Side fumbling in the dingle arm  the Retroincabulator - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2023, 03:21:31 pm
content: Side fumbling in the dingle arm the Retroincabulator of the 1980s

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2023, 08:34:13 pm
content: Wear a suit, show some fancy-looking equipment and use some buzz words. You're on the path to victory.Have things really changed in 40 years?

author: srb1954
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2023, 08:52:27 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on August 20, 2023, 08:34:13 pmMarketing would require a newer version of the Retroincabulator to have lots of dazzlingly bright blue LEDs.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2023, 09:46:55 am
content: Another spin-off from the "turbo encabulator" spoof. They are funny.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2AgAs for changes in 40 years, in those days, DuPont advertised "better living through chemistry." Has anyone heard that slogan today? Chemistry is a bad word. One must use words like renewable, sustainable, and most of all, paint it green or attach a green leaf icon.

author: 5U4GB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2023, 10:00:27 am
content: Quote from: srb1954 on August 21, 2023, 08:52:27 amAnd it would have to have a.

author: Helio_Centra
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 21, 2023, 01:24:53 pm
content: Blockchain is old news, everything needs AI now.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 05:13:36 am
content: HQ version:Hyper-encabulator:

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 11:33:56 pm
content: There's also this version:Somewhere there was another really funny version which ended with a line like"it's not cheap, but the government is happy to pay for it"

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 10:08:11 am
content: The original TurboEncabulator guy said that.

author: pdenisowski
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 10:39:59 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on August 20, 2023, 08:34:13 pmYes, no one in field sales wears a suit anymoreWhen I started working for HP back in the late 1990s, I regularly wore a coat and tie when I visited customers.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 07, 2023, 01:50:39 pm
content: Back in the 1970s, IBM field engineers had to wear a suit andwhiteshirt, even when they came to fix a photocopier.They brought a plastic overalls to keep the toner off their nice clothes.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 11, 2023, 01:35:08 am
content: Chrysler Turbo Encabulator

author: Ben321
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2023, 05:09:35 am
content: Quote from: jonovid on August 20, 2023, 03:21:31 pmIs this a parody, or an actual scam product?

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 23, 2023, 07:18:34 am
content: Quote from: Ben321 on October 23, 2023, 05:09:35 amIt was an updated version of a famous parody of technobabblehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_encabulator

author: Ben321
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 09:48:47 pm
content: Quote from: Kean on October 23, 2023, 07:18:34 amThe company name he used though (Rockwell Automation) is a real company, with actual legitimate products. Isn't it illegal to use a real company name like this, even if it's just a joke? That's why in movies you never see real company names for anything, unless it was a product placement style ad, paid for by the actual company to be included in the movie.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 09:59:04 pm
content: If not illegal, it is certainly rude, unless you are attacking the named company itself.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 11:26:39 pm
content: QuoteAnd if the company named made the film?

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 24, 2023, 11:31:46 pm
content: Did they?I have worked with the Allen-Bradley subsidiary of Rockwell, and they are also well known for their acquisition of Collins, but I don't remember any films.Wikipedia says, "Another version was done by Mike Kraft who had previously worked with Bud Haggart and known as the "retro encabulator" using an Allen-Bradley motor control center and referencing other brands owned by Rockwell Automation. This version was put online and made its way to eBaum’s World where it gained quite a bit of notoriety."As an in-joke, some General Electric employees wrote a data sheet in GE format about such a fictional object.My favorite remains the Write-Only Memory hoax, originated by Signetics, to which I submitted an application note back in the 1970s.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write-only_memory_(joke)Unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing anyone remembers about the once-powerful company Signetics, inventors of the 555 timer chip.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 01:43:02 am
content: Quotemaybe you didnt go to the right christmas party or wasn't one of the selected special customers.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 05:56:09 pm
content: Of course the Retro-Encabulator video was produced by Allen Bradley (Rockwell Automation) -- originally for internal use. Apparently they had a tradition to hide an "Easter Egg" in the training videos sent out to their field engineers; in their case not for Easter, but for the end-of-year training videos.Mike Kraft, the presenter in the Retro-Encabulator video, tells the story in an audio interview:https://manufacturinghappyhour.com/66-the-oral-history-of-the-retro-encabulator-with-mike-kraft/

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2023, 10:07:08 pm
content: I stand corrected.I still want to buy an interocitor.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2023, 07:47:29 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on October 24, 2023, 11:31:46 pmThe 555 timer was first marketed by Signetics, however 'they' didn't invent it: that was the work of Hans Camenzind.Camenzind had worked for Signetics until 1970 but left to become an independent contractor and it was during this phase of his career that he proposed the design for the 555 timer and it was taken up by his prior employers.Camenzind subsequently formed Interdesign, a semiconductor design company, that he headed until the late seventies, eventually selling the company to Ferranti.Best regards,Xena.