Lucie / minuteidea i wish i had time for: a little pcb that converts any old computer (8/16/32bit) into a network terminal UI to interface with any modern CRUD/database/API (i imagine a library of community developed software adapters that run on that pcb or on a server), so any old machine could be used for speedy data lookup/entry.
parts of this already exist of course, for all retro platforms there are serial- or bus-to-net/wifi adapters, there are BBS style gateways for the web, frogfind etc. but i don't know of a toolkit to make these talk to something like inventree over API
the most comfy way would be if the thing would bring its own ROM with the software that's needed, and which renders the (T)UI. for c64 this would be an expansion port cartridge, for amiga zz9000 could easily do this, on PCs it could be an ISA/PCI card, for classic Mac NuBus etc
SoapDog@mntmn couldn’t something pretending to be a serial modem be able to achieve this for all platforms at once? Just using serial comms and ansi escape codes or the equivalent terminal codes for the platform?
@soapdog depends on the system/connection speed. even TUIs are quite slow at low baud rates. also you probably want at least partial unicode (?)
@soapdog (i.e. c64 user port has 9600 baud max iirc, expansion port can do much more of course. amiga serial port i think max 56kbaud?)
@mntmn yeah they can be slow af. I was just wondering about it cause a serial modem is something you can just wip up on a protoboard and is easier to experiment with to test a concept. I think I can build one, but I could never build an internal expansion card, haven't put any points into that skill :3
Might attempt to build the serial version and test it with my eMate 300 =^.^=