Tag Archives: 1980s

Classic 1980 Apple II Training Video Surfaces

Posted on by

What’s difference between RAM and ROM? How does a floppy disk drive work? Can I run an Integer program on my 48K system? What’s the best way to perm your hair? These and many other questions are asked in this training video from 1980 which YouTuber Taz Goldstein recently dug up from his family’s old Apple II computer.

apple computer training 620x455magnify

The 30 minute video from Long Island New York’s long-defunct Berliner Computer Center teaches you everything you need to set up your Apple II computer, and the basics of using the 8-bit system. It’s an awesome time capsule of the early days of the personal computing era, plus that guy’s hairdo and eyeglasses are reason enough to watch. I actually think this guy was the world’s first hipster.

You can check out the classic video below:

Just look at how many steps it took to even power on and run a program. And the racket that floppy drive made, wow. I remember my first Apple II didn’t even have a disk drive, and had to read in programs from cassette tapes.

My, how far we’ve come.

Rubik’s Cube Turns 40, Celebrating Four Decades of Making Us Feel Stupid

Posted on by

As a child of the ’80s, I can remember several holidays where I received a Rubik’s Cube as a gift. I remain convinced to this day that a gift of a Rubik’s Cube is a sign that the giver truly hates you. Few things in life are more frustrating than a Rubik’s Cube. The Rubik’s Cube is 40-years-old this week.

cube 620x465magnify

The perplexing puzzle was invented by a Hungarian architect named Erno Rubik back in 1974. He didn’t intend to create a toy; he wanted a tool to help explain three-dimensional geometry. He found right away that once it was mixed up, it was very hard to get all the sides to be the same color again. It took the inventor a month to solve the puzzle.

Five years later, in 1979, he took the cube to the Nuremberg Toy Fair where it was later licensed and brought to market. As of 2009, the Rubik’s Cube had sold over 350 million units making it the most successful toy ever.

If you’re one of those who has actually mastered the Rubik’s Cube, you could always try one of these.

[via Telegraph]

Guy Builds Amazing Gremlins Puppet

Posted on by

Gremlins was one of my all-time favorite childhood movies. It featured just the right proportion of slapstick humor, gore and action for a teenage boy. In tribute to this classic popcorn flick, one talented artist has created a fully-functional puppet version of Stripe, one of the eponymous gremlins.

gremlins puppet 620x403magnify

RPF contributor Batgremlin built this DIY gremlin using cast flexible foam, and built mechanical moving arms with articulating fingers, and even moving eyeballs for the little green dude. Check him out in action in the video below – my favorite part is when the puppeteers are revealed against the greenscreen.

Batgremlin doesn’t share too many details on how he built it, but I’m betting he made a Gizmo puppet first, then fed it after midnight.

[via The RPF]

NES in a VHS Tape: VideoTendo 2000

Posted on by

Both the original NES console and VHS tapes were popular back in the 1980s, so it actually doesn’t seem that unusual to see the two in the same picture together. Though I can honestly say I’ve never seen an NES inside a VHS tape – until now.

vhs nintendo 1 620x423magnify

The VideoTendo 2000 is a fully-functional gaming console built into a VHS cassette. And while it’s actually an NES clone that’s Etsy seller ShinoBicycle used to achieve the feat, at least it plays physical cartridges. In fact, it’ll play Famicom games as well as PAL and NTSC NES games.

vhs nintendo 2 620x612magnify

It’s a pretty neat mod, though it looks to me like he had to rip the tape out from the inside of the VHS cassette and stuck images of them in the windows in their place. At least that’s what it looks like to me from the pics. It’s not like you were going to try and cram this into your VCR anyhow, were you?

vhs nintendo 3magnify

So bust out your big hair and your Power Glove and head over to Etsy, where you can grab the VideoTendo 2000 for the odd price of $224.94(USD). Remember when buying a movies on VHS cost $89.95? Now the price of the VideoTendo doesn’t seem so bad does it?

Maybe someday, he’ll put an Atari 2600 inside a BetaMax tape.

