Seeing this modem from 1964 inspires a weird sense of envy, even if it is as slow as molasses. My wireless router looks cool and all, but it didn't come in a hand-carved box with dovetail joints, brass buckles, leather handles and a piano hinge. That's one sweet box, made even sweeter by the fact that it houses a Livermore Data Systems "Model A" acoustic modem, which reaches a blistering(ly slow) 300 baud. To the modern eye, it looks like something that belongs in a steampunk workshop.

It was given to Casey, also known on Youtube as Phreakmonkey, as a gift in 1989 by the widow of a retired IBM engineer. With a bit of work, he managed to get it running once more with what looks like an old ThinkPad, a telephone from the '80s, and of course the "Model A." Where's he go first? Wikipedia, naturally. Check it out in a video after the jump.

Youtube, via Retro Thing