Taking a stroll down reminiscence lane occasionally by hauling an previous Atari sport console or Commodore pc out of storage is one thing that many people love to do. After which there are these, like {hardware} hacker Chris Combs, that wish to think about a time passed by that by no means really fairly existed. Combs has designed and constructed what he calls the Mirrortron, a Eighties-esque digital mirror — or no less than what a Eighties digital mirror might need appeared like if there had been digital mirrors within the Eighties.
The tabletop gadget “displays” no matter is in entrance of it, however in a really low-resolution type of a manner. The Mirrortron makes use of a digital camera to seize a gradual stream of photographs, that are then downsized to twenty by 8 pixels earlier than being proven on its show. Sure, you heard that proper — 20 by 8 pixels! Moreover, these pixels are solely able to producing black, white, cyan, and purple colours. That isn’t ample to make out quite a lot of element, however needs to be nearly sufficient to have the ability to select the colourful triangles, squares, and different main shapes of a Huxtable sweater.
Whereas a lot of the parts are fashionable, the show itself is a classic Eighties Noritake VFD. As you may count on, no off-the-shelf options nonetheless exist for controlling this show, so Combs designed a customized PCB to do the job. The {hardware} is enclosed in a period-correct case that has some put on to it to offer it the right aesthetic. The design was completed off with a handful of accent lights hidden contained in the case.
Solely scant particulars can be found presently, nonetheless it shouldn’t be too difficult to breed this undertaking should you don’t thoughts utilizing a extra fashionable show. The Mirrortron would positively make for an attention-grabbing desk toy or dialog piece in anybody’s house.The Mirrortron is a low-resolution digital mirror (📷: Chris Combs)
A better have a look at the show (📷: Chris Combs)