To the uninitiated, steampunk is a little hard to explain.

Enthusiasts sometimes call it “retro futurism.” You already know the aesthetic if you’re familiar with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells: high technology, viewed from a Victorian perspective. Gears. Brass. And, of course, steam power.

But steampunk is a relatively recent movement, rooted in a genre of fiction that began popping up in the Eighties and Nineties. Modders are an important part of the steampunk scene — artists and hobbyists who modify contemporary gadgets to take on the characteristic high tech/low tech look of a future as it might have been.

Still following? No? Well, this should get it. Feast your eyes on Richard Nagy’s amazing steampunk laptop:

Beneath the heart of all that polished wood and gleaming brass is the icy soul of a fully functional HP laptop (running Ubuntu Linux, in true steampunk DIY style). The power switch is key-wound. It even has a wifi antenna fashioned from a quill pen.

Nagy is an artist who goes by the name Datamancer. His website is crammed with re-engineered steampink chic: fantastic computer keyboards handmade of brass and copper and meticulously lettered keys; a “retrocentric” desktop computer that’s really a desktop; and a flatbed scanner built into a might leather book binding.

It’s the laptop that’s gotten Nagy national attention. The Wall Street Journal sent a camera crew. You’ll find a picture of it in the New York Times. Nagy has been interviewed by Forbes, The Boston Globe, and Wired Magazine.

Want to see more? Here’s the WSJ video. Enjoy.

Link: Datamancer (Images reprinted by permission)