A Local AI Connected to a 1970s Terminal with a Built-In Printer Answers on Paper
Termi3 - The Question-Answering Typewriter Is Back
A 1970s Texas Instruments Silent 700, which combines a keyboard and thermal printer, has been connected to a local AI so that answers arrive on paper. The device, called Termi3, prints a response two or three seconds after a question is typed. It was built by Cameron Coward.
Earlier versions needed an internet connection to query Wolfram Alpha, but Termi3 runs a 2 GB local LLM on the Arduino and works entirely offline. Coward notes that its answers are sometimes reasonable and accurate, and other times baffling or hilarious.
A modern local AI does the thinking, but the output device is still a 1970s paper terminal. The intelligence got newer while every reply still arrives as a printout.