Firefly Universe

Steampunk-y goodness!

POSTED BY: Wishimay
UPDATED: Thursday, May 5, 2011 11:36
VIEWED: 20468
PAGE 3 of 4

DREAMTROVE

Monday, May 2, 2011 7:08 PM

The non-functional parts needn't be as non-functional as they might appear. Brass rails and typewriter platens could hold batteries. I just put a wireless router in a birdhouse. If it looks good, innovate a use for it.

There are a lot of lots of keys for sale on ebay. I suppose this is a better use for them then bracelets spelling out LOVE.

I just thought of an alternative though: The key pitch on a typical computer keyboard is 19.05 millimeters which is also known as 3/4 inches, the same as that on an old typewriter. The stagger is also the same one *most* computer keyboards: Q A 2 Z with 1/4" stagger in each case, and 1/4" more brings you back to W.

If you modified a typewriter by adding little posts to the bottom of each arm, you could put a deconstructed keyboard like the above under the tray.

1923 Woodstock identical to my own

Tragic fate of another
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash
=item43a697664a&item=290557748810

Anyway, if you're really clever, you could make it so a slight touch on the key would register the click and have the posts spring loaded so you could still type on it, but the easier solution would be to have the IBM KB tray removable.

Better picture of a Woodstock 1916, I can't tell the difference, aside from that the date is stamped on the back.

The tray would extent to the right, with arrow keys and would have to be converted into an adding machine of some sort

Another possibility would be a smaller keyboard. I suppose if it's going to be pegged by keys typing, then it doesn't matter, as long as the digital era plastics don't show. (lot of ways to do this, the simplest is a thin piece of wooden venir with holes drilled in it.)

That brings up an interesting question: What is the smallest 3/4" pitch keyboard?

I care for the caligraph II also:
http://www.machinesoflovinggrace.com/others.htm

Another nice adding machine

Something like this would probably fit
http://cgi.ebay.com/iGo-Stowaway-Bluetooth-Ultra-Slim-Keyboard-XTBT01-
/140541515145

The key is not having too many keys, and having full 19.05/19mm/¾" keys (Damn, now I want a key mapped to ¾) <- does that char show up for you?

Speaking of things that already look steampunk in their native form, I see thanko is making a USB knockoff of the infamous Targus Stowaway (I wonder if the original is available for bluetooth. That would rule.)

http://www.techfresh.net/foldable-mini-usb-keyboard-from-thanko/

All of this is giving me an idea: tricked out typewriter steampunk computer. You couldn't sell it online, but I'll be you could at a convention.

I'm thinking a pico projector embedded in the unit somewhere. As for what to make the CPU... It could be a simple machine, or no machine, just dock your cell phone. What do you think?

Here's something that has been gnawing at me. The average cell phone texter communicates at 15wpm. That's 8 times slower than a 19th c. professional typist, and about 12 times slower than stenotype from the same era. Information technology should make us more efficient, no?

Anyway, the price on that ebay auction in the above link definitely caught my eye (ebay takes items out of complete search way too early!)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item
=250802447931

ETA: Here's a thought: The open sides on my woodstock, I could make little wooden or brass insets that fold open to reveal little velvet padded docks, one for the phone, and one for the pico. Then for the keyboard, take a bluetooth keyboard, put in a wooden box, drill holes in the top, and make little Y-shaped pegs so when you pres

DREAMTROVE

Monday, May 2, 2011 7:40 PM

I see wired also found clockwork laptop

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mods/multimedia/2007/06/gallery_steampunk

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.

RIONAEIRE

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 12:31 AM

I plan to go for the day this summer if I can, I have a couple options for getting there that I'm working on for Mary and I. I've never been, she camped there with some friends two years back but she didn't fancy that, too much drugs and weird stuff, but she does like going for the day and I want to as well.

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

DREAMTROVE

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 2:10 AM

Riona

I'd love to go, but I'm a bit tied down what with everything going on.

Bun

Ethical solution:

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqF,!k8E2D)trdZ(BNl2ed2FOw~~0_1.JPG

I know on my Woodstock, the key lids I think are formica rather than glass, but underneath is just paper. This also answers the question of how to deal with the character issues, some characters move, and some things like "control" etc.

There is just something about the typing feel of a typewriter, it's the weighted keys, it's like the difference between a piano and a casio.

The other thing I was gnawing over is the form vs. function issue. What are your thoughts on this?

I've been gnawing over the idea "Think steam, don't just look the part." Not specifically steam, but the mechanical era. Ironically, everything is now going solid state (this machine has a mechanical hard drive made of lots of little moving parts, but I know that's a data integrity liability)

But other things have had me thinking this way. I've been thinking of designing my own boat, and I'm thinking that I should start with a remote control boat first, because on a small lake, you could design a sailing ship for the 1":1' scale and the waves would be like the ocean. I would need to be able to move the wheel, the boom(s) and raise and lower the sales, and possibly move the ballast. (I'm gnawing over a number of options here, but that's where the design come in. I want everything to essentially have no power, or be self-correcting... Remember the self winding watch? Probably one of the last purely mechanical inventions before the digital age.) Anyway, the purely mechanical self-correcting ballast would be awesome. I know it's not steam ;) but I can't build my own airship.

Too bad. I have such an awesome design for an airship.

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.

KWICKO

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 11:45 AM

These are awesome!

FLORALBUNNY

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 4:30 PM

Heee! I have an old miniature Lane cedar chest just like the one at the bottom of that e-bay page. Not selling.

"von Slatt" = genius.

