nuclearlighter
@nuclearlighter.bsky.social
I just want to know what's inside the stuff and how it works.
Eastern European, collection of mostly 80's exotic computing and comms hardware.
Same name on X.
Eastern European, collection of mostly 80's exotic computing and comms hardware.
Same name on X.
Ikea Kallax is a great shelf for displaying an 80's VEF phones. I think I'll also add an ATA to this so all the phones would be usable.
January 18, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Ikea Kallax is a great shelf for displaying an 80's VEF phones. I think I'll also add an ATA to this so all the phones would be usable.
I thought that this was happening only for a few years, but, no, look at the stamp on the bottom of the phone. It was "produced" in 1998! At least they were being patriotic and changed older "Made in USSR" to "Made in Latvia". So, the parts were not leftovers, but produced already in late 90's.
January 12, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I thought that this was happening only for a few years, but, no, look at the stamp on the bottom of the phone. It was "produced" in 1998! At least they were being patriotic and changed older "Made in USSR" to "Made in Latvia". So, the parts were not leftovers, but produced already in late 90's.
Well, they took the internals of these phones and stuffed into new (or leftover?) VEF TA-D cases. The one I have is this case. Look at the quality! It's awful! And, no, this was not done by someone at home, this was done on industrial scale!
January 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Well, they took the internals of these phones and stuffed into new (or leftover?) VEF TA-D cases. The one I have is this case. Look at the quality! It's awful! And, no, this was not done by someone at home, this was done on industrial scale!
At some point VEF stopped producing the phones, but imported used phones from the western countries like Germany. Imported phones were fixed, polished, rebranded, packed and sold as VEF phones. But what can be done with phones that can't be refurbished?
(Refurbished TAp-611, image source - etsy.com)
(Refurbished TAp-611, image source - etsy.com)
January 12, 2025 at 3:35 PM
At some point VEF stopped producing the phones, but imported used phones from the western countries like Germany. Imported phones were fixed, polished, rebranded, packed and sold as VEF phones. But what can be done with phones that can't be refurbished?
(Refurbished TAp-611, image source - etsy.com)
(Refurbished TAp-611, image source - etsy.com)
VEF TA-611D. This is a special phone. In a bad way. You might have seen similar phones in my posts before, but this is a late model and it shows post-soviet manufacturers inability to adapt to the changing demand after the collapse of the USSR.
January 12, 2025 at 3:32 PM
VEF TA-611D. This is a special phone. In a bad way. You might have seen similar phones in my posts before, but this is a late model and it shows post-soviet manufacturers inability to adapt to the changing demand after the collapse of the USSR.
Today I fixed the self-identification part of the teleprinter. Its original station ID is "Tornyakalns", a neighborhood in Riga, Latvia. The teleprinter comes from the local railway company, so I assume it was located in Torņakalns train station.
(railway station picture taken from Wikipedia)
(railway station picture taken from Wikipedia)
December 25, 2024 at 11:28 AM
Today I fixed the self-identification part of the teleprinter. Its original station ID is "Tornyakalns", a neighborhood in Riga, Latvia. The teleprinter comes from the local railway company, so I assume it was located in Torņakalns train station.
(railway station picture taken from Wikipedia)
(railway station picture taken from Wikipedia)
Firat time using a micrograbbers to debug my firmware. Cool stuff.
December 22, 2024 at 1:02 PM
Firat time using a micrograbbers to debug my firmware. Cool stuff.
I sorted some stuff in my lair, tested if my computers still work and some visitors came to help with testing. :D
December 21, 2024 at 2:47 PM
I sorted some stuff in my lair, tested if my computers still work and some visitors came to help with testing. :D
Right now I'm doing this through this devboard, but I hope to create a useful adapter board in future.
December 12, 2024 at 9:13 PM
Right now I'm doing this through this devboard, but I hope to create a useful adapter board in future.
Today I managed to get to the milestone - transmitting data from computer to the teleprinter. It's just a basic proof of concept, but it works!
December 12, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Today I managed to get to the milestone - transmitting data from computer to the teleprinter. It's just a basic proof of concept, but it works!
I'm thinking abiut designing an adapter for connecting a teleprinter to the modern computer. I know it has been done before, but it might be the motivation for me to learn something new. Recently I bought this AVR64DU32 board and I'm slowly working on the simplest code for it.
December 10, 2024 at 8:57 PM
I'm thinking abiut designing an adapter for connecting a teleprinter to the modern computer. I know it has been done before, but it might be the motivation for me to learn something new. Recently I bought this AVR64DU32 board and I'm slowly working on the simplest code for it.
Got some good stuff from the technotrash! An LSI-11 compatible controller cards - HPIB, floppy drive, horifying serial port and some mysterious board with connectors and resistor arrays.
December 7, 2024 at 3:14 PM
Got some good stuff from the technotrash! An LSI-11 compatible controller cards - HPIB, floppy drive, horifying serial port and some mysterious board with connectors and resistor arrays.
Fixed up some minor issues and putting it back together in hopes I won't have to disassemble it again. It comes together nicely and already passes a CAT test.
December 7, 2024 at 3:09 PM
Fixed up some minor issues and putting it back together in hopes I won't have to disassemble it again. It comes together nicely and already passes a CAT test.
Today I did some work on fixing the keyboard issues. One button is just dead, one seems to have a failed diode in diode encoder part (prints wrong character), but the issue of it printing only cyrillic characters is somewhere else. Could be ideological, haha.
December 1, 2024 at 8:35 PM
Today I did some work on fixing the keyboard issues. One button is just dead, one seems to have a failed diode in diode encoder part (prints wrong character), but the issue of it printing only cyrillic characters is somewhere else. Could be ideological, haha.
Fot now I've fixed its PSU, fixed some of the issues in printing mechanics. Next in line is keyboard with several issues. However, there are some signs of life already.
November 29, 2024 at 4:28 PM
Fot now I've fixed its PSU, fixed some of the issues in printing mechanics. Next in line is keyboard with several issues. However, there are some signs of life already.
I started this thread on X, but will continue it here too. My restoration project now is the RFT F1100 teleprinter, made in east Germany somewhere in 80's.
November 29, 2024 at 4:25 PM
I started this thread on X, but will continue it here too. My restoration project now is the RFT F1100 teleprinter, made in east Germany somewhere in 80's.
Funny ringtone of a VEF TA-D phone made in 1991.
November 23, 2024 at 8:34 PM
Funny ringtone of a VEF TA-D phone made in 1991.
Vivisection of a caller-id phone.
November 22, 2024 at 6:02 PM
Vivisection of a caller-id phone.
Today I stopped by a fellow enthuaiast and helped him to fix his Facit 4431 terminal video issues. That's a nice, silent terminal with green screen.
November 21, 2024 at 5:06 PM
Today I stopped by a fellow enthuaiast and helped him to fix his Facit 4431 terminal video issues. That's a nice, silent terminal with green screen.
Heyoooo, this is me, a retro electronics dude from eastern Europe, Latvia. Data center technician by day, technomancer by night. For now my content will be identical here and on X.
November 20, 2024 at 9:22 PM
Heyoooo, this is me, a retro electronics dude from eastern Europe, Latvia. Data center technician by day, technomancer by night. For now my content will be identical here and on X.