retro

273 Articles

A weather forecast is shown on a blue monochrome cathode ray tube display. It is displaying current conditions, and displays a “The Weather Channel” graphic in the top left corner.

A CRT Display For Retro Weather Forecasting

May 31, 2025 by 15 Comments

It would be hard to find any electronics still in production which use CRT displays, but for some inscrutable reason it’s easy to find cheap 4-inch CRTs on AliExpress. Not that we’re complaining, of course. Especially when they get picked up for projects like this Retro CRT Weather Display from [Conrad Farnsworth], which recreates the interface of The Weather Channel’s WeatherStar 4000+ in a suitably 90s-styled format.

The CRT itself takes up most of the space in the enclosure, with the control electronics situated in the base behind the display driver. A Raspberry Pi Zero W provides the necessary processing power, and connects to the CRT through its composite video output.

A custom PCB plugs into the GPIO header on the Raspberry Pi and provides some additional features, such as a rotary encoder for volume and brightness display, a control button, a serial UART interface, and a speaker driver. The design still has one or two caveats: it’s designed to powered by USB, but [Conrad] notes that it draws more current than USB 2.0 can provide, though USB-C should be able to keep up.

On the software side, a Python program displays a cycle of three slides: local weather, regional weather, and a radar display. For the local and regional weather display graphics, [Conrad] created a static background image containing most of the graphics, and the program only generated the dynamic components. For the radar display, the regional map’s outlines come from Natural Earth, and a Python program overlays radar data on them.

We’ve seen other attempts at recreating the unique style of the WeatherStar system, but nothing quite beats the real thing.
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Jeff Dunham next to a Philco Predicta TV

Jeff Dunham Finds A NOS 1958 Philco Predicta

February 8, 2025 by 14 Comments

When you see a ventriloquist like [Jeff Dunham], you probably expect to see him with a puppet. This time – spoilers ahead – you won’t. Besides his fame on stage, [Dunham] is also a collector of vintage tech and a die-hard television enthusiast. In the video below, [Dunham] has gotten his hands on a rarity: an unboxed 1958 Philco Predicta TV. The original tape was still on the box. We get to follow along on his adventure to restore this sleek, retro-futuristic relic!

[Dunham]’s fascination with the Predicta stems from its historical significance and bold design. At a time when television was making its way into American homes, the Predicta dared to be different with its swivel-mounted picture tube and early printed circuit boards. Despite its brave aesthetics, the Predicta’s ambition led to notorious reliability issues. Yet, finding one in pristine condition, sealed and untouched for over six decades, is like unearthing a technological time capsule.

What makes this story unique is [Dunham]’s connection to both broadcasting and his craft. As a ventriloquist inspired by Edgar Bergen — whose radio shows captivated America — [Dunham] delights in restoring a TV from the same brand that first brought his idol’s voice to airwaves. His love for storytelling seamlessly translates into this restoration adventure.

After unboxing, [Dunham’s] team faces several challenges: navigating fragile components, securing the original shipping brace, and cautiously ramping up voltage to breathe life into the Predicta. The suspense peaks in the satisfying crackle of static, and the flicker of a 65-year-old screen finally awakened from slumber.

Have you ever come across an opportunity like this? Tell us about your favorite new old stock find in the comments. Buying these can be a risk, since components have a shelf life. We appreciate when these old TVs play period-appropriate shows. Who wants to watch Game of Thrones on a Predicta?

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Atari 65XE In Laptop Form

January 5, 2025 by 4 Comments

For better or worse, Atari is no longer a household name in computing, but for a time in the 1980s, it was a huge mover in the industry. They not only produced PCs but also a huge number of video game consoles. Although they were a major contributor to the video game crash of the 1980s, they managed to limp along a few more years afterward and produce some interesting machines in the following years, even though they weren’t ultimately able to compete with Nintendo or Sega. One of those computers from that era was a PC-console hybrid of sorts called the Atari XE, and [Sideburn] was able to turn one into a laptop.

The retro laptop began life as an Arabic PAL version of the 65XE, the PC version of the ubiquitous 65-series computer. A large portion of the computer was reworked, including the removal of the power supply in favor of a rechargeable battery with a 6-hour life. Also among the list of scrapped components was the video and sound connectors as well as the RF modulator, which would have been common for displays at the time, but this laptop is getting a 1920×1080 LCD panel to replace all of that old hardware. A 1MB memory upgrade, new speakers and amp, a WiFi card, and an SD floppy card emulator round out the build.

The final part of the build is assembling it all into a custom 3D printed case, and the resulting laptop that [Sideburn] calls the XE Book is a faithful adaptation of this niche computer into what could have been a laptop we would have seen in the late 80s or early 90s similar to the Toshiba T3200SXC. It matches the original’s footprint and still uses all of the core components, so it’s not too difficult to imagine something like this having existed in the past.