I've debated the form-function thing in contexts varying from art/architectural history to banking (yes, banking) and like to introduce the idea that form contributes to function in many contexts. Binary thinking is limiting.

That folding keyboard is adorable.

Wonder if the "ethical solution" looks/feels more authentic than von Slatt's brass-edged buttons. Less work, for sure.

bun

DREAMTROVE

Tuesday, May 3, 2011 11:48 PM

The old rule was "form follows function" and in the 19th c. they always seemed to come out with something awesome looking. I guess there was an element of time after the function was running to work on the form. Now it seems fashion design has led form to lead, and function to be constrained by it.

Didn't get the box. Link? (Ebay autofills its pages, so what you see isn't what I see, unless I'm being stupid and missing something obvious.)

I'll try the keys, see how it works out. I still like my typewriter with fold out projector idea, something like this only more accordion

I want to get a targus stowaway in bluetooth. It always reminded me of the coathanger from raiders of the lost ark.

Banking? I have a 1920s banker's lamp. It's really cool. I got it on ebay for $8. Auction title was something like "Old lamp, broken." Only flaw was it was missing a hinge pin, so I fix it. It's pretty cool. A lot like this one
http://www.icollector.com/Vintage-Green-Glass-Bankers-Lamp_i10002188
not a reproduction, not that there's anything wrong with that. (I have some reproductions, they're nice lamps. I have a nice one with a stained glass butterfly...)

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.

DREAMTROVE

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 7:18 PM

Steampunk girls (lame excuse to bump this thread)

Pictures of girls

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls/

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls-2-fashion-photogra
phy/

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls-2/

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/images/steampunk-girls-4/

Gadgets

I see someone has beat me to the typewriter as keyboard:
http://eclecticephemera.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-typewriters-beat-comp
uters.html
I wouldn't go to the full type, I find that the full hammer slows me down, I'd have the letters register on a light touch

More on Jake's LCD
http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/go-retro-jakes-amazing-steampunk-flat-
panel-lcd-mod/

http://www.instructables.com/id/steampunk-keyboard/

Okay, there has to be an easier way. I know how these typewriter keyboard keys were made originally, it's not that hard. You need just some brass or steel rings 9/16" or 5/8" (1/2" min, not 3/4" because the whole keypitch is 3/4" and that would leave no space in between keys)

Anyway, then the glass disk was put under the lip, the label under that and then the whole thing was glued or welded to the post, or just crimped on.

I like the slider here, it has function, height adjustable.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cheap-and-Easy-to-make-Steampunk-Keybo
ard/

lots of nifty keyboards
http://datamancer.net/keyboards/keyboards.htm

http://www.instructables.com/id/Miss-Betsys-Steampunk-Keyboard/

I see Jake did kill a typewriter (or bought keys off ebay) to make this. But here are more details
http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

http://dvice.com/archives/2006/10/handmade_steampunk_laptop_actu.php

The original typewriter factory is just down the road from me. (literally) Maybe they still make parts.

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/ibm-keyboard-modded-steampunk-for-an-a
ntediluvian-keyboard/

The friction lid support is readily available cheap, it was the adjustable, the one there is Ives, it's brass-toned steel.

Here's an interesting alternative for the more industrial less shiny piece

http://s7.cdn.hardwareandtools.net/is/image/HardwareandTools/038613208
674?wid=200&hei=200

Facebook is really starting to scare me. Every page on the internet is linked to facebook, and many ask you to sign in to your facebook. A site, which, as far as I can tell, provides no service, and leeches off of its members like a vampire. Christina Hendricks called it the most evil site on the web (using google's definition of evil.) I think she's right.

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/diy-project/diy-project-make-your-own-g
reat-steampunk-keyboard-068793

This is beautiful

I just have one question...

If you've gone this far and you *haven't* remapped the Windows Key to something more useful that its default Ctrl-Esc?
I suppose if you're making it to sell, it makes sense.

http://technabob.com/blog/2008/05/15/steampunk-computer-accessories/

Not sure what I'm looking at:

Clay duck and cast iron dog, I guess.

A whole host of them
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cauldroncraftminis/4646628982/in/photostr
eam/

I guess all those pencil sharpeners could come in handy...

Someone made the Underwood computer
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/underwood/
(Had a better site for this one but I lost it)
This raises a new form-function issue, which is fluid form.

those of you who have an old turn of the century mechanical typewriter (a

DREAMTROVE

Thursday, May 5, 2011 4:28 AM

Too much project?
http://benheck.com/atari-800-xe-laptop

Got distracted. What I really want is a keyboard like this one

TI99/4A

It has the full 3/4 inch keys and about the same number as a typewriter. Now there are a million options, and I can't find one like this. All the ones with limited numbers of keys have undersized keys. The typewriter frame will only fit a 10 inch keyboard, They have to be spaced 3/4 inches apart. Hrm.

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.

KWICKO

Thursday, May 5, 2011 8:34 AM

The steampunk stuff is great, but I'm partial to mid-century modern myself - that old 50s "rocket age" style with lots of chrome, "boomerang" graphics, formica, and Danish modern furniture with clean lines. Be interesting to see someone do a take on a modern computer with those kinds of retro styling cues. It would probably end up looking like an iMac, though. :)

ETA: Look at these!

http://slipperyskip.com/page31.html

Seems I'm not the only one thinking about mid-century modern and 30s deco replete with BakeLite accents!

That top pic would actually make a FANTASTIC redesign for the PlayStation3. That's what I thought it was at first.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill