Search Posts:

Latest Projects:

1967, Developments in Computer Firmware

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Cover Electronics April 17, 1967. Click image to download selected pages in PDF format
Interesting short article that describes the state of computer firmware in 1967, and recent developments. This is the copy of Electronics that would have been sold on the day of my birth. What other computers are shown in the PDF linked above? PDP 8 and IBM 1710.">... [ read more ]

BASIS 108

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 3
Updated: [ Experimenting with Video ] 10/16/2018
BASIS 108 Apple II Clone Computer
The West German-made BASIS 108 was an Apple II clone with a Z80 processor and built-in video features. This unit has 128K RAM. Click image for larger view.
System power checked out, clean inside, boots Apple Pascal OS. No obvious restoration needed. After a more thorough check-out, I will explore the monitor program (6502) and attempt to boot CP/M, and Apple II programs in color. Photos">... [ read more ]

RIP Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Paul Allen Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen Microsoft Co-Founder 1953 - 2018 Click image for larger view.
I am sure he never saw it, but I once sold Vulcan Electrics, his computer museum project, my Xerox Star computer many years ago, for his computer museum. It's probably in a shed somewhere or stripped for parts. http://www.vul...r-paul-allen-dies-at-65">... [ read more ]

VCF Mid West ECCC 2018

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
The opening minutes of the 2018 Vintage Computer Festival slash Emergency Commodore Computer Convention, September 15, 2018. Click image for larger view.
Cactus 6502
Z demonstrating his Cactus 6502 computer with front panel. Click image for larger view.
Can you guess what computer is under the hood of this add-on keyboard? Click image for larger view.
... [ read more ]

Radio Shack TRS 80 Model 1 26-1008

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Radio Shack TRS 80 Model model 26-1008
The Radio Shack TRS 80 Model 1 26-1008 to my knowledge never appeared in the Radio Shack catalog and was never officially sold in stores. Obviously a few were made, but how many I do not know. Click image for larger view.
Radio Shack TRS 80 Model model 26-1008
Given the serial number, at least 38 and probably a hundred or so 26-1008 model number Model 1's were produced. Click image for larger view.
Radio Sha... [ read more ]

Loading PDP 11 BASIC Papertape

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
After replacing the reader (again) I was able to load PDP 11 BASIC using my Teletype ASR 33. The computer system is my recently repaired PDP 11/05 S. Pictured is the pile of tape the makes up the BASIC program. It takes about 20-30 minutes or so to load the program. Click image for larger view.
If everything goes right, immediately after loading the tape the system initiates the BASIC program and displays the initialization prompt, *O. Click image for larger view.
Appendix D - The Bootstrap and Absolute Loaders (step by step how t">... [ read more ]

Dan Roganti RIP

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Dan Roganti
Dan Roganti.
Dan lost his battle with cancer and we all lost a titan in the vintage computing community. Dan was one of the earliest members of MARCH. He taught me a great deal about S-100 and related hardware engineering. Dan attended all of the early hardware workshops I hosted at my house and we had many hours working into the night on a wide variety of systems including but not limited to the MITS Altair, IMSAI 8080, PET 2001, Heathkit EC-1, ASR 33 Teletypes, Apple II, and so on.
Dan Roganti doing what he di">... [ read more ]

RK11-D Installation

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 4
Updated: [ RE: PDP 11/05 and RK05 power connectors ] 08/31/2018
Digital RK05 disk packs
Digital RK05 disk packs. Click image for larger view.
I have the RK05 card set and backplane RK11-D. Picture: htt...11D-MM-002.pdf Cards and Backplane (minus UNIBUS cables): http://www.tec...ontroller.jpg RK11-D is a 4-card backplane RK11-D RK05 Disk Controller EK-RK11D-MM-002 M7254 Status Control M7255 Disk Control M7256 Registers M7257 Bus Control">... [ read more ]

Digital (DEC) PDP 11/05 NC Assembly

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 22
Updated: [ 11/05 NC Power Connectors ] 08/31/2018
Ted Nelson speaks quite highly of the Digital PDP 11 series in his book Computer Lib / Dream Machines.
Picture of the PDP 11/05 NC card cage and M9970(in the wrong slot). Click image for hi res version.
The only thing that prevented DEC from launching the PC revolution three years earlier was price, in my opinion. All of the other ingredients were there for a fine PC. The PDP 11/05 was the OEM version of the PDP 11/10, so you find all kinds of variations of this system sometimes paired with the DEC GT40 Graphic Display Terminal. Complete set of Pictures Some notes... 1) Cleaned (enough for now).. got all of the styrofoam peanuts, dust. 2) Started with an ... [ read more ]

MITS Altair AM Radio Music Jukebox

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 3
Updated: [ Altair Jukebox Video ] 08/27/2018
MITS Altair8800b AM Radio Jukebox Project
MITS Altair "Jukebox" system with GE Radio on top. Click image for larger view.
MITS Altair8800b AM Radio Jukebox Project
MITS Altair "Jukebox" system exhibit at the 2018 Vintage Computer Festival. Click image for larger view.
Steve Dompier's May 1975 People's Computer Company newsletter article Music of a Sort (republished in Dr. Dobbs Feb 1976) describes how one would generate music with a MITS Altair by using the fro">... [ read more ]

Seiko Data-2000 1983/4 Early Smart Watch

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Seiko Data-2000 Smartwatch
The Seiko DATA-2000 was an early smart watch sold in late 1983 through 1984 that came with a special PDA calculator interface keyboard. I have read that this was the first watch with a keyboard. The retail price was $195. Click for larger view.
Seiko Data-2000 Smartwatch Docked
In the docked position the Data-2000 watch face serves as a dot matrix display for the QWERTY keyboard. Together the watch and keyboard provide PDA functionality to do thinkgs like enter and store memos (up to 100 lines), calculator functions, set the alarm, etc. Transm">... [ read more ]

DEC VAX 4000-705A

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
A well stocked VAX 4000 was the last and I believe most capable 4000 model. Click image for larger view.
Here is the first part of the "show config" command output. Click image for larger view.
Show Dev output displays both SCSI and DSSI controllers. Click image for larger view.
Wikipedia: "...The VAX 4000 Model 705A, code-named "Legacy+", was introduced in la">... [ read more ]

Digital PDP 11/05 S in BA11-K

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 13
Updated: [ Replaced h745 -15V ] 08/21/2018
BA11-K Mounting Box Fans
Started working on piecing together a PDP 11/05 S in a BA11-K Mounting Box. Pictured here are the fans that cool the H765 power supply's transformer. Note there are no DC voltage bricks installed. I removed the metal fan covers (they were rubbing the fan blades when you spin the fan manually). Click for larger view.
BA11-K Mounting Box Fans
This is a view of the power distribution board installed in the PDP 11/05 S chassis. The c">... [ read more ]

Rockwell R6500 (AIM 65)

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 8
Updated: [ Cassette Signal Issue ] 07/21/2018
The Rockwell model R6500 was better known as the AIM 65. The AIM 65 is a 6502-based single board computer from 1976, although the model remained popular through the early 1980's until it was eventually replaced by the AIM 65/40.
AIM stands for "Advanced Interactive Microcomputer" and the 65 most likely is a reference to the 6502 processor and related chips. Right? I have two AIM 65 systems, one was fresh out of the box and never used. I am doing my experimenting with the used unit. I also have a 8-slot card cage containing a general purpose module, Serial card, disk controller, and video controller. The system boots to the system monitor and then I can jump to BASIC. I have run some assembly programs and some BASIC programs. Pictures I have a card cage wit">... [ read more ]

SGI Octane OS install 6.5.12

by billdeg
Total messages in this thread: 1
Pictured is the SGI desktop with a telnet connection to the Level 29 BBS via the IRIX console program. Telnet BBS-ing is a good way start testing a network connection. Click image to see more photos
SGI UNIX is called IRIX. I first installed version 6.5 but then learned the hard way that an "Overlay" would be required if I wanted to use an external DNS beyond local IP networking. I fortunately had a copy of IRIX 6.5.12 Overlay (OS patches / updates) which did the trick. I have been told it's even better to find a newer version, 6.5.2x. IRIX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRIX">... [ read more ]
OLDER POSTS (15 threads per page): 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 |

Resources:


Buy a Commodore Computer Poster

Popular Topics and FAQs


  • Commodore B Series Tips and Tricks
  • Aerocomp TRS 80 M 1 Expansion Unit DDC
  • Items Wanted
  • Lobo Max 80
  • Zenith Z-19-CN
  • Prototype PET 2001 photo
  • Using Toggle Switches to Analyze Memory
  • Commodore Disk Archive Project
  • PET 2001 Prototype at Gametronics 1977
  • Jim Butterfield Photo
  • IMSAI 8080 With Processor Tech. Cutter
  • Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny
  • Cromemco System Three
  • Northstar Horizon - Boot Problem
  • Computer History and Restoration Links
  • Commodore BX-256-80 - 8088 Co-processor
  • S-100 board testing with Z-80 ICE
  • Donner 3500 - an early portable computer
  • Digital (DEC) PDP 11/05 NC Assembly
  • Univac 1219 rescue
  • IMSAI 1.4 BASIC vs. MITS 8K BASIC
  • Fido BBS listing node list 6-13-1986
  • PDP 8e
  • MITS 88-2 SIO (2SIO) for BASIC
  • Visual Technology Inc Model 1050
  • Amiga 2500 Restoration
  • The Evolution Of IBM Computers
  • Replacement teletype print hammer head
  • Archiving and Copying Software 101
  • Computers Built 1940 - 1950
  • CBM B-520 (a.k.a B256-80 or B500 256)
  • RCA COSMAC Microkit
  • Commodore 64K C-116 Mods
  • MITS 8800b Turnmon 9600 baud
  • Catweasel, 8in and 5 1/4
  • Raspberry Pi as Gateway to Internet
  • Digital PDP11 late 1969 early 1970
  • PDP 11/40 72 inch cabinet model
  • PDP 11/40 Industrial 11 model
  • Digitial MicroVAX 3100 30 System
  • Digital VAX 4000-200
  • Commodore 64 / 1541 DRIVEKNOCK
  • Booting the System Using RL02 drive
  • PACS: Reflections by Kathleen Mauchly
  • Tele-Graphic Computer Systems Inc.
  • Commodore B Series SID Jukebox?
  • Installing Core into PDP 11/40
  • Setting Up OpenVMS 7.1 DNS CLERK
  • Felt-Tarrant Comptometer Model J
  • NextStation Color
  • Digital Rainbow (PC100-B2)
  • 1970 Compusad Compulogical Tutor
  • Archiving Papertapes Using DSI NC 2400
  • 1976 P.C.C. Features the MAI JOLT 6502
  • 1961 Beckman DEXTIR Computer
  • UNIVAC 1 and UNIVAC File Computer 1
  • Past Issues:


    Donner 3500 voltage test ok

    This image was selected at random from the archive. Click image for more photos and files from this set.