There are so many ways to make things look awesome by pulling inspiration from great retro hardware. And combining today’s futuristic functionality with yesterday’s lines, colors, and kitsch is the quick path to a winning combination. So why not give it a try and show us what you got? That’s the gist of Hackaday’s Reinvented Retro Contest which begins right now and runs through June.
This smart TV should help get you thinking in a retro-modern way. You’d never know it wasn’t stock… except when it starts streaming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier via the Roku hidden inside. Fit and finish on this one is spectacular and that woodgrain remote is a piece of artwork!
So what will it be? Keurig in a 1960’s Perculator? Desk lamp in a rotary telephone? GHz oscilloscope where a CRT used to live? Perhaps a Raspberry Pi laptop in a 1990’s form-factor? You get to decide what “Retro” means, just make sure you thoroughly show off the build!
Digi-Key is sponsoring this contest and there are $200 shopping sprees from their warehouse up for grabs for each of three top winners. Make a project page over on Hackaday.io and use the “Submit project to…” dropdown in the left side bar to enter it in the Reinventing Retro Contest.
Sweet! Lucky I picked up an old portable B/W CRT a while ago that I havent used yet. And an old digital typewriter from the goodwill
Actually I think I use to have that kind of TV. Heavy as you can imagine too. Long from front to back.
Most of my projects fit into this contest, is it fair to submit ’em all ? lol!!!
How ’bout a magic lantern with an LCD display from a phone, just keep the flame away from an lithium batteries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_lantern
Are past projects eligible?
I think that would be considered “retro”!
B^)
Touché
From the Judging Criteria, at: https://hackaday.io/contest/179304-reinvented-retro-contest/details
* Existing projects or projects that were entered in previous Hackaday contests and did not win a prize are eligible for submission as entries in this challenge with the following restrictions:
* You must update your project page – judges will look at the date the project was updated.
* The project must have significant additions from when previously entered. Show what makes it unique for this contest
200$ doesnt really go that far nowadays. Digikey is not the exception but is one of the very few places can get one-offs reasonable and expect it to show up as ordered and within this lifetime. Not in any way intended to disparage Digikey but that barely covers 1/2 an order. The better of parts do come from repurposing old stuff but seldom looks in any way like ORiginal equipment. Old yellowed brittle plastic and IBM Selectric III wide casings isn’t something to hold on to especially when leftovers are worth something at re-cycling yard.
Not really feeling incentive. Heck didnt even offer up a Hackady cap and T-shirt.
Fantastical imaginative musing:
Does seem fishy that big money sucking budget killing company (that i like obviously) only pony up $200. Thinking some guy named Al got hold of company credit card and they willing to write off in exchange for a little publicity. 200$ is all Al had left til next pay.
Al is a fictional character. Not relating to anyone real.
Leaving the other parts of your comment for someone else to reply to, I think you may be atypical if your typical total is ~$400. I’ve participated in group buys where we (with multiple people buying stuff for their projects) struggled to reach the $100 free shipping threshold.
Nope. Ha. Small groups and relatively small projects most likely. Got plenty of those too.
My private stuff. Not company or group. Definitely NoT on hi side. Not in quantity, frequency or cost. *Im not even close. Im assuming your aware they sell more than chips and LED.
for example: Single Amphenol round connector 6 conductor-not armored-not MIL- 35$. Doesnt include pins or strain relief. FWIW. Thats one off. exactly one.
Only need one. Unfortuntely cant lop it off and replace with cheap. It’s there for a reason .
Ah, so—if I’ve correctly interpreted your confusingly-written comment—you’re atypical in a different way than I thought: you try to pay for your business expenses by winning hobby contests.
Ah. No.
Really? You’re complaining the prize isn’t big enough? You are seriously lucky if $400 USD is your average order size. I can’t imagine how much stuff I could get for $200.
I know I’m on the low side. I use a lot of junk to supplement. I do have friends besides snow man. Is sad I consider 400$ expensive compared to them.
I don’t recall if I ever made a Digi-Key purchase over $20.
I applaud your frugal endeavors.
How far back is ‘retro’? I have a project going with a 2006 laptop, does that count?
Rules says retro, not ancient ;)
Yeah, I’ll just enter it. Worst they can say is ‘no’, right?
I thought the worst they could do was take you out back and kill you by a 1000 paper cuts, starting at your crouch.
Just don’t crouch, and you’ll be safe.