Built my first computer 40 years ago
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I wrote my first C++ program and copied it to a floppy disk 14 years back. Other than that, I have never done any cool stuff like this. BTW, when you say build, do you buy parts and assemble yourself? Reason I am asking is because we have culture here in India that you just go to shop and tell the items you need and they assemble it for you.
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
You bet. The kit came with everything in bags, except for the solder and soldering iron. Several nights and burnt fingers later ... :) Oh yeah, keyboard and monitor were other projects to assemble.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I designed and built an 8080-based computer on a single board with wire-wrap connections. It had a 6-digit 7-segment LED display and a hex keypad, 1k of ROM and 256 bytes of static RAM. I/O was an 8-bit programmable I/O chip. I wrote some real programs directly in machine code on the keypad (there was no other way to get code into it). I think that was all in 1976.
Phil
The opinions expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the author, especially if you find them impolite, inaccurate or inflammatory.
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I can't compete with 40 years (I'm only 42!), but back when I was in high school I built a 6502 based system with 16KB of memory and 4KB of EPROM that talked to my BBC B via RS232... Does this count as a co-processor or a discrete component micro-controller?
TheRealRarius wrote:
can't compete with 40 years (I'm only 42!)
slacker ;P
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35 years ago, on a Work Term, there was a PDP 8 that we would play Adventure on. We dumped the source code so we could figure out how to get the last of 360 points. We had 359, but hadn't dropped the magazine at Wit's End :)
I played Adventure on PDP circa 1978 but do not remember which version. Never could cross the bridge.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I am 16 yrs old now. I started learning computer reparing when I was 10 yrs old. In the course of my work the earliest I assembled a Pentium 2 machine. Oh, yes! I also possess a 1.2GB hard disk which is in perfect running condition too! I have set it up with my old Pentium 3 machine and have installed Win98 in the hard disk.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I can't remember exactly when or why, but in the late 70's I wired some core memory by hand. Does that count? It was incredibly tedious, fiddly and boring, but it worked. Took me a couple of days... It was about the size of an SD card, plus a wooden frame to hold the wires, and it held 8 bytes! Yep. You read that right. 64 bits. That was the days when computing was for Real Men! :laugh:
The universe is composed of electrons, neutrons, protons and......morons. (ThePhantomUpvoter)
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I built my first computer 35 years ago, it has a CDP1802 processor and a 86 pin non-standard expansion bus. The cards in the bus slot are mostly for IO or memory expansion (4k). And the best part: It sits on my second desk and still works :)
Sent from my BatComputer via HAL 9000 and M5
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I built my first computer 35 years ago, it has a CDP1802 processor and a 86 pin non-standard expansion bus. The cards in the bus slot are mostly for IO or memory expansion (4k). And the best part: It sits on my second desk and still works :)
Sent from my BatComputer via HAL 9000 and M5
My first computer (IIRC, a 486 bought at a yard sale) was destroyed in a garage fire. :sigh:
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
The first "serious" computer I put together was a IBM PC with an 8088 CPU that fell off a truck, literally. This was back in '83-'84, it was in pieces and I somehow was able to talk the owner of the company I worked for to let me have all the parts (insurance had covered the cost and he had already got the replacement). I was going to tech at the time and was on good terms with the instructors there so I was able to bring it in and worked on it there. It had no hard drive as ran off the floppies. The case was bent to heck and the boards had come loose. I put it together as best I could. I needed to tinker around with the floppy disk drive for a week or so, couldn't afford to buy a new one. I finally managed to get the PC to boot. Of course I played with it for about a month, but I ended up trading it for a ’71 Cuda. (I couldn’t make that trade these days, does anybody have a Cuda they want to trade for my computer?) :)
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I don't go back quite that far but your post made me remember a quaint story from nearly 20 years ago. My company was switching from a Nixdorf (mid-range host with dumb terminals) to a Novell network. I had nothing to do with the Nixdorf but was the "Network Manager" for the Novell. We were moving all the data (customer info, vendor info, customer orders, purchase orders, item master, stock locations / quantities, bills of material, etc...) from the Nixdorf (which was nearly 100% full) to a "modern" client/server based MRP system. We hired a Nixdorf wizard to extract all the data into comma delimited ASCII files so I could ultimately import it into the MRP system. He used a proprietary interface card to link the Nixdorf to a stand-alone PC. It took nearly 12 hours to run his export programs and write to the PC. Finally he gave me the PC with "all the data". In less than 30 minutes, I copied the files to my PC, ran them through a few conversions to prepare them for import before finally compressing them with PKZIP and copying them to a single 1.2Mb floppy!
