Photo-printing kiosks are about as common as payphones these days. However, there was a time when they were everywhere. The idea was that if you didn’t have a good printer at home, you could take your digital files to a kiosk, pay your money, and run off some high-quality images. [Snappiness] snagged one, and if you’ve ever wondered what was inside of one, here’s your chance.
While later models used a Windows PC inside, this one is old enough to have a Sun computer. That also means that it had things like PCMCIA slots and a film scanner. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working because of a bad touch screen. The box was looking for a network on boot, which required some parameter changes. The onboard battery is dead, too, so you have to change the parameters on every boot. However, the real killer was the touchscreen, which the software insists on finding before it will start.
The monitor is an old device branded as a Kodak monitor and, of course, is unavailable. [Snappiness] found pictures of another kiosk online and noted that the monitor was from Elo, a common provider of point-of-sale screens. Could the “Kodak” monitor just be an Elo with a new badge? It turns out it probably was because a new Elo monitor did the trick.
Of course, what excited us was that if we found one of these in a scrap pile, it might have a Sun workstation inside. Of course, you can just boot Solaris on your virtual PC today. You might be surprised that Kodak invented the digital camera. But they failed to understand what it would mean to the future of photography.
Sadly he doesnt really do anything interessting for this crowd. No screws removed, no ddeice opened, no repait. Just swapping a broken monitor.
Oh he does 3d print a spring for the scanner.
Still curious though …
“Photo-printing kiosks are about as common as payphones these days.”
I know 1 phonebooth, without phone, used as a streetside library (it was never an actual phonebooth on this location)
I know at least 5 shops in my neighbourhood that have those photokiosks, and they’re mightily useful if you want to send someone a personalized postcard or print some photos for a collage for a “page” for a marriage book or something like that.
They are very common in the UK too
In the Netherlands too. You can find one at any Kruidvat at the very least (and they are everywhere!)
Great job on this video, you made this look easy and I know it wasn’t! That touch screen cable looks to be RS232 serial. They were originally 25 pin D-Sub connectors then IBM (I believe) thankfully shrank them to the 9 pin we all know now. PC mice started out on RS232 before USB came out so it might be what it is using there. Image quality looks great on the small print – lucky!
The key part of these is the negative scanner. I have one, and it’s remarkably useful for digitising old (and new) negatives.
He appears to be at the stage of “fix problems by buying replacement on Ebay”. I was once there. I got to the level of being able to replace SMD components. But now I’m less motivated and sometimes go back to that initial stage. But this guy appears to have enough interest to advance. Hopefully, he doesn’t throw that CRT monitor away because it won’t turn on.
If I don’t have the component on hand, I’d rather save the labor and order a replacement.
According to Blooble maps, I have 19 photo printing kiosks within 10 miles of me. 9 of them are available 24/7.
I live in the largest metropolitan area in the world. Not some forgotten corner of nowhere.
What do you mean they are as rare as payphones?