Monday, April 16, 2018

Homebuilt Computer


A long time ago, in a galaxy far away (Montana) I built a computer.   Not plugging in boards but rather building the boards themselves.   No microprocessors - just basic TTL integrated circuits.   I saw the diagram for an old HP computer and thought - if that's all there is, I can do that.

So I did.

It worked - very slowly.

Then I took most of it apart to save the IC's.  (silly silly silly...)

Now that the Force has rewoken and the last Jedi returned - it's time to rebuild the old computer.

There's a lot to this and it's going to take several forms of both hardware and software.  So it's going to take a while.   That's part of the fun.

Here's my computer and I at a computer show of sorts in Bozeman back in 1978...


The SWTP CT-64 terminal and cassette deck are misleading.  The homebuilt TTL computer in the silver box with the rows of lights never did have a serial interface.  That's yet another challenge for the new versions.

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