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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My first computer (IIRC, a 486 bought at a yard sale) was destroyed in a garage fire. :sigh:
Did said computer contribute to the fire...? :laugh:
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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Very cool, indeed! I still have my Jan '75 Popular Electronics issue that featured the Altair 8800. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Memories! Built my first IMSAI 8080 with model 15 teletype and paper tape storage in 76. Saw one in California during a motorcycle trip from Anchorage AK and back that summer... Then added a 10 MB 15 inch platter hard drive a year later I picked up at auction for $75.00 and 2 months of wire-wrapping the interface and writing the driver for CM/M
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About 20 years ago I wired a PDP 11 to an AS400 so that we could grab ancient data. (There was a team of three of us, not a solo effort I hasten to add). It was a frustrating week, but ultimately successful.
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
From which machine did the ancient data originate? They're both ancient. ;P I still own a PDP-11/23 (minus disk drives, they weighed 67 pounds per drive. RL02)
"It's true that hard work never killed anyone. But I figure, why take the chance." - Ronald Reagan That's what machines are for. Got a problem? Sleep on it.
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That machine is newer than the Apple Macintosh. It was built in the 1990s, designed in the 1800s. But too far ahead of the precise engineering required to build.
"It's true that hard work never killed anyone. But I figure, why take the chance." - Ronald Reagan That's what machines are for. Got a problem? Sleep on it.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
Where I work I'm considered a dinosaur for knowing what near and far pointers are! We've been doing some work with another company and one of their guys has been really impressive. When I looked him up on linked in I saw he was writing assembly and porting a unix kernel the year I was born!
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I was still using my Smoke Signal Broadcasting 6809 system (built in 1981) until about 15 years ago when I finally transferred my mailing list data files to a Windows 98 based PC using PROCOMM+ on the PC side and the type command on the SSB system :thumbsup:. I am still amazed at what I could do with a 4Mhz processor, 32Kb of static RAM and a 720Kb floppy disk drive. :cool:
Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I built a two-bit adder from relays a year or so ago.
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
1976 (or there abouts) I soldered up a veroboard mounted National Semiconductor SC/MP (scamp). 256 bytes of memory in two chips. Front panel had 8 leds, 8 switches for address and 8 switches for data. A push button for deposit and another for run. There was a single bit of output which I connected to an earpiece and it could play very simple, very short pieces of 'music', mainly stuff from my 'Learn to play the Recorder' workbook. The 'case' was made of chipboard with holes drilled in the top to allow ventilation. Front panel was a lovely piece of brushed aluminium. Consumed months of my pocket money and worth every cent. The design came from Electronics Australia and they had produced a pcb but I couldn't afford to buy it. Did anyone else make one of these?
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Just realized that I build my first computer 40 38 years ago. A Southwest Technical Products SS50 bus system. Can't even remember which processor was in it. It was a SWTP 6800 using the Motorola MC6800 8 bit processor. I later designed and build a MC6809 CPU, with 1M memory and CRT controller, card for a University project course. Anyone else remember their stone-age computing accomplishments? Thanks for the links to the information that corrected my memory. "There are 3 things that go with age. The first is memory and I can't remember the other 2". My Mom.
I 'built my first computer' 24 I years ago (in my case it was more designed my first embedded system) with an SGS Thompson ST6 microcontroller ... I seem to think it ran ran at am impressive 4MHz. :-D
"State acheived after eating too many chocolate-covered coconut bars - bountiful" Chris C-B
