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Hardware Hacking

Stunning, Classic Computer Console, from 1958? 183

Posted by michael from the back-to-the-future dept.
Predicta Lover writes "It's widely believed that the late-50s Predicta series was the swansong for Philco. After its introduction, RCA's president David Sarnoff is quoted as having said "Philco has reinvented the industry and made TV more exciting again." Somehow, I can't imagine Bill reacting that way to an Apple product launch, at least not publicly. Years later, Philco's phenomenally-designed but questionably-engineered and over-priced TV sets are an icon of modern television design, and are even made in a stunning reproduction form. Maybe Philco would still be in business if they'd thought to shoehorn a contemporary computer into the box and put a high-resolution LCD up top (ahh, I guess that would've been tough...oh, the cruelties of history). At any rate, the researchers and designers at Onomy Labs did just that, 45 years later, and the result is an absolutely lust-worthy piece of computing hardware. Built to eventually house an experimental computer being produced by Sun Labs, the supercharged piece made its debut at their recent Open House held at the Computer History Museum.The Pedestal model that's used here was originally penned by Philco's Catherine Winkler, and is variously described as being inspired by the ideal female form and looking like a gas pump (I am not even going to touch that one). The perpetrators of this project have been mildly vilified by classic TV collectors (fearing imitators) and highly praised by most everyone else...some are calling it the 'best casemod ever'. I don't know about that, but it's definitely a beautiful object."
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Stunning, Classic Computer Console, from 1958? More

Stunning, Classic Computer Console, from 1958?

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  • Best casemod ever? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SYFer ( 617415 ) <syfer@syf e r . n et> on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:03AM (#9972326) Homepage
    Bah. I'm underwhelmed. It actually looks pretty ungainly to me with that tall pedestal base (not exactly an ergonomic delight unless you're a giraffe). I'd prefer a mod of the Holiday [mztv.com] model if anything, but I'm afraid I'm with the angry Predicta collectors on this one. Must make 'em wince to see Windows 2000 leering out at them when it should be Lucille Ball.

    • i saw one of these at a garage sale some months ago and my first thought was "what an amazing casemod this would be!".

      admittedly, it doesnt look like much in these pictures, but in real life the thing would look totally wicked as your digital entertainment hub.
    • I can appreciate that it must have taken some work to get these setup, but I'd have to say even the Holiday model is not something I would be pulling out my wallet for anytime soon.
    • I COMPLETELY agree with you. Retro... Fuck Retro... The biggest problem with the 2000's (yes, STILL no one knows what to call them, four years into the deal) is that there is we still haven't moved in any one direction, there is no identity. Retro isn't huge just because everyone who grew up in the 80's has money now... There's this RANDOM lack of creativity. I'm not saying that *I* have the answer, or the vision for the 21st century... But I am saying that 100 years ago people were DEFINING a new century,
    • I'm impressed at the workmanship that's gone into it. It doesn't LOOK like it's a 50s TV with a computer hacked into it.

      That being said, you could get a beer barrel to also not look like it's a beer barrel with a computer hacked into it, and I'd be as unimpressed with the case mod. This one's just a bit boring all up.

  • back in my day (Score:4, Funny)

    by thexdane ( 148152 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:06AM (#9972337)
    i remember back in my day we had punch cards all lined up in order and we would see who could feed them through the fastest and we liked it

  • It's got /. on the display! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Compholio ( 770966 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:09AM (#9972348)
    Check out the display! It has /. on it!

    http://www.onomy.com/blue/images/headshotf.jpg [onomy.com]

  • RTFA??? (Score:3, Funny)

    by MagicDude ( 727944 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:16AM (#9972372)
    I think this is the first time I didn't want to RTF-Summary. Longest one I've seen ever :)
    • Yeah, after that I had to take a break and notice the fruits of nature. What the fuck???
    • The 15 seconds of fame that the submitter anticipated must have spurred him to try to extend it to 30.

      Note to submitters: if you're going to write out a long submission, throw in some good porn at the end. We deserve *something* for suffering through your inability to WRAP IT UP!

  • too much text (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:16AM (#9972373)
    I'm not reading all that shit! This is /., give me the condensed form and link the rest so I can ignore it and make assinine comments.

  • Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by istewart ( 463887 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:17AM (#9972376)
    The television in my bedroom is branded Philco, yet it couldn't have been purchased more than seven or eight years ago. Yet they went out of business in the middle of last century? What's goin' on here? Cheap Asian knockoffs like those Commodore MP3 players?

    • Re:Huh? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The television in my bedroom is branded Philco, yet it couldn't have been purchased more than seven or eight years ago. Yet they went out of business in the middle of last century? What's goin' on here?

      Nothing special. Technically, RCA went completely out of business (in CE) in 1986. RCA brand is simply a stamp of Thomson Consumer Electronics (which likes to use the name GE Consumer Electronics mark depending on the current customer sentiment and the whim of GE corporate).

      Same goes for Magnavox which ha

    • undead (Score:3, Informative)

      by mzs ( 595629 )
      Philco is an undead company, driven out of business long ago and its name owned by one of the Asian contract manufactures. The same is true of the Sylvania, KLH, and Koss "brand names" which I have at home. When I bought the Koss stereo it was shortly after this happened. I should have realized that something was up when the price was so low. When I took it home and noticed there was no ground strip on the receiver I was very disappointed. I was young and naive back then. But now-a-days much of the once hi

  • Reminds me of ... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by value_added ( 719364 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:19AM (#9972384)
    Anyone seen Terry Gilliam's Brazil? The "monitors," while not quite so stylishly retro, resembled an old Underwood typerwriter with a screen in front of which was mounted a hilariously-oversized rectangular magnifying glass attachment. Brilliant.

    I'm not so sure I would want one, or a Philco update, but somewhere between CRT monoliths, plastic flat-screens striving to distinguish themselves, Apple's attempts at novelty and the uber-kewl designs we regularly see in Sci-Fi movies, I'm sure eventually we'll be face to face with something far more interesting.

  • It's a sacrelige (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:20AM (#9972391)
    The classic Predicta TV, if well maintained in working order, still receives video as well as it did when it was new, and will continue to work for many years to come. But if you tear out the guts and put in a computer, you have a box that will be obsolete within months.
    • Your first sentence is a tautology. You could also
      say that this computer, if constantly updated with
      newest PC internals and maintained in working
      order will continue to work and wnot be obsolete
      for many years to come.

      • Re:It's a sacrelige (Score:3, Insightful)

        by sakusha ( 441986 )
        You miss the obvious point. The Predicta has already worked for 40+ years without any upgrades. A vintage Predicta tube TV is a work of electronic art. A casemod CPU is a kluge of mass produced junk that is lucky to go 40 weeks before it's superceded by newer equipment.
        • No. The Predicta is obsolete. It can't display HDTV. I assume it doesn't have an s-video input; for that matter, I assume its only inputs are 300 and 75 ohm antenna wire. Its already obsolete; modifying it to accept modern video signals fed to a modern video screen makes it significantly less so.

          And I may be the only one, but while I can see the appeal of it as an example of 50s design, I personally find it ugly and would not allow it in my home.
    • "Years to come" ends when analog broadcasts stop. You'll probably get a few years, sure, but I wouldn't say "years to come".
      • > "Years to come" ends when analog broadcasts stop. You'll probably get a few years, sure, but
        > I wouldn't say "years to come".

        Analog broadcasts ain't goin' nowhere. The majority of people do not own an HDTV set, and they won't when the supposed cutover date gets here. And they won't be pleased at the notion that Congress has mandated that they get a $150 digital tuner set-top box if they want to continue watching TV. I don't own an HDTV set myself, and I have no plans to get one. The cutover wil
        • Sad to say but I think it's a fair bet that digital signals and HDTV will wind up to be driven by copyright rather than technology.

          And [people] won't be pleased at the notion that [the RIAA & MPAA sponsored] Congress has mandated that they get a $150 DRM compliant digital tuner set-top box if they want to continue watching TV. That I think is more realistic

    • Once the FCC"s digital rules take effect, they will render the classic TV's useless..

      Sad really, but we gotta have DRM in every home ya know...

  • No, actually, they're being vilified because... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by John Miles ( 108215 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:21AM (#9972392) Homepage Journal
    The perpetrators of this project have been mildly vilified by classic TV collectors (fearing imitators) ... there are only so many Predictas left, and Philco isn't making any more of them.

