Explore microcomputing’s frontiers with Radio Shack’s 1981 catalog

The news of Radio Shack’s demise became official this week. In a world where you can order an entire home entertainment system from your phone, the appeal of a closet-sized electronics store has faded. And if you can’t remember the last time you needed to rush out to pick up a HPDB68 Male to CN50 Female SCSI 3 Adapter, that’s a big part of Radio Shack’s problem right there.

Mashable knows that time is a cruel mistress, and invites readers to remember a rosier time for Radio Shack with a look back at one of the company’s old catalogs from 1981, when phones still had cords and rotary dials. It’s a neat look at just how quick technology changes, or (maybe) at just how old we all really are.