ElectriClerk Computer Of The Future

ElDuderino44137 points out this "Fully functional retrofitted prop computer." Chocolate / peanut butter, Mac SE / Underwood. This is no spray-paint job.

Wow...

[JayBlalock]

The site is already Slashdotted (with 1 comment!) but it's very simple to describe. He turned a 1988 Macintosh into one of the computers from Gilliam's movie "Brazil." Truly impressive piece of work.

Just was watching Brazil last night

[mattyohe]

Purchase the Criterion edition if you can. Yes it may be 50 dollars, but there is a lot of great content on it.

Actually deep discount DVD has it for 43 dollars.. Free shipping too!

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=HVD0 00152

/.ed but here is the text

[vinit79]

The site is already slashdotted but here is the text (not too useful without the photos though) Built for a game of Cthulhu Lives! that has yet to be played, this piece was inspired by the retro-futuristic machines in the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam. It was one of the most difficult and time-consuming pieces I've ever attempted. Despite the ridiculous amount of abuse I subjected it to, and despite the fact that all its components are now exposed to the air, the 1988 Macintosh SE which forms the heart of this piece still works just fine. Click on the photo at left to see an enlarged view.

Re:/.ed but here is the text

[Anonymous Coward]

Vinit has the text .. Google has the pics [google.com] who needs the website?

Archive.org cache

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's the Arhive.org cache of the website from June 2003.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030602070516/http:/ /w ww.ahleman.com/ElectriClerk.html

Gotta love google

[some_other_nerd]

Google's Cache [216.239.51.104]

Working mirror (or original)?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://home.earthlink.net/~ahleman/ElectriClerkLit e/ElectriClerk.html

Seems to work

Re:1 Post and already slashdotted?

[gb506]

They must have been running the server from that SE.

The interesting thing is that you CAN run a (low volume) web server from a 1988 vintage SE...

Mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

There seems to be a mirror (with pictures that load) here [earthlink.net].

Not that new really...

[fiffilinus]

This neat little prop was done in 2002, as the wayback machine [archive.org] will tell you. Seems /. is loosing its edge as far as up to date news go :-)

On a redeeming note, I am sure I saw this on /. before...

If you can't see the images...

[Chris Tucker]

He tricked out the machine to use the original typewriter keyboard, hacked the carriage return lever to act as the return key, cleverly grafted a trackball onto the side of the typewriter chassis to replace the mouse. The grafted on trackball looks just like part of the chassis.

There are exposed vacuum tubes and the chassis of the Mac, as well as the CRT are alao exposed.

There is a swingaway Fresnel lens in front of the mac CRT.

Recall the computer Theora used in the old Max Headroom TV series? That's a lot what the ElectriClerk looks like.

It is one VERY sexy/Retro casemod!

Re:1 Post and already slashdotted?

[tverbeek]

The interesting thing is that you CAN run a (low volume) web server from a 1988 vintage SE...

Yup: add an ethernet adapter, System 7, MacTCP, NetPresenz, and you'll be up and... walking. (If you want something that's actually borderline practical, I recommend a Quadra with System 7.5 and MacHTTP.)

This is a repeat of an earlier Slashdot article

[Anonymous Coward]

I realize we all have short memories, but this is a repeate of another Slashdot article [slashdot.org].

Might I suggest the editors search Slashdot before posting articles to avoid repetition?

Duplicate from Nov

[sirshannon]

a classic [slashdot.org]

No problems with my 128K, 512Ke, and Plus

[green pizza]

I've had a Plus for about 14 years as well as a 128K and a 512Ke for the past 8. All run fine, the Plus even ran 24/7 for three years as my X10 home automation controller. The top vent gets warm, as does the vent on my oldschool G3 CRT iMac... but I've never had heat-related crashes. Very few crashes at all, actually.

OT: On the other hand, my well-vented PowerMac 8100 was a crashy nightmare, but that was due to the horrid versions 7.5.x and 8.x of the OS.

Further OT: I never tried 9.x. I did the NT, 2K, and XP thing. Came back to Apple/Mac/NeXT with a PowerBook G4 and OS X 10.3 Panther... and I couldn't be happier!

Re:That Mac SE probably runs *better* now...

[0racle]

Because an SE and an SE/30 is a little more computer then the 128/512/Plus's. Do you ask why a P4 needs a fan when a 486 could be passively cooled.

That said to over heat an early Compact, the room has to be almost hotter then hell, and what nut would use a system in those conditions.

Interesting theory, but the dates don't figure

[michaeldot]

That was all a Steve Jobs snafu - he wanted the Macs to be silent so they were. They were so silent they overheated. After his departure from Apple the fan was added in.

The Mac Plus came out in 1986 and was still fanless. Steve Jobs had already left by this time.

The first fanned Macs - the Macintosh SE and Macintosh II - came out in 1987, a long time after he'd left. They were also the first Macs to include internal hard drives, a much more likely reason for the fan to be included.

The G4 Cube does not have overheating problems, that was a myth which went with its "cracks" (in reality, scratches in the mould). Its efficient chimney design transfers heat very effectively from the unit. I still use mine to drive a "photo wall" that is on 8+ hours a day without issue.

The Cube was designed with a place for a fan, It was there if it was needed, should it survive in the market long enough for hotter 1+ GHz PowerPC chips to require one. But at 450/500 MHz it simply didn't.

The Cube flopped, not because of overheating, but because it presented confused expectations of how a computer should look, and because of poor access to its ports and limited expandability. It was still a brilliant design.

Re:Dupe de doo

[the_quark]

Here's the dupe story, from November 3, 2002 [slashdot.org]. I remembered it, too, surprised more people didn't jump on this:

An incredibly bizarre sort-of case mod: someone recreated the computer terminals from Terry Gilliam's Brazil, using an old Mac and a 1923 underwood typewriter.

Re:1 Post and already slashdotted?

[dgatwood]

I recommend a quadra running NetBSD and apache. As long as you aren't doing any server-side processing, it should be able to saturate about 3Mbps, if memory serves. (No pun intended.)