Firefly Universe

Steampunk-y goodness!

POSTED BY: Wishimay
UPDATED: Thursday, May 5, 2011 11:36
VIEWED: 20468
PAGE 2 of 4

FLORALBUNNY

Saturday, April 30, 2011 2:05 AM

I never think of B. Man and steampunk together.
To familiarize your friend, use the s/punk epi. of Castle, some of the great punk/maker websites, some of the props (Farnsworth, keyboard, etc.) from Warehouse 13.
Maybe on a Venn diagram (you know, the circle-y one) you'd include steampunk as a subset of B. Man 'cos you could punk yourself out and go to B. Man, but you wouldn't go to a steampunk gathering looking like 95% of what you'd find at B. Man.

bun
can't bear to look at lovely punk-y keyboards without drooling...

WISHIMAY

Saturday, April 30, 2011 4:07 AM

Went to Michael's craft store tonight, the spring line of jewelry was steampunk!
...they called it "industrial chic"

DREAMTROVE

Saturday, April 30, 2011 9:55 AM

Steampunk kb pricey.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Steampunk-Victorian-Styled-Typewriter-Keyboard-/25
0802447931

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mullingitover/3899247687/

not about to cannibalize my 1923 woodstock to make one though.

I have one as an app to replace the android kb. I'm writing another one, 'cause i want a stenotyper.

Clockwork Laptop

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

FLORALBUNNY

Sunday, May 1, 2011 6:04 PM

The top pic reminds me of stuff my Dad used to put together on long, snowy nights back east. Wish I had a couple of those models.

The first keyboard is so beautiful. I found it quite a while back, read the entire how-to, looked at my still-functioning typewriters, and promised them I wouldn't ruin them. Have to find parts in trash, or just pretend.

I covet the clockwork laptop.

Problem is, any time something gets to be fashionable, it raises prices on bits and pieces, salvage, etc.

bun
holding breath

DREAMTROVE

Monday, May 2, 2011 4:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by FLORALBUNNY:
The top pic reminds me of stuff my Dad used to put together on long, snowy nights back east. Wish I had a couple of those models.

The first keyboard is so beautiful. I found it quite a while back, read the entire how-to, looked at my still-functioning typewriters, and promised them I wouldn't ruin them. Have to find parts in trash, or just pretend.

I covet the clockwork laptop.

Problem is, any time something gets to be fashionable, it raises prices on bits and pieces, salvage, etc.

bun
holding breath

Bun,

DIY.

The trick is to find the right keyboard. You can get a set of keys pre-stripped from some ebay cannibal (I have a bookstore, and you can perhaps sense the the cringe factor when I see someone selling illustrations from a book as "prints" A few in particular come to mind, like when someone, who I see is still doing it, cannibalizes Lucy Dawson's dog books for the pictures, and sells them independently on ebay.) That said, old typewriters have been known to die, or be cannibalized for whatever reason, and you can get a set of keys reasonably on ebay.

The next trick is finding a decent Keyboard to transform. I'm sure there are forums on this. The older IBM keyboards had an actual mechanism where there was a stick coming up which you could glue caps onto, very carefully, with gorilla glue or something, (not superglue) Epoxy perhaps.

I think the above KB is based off of this

This link gives a lot of details, and the important distinction between something like the Model M and its cheap knockoff, which would be useless for this purpose.
http://sribalajimuthukumar.blogspot.com/2009/06/inside-worlds-greatest
-keyboard.html

Not saying you need to use a Model M as a base, but you need something of its caliber, and that almost always means something of its age, which is going to mean 1980s almost fer sher. Ergo, Next thing you need is a PS/2 6 pin DIN F to 5 Pin DIN M Keyboard Adapter, and then you will need a standard PS2 to USB adapter.

The typical 80s coil phone cord connector is probably appropriate, but up to you.

Here's a steampunked Model M:

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/steampunk-keyboard-an-ibm-keyboard-mod/

You could use any sort of venir, for me the black steel base of the Model M's own curved board would work fine if polished up.

After you have the basics, you can go with whatever kind of flare you want.

