Jukebox Electromechanical Automation Explained

If you ever been curious how old-school jukeboxes work, it's all electromechanical and no computers. In a pair of videos, [Technology Connections] takes us through a detailed dive into the operation of a 1970 Wurlitzer Statesman model 3400 that he bought with his allowance when he was in middle school. This box can play records at either 33-1/3 or 45 RPM from a carousel of 100 discs, therefore having a selection of 200 songs. This would have been one of the later models, as Wurlitzer's jukebox business was in decline and they sold the business in 1973.

This may be the ugliest jukebox ever produced.

This jukebox is actually what turned me into the weirdo that I am today.

External appearances aside, it's the innards of this mechanical wonder that steal the show. The mechanism is known as the Wurlamatic , invented by Frank B. Lumney and Ronald P. Eberhardt in 1967. Check out the patent US3690680A document for some wonderful diagrams and schematics that are artwork unto themselves.

[Technology Connections] explains how the whole thing works, and your brain will be spinning when he's done. It's amazing how everything is precisely orchestrated, and even more amazing that people were able to maintain and troubleshoot these contraptions. He says there may be a third installment, so stay tuned. If you like these things, check out this writeup we did about a restoration of a diner table-top Seeburg jukebox back in 2018. Have you ever worked on one of these electromechanical sequencers? If so, tell us about it in the comments below.

#netbookhacks #electromechanical #jukebox #sequencer #vinylrecords

When Dell Built A Netbook With an x86 System-on-Module

Just like with pre-touchscreen cellphones having fancy innovative features that everyone's forgotten about, there's areas that laptop manufacturers used to venture in but no longer dare touch. On Twitter, [Kiwa] talks a fascinating attempt by Dell to make laptops with user-replaceable CPU+RAM modules. In 2008, Dell released the Inspiron Mini 1210, with its CPU, chipset and RAM soldered to a separate board in an "extended SODIMM" form-factor - not unlike the Raspberry Pi Compute Modules pre-CM4! Apparently, different versions of such "processor cards" existed for their Inspiron Mini lineup, with varying amounts of RAM and CPU horsepower. With replacement CPU+RAM modules still being sold online, that makes these Dell netbooks to be, to our knowledge, the only x86 netbooks with upgradable CPUs.

You could try and get yourself one of these laptops or replacement CPU modules nowadays, if you like tinkering with old tech - and don't mind having a subpar experience on even Linux, thanks to the Poulsbo chipset's notorious lack of openness. Sadly, Dell has thoroughly abandoned the concept of x86 system-on-module cards, and laptops have been getting less modular as we go - we haven't been getting socketed CPUs since the third generation of mobile Intel boards, and even RAM is soldered to the motherboard more and more often. In theory, the "CPU daughterboard" approach could improve manufacturing yields and costs, making it possible to use a simpler large board for the motherboard and only have the CPU board be high-layer-count. However, we can only guess that this wasn't profitable enough overall, even with all the theoretical upsides. Or, perhaps, Google-style, someone axed this project internally because of certain metrics unmet.

If you think about it, a laptop motherboard is a single-board computer; however, that's clearly not enough for our goals of upgradability and repairability. If you're looking to have your own way and upgrade your laptop regardless of manufacturer's intentions, here's an old yet impressive story about replacing the soldered-in CPU on the original Asus EEE, and a more recent story about upgrading soldered-in RAM in a Dell XPS ultrabook. And if you're looking for retrocomputing goodness, following [Kiwa] on Twitter is a must - last seen liveblogging restoration adn renovation of a Kaypro someone threw out on the curb.

#computerhacks #laptopshacks #netbookhacks #dell #dellmini #intelatom #som #x86