Cassette Futurism

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Welcome to Cassette Futurism Lemmy and Mbin Community.

A place to share and discuss Cassette Futurism: media where the technology closely matches the computers and technology of the 70s and 80s.

Whether it's bright colors and geometric shapes, the tendency towards stark plainness, or the the lack of powerful computers and cell phones, Cassette Futurism includes: Cassettes, ROM chips, CRT displays, computers reminiscent of microcomputers like the Commodore 64, freestanding hi-fi systems, small LCD displays, and other analog technologies.

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[Thread] Teleram P-1800 // portable computer (US, 1974) (files.catbox.moe)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by sag@lemm.ee to c/cassettefuturism@lemm.ee

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[–] unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The aim of the device is to absorb electronically the reporter's original story, retain it in a computer, and eliminate all the retypings that now occur as a piece of writing makes its way from reporters through bureaus to the home offices to the desks of editors & eventually to linotype machines.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/02/10/the-p-1800 (paywall)

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Late reply, but reading the WP article, I don't think we would really call this a "computer" these days (or even by 70's standards), but more of a smart terminal. One might also call it a kind of advanced typewriter that was able to connect to a mainframe in order to upload a single article. Not disputing the section you pasted, but moreso adding on.

Am I nitpicking terms here? Possibly, but actual portable computers were introduced around these same years, and obviously were a historic advance.

The first commercially sold portable computer might be the 20-pound (9.1 kg) MCM/70, released 1974. The next major portables were the 50-pound (23 kg) IBM 5100 (1975)...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_computer

@sag@lemm.ee

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah another term for this could be a word processor (like the old school ones that were kinda smart typewriters with floppy disks on the side).

But instead of outputting through built-in printer, it spits out the output to a minicomputer (I’m assuming at the time).

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

"Word processor" is a good term. Specifically, these were made so that reporters could quickly work up articles from on-site news locales, then send them in to the newspaper office.