Collaborate Disseminate
The Apple FlatMac was one of those 1980s concepts by designer [Hartmut Esslingers] that remained just a concept with no more than some physical prototypes created. That is, until [Kevin …read more Continue reading FlatMac: Building the 1980’s Apple iPad Concept
One of the best parts of retrocomputing is that you can obtain so many broken systems and peripherals for repairing and other assorted fun. This was the wholesome activity that …read more Continue reading Commodore Floppy Drive Fixing Chaos
Building a modern computer is something plenty of us have done, and with various tools available to ensure that essentially the only thing required of the end user is to …read more Continue reading Crafting Ribbon Cables for Retro Hardware
If anyone has been struggling to get hold of a 3.5″ floppy drive lately, we think we’ve got a clue as to why — behold, the mighty floppotron 3.0 by …read more Continue reading Behold The Mighty Floppotron 3.0
It wasn’t long after early humans started banging rocks together that somebody in the tribe thought they could improve on things a bit by doing it with a little rhythm. …read more Continue reading Live Floppy Music Adds Elegance to Any Event
When we think of retrocomputing, it’s very often the computers themselves that get all the glory. There’s nothing wrong with this of course- the computers of the late 70’s and …read more Continue reading The Ultimate Commodore 1541 Drive Talk: A Deep Dive Into Disks, Controllers, And Much More
The Raspberry Pi is the darling single board computer that is everything to everyone. It even has lit up the eyes of the older set with the Pi 400 mimicking …read more Continue reading A Floppy Controller For The Raspberry Pi
Most of us are used to a typical 101-key setup for typing on our machines. Mobile and touchscreen devices have offered alternative interfaces over the years, but generally still sticking to QWERTY or other similar layouts. [foone] cares not for convention however, building a text-entry device based on the iconic …read more
If you’ve been kind enough to accompany me on these regular hardware explorations, you’ve likely recognized a trend with regards to the gadgets that go under the knife. Generally speaking, the devices I take apart for your viewing pleasure come to us from the clearance rack of a big box …read more
Continue reading Repairdown: Disklavier DKC500RW Control Unit
We’ve featured a lot of awesome music made using floppy drives before, but this is the first time we’ve seen it used as the main instrument in a movie score, and by Emmy winning composer [Bear McCreary]. The movie, in this case is alien invasion film, Revolt, but you’ve surely heard Bear’s amazing work in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series, The Walking Dead, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (my favorite of his), or the one for which he won an Emmy, Da Vinci’s Demons wherein the main theme sounds the same backwards as forwards, to name just a few. So …read more
Continue reading Floppy Drive Music By Emmy Winning Composer