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be bothered to check what it was. I think it was one of thoseMichael Black wrote:
No, MITS had nothing to do with NASA.
They were a small company that started by selling some rocketry related
electronic kits, and used "MITS" to suggest MIT/Massachusets Institute
of Technology.
MITS was "Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems".
I knew it was an acronym, but couldn't remember and couldn't
that went along with them. You had to build the SBC, mine was wire wrapped,hi,
i've been a dedicated computer nerd for about twelve years now. i
started with a cast-off tandy "laptop" that ran BASIC and have been
hacking ever since, through 386/486/pentium/etc.
now i find myself much more interested in computer systems that appear
historically before my introduction to computers, and i'd really like
to get to know these older computing methodologies more intimately.
i'd like to try to build a computer from scratch - build my own
processor, etc. - to gain a greater familiarity with the underlying
technology.
so where do i start? poking around on the internet, all i can seem to
find is vendors trying to sell "homebrew" computer parts which
basically involves piecing together readymade components.
i know that the definition of "computer" covers a pretty wide continuum
right now, but what i'm interested in building is just the basic
machine: an electronic device that runs programs, whether it has a
display, printer, or just an array of LEDs as its output.
maybe someone knows a book or something that covers this material.
thanks for your time!
best,
jake
There was a set of books based on the 8080A, and a single board computer
Computers, homebuilt from the ground up :-hi,
i've been a dedicated computer nerd for about twelve years now. i
started with a cast-off tandy "laptop" that ran BASIC and have been
hacking ever since, through 386/486/pentium/etc.
now i find myself much more interested in computer systems that appear
historically before my introduction to computers, and i'd really like
to get to know these older computing methodologies more intimately.
i'd like to try to build a computer from scratch - build my own
processor, etc. - to gain a greater familiarity with the underlying
technology.
so where do i start? poking around on the internet, all i can seem to
find is vendors trying to sell "homebrew" computer parts which
basically involves piecing together readymade components.
i know that the definition of "computer" covers a pretty wide
continuum right now, but what i'm interested in building is just the
basic machine: an electronic device that runs programs, whether it
has a display, printer, or just an array of LEDs as its output.
maybe someone knows a book or something that covers this material.
thanks for your time!
best,
jake
hi,
i've been a dedicated computer nerd for about twelve years now. i
started with a cast-off tandy "laptop" that ran BASIC and have been
hacking ever since, through 386/486/pentium/etc.
now i find myself much more interested in computer systems that appear
historically before my introduction to computers, and i'd really like
to get to know these older computing methodologies more intimately.
i'd like to try to build a computer from scratch - build my own
processor, etc. - to gain a greater familiarity with the underlying
technology.
so where do i start? poking around on the internet, all i can seem to
find is vendors trying to sell "homebrew" computer parts which
basically involves piecing together readymade components.
i know that the definition of "computer" covers a pretty wide continuum
right now, but what i'm interested in building is just the basic
machine: an electronic device that runs programs, whether it has a
display, printer, or just an array of LEDs as its output.
maybe someone knows a book or something that covers this material.
thanks for your time!
best,
jake
It seems to me that many of these small computers are roughly equivalent"Art" (arthurgernberg@comcast.net) writes:
May even run across some links to the Altair 8080 systems that preceeded
many "user Friendly" devices. These were once offeres in a kit of parts and
fair instruction manual. Basic, if my memory serves me, was the op-sys du
jour. Others may corect me if in error?? Item I had actually used Octal
Nixie Tubes for Hex Dec output which we manually decoded.
But one thing about the Altair is that it needed so much to get going.
The front panel (which wasn't just the switches and the LEDs, but I
gather rather extensive TTL), and the CPU board had no memory so
you needed an extra board for that, and of course then you needed
the motherboard so you could connect the boards.
That bootstrapping project leaves it relatively simple. Even something
like the SWTP 6800 CPU board could be standalone I think,
because it had memory however tiny and the monitor in ROM and a software
UART.
