Windows Through Wires is an exhibit dedicated to the diverse world of electronic display technology hosted at Supplyframe's DesignLab in Pasadena, CA. The exhibit aims to recontextualize display devices in a setting that allows viewers to examine the wonderful and unique qualities of these otherwise utilitarian objects. The collection of community sourced devices is also celebration and showcase of Hackaday projects and the passion and creativity of the community and other artists and creators who share a fascination and appreciation of display technology. Thank you to all the individuals below who contributed to the making of this one of a kind exhibition.

Cat Morse

Cat Morse is a designer, maker, jeweler, and leather and textile artist. Throughout her body of work, she explores the relationships between traditional crafts and modern tech, between individual and family identities, and between aesthetic and functional beauty. She is happiest getting immersed in a process and discovering something new.

PCC Time Machine - Cat Morse

"This clock (normally on view at the Fablab, Pasadena City College) was built from vintage electronic components collected by Professor Tom Thoen, who envisioned an installation combining them. Included “retro” technology:  LCD displays, IEE Single Plane Display (1964), Neon gas tubes, Nixie tubes, Electro-magnetic 7-segment vane display, and a Vacuum Fluorescent display. The clock features an auditory element, including a chime mechanism, made using a sensor board and rotating disc; a Doorbell (circa 1953), and a speaker horn. The speaker horn, made of maple and walnut, was hand-lathed by Cat Morse, the clock’s designer. The clock was fabricated, assembled, and coded by both Morse and David Harbottle, with most of the circuit board design by Harbottle. The clock was made possible with the invaluable assistance of the Pasadena City College community.  https://hackaday.io/project/199079-pcc-time-machine”

Tom Thoen

Tom Thoen worked in industry designing and programming robotic systems, then taught for 20 years at Cal Poly Pomona and Pasadena City College.  He has been a life-long maker, electronics hobbyist, and has always been particularly fascinated with old-school technology, especially display tech.

Numerical Display Artifacts - Tom Thoen

"This circuit board assemblage highlights 13 different display technologies, mostly from the 70’s and 80’s, and uses an e-Paper screen to enable the viewer to learn about each type.  We see these digital displays in industrial equipment, toys, and the personal electronics we use every day; however, we take for granted the history of these displays, and the importance of how machines communicate information to humans.  Display technology is beautiful, and by de-contextualizing these displays, it allows us to appreciate the design and engineering that went into their production.”

Random Russian Nixies - Tom Thoen

“This board displays random sequences of characters on Soviet era Nixie tubes.  These displays were used mostly with test equipment (hence the Greek characters), and are very different from the Nixie tubes used for clocks and other common maker projects.  These displays will be incorporated into a Pseudo-Technica piece that will represent a fanciful interpretation of Soviet era Spy equipment – a receiver that displays cryptic military messages sent from unknown sources.”

Jacob Christ

Jacob Christ is a software Engineer, electrical Engineer, mechanical Designer, artist and aspiring marketing expert. Engineer: https://www.pontech.com/ Games: https://jacob-christ.itch.io/

Oscilloscope Art - Jacob Christ

“The idea for this project was born in 1989 when I was a student studying Lissajous Patterns in my AC electronics class at Mt. San Antonio College. The instructor jokingly suggested that you know you’re really good (at electronics) when you can write your name on the oscilloscope screen. The next year while studying the operations of DAC’s (Digital to Analog Controllers) I realized that I could write my name on the screen using two DAC’s, one each for the X axis and Y axis of the oscilloscope.  The idea was not realized for another 10 years. At this point the student had become the master, and I was now teaching Microcontrollers at Mt. San Antonio College and I turned the idea into a fun lab for my students.  What is presented here is the result of the lab with special screens generated specifically for Supercon 8 as well as some trigonometric functions.” https://hackaday.io/project/198922-oscilloscope-art-at-hackaday-supercon-8

Andy Kong 

Andy Kong is an independent researcher and artist with a background in neural sensing and optical engineering. His artistic practice focuses on breathing new life into vintage electronics and creating dynamic wax installations that evolve through audience interaction. His pieces reflect an interest in cycles - both technological and natural - often incorporating elements of both worlds to create works that shift and change as viewers engage with them.

