A Retro-Modern Linux Terminal with a Round Screen
It's like a 1960s design of a "Computer of the Future"... running modern Linux. And I love it.
A little over a month ago, we talked about the Penkesu — a DIY, Linux-powered palmtop computer… that is absolutely adorable.
Now, that same brilliant engineer is back with a new DIY computer design that, miraculously, I want even more than the Penkesu.
The Mainboard Terminal
RIGHT?!
Tell me you don’t want one of these in every room of your house!
From the GitHub page:
Mainboard Terminal is not just any cyberdeck, it's a full-feature PC powered by Framework's Mainboard. It has a 5" (1080x1080) round LCD, a fully 3D printable case, and is compatible with OLKB Preonic mechanical keyboard.
The key components (other than the 3D printed case — which you can get the models for on GitHub):
Framework Mainboard https://frame.work/products/mainboard
OLKB Preonic https://drop.com/buy/preonic-mechanical-keyboard
5" round LCD https://m.tb.cn/h.fr5pE3w
Because this uses the Framework Mainboard, it won’t be the cheapest build in the world (that part runs around $400)… but it will make for both a unique terminal… and a fairly powerful one as well as you can get i5 or i7 CPU versions of the Mainboard.
But the real star of this build, for me, is that round LCD screen — with a 1080 x 1080 resolution. The GitHub readme includes instructions for tweaking display settings to really take advantage of the screen — including using cool-retro-term, with custom settings, to really accentuate the curvature around the edges of the shell.
Aside from needing to 3D print the case parts… this is a pretty straight forward build! One that is highly, highly tempting.
Once again, stellar example of technical and design wizardry from Penk Chen, the genius behind this build.
“Linux Tycoon 3: The OS Wars” is a free download for all subscribers to The Lunduke Journal. Just one of the perks. One of oh-so-many.
For those of us old enough to have used round CRT displays, 5” is too small for the
print to be readable. Terry Gilliam’s great movie “Brazil” features terminals with small displays adorned with a much bigger Fresnel lens to enlarge the image. If the RetroTerm’s LCD is indeed a rectangular panel in drag,
using a larger panel would seem to be easy except for redesigning the case, probably sacrificing the endearing “family mantel clock” aura.
An alternative to consider might be the “Interocitor” communicator from “This Island Earth”.
Or maybe a simple inversion of the current design with a larger round display above the cute keyboard.
But the object d’art as rended is certainly an appealing addition to a “necro-computing collection”.
Nice work, both of you.
-mo