[HN Gopher] Medusa is a device that allows connecting of old com...
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Medusa is a device that allows connecting of old computers to
modern displays
Author : doener
Score : 55 points
Date : 2022-04-11 20:37 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (medusa-sc.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (medusa-sc.org)
| olsonjeffery wrote:
| I bought an Apple ][e recently at an estate sale. Loved playing
| with it and worked fine at the sale, but failed (monitor is fine
| but main board no longer turns on, no hard drive grind on
| startup, etc) after ~15 minutes of use. I found some
| troubleshooting manuals and got, then replaced, a bunch of main
| board chips. Still no luck, so I replaced the PS.
|
| So I'm giving up my sunk costs on getting this actual Apple ][e
| into working shape, but I've decided to settle for hollowing it
| out as a sort of classic computer arcade cabinet? (with the help
| of a apple-keyboard-connector-to-USB dongle I found online),
| putting in a rpi4, and perhaps running an emulator to start
| (since I'll be specifically reharnessing the original keyboard).
| This means I'll trash the main board (and perhaps disk drive
| enclosure, which I have no use for) and also need to find a
| flatscreen to very safely and carefully put into the A2M2010
| monitor enclosure after removing the CRT component (lovely green
| phosphors, sad I won't get to see more of it).
|
| Anyways, all of this is to say that this device is lovely and I
| might get when if another piece of classic hardware falls into my
| possession. :)
| vitaflo wrote:
| Ditch the RPi4 emu idea and get a Mister FPGA. It's wonderful
| for retro computers as well and arcade and console games.
| andrewstuart wrote:
| Don't trash it - many vintage computers need simple repairs
| before they'll work.
|
| Spend a few hundred dollars and find someone to recap it and
| get it going for you again.
|
| An old Apple 2 is a classic machine - it shouldn't be trashed.
| At worst sell it on to a collector for parts.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| Please don't "trash" old parts! There are people who will pay
| you for the parts (and some will even come and take them off
| your hands so you don't have to mess with shipping). Apple
| IIe's and Disk II's aren't particularly rare, but there aren't
| ever going to be any more made.
| jacquesm wrote:
| If you're in Europe I'd be happy to repair it for you, using it
| as an enclosure is a real waste.
| bingaling wrote:
| don't trash it, put it in a closet for a while until you want
| to (or find someone who wants to) learn electronics
| troubleshooting.
|
| You'll regret trashing it in a few years.
| rbanffy wrote:
| Lotharek does some really awesome stuff.
|
| It'd be really cool if a device like this tried to simulate the
| CRTs that would be connected (blur, diffusion, persistence,
| composite color artifacts, etc) to the vintage equipment. With
| that, it'd be perfect to restore old equipment where the
| irreplaceable CRT needs to be replaced.
| ksaj wrote:
| It is strange that there are no pictures of this device. However,
| with the (brilliant) name, I can easily guess what it looks like.
|
| There have always been adapters and multi-adapters because of
| hand-held video recorders, various entertainment units, and even
| overhead displays. Even HDMI comes in Standard, Dual, Mini, Micro
| and a specialized Automotive connectors.
| jhgb wrote:
| > It is strange that there are no pictures of this device.
|
| You'd be petrified to see it.
| iamevn wrote:
| Looks like there's some more info here:
| https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=135
| vinayan3 wrote:
| The price point is pretty step at $169.
| ksaj wrote:
| I thought that at first. But if you need to translate
| between a lot of the devices this would work with, you
| might spend more than that on all the different adapters.
|
| For someone with a lot of retro gear mixed in with new gear
| (like me), it's probably not such a bad price. Especially
| businesses that digitize home videos etc.
|
| I wonder if there is surge control on the inputs. The
| number one reason I have to replace video adapters is the
| input buffer frying. Ironically that often results in a
| not-blue screen of death.
| madengr wrote:
| sbierwagen wrote:
| Welcome to short-production-run hobbyist electronics. The
| stuff you see at Walmart is cheap because they make 50,000
| at a time.
| Animats wrote:
| There's a video, but it's half an hour of calibrating a pick
| and place machine.[1]
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/IAsJbZpvYHU
| kurthr wrote:
| Man, it doesn't even cover CGA displays (200x160,16 color)!
| browncalms wrote:
| foodstances wrote:
| See also the RGBtoHDMI:
| https://github.com/hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI/wiki
| a_t48 wrote:
| Trying to figure out how this is different from an OSSC - I guess
| it gives you composite/svideo - the big question in my mind is if
| it's easier to configure. The OSSC is powerful, but there's a lot
| of fiddling around with the raw primitives defining the input and
| output signals (which can be a good thing, if you're into that).
| throwaway81523 wrote:
| This is nice, but how about a way to connect modern computers to
| old displays? I have several really nice displays (mostly in old
| laptops, but also an SGI 1600SW) that it would be great to have a
| DVI or similar input for in one way or another.
| thorncorona wrote:
| Your laptop monitors probably use lvds/edp to interface with
| the motherboard. You can buy a converter to displayport for
| those. For your old monitors that use non-standard interfaces
| you should just buy a new one. Acquiring a converter will be
| expensive and time-consuming. You might as well just buy a new
| Dell ultrasharp, which is guaranteed to be much nicer.
| throwaway81523 wrote:
| The idea is to avoid a big chunk of e-waste from disposing of
| a perfectly good monitor. Of course the converter introduces
| electronics of its own, but it's a much smaller thing than a
| new Dell Ultrasharp, and hopefully much less expensive as
| well.
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