    Here's an idea: modern Predicta reproductions are available, so why not buy a repro and case-mod it instead of trashing a really neat, really valuable technological artifact from another age?

    This is no better than gutting a classic Zenith console radio to make a fishtank. It's lame as hell.
    • C'mon. My antique egyptian mummy case mod is the leetnes.

    • Re:No, actually, they're being vilified because... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by zangdesign ( 462534 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:35AM (#9972423) Journal
      It's hilarious that the collectors are so up in arms about someone modding out a Predicta TV, when you consider that one less on the market raises the value of their collection ever so slightly.

      What's so damn sacred about the design anyway? Sure, it's a nice-looking TV, but it's obsolete which makes it a prime candidate for re-use as something a little more modern.

      • Re:No, actually, they're being vilified because... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by John Miles ( 108215 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @02:16AM (#9972524) Homepage Journal
        It's hilarious that the collectors are so up in arms about someone modding out a Predicta TV, when you consider that one less on the market raises the value of their collection ever so slightly.

        No, actually, it's not "hilarious" once you realize that the more hardcore collectors aren't in it to make money, but to see rare and important examples of old-school tech preserved for posterity. Believe me, old TV sets aren't much better as investments than they are as PC cases.

        There is a certain aesthetic quailty to an old chassis full of hot, glowing vacuum tubes, capacitors that smell like beeswax, resistors that actually look big enough to block an electron or two, and wiring that might kill you with a touch. Some folks are into that. If you have to ask, you're probably not one of them. Which is fine.

        So, why not leave the genuine article to those who will appreciate it? Buy a reproduction Predicta, duct-tape your IDE disk-access light to the side, and pretend it's the real thing. If you're right, it doesn't really matter, does it?
        • Who are you to tell somebody else what they should or should not do with their own Predicta? They have a different set of motivations and desires than you do, and they're free to do as they will.

          Of course, you are free to object, but you look pretty silly when you do it.


          • Who are you to tell somebody else what they should or should not do with their own Predicta? ...
            Of course, you are free to object, but you look pretty silly when you do it.

            I disagree. What if I was an art collector who decided that my vast collection of classic art, some of which are considered historical milestones, would all look more modern with a few splashes of neon paint and some blinking LEDs embeded in the subject's eyes? It would be defacement of those pieces and I could certainly understa

            • What if I was an art collector who decided that my vast collection of classic art, some of which are considered historical milestones, would all look more modern with a few splashes of neon paint and some blinking LEDs embeded in the subject's eyes?

              Some guy might also object if you deface your cheerios box, or scuff up that velvet clown painting you picked up at the flea market. You'd probably say he's nuts, and we'd probably all agree with you -- but between him and people crying out in horror when you
        • Posterity? Really? Is that what it's called when it's locked up in someone's house rather than a museum? I could buy the posterity thing if these collectors were creating a publicly-viewable-for-free-or-nominal-fee collection, but otherwise, it's socially acceptable hoarding. I don't think there's anything terribly wrong with that, either, after all, who doesn't lust after a full set of original Star Wars figures or some other such thing? But I think it's a good use of dead technology and a whole lot more r
    • I don't see it as that bad. What else are you going to do with the empty Predicta shells after cannibalizing the sets to restore other Predictas to original working condition?
  • Where is this "MBA Action 2004" game? I want it, but Google turns up nothing.
    • The one result Google turns up refers to it as a hypothetical game. Presumeably, it currently doesn't exist and may not ever.
      • Blockquoth the poster:

        The one result Google turns up refers to it as a hypothetical game. Presumeably, it currently doesn't exist and may not ever.


        Um, what part of

        an attract loop for a humerous hypothetical video game called "MBA Action 2004 (ref [onomy.com])

        don't you understand?
        • I understood it completely and that is in fact the very page I was referring to.
          • This "one result" happens to be the article linked in the story summary. RTFA, for Diety of Choice's sake.
            • Once more, I am completely aware of that. The person before was the one asking about the game, not me; I merely pointed out that Google's only result was on that page, which therefore implied that the game did not exist. Do calm down; this isn't worth getting nearly this excited/angry about.

  • Back at you grandad (Score:3, Interesting)

    by taj ( 32429 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:28AM (#9972403) Homepage
    "The space-age theme was promoted in ads promising "TV today from the world of tomorrow".

