An old rotary phone converted into a mobile phone
Hardware
phone conversion
SHOW HN2015
An old rotary phone converted into a mobile phone
An old rotary phone converted into a mobile phone
stavros.io222points
61comments
#80of 2,565 in 2015
Top 4%of 2015 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
16 positive, 23 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 5 critical, out of 45 comments about the project. Thread score +0.30.
Idea: 8 for, 4 againstPricing: 2 for, 1 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Fun and clever hack
From 3 comments
Ha I love it! I love seeing old hardware hacked to bring it kicking and screaming into the modern world. This is why I love things like Arduino's. They a cheap but so much fun.…
kozukumi on HNI did one about 10years ago using an old phone I got at a garage sale. I was going to copy the Sparkfun design but instead I made mine a Bluetooth one so that you don't have to…
zw123456 on HNI love this project. The great thing about it, unlike many technically impressive projects, is that it's only going to get more and more fun to take this out as time goes on. If…
freshyill on HN
Nice write-up and build
From 2 comments
A classy product and an even classier write-up! "Having solved two problems with one excuse,..." I trust I am free to also use this phrase? Beautiful!
mellavora on HNAwesome job! If you haven't already submitted this to hackaday then you really should: http://hackaday.com/submit-a-tip/
jsingleton on HN
Objections
Similar projects already exist (Sparkfun kit)
From 3 comments
Unfortunately not even a shoutout to the nearly-identical Sparkfun project from over 10 years ago... https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/51
_rknLA on HNAs others have pointed out, this has been done many times before. There's even a commercial product to pair an analog phone to a Bluetooth cell phone.[1] It generates proper ring…
Animats on HNI'm afraid this project has been done many times by many people. SparkFun has even made a (now retired) kit. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/287…
fnordfnordfnord on HN
Pricing time cost takes fun out
From 1 comment
A tiny bit of criticism. “The entire build cost something like $150 in parts and $2000 in development time.” I think adding a price to a personal project takes part of the fun…
andmarios on HN
Requests
Commercial sale or Kickstarter
From 3 comments
Go for the Kickstarter! :D
aout on HNHi, I love your phone :) I'd also love to have one. My friend here in Prague I think would be able to help with the design in order to keep the bell - it MUST be possible. Also a…
nakedrobot2 on HNThis is crazy! You could sell these, I'm sure there's a market for them. Great hack!
ASlave2Gravity on HN
Questions
Can the original ringer be used?
From 2 comments
Really fun project and great end result, although sucks you couldn't make use of the original bell. I recently bought an AT&T Traditional 100 touch tone phone with a similar…
fiatpandas on HNThis phone also has a two-state button, which I made into "force dial" (when you've already dialed some numbers) or "redial" if you haven't dialed anything. Someone did actually…
StavrosK on HN
Alternatives named
Sparkfun rotary phone kit
From 2 comments
Unfortunately not even a shoutout to the nearly-identical Sparkfun project from over 10 years ago... https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/51
_rknLA on HNSparkfun did for a while https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/287
0xdeadbeefbabe on HN
Bluetooth rotary phone gateway
From 1 comment
As others have pointed out, this has been done many times before. There's even a commercial product to pair an analog phone to a Bluetooth cell phone.[1] It generates proper ring…
Animats on HN