Olympia Infoglobe - Andy Kong 

“The Olympia Infoglobe is a spinning-arm LED display from the early 2000s, meant to show the caller id on landline phones. Early hackers deciphered the infrared protocol used between the base and the spinning arm to communicate — we built upon their work to add WiFi capability. The Infoglobe makes the digital tangible by turning messages posted on a public bulletin board website into a physical artifact in the room, updating in real-time.” https://hackaday.io/project/186497-olympia-infoglobe-goes-back-online

Pierre Muth

Pierre Muth is a self-described “absurd electronics lover”, and, in his own words is, “always with the hope to make something and not just use something.”

Neon Pixels - Pierre Muth

“For the sake of glowing neon, each of the 384 INS-1 (ИНC-1) tubes are daisy chained thanks to individual 5v to 80v controller boards. They are packed in a dense matrix for an easy to read display. Not only are they conveniently 5v powered, they are able to display 128 intensity grades and fast enough for high refresh rate animations.” https://hackaday.io/project/173636-neon-pixels

Debra Ansell

Debra Ansell, known as “GeekMomProjects" online, has spent the last 15 years strongly engaged in the Maker community, developing, designing, and coding tech projects with a focus on LED wearables. Some of her projects can be found in Make: magazine as well as her blog at GeekMomProjects.com

Edge Lit Seven Segment Display - Debra Ansell

“This build uses 4mm wide LED strips embedded sideways in 6mm etched clear acrylic to create a transparent seven segment display that seems to glow from the inside.” https://www.geekmomprojects.com/edge-lit-seven-segment-display/

Edge Lit Circular Matrix - Debra Ansell

“In this display, upward facing LED strips arranged in an 8x8 matrix supported by clear acrylic scaffolding shine upwards into translucent circular diffusers. As a result, each pixel’s light fills it’s disk creating an ethereal see through display.” https://www.hackster.io/news/debra-ansell-is-quickly-becoming-the-go-to-authority-on-great-looking-led-lighting-2865e35e2daed

Justin Lui

Justin Lui is an artist pursuing responsive media in the physical world, exploring the intersections between media art and architecture, in order to create objects, spaces and surfaces which are dynamic and intelligent. His formal training was in architecture, and he includes UX (user experience) design, and DJing in his mix of skills.  Justin is a graduate of the UCLA Design Media Arts MFA program, and also holds an M.Arch II degree from UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, as well as a B.Arch degree from the Carleton University School of Architecture.

Poly-Mer - Justin Lui

“Contact lenses are typically made for frequent disposal, and are packaged in single-use plastic containers. Poly-Mer is a light sculpture art piece which repurposes these plastic trays into a shingled translucent surface, which is then used to diffuse the glowing light of a low-resolution matrix of LEDs.  The plastic trays are held in arrangement by a series of interlocking custom 3D-printed holders. The material surface formed by these trays is animated by a video loop of ocean waves, bringing plastic and water together as a reminder of the perils of plastic ocean pollution.” https://hackaday.io/project/199082-poly-mer

Ronald Sardarian

Ron is a video artist, musician and programmer turned circuits designer. He has been developing hardware video synthesizers for the past five years. Ron honed his skills performing in various venues in LA but his true passion is inspiring other people with creative tools and possibilities.

sleepycircuits.com/hypno - Ronald Sardarian

“The Hypno is a hardware digital video synthesizer and sampler inspired by analog video systems. It digitally emulates and extends common analog video workflows that previously required whole systems to achieve, with shape generation, colorization, feedback and the ability to patch these elements in a simple compact interface. Since launch we have added live video processing, looping MP4 videos and more to make Hypno the ultimate digital video dream machine.”

Scott Almond

Scott Almond received the B.S. degree in general engineering from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA, USA, in 2011 and the M.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, in 2013. For the past 10 years he has supported multiple roles, most recently Project Manager, within the mmWave Remote Sensing Risk Reduction Internal Research and Development Group, Northrop Grumman, Azusa, CA. His research interests include mission architecture development and electronics design, integration, and test.

K'nex Clock - Scott Almond

“Since childhood, I’ve enjoyed building K'nex constructions alongside my father. He favored making large structures while I endeavored to create mechanically complex contraptions, culminating in a fully-functional grandfather clock. This experience contributed to my choice to pursue a career in engineering, and this project is an homage to that history. I 3D-printed custom K'nex pieces, pulled in each (fragile!) LED segment, soldered them to wires to connect to the LED driver board on the rear of the clock, and then fed the wires through the laser-cut acrylic backplate. The LEDs shine through the thin PLA to create a glowing effect. To hide back-scatter reflections and improve legibility the acrylic backplate is matte finish and the K'nex piece is black on the back half.”