    Computer today from the world of the yesterday.

    Neat idea.

  • As a kid, I had one of these TV sets.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Newer Guy ( 520108 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:38AM (#9972433)
    I pulled it out of a trash can, actually, It needed a flyback transformer, which cost something like 100 bucks at the time. Fortunately, my dad had a close friend that owned a TV repair shop and he was able to use one from a more common TV set (I think it was an RCA). The picture was pretty good. Mine had an analog clock on the right side that could turn the TV on (an alarm TV!). The screen rotated so you culd see it from anywhere in the room. Alas, when my family moved when I was 15, it stayed and likely wound up in a landfill. A truly stunning TV...As a 11 year old I didn't appreciate it fully though.
  • This is cool, but it seems more like an ad to me.

    • Speaking of ads (Score:3, Interesting)

      by lrucker ( 621551 )
      Found this Photoshop contest earlier today:

      Vintage Ads [worth1000.com]

      Contest Directions

      In this contest your challenge is to take modern products and display them in a vintage light, through advertisements. You can also reverse the challenge and take vintage products and display them in a modern way.

  • Clearly an early prototype of the Luxor Jr. iMac here...

  • Ewww (Score:5, Funny)

    by Itstoearly ( 790318 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:45AM (#9972457)
    That thing must be a black hole for feng shui. You'll need to pay some chinese guy thousands of dollars to remove it from your home.

    • Re:Ewww (Score:2)

      by mikael ( 484 )
      For some reason, the advert where the Feng Shui guy and his assistants go into a luxury home, remove everything but the TV, freezer, toilet and sofa comes to mind.

    • Re:Ewww (Score:2)

      by nizo ( 81281 )
      Just imagine the radiation coming off these old TVs too. The ancient TV I had my TI-994a plugged into had a huge pile of vacuum tubes in it (and it looked like at one point it got so hot it melted part of the case!) I can only imagine the cancerous growths I will have on my face from spending so much time in front of that beast.

  • War... war never changes. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Txiasaeia ( 581598 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @01:53AM (#9972482)
    Am I the only one who saw this and immediately thought "Fallout" here? All they need is Pipboy with the thumbs up in a gas attendant uniform on the case and they're set to go. *Sigh*, Fallout.
  • I realize that this isn't really a focal point for the piece, but with all the work they put in I can't imagine why they would put that controller with it. If you've ever held one, you know what I mean.

  • What the hell? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CaptainSuperBoy ( 17170 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @02:02AM (#9972496) Homepage Journal
    Do you put your monitor on top of your tower case? Of course not, because you don't want your neck to throb with pain for the rest of your life. That thing looks like it's about three feet higher than the desk. Every time you use your computer you feel like you got to a movie late and had to settle for the front row. Wow sign me up for this case, it's a model of practicality and ergonomics.
  • Please pick something better for a hardware hacking icon, that orange 3 to 2 pin electricity adapter thing implies electricity too much.

    How about an icon involving a pci card and glue?
    • Glue? GLUE?

      What kind of n00b uses glue?

      Duct tape, baby! ;)
    • The adapter goes with many of the other rather quaint icons -- the wheelbarrow for databases (what the?), the dial telephone for communication, the blackboard for education, the megaphone for announcements, and so forth. I think the last time a communication post was about old phones was the time Bell System Memorial got slashdotted (most communication posts aren't about telephones at all!), and the only Blackboard that gets /. coverage is the kind that universities use vigorously when they like malfunctio

  • and for the dark side of Sarnoff.... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @02:08AM (#9972508)
    After its introduction, RCA's president David Sarnoff is quoted as having said "Philco has reinvented the industry and made TV more exciting again."

    And now, for the dark side of Mr. Sarnoff, who did NOT invent the TV set:

    http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profi le/farnsworth03.html

    Sarnoff and RCA are the scum of the earth; they ruined a guy's life simply to not have to pay him royalties; thankfully, history has for the most part set the record straight for anyone who digs a little.

    Pretty sad; Farnsworth never saw a dime and went into deep depression over the whole thing. Farnsworth saw the waste of his invention almost from the get-go; as the Time article says, his son said "I suppose you could say that he felt he had created kind of a monster, a way for people to waste a lot of their lives."

