The Nagy Magical-Movable-Type Pixello-Dynamotronic Computational Engine

[Datamancer]

Hey everyone, I'm new here, but I thought some of you might like my Casemod (well casefab, i guess) project.

It's the The Nagy Magical-Movable-Type Pixello-Dynamotronic Computational Engine. It was modelled to look like it was pulled out of the Industrial Revolution or Victorian England, but with an almost Lovecraftian twist. This project has grown and grown beneath me and is now becoming an entire suite, including a scratch-fabbed desktop and monitor enclosure, a modded Underwood typewriter keyboard, modded phonograph horn, refurbished and reupholstered cathedral chair, and most recently, a modified flatbed scanner.

http://www.datamancer.net/projects/engine/mockup_full1.jpg

Here's the flatbed scanner, or "The Opti-Transcripticon"

http://www.datamancer.net/projects/optitran/optitran_final.jpg

You can see these two projects and a ton of other stuff on http://www.datamancer.net

-~Doc~-

[Bucko]

That is cool!
How did you make the Underwood work as a keyboard?

[simon275]

Wow old school nice stuff hope you post a worklog with us.

[armadilloben]

dude i love the amount of creativity that you put into this thing, it looks great.

welcome to the forums.

-ben

[DaveW]

That's absolutely incredible. Though i should point out that the works in progress forum is for worklogs, so this really belongs in the 'Your Mods' forum. I'll move it over there for you.

I for one would love to see more from this. Think you missed an opperunity there with the screen-that would have looked amazing hidden behind a vicotorian scrolling door.

Top notch work there.

-Dave

[Scotty]

Awesome work mate, very retro.

[slytherock]

Ok, I think my modder career is dead. You're too good :up: +rep for sure

[SgtM]

Welcome to TBCS. Awersome work. Do you have a worklog of this build? +rep

[Datamancer]

Thanks everyone! Yeah I was wasnt sure which category to put this in, and I didnt want to double-post it. Some parts of it are complete, but the main project is still in the works.
I had considered a roll-top sort of cover for the screen, but I couldnt find a donor anywhere. Instead I'm going to put a small set of folding doors with some design in the middle of them. There are a lot of small, subtle cues back to the history of computer and technology in here, and that was going to be one of them. When televisions first appeared on the scene in the 50's, it was found that people were still having trouble adjusting to the idea of having such an interactive device in their home. It was found that the blank screen still made people slightly uncomfortable, as though the people on the television were looking back at them through the screen. The solution was the addition of a set of small doors, so the customers could "shut out" their television "guests".
Another small in-joke of mine....The keyboard is going to be Dvorak. If you look up the history of the QWERTY layout, you'll see that it is actually designed to be as clumsy and slow as possible. It's an inflicted bottleneck....a legacy standard from the days of manual typewriters which would jam if you typed too fast. The Dvorak layout is made to optimize your keystrokes on digital kepyboards, and the idea of a "manual Dvorak" is hysterical to me.

[m4gnum]

That's as mental as a bagful of badgers. The DVD part is fantastic.

[Datamancer]

Just a quick update (see, it's kind of like a worklog).
:)
I've added a decorative page cover to the inside of the Opti-transcripticon.

http://www.datamancer.net/projects/optitran/optitran_inside_final.jpg

More info and pics HERE (http://www.datamancer.net/projects/optitran/optitran.htm)