15 interactive simulators of technologies that shaped the modern world, running entirely in your browser.
| Year | Device | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| 1844 | Morse Telegraph | Tap out dots and dashes on a telegraph key with authentic sounder clicks |
| 1886 | Linotype Machine | Type on the original 90-key layout and cast lines of hot metal type |
| 1929 | RCA Theremin | Play music without touching anything — move your mouse to control pitch and volume |
| 1930 | Slide Rule | Drag logarithmic scales to multiply, divide, and find roots |
| 1940 | Enigma Machine | Configure rotors and a plugboard, then encrypt messages with real Enigma logic |
| 1943 | Norden Bombsight | Set flight parameters and run a bomb drop simulation with WWII-era analog computation |
| 1948 | Curta Calculator | Set digits on the mechanical "pepper grinder" and crank to compute |
| 1948 | Bell Crossbar Switch | Dial a phone number and watch the electromechanical switching matrix route your call |
| 1963 | Teletype ASR-33 | Type on the terminal that launched interactive computing, with scrolling paper and tape punch |
| 1964 | Moog Synthesizer | Patch oscillators, filters, and envelopes to design sounds on a modular synth |
| 1964 | IBM 029 Keypunch | Type characters and watch holes get punched into virtual cards in Hollerith code |
| 1965 | PDP-8 Minicomputer | Toggle in 12-bit programs on DEC's groundbreaking mini and run them |
| 1966 | Apollo DSKY | Enter Verb-Noun commands on the spacecraft computer that flew to the Moon |
| 1972 | HP-35 Calculator | Use Reverse Polish Notation on the calculator that killed the slide rule |
| 1975 | Altair 8800 | Flip toggle switches to enter machine code on the machine that started the PC revolution |
Open the app and click any device card to launch its simulator. Each card also links to the original manual or documentation so you can read the real thing.
No installation needed. No dependencies. No build step. Just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Serve the directory with any static file server:
cd cabinet-of-nostalgia
python3 -m http.server 8080
Then open http://localhost:8080.
- All audio uses the Web Audio API (telegraph clicks, telephone dial tones, synthesizer, theremin)
- The Enigma simulator uses authentic rotor wiring tables and passes known test vectors
- The Altair 8800 and PDP-8 implement real (subset) CPU instruction sets
- The slide rule uses actual logarithmic scale mathematics
- No frameworks, no build tools, no dependencies — just ES modules served as static files