    Nothing's changed in 50 years- corporations still bully the "little guy" like this. Back in the 80's, a company my father started had technology stolen from them by NCR (National Cash Register Corporation). Despite a signed NDA, NCR ripped off technology they were demo'd. There was clear evidence NCR had stolen the design, they had the NDA in hand, etc- but NCR managed to drag it out in court for years. I believe the suit was abandoned due to lack of funds, but I don't recall- it was a subject that was not discussed often or pleasantly in our house.

    I hope they rot in hell- they helped cripple the company, which was working on some really innovative touch screen technology. Much of the touchscreen technology, now in use by PDAs and whatnot, you can owe to DTI- Digital Techniques Inc- a tiny little Burlington, MA company nobody ever heard of. Probably their most "famous" product was the very early touchscreen system in Super Stop and Shop where you could enter a product name and get a map to where it was in the store; they also did some award winning videodisk based exhibits for the Museum Of Science. They were also bullied out of an air traffic control system project with the FAA...by Raytheon. DTI designed a system that, in the late 80's, would have allowed a controller to manage all his electronics(radios and whatnot) from one small touchscreen system. Decades ahead of its time.

    • I'm sorry that happened, but I think you've missed the lesson here:



      Great technology isn't enough, you need the winning team and business side to go with it.


      I'm not a fan of business things and legal issues either but they are needed and you can't go into situations without the smartest people on your side of the table...that's just how it works, unfortunately.

      -davidu



      • Great technology isn't enough, you need the winning team and business side to go with it.

        Hey - great. Pay the guys who came up with the great technology their fair share (or at least, the bargained price). Then go off to market it for millions in profit. There's nothing wrong with that.
    • I worked for a summer with Sarnoff's son. He was a real asshole. We were all student interns at Atari's "research" lab in Sunnyvale. The evening we met him, a group of us (MIT students) were working late. He saw us and called security because he didn't know who we were and was too much of a chicken shit to even say hello.

  • Sigh (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TequilaJunction ( 713856 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @02:17AM (#9972532)
    This is possibly the most convoluted summary I've ever seen on /.

  • Um, no. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aussersterne ( 212916 ) on Sunday August 15, 2004 @03:00AM (#9972644) Homepage
    This thing is ass ugly and has that "don't touch me, I came from goodwill and you don't know where I've been" look to it.

    I have no idea how anyone can compare this to an iMac. Hell, an average white box PC with a flat panel is about 10x more aesthetically pleasing.

  • iMac (Score:1)

    by paz5 ( 542669 )
    Did anyone else seriously think it was going to be an iMac right up until they saw the actualy mod pictures? Even when i was going to click on it i could have sworn it would send me here [apple.com].
  • Have you noticed? All things commonly associated with Apple were actually created in the 60's: iMacs (Predicta), windows (Xerox), and the mouse (Xerox). If we start digging deeper, what will we find next?
    • All things commonly associated with Apple were actually created in the 60's: iMacs (Predicta), windows (Xerox), and the mouse (Xerox).

      True, but I think windows are more often associated with, um, Windows. It's a good point to remember though; whenever MS is bashed of copying technology ideas from Apple, it is not always Apple that first invented it. I'd like to think that both MS and Apple draw from the work of Xerox, and Apple has a better implementation by an order of magnitude.

  • If that moron destroyed a REAL unit, he should have his fingers cut off for such a obscene act...
  • http://boston.laszlosystems.com/photos/images/2004 -08-03/IMG_0503.JPG

    http://boston.laszlosystems.com/photos/images/20 04 -08-03/IMG_0511.JPG

    This is a console for controlling interceptor fighter jets. It was part of a SAGE (used a lot of vacuum-tubes) computer system.

    Note the cigaratte lighter in the upper left of the righthand picture with the joystick.

    Someday I'm going to put a computer into this thing.
  • I do not think that word means what you think it means.

  • We had a black-n-white Philco when I was a little kid. When my Mom told me to turn off the TV and go to bed, I would insist on waiting for the little white dot to disappear. "Mom, nooo... the little white dot's not gone yet".

    By the time I was a teenager, the Philco had be consigned to the basement for well over a decade, no longer used even as an emergency backup set.

    I plugged the TV-output of my Commodore-64 into the Philco one day and for a few brief moments the up-and-coming technology of the digit

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