Do you guys remember the original portable computers - suitcase-style, "luggable" computers? Osborne Computers made the first of them. Anyway, I've got the 163rd one made up on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111238132435
The reason I am posting it here is because I always had hopes of doing integrate an Arduino or (more likely) a Raspberry Pi using the parallel port for a cool mix of old and new technology. I thought it would be cool if whoever got it, had a similar point of view:
- Cool text based home automation unit (using the parallel port with an Arduino or Raspberry Pi)
- Use a Raspberry Pi, Google’s voice recognition API, and the Wolfram Alpha Python Interface to make a retro text version of Siri that looks like early artificial intelligence - kind of a steampunk home helper that you can ask questions to settle bar bets or check the weather
- Freak people out at a presentation by hooking it up to projector and doing a minimalistic, text only "slideshow" (either using a "Screen Pac" and MBASIC or by hiding a Raspberry Pi inside)
- Convert or swap the CRT to accept the composite out of a Raspberry Pi... monochrome goodness with unlimited possibility
- Now that your Xbox 360 just got obsolete, time to hack it into a mobile version with room for controllers and the world's largest built-in chatpad
- If you want to keep that monochrome feel, I played Atari 2600 games in monochrome and survived my childhood. How about hacking an Atari into the case. It would be a great little diversion to throw together and keep at a cabin, lodge, or man cave. The Atari controller aesthetic would lend itself pretty well to the design of the case
- Put it on display in the office of your startup - maybe have it rotate welcome messages to visitors.
- Hack the 2 floppy drives to play dueling banjos...
- screw a project, just have a piece of history
Anyone have any other cool ideas?