An alternative to the phonecord to a computer, you could make a whole machine out of it. You could run the whole thing to a machine under the base of the keyboard (buy a netbook with a broken screen off ebay pretty cheap,) disassemble the base, and run the KB into the computer, and run the video out to a Pico projector, and build it all into the underside base of the keyboard. That way you flick on the projector and broadcast your display to a wall, or, if you want to get really freaky with it, have an arm that comes up, like a lamp, that projects the display to the table. You can get a pico that will give you 1280x800, but you need a quality one to get real readable text.

Can't find anyone doing this one yet, but here's robot pico overkill
http://hacknmod.com/hack/augmented-reality-robotic-lamp-for-your-deskt
op/

I think a foldout arm that can twist and turn with an embedded pico would be pretty cool.

I'm surprised I didn't post this one earlier:

My own choice though would be to go with a kb, and probably build a trackball into it, a decent one like a Kensington Expert Mouse:

(I can't believe no one has steampunked this yet. This is the mouse I use, it's awesome. Best scrollwheel ever, also.)

I'm gnawing this all-in-the-keyboard idea with the pico projector in a robot arm, it has a certain appeal to me, no vi

RIONAEIRE

Monday, May 2, 2011 5:36 AM

Apparently I don't know much about Burning Man, I always had the impression that it was a hippie type event, do drugs and run around naked, hang out in the desert, buy cool stuff, whatever. I know that there is some overlap between the nerdy sette and the hippie sette, Fairyworlds in Eugene seems to be where the two meet, but I guess I didn't know that Burning Man had a scifi/nerdy element to it that much. We learn something new every day.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

FLORALBUNNY

Monday, May 2, 2011 6:16 AM

Yep about the original kbs: makers want the old-style "clicky" kb to work with.

That next kb I hadn't seen before. Purty.

That mouse is purty, too. In the pic it looks rather industrial as-is.

The big rig at the end: are those black morning glory speakers on either side???

You have some great ideas. We're here for moral support if little else should you make a stab at putting one together.

But not my adored typewriters. Out from under my cold, dead hands...

bun

DREAMTROVE

Monday, May 2, 2011 11:39 AM

The aftermath of cannibalism:

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-ANTIQUE-ROYAL-SMITH-CORONA-TYPEWRITER-NO-K
EYS-/180606489006

DREAMTROVE

Monday, May 2, 2011 11:58 AM

Riona,

I always had the impression that the goal of Burning Man was to be the world of Mad Max.

Have you been to Faerieworlds?

Bun,

Thanks.

I suspect they're not original morning glories but that's the idea. It's hard to make any suggestions to an effort that impressive but my first thought was "rolltop" and they I thought "remember the flat-top secretaries? The LCD fold out could do that"

I support you're right about the mouse. Another thing, you could set the buttons and frame under a thin sheet with buttons which click down.

It's another concept also for the KB, especially if it's a laptop: If you get keys with stems still attached this would be pretty easy: Take a piece of venir, or sheet steel, and poke holes, getting the key pitch and stagger right, and then make an assembly like this

o o o
--|---|---|--

and put springs around the stems, and something flat on the bottom, and you'd have a steampunk keyboard overlay that you could put over a normal keyboard. The point here is any laptop that you take apart, the keyboard is going to be a rubber contact sheet underneath and not mechanical.

I like my idea of the computer with projection screen though. Then of course you need your steampunk OS. ;)

I wonder if I can get the arts and crafts crowd interested. Some of the keys would need substitutes, like return, which on my typewriter is a lever, that could be rigged though. Also, the "1" key. Some other tricks.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

FLORALBUNNY

Monday, May 2, 2011 4:00 PM

O God, that poor typewriter. You just know where the keys went.
The story of all the work-arounds on that first kb were in an article I found online. The saved URL is, unfortunately, on a fried thumb drive. Only other place I can think to look for it besides a full Google is outgoing mail still on my server because I'm pretty sure I sent it to my bro. Can look...

ETA I think the big rig is a little over the top, though I like the morning glories. I tend to like to leave off the non-functional, as there is plenty of functional which can be styled.

bun