Over on his blog our hacker [Scott Baker] restores a Prompt 80, which was a development system for the 8-bit Intel 8080 CPU. [Scott] acquired this broken trainer on eBay and then set about restoring it. The trainer provides I/O for programming, probing, and debugging an attached CPU. The first problem discovered when opening the […]
If you are interested in retrocomputers, you might be like us and old enough to remember the old systems and still have some of the books. But what if you aren’t? No one is born knowing how to copy a file with PIP, for example, so [Kraileth] has the answer: A Gentle Introduction to CP/M. […]
Retrocomputers need ROMs, but they’re just so read only. Enter the latest incarnation of [Piers]’s One ROM to rule them all, now built with a RP2350, because the newest version is 5V capable. This can replace the failing ROMs in your old Commodore gear with this sweet design on a two-layer PCB, using a cheap […]
Of the machines from the 16-bit era, the Commodore Amiga arguably has the most active community decades later, and it’s a space which still has the power to surprise. Today we have a story which perhaps pushes the hardware farther than ever before: a demo challenge for the Amiga custom chips only, no CPU involved. […]
The picture on a TV set used to be the combined product of multiple analog systems, and since TVs had no internal diagnostics, the only way to know things were adjusted properly was to see for yourself. While many people were more or less satisfied if their TV picture was reasonably recognizable and clear, meaningful […]
While you can still find tape being used for backup storage, it’s pretty safe to say that the humble audio cassette is about as out of date as a media format can be. Still, it has a certain retro charm we’re suckers for, particularly in the shape of a Commodore Datasette. We’re also suckers for […]
While we have nothing against other 1980s 8-bit machines, the Commodore 64 has always been something special. A case in point: another new instrument using the C-64 and its beloved SID chip. Not just new to retrocomputing, either, but new entirely. [Linus Åkesson] has invented the QWERTY Theremin, and there’s a Commodore at its core. […]
If you’ve never used a PDP-11 before it’s probably because you simply weren’t around in the 70s and 80s. Although they started as expensive machines only in research labs and industry, they eventually became much more accessible. They’re a bit of a landmark in computing history, too, being largely responsible for the development of things […]
Over on his blog our hacker [cpt_tom] shows us how to simulate the hardware for a Commodore PET. Two of them in fact, one with static RAM and the other with dynamic RAM. This project is serious business. The simulation environment used is Digital. Digital is a digital logic designer and circuit simulator designed for […]
There are few computing collapses more spectacular than the downfall of Commodore, but its rise as a home computer powerhouse in the early 80s was equally impressive. Driven initially by the VIC-20, this was the first home computer model to sell over a million units thanks to its low cost and accessibility for people outside […]