Now this is what i need.

[Marks256]

**broken link removed**

but at 56 USD, it isn't cheap!

Why must being a geek cost so much?

 

[on1aag]

Hi Marks256,

This one is a bit cheaper:

https://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Z80-Computer/dp/0070109621

on1aag.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Get your head out of that old Z80.
Your room is already cluttered with old relics
I've got an old 8080 Steve Ciarcia book somewhere, and one of these...
**broken link removed**
Compaq 80286 "Portable" I love the Orange Plasma screen (yes it's plasma not LCD) also doubles as a room heater.

 

[Dean Huster]

Z80? That new? That Compaq has a keyboard! What's that?!!??

If you want a relic, I still have my MITS Altair 8800, 8080 processor with 256 bytes (yes, BYTES) of memory as delivered for $500. It's been upgraded to 12KB of static RAM, video card, serial and parallel card, etc. Keyboard? What was that? You had to find a surplus one of those and interface it to the Altair and write a program to read it. Same with interfacing to the monochrome video monitor. I bought a new Montgomery-Ward B&W TV on sale just for the purpose of ripping out everything that was TV and modifying the rest for the best composite input I could get. The only requirement for the TV other than price was that it had to include the schematic so that I knew what to rip out and what to keep.

Books like that for sale at such inflated prices makes me want to start offering all of my old "antique electronics" books and magazines on epay and see if I can get enough dinero to make a few house payments.

Dean

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Altair 8800, drool drool. Makes a nice boat anchor too.
**broken link removed**

 

[Roff]

Z80? That new? That Compaq has a keyboard! What's that?!!??

If you want a relic, I still have my MITS Altair 8800, 8080 processor with 256 bytes (yes, BYTES) of memory as delivered for $500. It's been upgraded to 12KB of static RAM, video card, serial and parallel card, etc. Keyboard? What was that? You had to find a surplus one of those and interface it to the Altair and write a program to read it. Same with interfacing to the monochrome video monitor. I bought a new Montgomery-Ward B&W TV on sale just for the purpose of ripping out everything that was TV and modifying the rest for the best composite input I could get. The only requirement for the TV other than price was that it had to include the schematic so that I knew what to rip out and what to keep.

Books like that for sale at such inflated prices makes me want to start offering all of my old "antique electronics" books and magazines on epay and see if I can get enough dinero to make a few house payments.

Dean

I bought an Imsai 8080 when they came out, but I was not as ambitious as you. I sold it to a friend a few months later, and bought an Apple II instead. I still have fond memories of that computer. It was loaded, too. It came with 48k of RAM, and I bought a 16k expansion board which I believe shared address space with the operating system, which was on EPROM. Can't remember how Woz did that. I actually used the computer for useful purposes, too. I found a Spice-like "kernel" in some magazine (probably Byte). I wasn't smart enough to write my own circuit analysis program, but I took that one and added extensive plotting capabilities to it. I used the program (it only did linear analysis) for some consulting work I was doing. I also played with assembly language programming, and wrote a "Game of Life" (anybody remember this?) program in 6502 ass'y language.
Computers were fun then. I don't get into the guts of my computers any more. I know some of you guys (e.g., Marks256) probably do. You're smarter than I.

 

[Marks256]

Hi Marks256,

This one is a bit cheaper:

https://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own.../dp/0070109621

on1aag.

Thanks for the tip.

Get your head out of that old Z80.
Your room is already cluttered with old relics

Acutally, this is the oldest computer i own.

**broken link removed**

it is an IBM PS/1. I don't remember the specs, but according to wikipedia they hadd an 80286 in them, and mine has a 20 or 30 MB hard drive in it. Mine also has the optional modem. I got it from a friend of my dad's who still used it up until a year ago!

Oh, and get your facts strait, Bill... my ROOMS are cluttered...




I would love to own an Altair. Maybe some day...


EDIT:

My PS/1 also has the 5.25" drive expansion thingy on it, too.

 

[quixotron]

**broken link removed**

but at 56 USD, it isn't cheap!

Why must being a geek cost so much?

becoz we're the only ones who makes things happen..thus our suppliers have a monopoly over us-they know we need it. i can't find a green, 500 mw, monochromatic laser source for under $2000.

 

[Dean Huster]

... and wrote a "Game of Life" (anybody remember this?) ...

The Game of Life was always a really interesting program. Often surprising as heck with the outcome. It sorta had micro-organisms as its basis, didn't it? With the Altair, someone had written "NIM", a simple game that could be handled with its included 256 bytes of RAM. Programming the game took ten minutes of flipping the front-panel switches.

I guess if someone wants to "one-up" us, Ron, they're going to have to cough up experience with the "Mark-8" or "Scelbi". Start hitting your Wikipedia, folks.

I've really been considering putting all my Altair stuff on the auction block. I have all the docs, including the original Popular Electronics issues and the free PCB layout materials you could get through the magazine. Few people have THAT material. I watched one of those issues on ebay go for over $100 a few years ago. And I have duplicates!

Dean