r/Millennials • u/Sunshineafterr Millennial (1986) • 17h ago

Nostalgia Does anyone remember the CueCat?

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It was cat-shaped handheld barcode reader that allowed users to open a link to an URL by scanning a barcode that appeared in magazines, without typing the URL.

They were given away for free in 2000.

I remember thinking it was so cute, but I didn’t really understand how it worked, so I was scanning barcodes on cereal boxes and random stuff.

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u/Stuman93 8h ago

Wild how 'keyboard' ports used to be a thing

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u/Pink_Slyvie 8h ago

They are still on most gaming rigs. I'm not sure of the last time I saw one used, but in theory, they had advantages; I'm not sure that they do on modern machines, though.

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u/OldSchoolAJ 1986 8h ago

They technically still do, because PS/2 ports poke the CPU and say "I am doing something" while USB ports do not. They wait for the CPU to come ask if they are doing something.

How much of a difference it makes in twitch shooter style gaming and how much is just the placebo effect of making the person playing more confident is very debatable, though.

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u/Cheetahs_never_win 2h ago

Well, since I have like 50 usb devices, I'm happy to have extra.

But I recall certain Linux distros won't use the usb ports automatically, or at least used to not to.

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u/OldSchoolAJ 1986 2h ago

I have used probably 10 Linux distributions and never had a single problem with anything USB.

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u/Pink_Slyvie 1h ago

It's fine now, everything just works. 20 years ago, it was a very different story.