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Apple Newton Gets Rebuilt Battery Pack

December 13, 2024 by 14 Comments

We all carry touch screen computers around in our pockets these days, but before the smartphone revolution, there was the personal digital assistant (PDA). While it wasn’t a commercial success, one of the first devices in this category was the Apple Newton. Today they’re sought after by collectors, although most of the ones surviving to this day need a bit of rework to the battery pack. Luckily, as [Robert’s Retro] shows, it’s possible to rebuild the pack with modern cells.

By modern standards, the most surprising thing about these battery packs is both that they’re removable and that they’re a standard size, matching that of AA batteries. The Newton battery pack uses four cells, so replacing them with modern rechargeable AA batteries should be pretty straightforward, provided they can be accessed. This isn’t as easy, though. In true Apple fashion the case is glued shut, and prying it apart can damage it badly enough so it won’t fit back in the tablet after repair is complete. The current solution is to cut a hatch into the top instead and then slowly work on replacing the cells while being careful to preserve the electronics inside.

[Robert’s Retro] also demonstrates how to spot weld these new AA batteries together to prepare them for their new home in the Newton case. With the two rows fastened together with nickel strips they can be quickly attached to the existing electrical leads in the battery pack, and from there it’s just a matter of snapping the batteries into the case and sliding it back into the tablet. If you’re looking for something a bit more modern, though, we’d recommend this Apple tablet-laptop combo, but it’s not particularly easy on the wallet.

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Pixel mashup with Wasm-4 logo and retro graphics

WASM-4: Retro Game Dev Right In Your Browser

December 8, 2024 by 12 Comments

Have you ever dreamt of developing games that run on practically anything, from a modern browser to a microcontroller? Enter WASM-4, a minimalist fantasy console where constraints spark creativity. Unlike intimidating behemoths like Unity, WASM-4’s stripped-back specs challenge you to craft games within its 160×160 pixel display, four color palette, and 64 KB memory. Yes, you’ll curse at times, but as every tinkerer knows, limitations are the ultimate muse.

Born from the WebAssembly ecosystem, this console accepts “cartridges” in .wasm format. Any language that compiles to WebAssembly—be it Rust, Go, or AssemblyScript—can build games for it. The console’s emphasis on portability, with plans for microcontroller support, positions it as a playground for minimalist game developers. Multiplayer support? Check. Retro vibes? Double-check.

Entries from a 2022’s WASM-4 Game Jam showcase this quirky console’s charm. From pixel-perfect platformers to byte-sized RPGs, the creativity is staggering. One standout, “WasmAsteroids,” demonstrated real-time online multiplayer within these confines—proof that you don’t need sprawling engines to achieve cutting-edge design. This isn’t just about coding—it’s about coding smart. WASM-4 forces you to think like a retro engineer while indulging in modern convenience.

WASM-4 is a playground for anyone craving pure, unadulterated experimentation. Whether you’re a seasoned programmer or curious hobbyist, this console has the tools to spark something great.

Retro Calculator Build Proves The Space Age Isn’t What It Used To Be

November 14, 2024 by 20 Comments

The common wisdom these days is that even if we wanted to get back to the Moon the way we did in the 1960s, we’d never be able to do it. Most of the blame for that usually falls on the loss of institutional knowledge thanks to skilled minds and hands that have been stilled by the passage of time, but the real kicker would be finding replacements for all the parts that we used back then that just aren’t made anymore. A similar problem exists for those seeking to recreate the circuits that graced the pages of the many magazines that catered to electronics hobbyists back in the day.

Take this “Space Age Decimal Computer” reproduction that [Bob Alexander] undertook. Smitten with the circuit after seeing our story about a 1966 article detailing its construction, he decided to roll one of his own. That proved to be far harder than he thought it would be. The original circuit, really little more than an adding machine using a rotary telephone dial as an input device, used neon lamp ring buffers for counting, The trouble is, while NE-2 neon lamps are still made, they aren’t made very precisely. That makes it difficult to build a working ring buffer, which relies on precise on and off voltages. That was even a problem back then; the author suggested buying 100 lamps and carefully characterizing them after aging them in to get the 60 lamps needed.

In the end, [Bob] settled for modifying the circuit while making the build look as close as possible to the original. He managed to track down the exact model of enclosure used in the original. The front panel is populated with a rotary dial just like the original, and the same neon lamps are used too, but as indicators rather than in ring buffers. Behind the scenes, [Bob] relied on 7400-series counters and decoders to make it all work — kudos for sticking with 1970s tech and not taking the easy way out with an Arduino.

The video below goes into more detail on the build and the somewhat kludgy operation of the machine, with a few excellent [Tom Lehrer] references and a nice Cybertruck dunk to boot.

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