCs had local storage and Blu-ray (or 2) drives or whatever. I built an HTPC back in the day when we still had cable. I actually picked up some PCIe CableCard tuner thing and went to our cable company to pick up a cablecard card for it (some FCC ruling forced all cable companies to allow you to rent one in lieu of a STB) and had an HTPC that was literally a cable STB+DVR lmao

HTPCs are cheaper and easier than ever. With tons of TV being broadcast by streaming, a browser gets you pretty much anything you could want. Grab a cheap mini PC and a wireless keyboard/trackpad combo, and you don't have to deal with your "smart" TV's "quirks". If you hit a good deal, the whole setup could end up under $200.

Plus an HTPC can use a VPN, adblocker, browser extensions, etc. So the overall experience is so much better than the underpowered SBC those smart TVs have, and all without the ads and spyware.

And if you're still not satisfied, grab a couple of bluetooth controllers and load up some light gaming. Even a mini PC with something like an N150 can handle stuff like Minecraft and Jackbox games.

I'll be holding on to my last dumb TVs for as long as they still turn on.

This is a great write up of a transformative moment in computing.

wild!

it did, but the fidelity was varyingly poor

did it play anything comprehensible?

once i played a reel-to-reel audio tape and witnessed the rust neatly separating from the plastic substrate and collecting in a pile as it passed through the head. somehow i could imagine this type of thing happening if they're not extremely careful.