Ben Heck is a veteran modder who rose to fame after creating slick devices and mashups like the unforgettable Xbox 360 Slim laptop. Heck now has his own program on Element 14 where he makes all sorts of DIY creations and showcases sleek new mods. His latest creation? A mini pocket computer that looks like a mobile device from the 80s.
The little device – which runs BASIC – was constructed using a Xbox 360 Chat Pad, an Arduino Uno and a LCD display (Hitachi HD 44780).
The Chatpad will cost you roughly $15 and a driver is already available online. Unfortunately, the cost of additional components aren’t mentioned in the episode, and yes, the DIY BASIC machine does require a few other tools along with minimal programming knowledge. Building the DIY BASIC device looks fairly complex, so it might not be the best choice for a first time project.
Still feeling nostalgic for the days of BASIC? Well, you might want to check out aDosBox for Android, which allows users to run QBasic (IDE + interpreter) on their Android phones and tablets. More aDosBox info can be found here.
