Scott Lawrence has written an article detailing his Z80 homebuilt computer, the RC2014: The RetroChallenge is upon us again! This time around, I plan on working on my Z80 homebuilt computer, the RC2014. (Website for RC2014, Order a RC2014) For a few months now, I’ve had my RC-2014 computer built, and modified to be an RC2014/LL […]
Tag Archives: retro computing
The Retrobits Podcast
If you are into vintage computing here’s a podcast for you. Earl Evans of Retrobits has returned from a one-year hiatus to bring us more episodes of The Retrobits Podcast. This podcast is about all aspects of retrocomputing. Like he says, “if it’s got 8-bits, paper tape, BASIC in ROM… or if it’s just plan […]
28C3: The Atari 2600 video computer system ultimate talk
Here’s something for retro video game enthusiasts. This talk by Sven Oliver (‘SvOlli’) Moll from the recent 28C3 conference in Berlin covers the history, the hardware and how to write programs for the Atari 2600 gaming console. The Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS for short) was one of the first popular gaming consoles back […]
PROP-6502 Propeller laptop
Dennis Ferron developed this Parallax Propeller Laptop with a 6502 co-processor and 64K of static RAM as his entry to a Parallax Propeller design contest. He observed that hardware prototyping has evolved from building-block hardware (TTL) to programmable hardware (PLA’s and FPGA’s). He believes that the Propeller chip represents the next revolution: 100% software-based virtual […]
Mac floppy emu prototype
Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires has resumed work on his Macintosh floppy drive emulator project. Previously he had developed the project on a breadboard using an Altera EPM7128S CPLD and an Atmel ATMEGA32u4 microcontroller. Now he has assembled it on a project board and updated some of his components. He writes: The firmware has […]
6502 microprocessor documentary in the works
“THE 6502” is a documentary series by Jason Scott about the MOS Technology 6502 chip, the circumstances that lead to it and the experiences of assembly language programming. Funded in 2011, the project is expected to go for several years of production, interviewing dozens of figures related to this subject. Those familiar with machine language, […]
Plus Too Apple replica on FPGA
Steve Chamberlin over at Big Mess o’Wires presents the Plus Too, a working hardware replica of the Macintosh Plus and Macintosh 512Ke computers. The original Macs contained a Motorola 68000 CPU and about half a dozen major support chips, with all of the Mac-specific behaviors and OS routines defined in a 128K toolbox ROM. Plus […]
Stype typewriter
What do you call a typewriter modded to communicate digital messages over Skype? A Stype, of course! Daniel Huhndt describes it: With the help of “some solenoids, relays, pushbuttons, some parts of a cheap keyboard, an arduino mega and a mac mini” , the typewriter can be used to send messages online. Whatever is typed […]
Retro style microcomputer on Parallax Propeller
Jeffledger wrote this Instructable detailing his construction of a retro-style microcomputer using a Parallax Propeller Multicore Startup Special dev kit (any Propeller board should work), an RCA Ultimate TV IR keyboard, 38 kHz IR receiver module, resistor and micro SD card with adapter. The result is a mockup of a retro computer on which you […]
CPLD Commodore C64 memory project
The website 64HDD has plenty of information about mods and upgrades for Commodore C64 enthusiasts. They have an article explaining their exploration of using CPLDs in C64 hardware mods. Their first CPLD project, explained in the article, explores the build of a 256kB memory expansion board originally designed using TTL chips. The project uses the […]
C64 sound on Parallax Propeller
The eight-core Parallax Propeller is capable of some pretty amazing things. One use developed by Johannes Ahlebrand is to emulate the famous Commodore 64 sound chip. His SIDcog V 1.0 code object allows the Propeller to accurately emulate an original C64 SID chip. With this code, your Prop can produce retro C64 game sounds like […]
Commodore announces new Commodore 64, VIC Computer
Anyone who remembers computing “back in the day” might be interested to know that Commodore has opened a Web store where consumers can buy a modernized Commodore 64 and two new versions of the VIC, now redesigned as a “keyboard computer”. The new Commodore 64 costs anywhere from $250 for a “barebones” configuration for modders, […]
BYTE Magazine downloads
As the year comes to a close we all become nostalgic for the old days. For some of us, the old days included a publication known as BYTE Magazine. BYTE was published from 1975-1998. While original issues can be costly and hard to find, thanks to ThumpNugget there is a growing PDF library of downloadable […]