Minitel Disaster Update

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So I bought this Minitel terminal to play about with for what I thought was a knock-down price, but the seller didn't package it well enough and I ended up with a Minitel that made some nasty noises and didn't work, not even in its native language of French. I got around to taking it all apart and unfortunately discovered that the CRT had suffered terminal damage, which explained the arcing noises.

These things operate at a very high voltage so I wasn't about to start mucking around with it, so it went in the bin. I tried connecting the power board back up to the logic board to see if I could get the thing to at least switch on, but that didn't work either so I have to assume that the damage is more extensive.

When I get time I will try and decode the signals on the 8-pin connector between the power and logic boards and see if I can power the board directly. Apparently one of the lines is a video feed, but it is in a non-standard format. I should be able to get something out of the serial port if the board powers up.

Minitel logic board in case

What is left is the case with some very minor damage and a slide-out alphanumeric keyboard which could in theory be connected up to an Arduino or PIC and easily enough decoded. With a suitable bezel made up, any of the numerous 7-inch LCD displays I have picked up would fit where the screen used to be and this looks like the best option if I am going to use this for anything.

Real shame though, this would have been a brilliant thing to mess about with if it had been working.



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