Ok, There's a dream. Absolutely hotrod terminal server computer with various terminals scattered around the house/workshop all networked. So you could play games on high graphics settings from anywhere!
A co-worker of mine worked on this until she retired in the 2010s. She liked the clickety-clack of the keyboard. One always knew when she was in the office.
Long as you could find a shell, you could build a modern system in an enclosure that big. I've built SFF PC's small enough to fit in there. Mini-ITX board + yer flavor of add-in stuff and away you go. Monitor would also be doable...maybe something from Aliexpress if yer not keeping the CRT🤔
I think you could probably make a shell like that with a 3D printer to encase your monitor of choice and a keyboard. You'd want to make sure it has good ventilation, but with the right design choices you could swap out the monitor and keyboard as needed
Micro (or even Mini) ATX motherboards exist for a reason. TBH if you know someone that's good at machining sheet metal and you're not afraid to do some dremel work yourself for final fit, it's probably quite doable
I'm sure there's gotta be someone somewhere in the world who has built a machine that transforms the modern internet into output like this.
Love such impractical nerdery.
Believe me, you wouldnt like it. One of my first software development experiences was Cobol on a IBM S/36. It had 384 kBytes of memory for 5 to 7 developers. Terrible.
There was a time, back in the old dial-up BBS days, when I did my browsing and posting from a plain Heathkit terminal -- a "dumb terminal" -- and a Hayes modem. You did need to know the AT commands to make the Hayes dial and hang up. Upgrading to a Kaypro II and MDM730 didn't make a big difference.
If you could find or fabricate (3d print?) the shell, it should be easy to fit a laptop or Chromebook into it. I've also seen keyboards that look like that one. It would be one heck of a project!
The main challenge would be the screen - modern panels don't have that satisfying outward bulge you got with the old CRTs, but this build just wouldn't look right without it. Everything else there could be built with modern tech, and there's more than enough space for components in that chassis.
Blend nostalgia with modern horsepower
Create the form factor using a 3D printer that the style of the 80's.
Drop in the new Nvidia Orin Nano Jetson inside.
Voila! Now you have AI-powered box.
It looks like a vt100 terminal with no graphics. You can login on the system that runs your social media client and inject keyboard input but they might think you're a bot.
Came to say same; had a friend do this with a Mac mini some years ago and a display he had that "just fit". I've also seen people do this with iPads and work in a way for the keyboard to serve as the iPad keyboard.
Get a shell and between the 2 of us I’m sure we could make something happen
Keyboard maybe a real pain though, a lot of these older machines and dumb terminals have non standard layouts and communication standards
In the 90's , I had a neighbor who worked at a plant that built Hewet Paker computers .
He worked on ones that did not pass the test and ended up scraping them
He took parts from those machines and put his own machine together
He did not have a body so he made one
From Wood
NO WAY, ever been on a Zoom with someone in the group with clickity clacky mechanical keyboard? You want to strangle them after a bit. "Hey Bill, are you distracted from the speaker? Uh No? Bill, we can hear your keyboard."
Wang Theater in Boston is named for the Wang family of Wang Computers. Their networked word processing and email system was cutting edge. As a global high tech leader, they had over 30,000 employees.
They filed for bankruptcy in 1992.
They used to use Wang terminals at my grandmother’s newspaper job. She was a reporter and later worked more regular hours as a copy editor. Sometimes in the early ‘90s I would spend evenings there drinking coffee and reading stories off the wire, waiting for my mom to pick me up after a visit.
Comments
Progress does happen.
Love the severance computer aesthetic
Thanks for sending that man! I really want to make a severance cyberdeck at some point, so this will help!
https://youtu.be/wINo_Uc3uVU
Love such impractical nerdery.
that is literally just the fallout terminal
Create the form factor using a 3D printer that the style of the 80's.
Drop in the new Nvidia Orin Nano Jetson inside.
Voila! Now you have AI-powered box.
You just need a mini computer (Windows or Mac) or Raspberry PI, USB keyboard, monitor and a retro terminal shell to hold it in place.
Or pay someone to make it for you.
#RetroTech #RetroPC 👍
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/280138039301280389/
I was a beast but I had to figure it out. So much change so fast at that time
Keyboard maybe a real pain though, a lot of these older machines and dumb terminals have non standard layouts and communication standards
There are other dumb terminals with similar aesthetics which are much cheaper.
He worked on ones that did not pass the test and ended up scraping them
He took parts from those machines and put his own machine together
He did not have a body so he made one
From Wood
They filed for bankruptcy in 1992.