One reason the Cosmac Elf was so popular, relative speaking, was that it
didn't take many parts to wire up, and you could have it running as soon
as it was wired. It was made for bootstrapping without ROM. The problem
there is that 1802's were never that common back then, and scrounging one
up will likely require much effort at this point.
Bingo! Having built 6802, 6809, and 68K style microprocessor systems, workingIn article <dfdruo$1ik$1@theodyn.ncf.ca>, Michael Black wrote:
"Art" (arthurgernberg@comcast.net) writes:
One reason the Cosmac Elf was so popular, relative speaking, was that it
didn't take many parts to wire up, and you could have it running as soon
as it was wired....
It seems to me that many of these small computers are roughly equivalent
to todays microcontroller systems, but they give you a UART, ram, some other
IO, and a processor all on one chip.
I think that crafting one own computers is definitely a worthy exercise.some of the older chips (like 6811) even have free monitors avalable
, while some of the newer once only have pc-hosted cross compilers.
<snip>On 3 Sep 2005 00:33:24 -0700, racter@gmail.com wrote:
It's not so hard. FPGAs are wonderful devices. ;-)now i find myself much more interested in computer systems that appear
historically before my introduction to computers, and i'd really like
to get to know these older computing methodologies more intimately.
i'd like to try to build a computer from scratch - build my own
processor, etc. - to gain a greater familiarity with the underlying
technology.
Build your own processor?
Are you sure?
How much time and money do you have?
To you and me, perhaps, but it seems to me that the OP is reaching forOn Sat, 03 Sep 2005 19:37:21 +0930, Michael Gray wrote:
On 3 Sep 2005 00:33:24 -0700, racter@gmail.com wrote:
snip
now i find myself much more interested in computer systems that appear
historically before my introduction to computers, and i'd really like
to get to know these older computing methodologies more intimately.
i'd like to try to build a computer from scratch - build my own
processor, etc. - to gain a greater familiarity with the underlying
technology.
Build your own processor?
Are you sure?
How much time and money do you have?
It's not so hard. FPGAs are wonderful devices. ;-)
There is a smiley there, ya' know. That said, I'd ratehr encourage peopleOn Mon, 05 Sep 2005 14:34:36 -0400, keith <krw@att.bizzzz> wrote:
On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 19:37:21 +0930, Michael Gray wrote:
On 3 Sep 2005 00:33:24 -0700, racter@gmail.com wrote:
snip
now i find myself much more interested in computer systems that appear
historically before my introduction to computers, and i'd really like
to get to know these older computing methodologies more intimately.
i'd like to try to build a computer from scratch - build my own
processor, etc. - to gain a greater familiarity with the underlying
technology.
Build your own processor?
Are you sure?
How much time and money do you have?
It's not so hard. FPGAs are wonderful devices. ;-)
To you and me, perhaps, but it seems to me that the OP is reaching for
the moon in one step.
The OP wanted his OWN computer. DOn't tell him it's impossible to do.Possibly better to follow the others' collective advice, and start
with a ready-made simple CPU.
http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=displayproduct&lstdispproductid=267009&e_categoryid=289&e_pcodeid=51226In article <cimtu2-f5q.ln1@news.compass.net.nz>, Jasen Betts
jasen-b@free.net.nospam.nz> wrote:
In article <dfdruo$1ik$1@theodyn.ncf.ca>, Michael Black wrote:
"Art" (arthurgernberg@comcast.net) writes:
One reason the Cosmac Elf was so popular, relative speaking, was that
it didn't take many parts to wire up, and you could have it running as
soon as it was wired....
It seems to me that many of these small computers are roughly equivalent
to todays microcontroller systems, but they give you a UART, ram, some
other IO, and a processor all on one chip.
Bingo! Having built 6802, 6809, and 68K style microprocessor systems,
working with parts like Microchip PICs almost seems like cheating.
some of the older chips (like 6811) even have free monitors avalable ,
while some of the newer once only have pc-hosted cross compilers.
I think that crafting one own computers is definitely a worthy exercise.