Cassette Futurism

3466 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to Cassette Futurism Lemmy and Mbin Community.

A place to share and discuss Cassette Futurism: media where the technology closely matches the computers and technology of the 70s and 80s.

Whether it's bright colors and geometric shapes, the tendency towards stark plainness, or the the lack of powerful computers and cell phones, Cassette Futurism includes: Cassettes, ROM chips, CRT displays, computers reminiscent of microcomputers like the Commodore 64, freestanding hi-fi systems, small LCD displays, and other analog technologies.

See this blog to know more.


Rules

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
226
 
 

"By pressing a button on the remote, you set off a spring-loaded hammer that strikes a solid aluminum rod in the device, which then rings out at an ultrasonic frequency. "

227
 
 

featuring videotelephone

228
 
 
229
 
 
230
 
 
231
 
 
232
 
 
233
234
 
 
235
 
 
236
6
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by Scirocco@lemm.ee to c/cassettefuturism@lemm.ee
 
 

from: http://www.thebikecomesfirst.com/the-raleigh-vektar/

The Vektar, the worlds first computer bike, was launched in 1985 long before we had health and safety laws. Equipped with ‘micro chip technology’ the rider could see how fast they were going, how far they had gone and how long they had been riding for at the touch of a button. The head’s down display ensured that you would ride into the back of your mate or a kerb as you fiddled with the control panel.

If that wasn’t enough you could listen to the radio on one of the three AM preset stations either while riding the bike or parked up hanging out with their pals. Later models came with a MW tuner giving even less crappy sound quality.

The main feature though was the advanced warning and alarm system. Once you had chosen one of the eight sounds from the ‘revolutionary sound generator’ on the top tube mounted control panel, you could use the handlebar mounted controller to terrorise old ladies as you rallied around the housing estate

237
238
 
 

One of the first mass production cars to feature a primitive CRT touchscreen

239
 
 

80's AI in a self-driving car

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

240
 
 
241
 
 
242
243
 
 
244
 
 

#Source: ADDS Envoy Traveling Terminals - Hardware - Retro Computing#

Here’s an early 1970s portable terminal with fantastic looks, which might be rightfully called the “Polaroid SX-70” of terminals. Sadly, I wasn’t able to put a date to this. The artifact in question (sadly not mine) is the ADDS Envoy Traveling Terminal 600. The Envoy 620, which is also pretty stunning (see below) was introduced in June 1972. (Since this is looking a bit early, it may be 1970/71.)

ADDS-Envoy-travelling-computer-terminal-1970s-1

ADDS-Envoy-travelling-computer-terminal-1970s-2

The ADDS Envoy 600, a sales brochure (PDF) can be found at archive.org 19.

And here’s the ADDS Envoy 620:

ADDS-Envoy-620-1972

For more info and images see https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/ADDS_Envoy_620 38 and http://jimsoldtoys.blogspot.com/2016/05/adds-envoy-portable-terminal.html 16 on the similar ADDS Envoy 580.

terminals-wiki.org 2 writes on the company history:

“Applied Digital Data Systems, or simply ADDS, was a manufacturer of high-quality video terminals. In March, 1979, ADDS had delivered 100,000 CRT terminals. In 1980, ADDS became a wholly owned subsidiary of NCR. In 1991, ADDS become part of AT&T when AT&T purchased NCR. In 1994, AT&T sold ADDS to SunRiver Data Systems. In 1996, the company was renamed to Boundless Technology.”

P.S.: A nice source found in one of these pages, providing a comprehensive overview of 1970s terminals, is the “Handbook of interactive computer terminals” by Duane E. Sharp, 1977, available as a PDF at https://archive.org/details/handbookofintera00duan 19.

PPS: this is a repost from here

245
 
 

as a recently-minted fan of the cassette futurism concept, i wanted to see some here on lemm.ee

the blog link and probably most of the content for a while will be 'flattery' of the reddit sub, and mods/community/everyone are welcome.

mods especially