Retro-Futuristic Computing

HawaiianMayan asks: "Sure, if you're a collector you might have a working computer from the 60s or even the 50s in your basement or garage. But what about from the 20s or 30s? Lately I've been dreaming of a retro-futuristic computer, with all the convenience of a modern desktop (I don't want to deal with punchcards!), but styling from the early part of the 20th century. I'm wondering if any of the hardware hackers out there are working on anything like this. It would need an appropriate case, a manual typewriter keyboard, a black and white screen, preferably enlarged by a nice freznel lens, and lots and lots of nixie tubes, knobs, and blinkenlights. Would it be too much if the numeric keypad was a rotary dial?" Think about the computer props used from such classics like Max Headroom (both the movie and the TV series) and Brazil, and you'd be very close to what the submittor is looking for. I must admit, making a computer in this fashion would certainly be a break from the beige box and monitor!

Comments

Spock!

[Noodlenose]

You could even hook up an eyepiece like the one spock uses on the classic Enterprise and then mutter "fascinating" every time you're getting fragged at a Quake III tournament.

D

Don't forget

[Pathwalker]

That the Powermate is also a blinkenlight - you can adjust the pulse rate from stroboscopic, to a nice slow pulse of about 30 seconds for a cycle.

I have one - it rocks. In addition to it being a cool looking blinking object on my desk, I use it for scrubbing through video in iMovie, and scrolling through text in project builder.
It is also, I admit, a great volume control for iTunes...

Great idea

[baka_boy]

I have an old PowerBook G3 that I'd been planning on subjecting to a similar conversion to the first item (the old radio case) mentioned, but hadn't figured out an appropriately anachronistic mechanism for the CD-ROM drive. I'm not sure if the pop-out internal drive can be adapted to a vertical orientation, but since it's one of the "old school" models that actually holds the CD in place, I just might be able to pull it off.

My basic plan had been to mount the thing in a largish jewelry box, replacing the lower storage compartments with the mainboard, keyboard and trackpad (painted to match, of course), and mounting the LCD on the underside of the lid. That would do prevent the classic fresnel lens for the display, of course, but it would mean that the whole thing would sort of "disappear" when placed on an end-table or desk.

Don't know how feasable it is, but....

[SuiteSisterMary]

Build your computer into a wooden case. Surround the case with a shitload of interconnected gears, crankshafts, worm gears, and so on. Not actually powering anything, but something so that the entire assembly will move when current is applied. Next, hook up a variable power source to the assembliage, and rig up a way so that CPU (or total system load) applies voltage; the more load, the more power, the faster the gear assembly goes. Bonus points if you can hook up a steam valve to make a whistling noise when CPU is sustained at 100 percent for a given period of time. Refer to this as your 'babbage engine.' Make reference to how many yards of gearage it has, and how you can boost it's computational ability by giving the steam valve a quarter-turn. Wax poetic on how the Wonders of SCIENCE! have Improved The Lot Of The Common Man! and other such wonderful things.

For that REALLY retro look and simpler conversion

[ninewands]

Checck around at hamfests and other sources for old and ancient electronic gear. See if you can find an old Model 14 teletype machine. It was current high-tech during the period you're interested in.

If you can live with a rather limited character set, all you have to do is interface it to your serial port and write a small (almost trivial) daemon to convert the 5 bit Baudot code to ASCII.