Asa Patterson

Asa Patterson designs and builds effects pedals and other audio electronics in Los Angeles, under the name AP Analog Audio. He also tours as a guitar technician with the bands Dispatch, Wilco, and Rx Bandits.

Muybridge Meter Concept - Asa Patterson

“Inspired by Eadweard Muybridge’s zoopraxiscope: This is a concept for a meter. This meter is made up of a stack of engraved acrylic sheets which form the cells of an animation. Rows of SMD LEDs edge-light the acrylic and the engraved portion fluoresces. The LEDs are driven by a control voltage, in this case an onboard oscillator. Clock rate is adjusted with a small trimpot on the PCB and can be used to clock other modules/sequencers.”

Ben Schritchfield

Ben Schritchfield has been making things all his life. About two years ago, he created a Youtube channel: Ben Makes Everything. As the name suggests, he makes videos about a variety of projects. Most involve electronics in some way.

LaserText - Ben Schritchfield

"This device projects text onto distant surfaces using a laser. A rotating array of 12 mirrors, each at a slightly different angle, creates scanlines. Then, the laser is rapidly pulsed at the appropriate frequency to generate line segments. It accepts serial data as input over USB."

Dmytro Topchiy (Monte-Monte)

Dmytro Topchiy, or Monte-Monte, is a self-taught designer, engineer, and programmer who likes to make things from concrete and wood and especially loves to make lamps and other illuminating devices. He also has a passion for calligraphy and typography, which can be seen in the work of creating the 21 segment display. Monte-monte also loves open source projects and had wanted to contribute to a meaningful project for a long time. After finding the ch32v003fun community, he was inspired to make this 21 segment display.

Victorian 21 Segment Display - Dmytro Topchiy (Monte-Monte)

This 21 segment display is based on a patent from George Lafayette Mason filed in 1898. The original patent involved a complicated system of mechanical switches controlling light bulbs in order to illuminate the segments. Here it has been recreated using individually addressable RGB LEDs. “The display itself reminds me of my love for calligraphy, especially gothic fonts. Though I like minimalist aesthetics, I think that a good serifed font can't be omitted, and this display is the only segmented display that represents serifs.”

Poyu Chen

Poyu is a self-described electronics enthusiast and display technology fetishist.

VFD - Poyu Chen

“A display of unknown origin. I picked it up on eBay due to its interesting segments and features. One couldn't stop but ponder what device warrants all the little graphics the display is capable of. Can you take a guess?”

Dishwasher LED - Poyu Chen

“It would be easy to assume that this LED matrix is originally used in a dishwasher of sorts, but how it got on LCSC (a wholesale electronics parts website) as a sale item is a mystery. Overstocked? Typo in the RFQ? Or is it a part used in the most ubiquitous washing machine in China? Regardless, please enjoy this imaginary dishwashing cycle.”

Andrew Geppert

Andrew Geppert has a formal education in mechanical engineering but has always had a strong interest in electronics and software, tinkering with both from a young age. In recent years, he’s been able to go much deeper into electronics and firmware, which he says fits well with his curiosity about how things work. “Had I known about mechatronics as a field of study, I would have probably pursued that in college since it describes my interests well.”

Interactive Core Memory and Neon Pixels Collaboration - Andrew Geppert

“This project is a collaboration between [Andy Geppert] and [Muth] through Hackaday. Andy’s Core64 project was enlarged slightly to align with the 8x8 Neon Pixel module by [Muth]. Andy lives in the US and [Muth] lives in France. We haven’t met in person, yet, but this project is a great testament to long distance collaborations in creativity facilitated by project pages like: https://hackaday.io/project/166155-core-64-interactive-core-memory-badge/log/187719-core-memory-neon-pixels. I’m in the process of expanding this collaboration to leverage the 65duino project by Anders Nielsen. See https://hackaday.io/project/196875-core64-and-neon-pixels-controlled-with-65uino as that project comes to life.”

