Retro Cool Technology

[steph]

Maybe not exactly on topic, but interesting nonetheless. Would sure be nice to see the Centurions as a movie :thumbup:

http://geektyrant.com/news/17-action-figures-cartoons-from-the-1980s-that-could-be-awesome-movies

 

[TMac3000]

I found a Unisonic XL-101 calculator at a thrift shop the other day. I'll post a personal pic later, but it looks like this

A website I looked up said these are from around 1975:thumbup:

Guys, tell me the truth...have I stumbled on a piece of history here?

 

[n72.75]

I own a C64 and 50 lbs of 1/4 inch magnetic tape.

I want one of these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-tdBMheg84

 

[Andy44]

I found a Unisonic XL-101 calculator at a thrift shop the other day. I'll post a personal pic later, but it looks like this

A website I looked up said these are from around 1975:thumbup:

Guys, tell me the truth...have I stumbled on a piece of history here?

Sort of, but I'm old enough to remember tons of those things laying around offices. And you can pretty much buy one at Staples today, except it will have an LCD display and be made in China instead of Japan (which is where I assume yours was made?). So it's not super rare, but it is pretty cool if those are LEDs in the display.

In the 80s a lot of portable electronics had LED displays like that, especially handheld electronic games. LCDs use less power, which is why they replaced LEDs mostly.

Speaking of Japan and calculators, I found this whole series on the rise of the Japanese electronics industry and this episode was all about the "calculator wars". The video itself is a piece of retro tech, as it's obviously on videotape and looks to be from around the 80s or early 90s at the latest.

 

[TMac3000]

if those are LEDs in the display.

It is a VFD

So it's not super rare, but it is pretty cool

Thanks It cost me about $6.

 

[Ravenous]

It is a VFD

Good grief that's a weird choice - what batteries does it take, surely not a little 9V PP3 type...?

 

[Notebook]

Re. #144 above. Its most likely originated on helical-scan, you can see video-head switching at the bottom of frame. A horizontal disturbance caused by the head-switching taking place in active video time. In broadcast quality machines, this was done in the vertical-interval, but needed more circuitry.

This site covers helical-scan nicely,
http://www.ronaldsnoeck.com/vcr.htm
Section 2.4 has a bit on head-switching. If you ever saw VHS on an under-scanned monitor, you would see that effect at the bottom of frame.

The pictures are interesting, nearly mono-chrome, and burnt out. However the camera work is good, and no wobbles. It has some 16mm material, so its been post produced. I'm guessing its gone through a lot of copies to get onto youtube, and it probably cost a bit at the time to make.

We are going to see a lot of this in the future as production companies cease trading, and materials provenance is lost. There is probably some person on the planet who knows everything about that programme, small chance of finding him or her.

N.

 

[TMac3000]

Good grief that's a weird choice - what batteries does it take, surely not a little 9V PP3 type...?

2 Ds:tiphat:

 

[Andy44]

From the heart of the 80s, the Yamaha CX5M:

http://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/a...m_campaign=Newsletter+#48Rev&utm_medium=email

 

[C3PO]

From the heart of the 80s, the Yamaha CX5M:

Wow! That takes me back a few years. My CX5M had the midi ports fried during a power surge. The DX7 survived somehow.

 

[Urwumpe]

Wow! That takes me back a few years. My CX5M had the midi ports fried during a power surge. The DX7 survived somehow.

A DX7 is a really rugged synth, AFAIR it properly had optical couplers in its MIDI port like the reference design and like the Atari ST also had.

 

[C3PO]

A DX7 is a really rugged synth, AFAIR it properly had optical couplers in its MIDI port like the reference design and like the Atari ST also had.

I would expect the DX21 module in the CX5M to have similar tech, but it was unable to contain the magic blue smoke.

 

[Urwumpe]

I would expect the DX21 module in the CX5M to have similar tech, but it was unable to contain the magic blue smoke.

Not sure here as well, the last time something fried here was a memory bank because of oscillating input voltage.

 

[Notebook]

Not quite retro, but it does have a valve in it, or "tube" if you are West of 64° 33′ 54″ W.

https://www.elektormagazine.com/news/granddad-there-s-a-tube-on-my-raspberry-pi

Just had a look at the some of the specs...

You get a 112 dB THD PCM5102 for I2S stream conversion to drive the single-triode stage at 24 bits up to 192-kHz frame rate

Driving a single-triode stage at 24 bits...you couldn't make it up.

Just enjoying the SpaceX tx.

N.

 

[Notebook]

Not sure if this is Retro, but its quite a project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTBcxr9KBuQ

N.

 

[C3PO]

Not sure if this is Retro...

Well, at least it's cool. :thumbup:

 

[Andy44]

Not sure if this is Retro, but its quite a project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTBcxr9KBuQ


N.

Wow, so much Atari love! That is amazing.

 

[Notebook]

http://monster6502.com/

In best Simpsons/Doug McClure...you may remember the 6502 from the 70's, competitor to the Z80. I did a bit of assembly language...A9 LDA? Indirect Indexed and Indexed Indirect?
It was all learning mode for me, and didn't get into it. Did enjoy it for a bit though.

N.

 

[Andy44]

http://monster6502.com/

In best Simpsons/Doug McClure...you may remember the 6502 from the 70's, competitor to the Z80. I did a bit of assembly language...A9 LDA? Indirect Indexed and Indexed Indirect?
It was all learning mode for me, and didn't get into it. Did enjoy it for a bit though.

N.

Two of the Q&A's stood out to me:

Are you going to make one out of vacuum tubes next?

No.

That would be awesome.

Even better if it were a steam valve system.

And this comment:

Is there going to be a soldering kit version of this?

No. (But on the other hand, "Anything is a soldering kit if you're brave enough!")

:thumbup: That's the spirit!

 

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36651271

An electronic sequencer and synthesizer has been built based on designs produced over 40 years ago by electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.


Daphne Oram who died in 2003, co-founded the BBC Radiophonic workshop and developed a system of creating sounds and compositions using drawings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oramics