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Five Fabulous Retro Device Hacks

Joe Heitzeberg
March 25, 2013

Here at Hack Things we feel a certain nostalgia for old-school vintage goods — many of which seem to be getting replaced by iOS apps on a daily basis. It’s refreshing to see projects that bring new life to vintage goods. Here are five fabulous retro devices hacks that we admire.

1) USB Typewriter

For around $49, the USB Typewriter DIY Soldering Kit uses an Arduino to rewire vintage typewriters to turn them into fully digital keyboard input devices.

Screen Shot 2013-03-25 at 12.33.50 PM

2) Gameboy MIDI Rewire

A hacker named “hoehoe” has repurposed a Nintendo Game Boy as the output device for a MIDI controller known as MAX/MSP.

Screen Shot 2013-03-25 at 12.33.26 PM

3) Vintage Wifi Radio (Instructables)

Instructables has a project guide for turning a vintage radio into an internet-connected Wifi radio using an off-the-shelf wifi radio and some wiring.

Screen Shot 2013-03-25 at 12.47.33 PM

4) Raspberry Pi Nixie Clock

Project explains how to create a beautiful clock out of Nixie Tubes and a Raspberry Pi.

Screen Shot 2013-03-25 at 12.51.35 PM

5) Analog VU meter and Clock (Arduino Powered)

This project explains how to repurpose old analog VU meters into digitally-controlled ones.

Screen Shot 2013-03-25 at 12.57.16 PM

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