Zenith Space Command --- fully mechanical and wireless
"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. "
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Raleigh Vektar -- 1985
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
ADDS Envoy Traveling Terminal 600
#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:
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
Cassette Futurism in lemmy
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