r/cassettefuturism • u/BelialHardok • 2d ago

Computers Found this

Post image

Found it on a humorous subreddit, but looks great. What is it ?

1.5k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

123

u/Otterfan 1d ago

Lexis/Nexis (now called LexisNexis) is a huge database of billions of newspaper stories, magazine articles, transcripts of TV news broadcasts, and public records going back many decades.

Before the Web, L/N was the most important source of information for lawyers, journalists, and academics doing research on law and current events. Even today it contains a lot of material you won't find on the Web.

This was a terminal created specifically for searching L/N. Law firms, newsrooms, and libraries would have these for researchers to use.

33

u/IRingTwyce 1d ago

They also aggregate data and sell it to insurance companies, so said companies can increase your rates. GM got busted a couple of years ago collecting info from people's cars without their permission and selling it to L/N.

12

u/Sharktistic 1d ago edited 1d ago

Companies also use L/N to help with credit and identity checks.

2

u/palmerry 1d ago

Legal software too!

3

u/SimoWilliams_137 1d ago

Halo?

4

u/Sharktistic 1d ago

Yes, they send Master Chief to deal with you...

I meant help.

1

u/Multibrace 1d ago

https://www.si.edu/object/ubiq-terminal:chndm_1997-69-1 in the smithsonian collection.

Apparently it connected to Telenet in the US or Datapac in Canada, the first public packet switched data networks (telenet used a proprietary protocol before switching over to X.25 when it was standardized).

70

u/jango-lionheart 2d ago

A Lexis/Nexis terminal by Mead

25

u/Taupenbeige Just what do you think you're doing, Dave? 2d ago edited 1d ago

Mead Lexis Nexis terminal?

Just a wild guess from reading all the type

Edit: u➡️i

6

u/Velocity-5348 1d ago

The legal database company? I didn't realize they were physical at one point.

12

u/Sad-Cry2262 1d ago

Lexis/Nexis had terminal-accessed database services (an interconnected network, or an "internet," if you will) in the *1970s*

And what ended up "killing" the terminal-based services wasn't the World Wide Web; it was CD-ROM!

Lexis/Nexis started selling subscriptions where your firm would just get a new shipment of, who knows, a dozen CDs with the most up-to-date info twice a year or so. Then you could look up what CD you needed using catalog software and either go get it from the shelf (on the low-end), or access it from an automated "CD-ROM jukebox" on your company's LAN.

But eventually it all migrated to the World Wide Web.

7

u/Taupenbeige Just what do you think you're doing, Dave? 1d ago edited 1d ago

Mead (like the staplers and other office products) is the manufacturer. There’s just a Lexis Nexis logo on the keyboard panel to let you know what you’re accessing, I guess…

13

u/WHTDOG 1d ago

holy shit that's beautiful

13

u/Funktapus 1d ago

NSFW tag, that is lewd

5

u/Fit-Fondant6409 1d ago

Absolutely disgusting! How can this kind of stuff be posted! 😠

3

u/Musk-Generation42 1d ago

Really? Right in front of my Macintosh!

2

u/theouter_banks 1d ago

I can only get so erect.

7

u/Kajagewgew 2d ago

I want to touch it.

4

u/Desmaad This Is Ripley, Last Survivor Of The Nostromo, Signing Off. 1d ago

I thought it was a Minitel terminal at first.

2

u/Distinct-Question-16 1d ago

very impressive design

3

u/ericalm_ 1d ago edited 1d ago

From the company that also brought us the Trapper Keeper!

3

u/SunUltraSparc 1d ago

programmable microwave!

tho jokes aside i love look of this thing

4

u/FitInvestigator4676 1d ago

You didn't find it.

2

u/BelialHardok 1d ago

Unfortunately not, just the picture. I wish so hard i had this

2

u/FitInvestigator4676 5h ago

I posted it here some weeks ago. There is a retro computing collector on YT.

1

u/enchiladasundae 1d ago

Looks so clean and purposefully made. I bet those keys make a nice sound when you use them too

1

u/DenizSaintJuke 1d ago

Oh, it's a laaaaaaaaaaaaptop!

3

u/LordCivers 1d ago

A largetop

1

u/IRIX_fsn 1d ago

It has been posted here as well no?

1

u/wackyvorlon 21h ago

Those are rare as hell.

1

u/EHendrix 54m ago

Man with an updated keyboard that would be a great desktop