From trash to treasure: Turn a Minitel terminal into a Linux terminal or videotex display - [Resources_Hands On]

One of US (Mailland) Grew up in Paris in the 1980s, Surrounded by Advertisements for Racy "pink" chat rooms, accessible through terminals connected to France's Minitel network. They were a lucrative part of the wider Minitel economy, which also let you send messages, check bank balances, and read news. By 2000, as the Internet displaced the Minitel network, the billboards started being replaced by piles of terminals abandoned by trash cans. In 2010, while researching Minitel law and policy for a project that became the first English-language academic book on Minitel, I'd collected over 15 terminals of various models, when I met an American home brewer (Driscoll) who wanted to play with them. • We quickly completed our first project: turning a terminal into a Twitter client. Then we turned it into a webcam client; then, into a videotex slideshow display. We found a lot of help along the way because we weren't the only people unwilling to let these stylish terminals end up as e-waste. Indeed, there's now a vibrant Minitel hacking scene. You don't need to be in France to try any of these upcyling projects either. Minitel was an open platform, and a number of failed attempts to replicate Minitel's success means there are localized terminals to be found, with ones for Ireland, South Africa, and the United States, among others. • However, a lot of the guidance we relied upon is in French, so here we'd like to offer an English-language introduction to Minitel hacking. • The first thing you'll need is a terminal. French terminals are plentiful on eBay, and despite their age, very sturdy. A reasonable offer shouldn't top US $23 (shipping is the issue, thanks to relatively heavy cathode ray tubes. Expect that to cost at least $90 to North America). We recommend getting the "1B" model, the sturdiest and most versatile. Steer away from Magis, M2, or M12, each of which present problems for the home brewer. Your terminal must have a five-pin DIN connector in the back.