geekhack
geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: ander on Mon, 01 February 2016, 02:22:33
-
I don't know if this device or these switches are interesting, or if the buttons are compatible with anything else. But considering how cheap it is at the moment, I thought someone might like to see it:
1981 Vintage Computer Devices Miniterm 1203S Early PC Portable Terminal 1203 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1981-Vintage-Computer-Devices-Miniterm-1203S-Early-PC-Portable-Terminal-1203/291672231253)
On eBay – currently $14.99 + $57.28 U.S. shipping
(http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~7AAAOSwa-dWqoLw/s-l1600.jpg)
Gaze upon those nice spherical double-shots. Oh, and the phone cups on the back:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/c70AAOSwvUlWqoLx/s-l1600.jpg)
If you're scratching your head and thinking "What th'...?":
In the early days of portable computing, phones—especially in places like hotels—were often wired right into the wall rather than plugged in, and extra phone jacks for modem cords were still years away.
So to use a computer over a phone, you actually inserted its receiver into rubber cups containing a speaker and a mic. The data signals between your device, and the one you were connected to over the phone line, were then converted to and from acoustic audio signals, like the two devices were having a real conversation. These receiver converters, called acoustic couplers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler), were also available as standalone peripherals.
Hmm—Computer Devices, Inc. ... Raise your hand if you think this was a company run entirely by engineers. :?)
-
I remember reading something about this, but this will be my topic of research for tonight. A building I worked in (as a tradies *****) had a machine you would put the phone receiver up to so you could send text I think it was for deaf people. I believe it was still in use, It looked like this. Also if anyone wants to have a guess at what building and what department feel free I thinks its funny but most people probably wont see any humour in it.
[attachimg=1]
-
Not sure I understand what is funny, but the oldest modems actually did cradle a telephone hand set and modulated and demodulated actual sound. Even into the mid-late-1980s you always listened for "that gravelly sound" to know that your modem was trying to get through.
-
Not sure I understand what is funny, but the oldest modems actually did cradle a telephone hand set and modulated and demodulated actual sound. Even into the mid-late-1980s you always listened for "that gravelly sound" to know that your modem was trying to get through.
The bit that i find funny is the fact that the item is still in service or was last time i saw it a couple years ago in the ABCs complaints department. Which is Australia's broadcasting organisation funded by the governmnet
-
in the ABCs complaints department.
I get it: deaf people.
Is the director Helen Waite?