Maximite... Back to the the old days of the TRS80/Atari but on Steroids

[bryan1]

G'day Guy's,
The other day I came across Geoff's Projects - The Maximite and man going back to the ol' basic days on steroids will be fun. As the thing is totally open source imagine the projects that will come online with it so I did think it best to share this find with the forum.

Regards Bryan

 

[futz]

Sweet! I want one!

I still have my old TRS-80 Color Computer, expansion pack and hard drive, but it's been so long that I wouldn't know how to set it up anymore. I still have my MM/1 - same problem.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Sweet! I want one!

I still have my old TRS-80 Color Computer, expansion pack and hard drive, but it's been so long that I wouldn't know how to set it up anymore. I still have my MM/1 - same problem.

Would that be 'floppy drive'

I've still got a Commodore Plus4 with floppy drive somewhere, and my original MicroTan Tangerine computer I built from a kit.

 

[MikeMl]

Hey, I go to garage sales and buy old pre-Windows (Dos only) laptops for $5. I run DOS6.2, and QuickBasic 5. Where else can you get a self-contained programmable controller, data logger, with a disk drive, floppy, keyboard, LCD display, serial port, parallel port, power supply for $5?

 

[cr0sh]

Would that be 'floppy drive'

I've still got a Commodore Plus4 with floppy drive somewhere, and my original MicroTan Tangerine computer I built from a kit.

Not necessarily - you could get small hard drives for the Color Computer back in the day (mostly MFM, some SCSI); most people used them for running OS-9. Since futz also claims to own a MM/1 (which, IIRC, used OS68K - the 68000 version of OS-9), it is possible he had a hard drive for his CoCo. But only futz could clear that up (and you generally had a floppy drive anyhow - you needed someway to get the software onto the hard drive).

futz - are you at all active on the maltedmedia listserv and/or coco3.com forums? If not, head over there and ask some questions; we could help you get that old CoCo system back up and running (and you might even be pleasantly surprised at what has transpired on the CoCo since you last used it!).

Now - regarding this product, I think it's pretty cool, though I am not a PIC fan (that has more to do with lack of compilers for my OS of choice, versus anything having to do with the chip itself). I recently found a site that sells a "mini Altair" clone (I think it used a PIC32, too). The thing is so cute; looks just like a real Altair 8800, but much smaller (and it has built in ports and such). The same site also sells a VT100 terminal emulator board that you plug a vga monitor and keyboard into (great for interfacing to old machines like the Altair and other S-100 bus boxen).

Then there's the site I found that is selling a full-sized Altair 8800 clone (AFAICT, there's no trickery or emulation involved on it - its a true clone, using new parts that match closely to the original's specs).

Apparently, there's a growing interest in these small computing platforms; I think it has something to do with wanting to "get back to roots", nostalgia for some, and also the fact that these platforms are simple enough to understand completely, unlike today's modern PCs (no matter the operating system). Whether it's a fad or not, only time will tell. I've found that my Arduino is in a much similar area; don't get me wrong, I enjoy coding on my Ubuntu workstation (though I don't do anything fancy like OS or drivers or such, just ordinary things in Perl, Python, and PHP), but sometimes it is nice to be able to play around with simpler systems.

...and, if I get really nostalgic, I can always boot up my old TRS-80 Color Computer 3!

 

[cr0sh]

Hey, I go to garage sales and buy old pre-Windows (Dos only) laptops for $5. I run DOS6.2, and QuickBasic 5. Where else can you get a self-contained programmable controller, data logger, with a disk drive, floppy, keyboard, LCD display, serial port, parallel port, power supply for $5?

I just got in the mail yesterday a Toshiba Libretto 70 that I bid on Ebay for. I am thinking about turning it into a portable DOS-based (likely FreeDOS) system, mainly for emulation (TRS-80 Color Computer, maybe Apple), plus maybe add on QuickBASIC 4.5 or PDS 7.1, maybe PowerBasic 3.2 (huh - maybe I'll drop an old copy of DJGPP on it!). The guy who sold it to me gave me a ton of DOS floppy disks, not sure what's on them (not that I need them, I have a ton of my own!).

 

[Mosaic]

I still fire up my C64 emulator and play Ultima 4 a bit....that game made me learn to program in assembly to make my own tile based game. Went on to sell COMPUTE mgazine a couple assembly proggies (the type-in kind). Miss those days when a single guy could start a revolution in operating systems.

I just went to an interview for a Masters degree programme...their psychometric test was almost exactly like the old gypsy women tarot cards Q&A to create your ethical character in U4.

The exit interviewer wanted to know what I thought of the psyche test...told her it's like playing a game.....she didn't understand. Clearly had a deprived childhood.

 

[futz]

Would that be 'floppy drive'

I've still got a Commodore Plus4 with floppy drive somewhere, and my original MicroTan Tangerine computer I built from a kit.

Nope. Started in 1981 with cassette storage and 16K of RAM. Upgraded to 32K almost immediately and a 5-1/4" floppy a year or so later. Then 64K and more 5-1/4" and then some 3-1/2" floppy drives. Then the big jump to a 30MB MFM Seagate hard drive - ahhhhh, wonderful! I never filled that drive.

 

[cr0sh]

I never filled that drive.

Nowadays you can buy from the owner of the coco3.com site the "2GB MicroSD Drive Pak" - it comes with a DVD of -tons- of Color Computer software, PDFs, files, etc plus a filled MicroSD card. It also has CoCoNet installed, which is pretty cool in and of itself...

 

[Mr RB]

Maximite looks very cool, and $79.95 is ok too.