Music Modem Brings Back Squealy Memories of Dial-up

Posted on by

Remember when you needed a phone line and a dial-up modem to get online? Heck, I was using modems to connect to services like Compuserve and Prodigy before anyone even knew what the Internet was. One of the most annoying things about dial-up modems was that stupid squealing sound they made when you were trying to connect. Especially when you accidentally picked up the phone and had to listen to that incessant noise. Now, thanks to ThinkGeek, you can recreate those sounds whenever you feel like it.

music modem amagnify

That’s right, the box shown here isn’t a modem, but it’s a machine that makes modem sounds. You can simply press any button and relive the sounds of days gone by, including the dialing and ringer sounds, or you can use multiple buttons to play screechy, unappealing music with it.

Bonus points if you recognize that piece of music at the end there. Yes, that’s the closing theme to Buckaroo Banzai. Wow, I’m really dating myself now. Trust me, if you never saw that movie, you must Netflix it tonight.

While I suppose there’s some nostalgic value to the Music Modem, I think I’d quickly tire of its sounds – just like I did back in the 1980s and early 1990s. But if you really must make these noises, you can grab the Music Modem from ThinkGeek for $29.99(USD). Personally, I’m waiting for a device that sounds like the cassette tapes that software used to come on. Oh, that’s called a cassette player with a speaker.

E.T. LEGO Set Brings Back the 80s

Posted on by

I think one of the coolest things LEGO has ever done was to launch the LEGO Cuusoo website. This is the place where you can go to vote on DIY LEGO builds that could eventually become kits you can actually go to the store and purchase. Last time we talked about this was when the Goonies LEGO set turned up on the website.

lego e t set 1 620x376magnify

This time out it’s another 80s childhood favorite of mine with an E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial LEGO kit complete with flying bicycle and little brown alien.

lego e t set 3 620x346magnify

The guy behind the LEGO kit says it would have about 575 pieces, including the medical van, Elliott’s house, hooded scientists, Gertie, Michael, and a pack of Reese’s Pieces. There’s even E.T.’s Speak and Spell and Elliott’s bicycle, complete with a basket for E.T. to take flight in.

lego e t set 2 620x350magnify

The kit is up on the Cuusso site right now if you’d like to vote for it. If it happens to make it through to the next round, we might be able to buy one down at the local Walmart someday.

[via Geekologie via Nerd Approved]

Steve Jobs’ Time Capsule Recovered: The Ultimate Backup Device

Posted on by

I really don’t care for those reality TV shows where people walk around with metal detectors looking for junk. Most of them end up turning up crappy old coins and cans. But I have to show props to the guys on NatGeo’s Diggers for digging up something epic for once. They managed to find a long lost time capsule buried with stuff from Steve Jobs way back in 1983.

steve jobs time capsule hd 1 620x413magnify

Jobs and other attendees filled the 30-foot-long time capsule with all sorts of stuff after the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado some 30 years ago. Most notable among their contributions was Steve Jobs’ mouse from an Apple Lisa he used for the day’s presentation – which apparently is still in mint condition. Bet that’ll fetch some serious buckage at auction.

steve jobs time capsule hd 2 620x414magnify

Despite being known as the “Steve Jobs Time Capsule,” there were many other contributors to the capsule, then known as the Aspen Time Tube. Among them there’s an original Rubik’s Cube, a six pack of Ballantine Ale, some name tags, and a Moody Blues 8-track tape. I’m not sure what the deal is with all the aluminum foil pie tins though.

time tube 620x336magnify

While they haven’t released images of everything inside, I’m sure you’ll be able to see everything they found in the capsule on an upcoming episode of Diggers on the National Geographic Channel.

[via C|Net]

80s Pop Culture LEGO Vehicles: Ridin’ Retro

Posted on by

There were a lot of cool cars in 1980s TV shows and movies. We must have been obsessed with cars in that era, because you don’t get these sort of iconic rides anymore. Ralph from Brothers Brick has created some awesome homages to TV and movie vehicles of that era and they look amazing.

lego a team

They look so good, I wish we could buy each as a set and put them together ourselves. These cars even have LEGO characters to go with them. All of our favorites are here: the GMC Vandura from The A-Team, Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, KITT from Knight Rider, and The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard.

lego ecto 1 ghostbusterslego knight riderlego general lee

Holy Duke boys! Daisy is stacked!

Head on over to Ralph’s Flickr page for more pics of these awesome LEGO rides.

[via Nerd Approved]

8 Awesome Under Appreciated 80′s Video Games

Posted on by
attachment

Despite the internet rules by 90′s kids, the days of the 1980′s was the real period in which video games started to bloom, without impressive graphics and often through text-based ...
Continue Reading on Walyou