Nixie Tube Clock Kit - Andrew Geppert

“This kit was purchased fully assembled via eBay as an “Arduino Shield.” It was designed by https://gra-afch.com/ As it stands now, it is a stock design, with a small firmware modification to provide the “slot machine effect” to ensure all the filaments are used frequently. Future expansion will connect a GPS module for automatic time setting. The team at GRA & AFCH has created a masterpiece, and I’m excited to expand the functionality and art of the base design. An Arduino Mega 2560 drives the clock.”

RGB LED Cube Kit - Andrew Geppert

“This kit was purchased from www.seeedstudio.com. It is composed of the Rainbowduino LED Driver and the Rainbow Cube Kit. It was soldered and assembled by Kevin Geppert when he was 12 years old. The process was a fun father-son project that mixed in some skill development and learning with a beautiful result that we hope to expand further with a 3D/tilt game of snake.”

Giovanni Salinas

Giovanni Salinas is the Senior Product Development Engineer at Supplyframe DesignLab. He spends most of his workday creating products and yelling at 3D printers.

Intro to Electronic Product Design Protoype E-Ink - Giovanni Salinas

“This device is a prototype for a training program on Introduction to Electronic Product Design. It includes an e-ink display and a Raspberry Pi Pico W on a custom PCBA. It broadcasts what's for lunch at the office!”

Kevin Santo Cappuccio

Kevin Santo Cappuccio is an art school dropout better known for his Jumperless breadboards, but when he needs a break from making things, he’ll take a relaxing dip into a pile of vintage Soviet display parts and make different things.

IEL-0-IV Cyrillonumeric Electroluminescent World Clock - Kevin Santo Cappuccio

"This is a world clock which uses IEL-0-IV Cyrillonumeric 8 segment electroluminescent displays (the same tech used in the Apollo’s DSKY) to show the what time it is in various time zones around the world. It’s built into an upside down Realorama slide viewer with a selector switch from a resistance decade box. No PCBs were made for this project, it’s a chaotic mess of wire wrap and protoboards internally, as God intended."

pIGV1-16 Car Compass - Kevin Santo Cappuccio

"The pIGV1-16 Car Compass is made from a Soviet clone of a Burroughs Self-Scan display, it creates little dots of neon plasma and scoots them along the length of the display, alternately pulling those dots in front or behind a mask to show images. This mounts on the dashboard of a Jeep and acts as a compass with completely overkill levels of accuracy."

Michael Yim

Michael Yim is the founder of Questwise Ventures Corp a California-based hardware startup company that aims to create electronic modules and breakout boards that inspire users to create. He is a voracious learner and has a special interest in all topics related to computing, electronics and entrepreneurship.

Mini Transparent Cube Prism 70x40 Display - Michael Yim

“A cutting-edge innovation that combines the precision of a tiny 0.42" OLED screen with the optical properties of a 1cm cube light prism. This unique setup allows images and text from the OLED screen to be reflected within the transparent cube, creating a captivating and miniature display that appears to float in space.”

Electromechanical "1-bit" Persistent Display - Michael Yim

“This breakout board is a versatile electromechanical device designed to serve as a 1-bit status indicator, capable of displaying either a vibrant red or a soothing green color. Its compact design and simple interface make it suitable for a wide range of applications where clear and immediate status indication is crucial.”

RetroPrompt - Michael Yim

“A captivating blend of nostalgia and modern technology that transports you back to the simplicity and charm of the 1980's computing era. This meticulously crafted desktop decoration features a miniature yet strikingly realistic "CRT" monitor design, complete with a vintage-style 3D-printed and spray-painted casing, a resin casted lens, and a warm, ambient glow MS-DOS Prompt that evokes the early days of personal computing.”

1.5" Transparent OLED 128x64 Display - Michael Yim

“This compact and stylish monochrome (blue) transparent OLED display screen is designed to emit light while also allowing light to pass through it. With this feature, the display can showcase images and videos while still enabling users to see through it.”

Liquid Crystal Light Valve 5x5 Matrix - Michael Yim

“This project showcases a unique and experimental 5x5 grid of thumbnail-sized liquid crystal light valves, carefully arranged to create a captivating visual display. Each liquid crystal light valve functions as an individual pixel, randomly switching between on and off states. This random activation produces an ever-changing pattern that captivates the viewer with its rhythmic, flickering effect.”

Special thanks to the following people for their contributions to the exhibit:

Kyle Lomen

Jordan Kennedy

Jack Cheng

Chris Sakuma

Eamon Conklin

Richard Hogben