But all the suppliers have sold out.

 

[Ian Rogers]

I still fire up my C64 emulator and play Ultima 4 a bit....that game made me learn to program in assembly to make my own tile based game. Went on to sell COMPUTE mgazine a couple assembly proggies (the type-in kind). Miss those days when a single guy could start a revolution in operating systems.

I still have my old spectrum 128k with microdrive, my Atari St. my Amiga 500+ with monitor and hard drive, my BBC+ and my old Archimedes. The speccy is still the best.

How sad am I.

Cheers Ian

 

[ericgibbs]

Maximite looks very cool, and $79.95 is ok too.

But all the suppliers have sold out.

hi Roman,
I believe thats A$79.95,,?

 

[futz]

Nowadays you can buy from the owner of the coco3.com site the "2GB MicroSD Drive Pak" - it comes with a DVD of -tons- of Color Computer software, PDFs, files, etc plus a filled MicroSD card. It also has CoCoNet installed, which is pretty cool in and of itself...

Thanks. I'm going to look. Maybe I'll get sucked back in, like I have time to tinker with yet another thing.

I love the 6809. In 1982ish it's the processor I taught myself assembler on, and C, with only an asm (Leventhal) and C (Schildt) reference book for help. There was no internet - BBSes weren't very much help. They and the magazines were 99% BASIC. You needed youth and grinding determination.

Yes, I ran OS/9, which was basically Unix, though I didn't know it at the time. Around 2004/5 when I switched 95% away from nasty Windows to Linux it was like coming home, only with a modern GUI and lots of really great free software. Nice.

 

[Mr RB]

hi Roman,
I believe thats A$79.95,,?

Yep, well though really the Aussie dollar has been very close to 1 USD for some time now.

I think the exchange rate today is 1.02 so the AUD $79.95 = USD $81.55.

It's a cool looking gadget. I think he really should have put colour VGA output on it, as most people will be connecting VGA monitors that have colour capability. And probably a mouse input socket too, although serial mice will be easy enough to attach via the 20 user I/Os.

It will be interesting to see some benchmarks on real world use. Things like timing inputs or input ADC sample rates, display draw times etc.

I want one, and some spare time to play with it. The spare time will probably take me longer to get than the "out of stock" Maximite.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi Roman,
The UK£ is A$1.55 today, so UK price is around £52GBP, which isn't bad at all.

As its an interpreter, it would be interesting to know how its 'operating speed' compares with a PIC.

 

[Mr RB]

The price does seem ok, and the kit comes with the PIC32 SMD already soldered to the PCB so construction should be easy as pie.

Yeah I agree some benchmarks would be nice. But then at 80MHz and with things like 32bit*32bit in one hardware cycle it should be pretty fast. BASIC should be pretty fast to interpret as it's flow control stuff should interpret very easy.

The stuff that slows BASIC down is the math interpreting, but that should be pretty good on a PIC32.

 

[mdanh2002]

I just got in the mail yesterday a Toshiba Libretto 70 that I bid on Ebay for. I am thinking about turning it into a portable DOS-based (likely FreeDOS) system, mainly for emulation (TRS-80 Color Computer, maybe Apple), plus maybe add on QuickBASIC 4.5 or PDS 7.1, maybe PowerBasic 3.2 (huh - maybe I'll drop an old copy of DJGPP on it!). The guy who sold it to me gave me a ton of DOS floppy disks, not sure what's on them (not that I need them, I have a ton of my own!).

Wow how much did you pay for it in total? Which eBay seller? I am looking for one too, and here (in Singapore), it's hard to find old machines. Most people throw them away even on the first sign of failures or ask for ridiculous price. If I buy on eBay, the shipping cost may cost a lot more than the item price. I am thinking of getting a very old one, put DOS and Windows 3.11 on it, run Visual Basic 3.0 to play with serial and parallel port.

 

[cr0sh]

Wow how much did you pay for it in total? Which eBay seller? I am looking for one too, and here (in Singapore), it's hard to find old machines. Most people throw them away even on the first sign of failures or ask for ridiculous price. If I buy on eBay, the shipping cost may cost a lot more than the item price. I am thinking of getting a very old one, put DOS and Windows 3.11 on it, run Visual Basic 3.0 to play with serial and parallel port.

All told, it was $45.00 USD; but the guy only had the one (it wasn't a supplier of old machines or such, just some guy who wanted to sell it). Good luck with your search! DOS, Win 3.1 and VB3.0 sounds like a fun toy...

 

[Pommie]

I still have my old spectrum 128k with microdrive, my Atari St. my Amiga 500+ with monitor and hard drive, my BBC+ and my old Archimedes. The speccy is still the best.

How sad am I.

Cheers Ian

Hi Ian,

I see you live in Rochdale. In the early 80s I used to work for a games company in Rochdale where I wrote speccy games. A&F Software.

Mike.

 

[Mr RB]

I emailed Geoff G the creator of the Maximite, suggesting he might want to use my idea of 3 "colour killer" PIC pins to provide a crude line-colour feature (different colours on different text lines) as seen in my VGA project here; Some EasyPIC6 projects which can also provide different colour texts on different background colours (but colour is fixed for one horizontal line).

I thought it might appeal to his sense of minimalism as it only needs 3 resistors added to his neat little design.

He got back to me pretty quick and said he was working on an idea to provide pixel colour in 8 colours per pixel. That would be really nice! It's gonna be tight though even on the PIC32. I hope he can pull it off.

Anyway I'm going to hold out for a colour VGA version!