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Re: [N8VEM: 13803] New sucker...er Builder



Douglas,

Wow I finally know someone else that programmed a Datapoint.
One of my first programmer jobs was on a Datapoint 1100 (I think).
It was the model that had the twin cassette drives on the top of the unit.
Everything was done in assembler.  We then got a Datapoint 2200 complete
with hard disk. All of that code was eventually ported to the IMSAI. My company
bought hundreds of the IMSAI's. Once the IMSAI reached it's EOL we ported the
code to the Intel SBC. I remember seeing pallets full of IMSAI's and the disk enclosures
 in the warehouse waiting to be disposed of. If only I knew what I know now.
The SBC had a main 8086 mother board and we used the 8085
cards in the chassis as well. All the IMSAI code ran on the 8085 cards. We used
RMX/86 as the core OS on the 8086. We developed our OS with RMX, PL/I  and the Intel
MDS (complete with ICE). RMX/86 was a pretty awesome real time  multitasking OS for it's time.
I don't think anything even came close to it.

It was a bummer to see the PC arrive on the seen with DOS. Imagine where we
might be today if IBM had put something like RMX on the PC. But if they had,
it would of been series competition for their commercial product line.

Ah, the good old days.



On 06/11/12 01:06 PM, Douglas Goodall wrote:
Norbert,

I am coming up on birthday 58 this year.

I became interested in electronics at age 11. My first technical decision was, RTL or DTL?

I started with mainframes because that was all there was.

I was introduced to the Apple ][ and it was my first personal computer.

My first several dozen years were spent writing in assembler, although I did fool around with Fortran II  and IV and some others.

While in junior high, I stumbled into Novation (the modem manufacturer), and ended up writing accounts receivable, accounts
payable,  and general ledger for the in PL/1. In return I got to have a Datapoint 3300 Terminal at home every weekend for a year.
I must have been a sight riding my bicycle down the street each friday afternoon with the datapoint bungied to the basket.

Because I had been introduced to people at UCLA (ARPA folk), I ended up working part time on staff at UCLA for $2.25/hour
writing code to collect data and transfer it around on the ARPA network for processing. Because I had the terminal at home, I
was able to use the ARPA network in my spare time. My school friends thought I was nuts. (Didn't believe me).

What transpired after that was many years of working on stuff not always interesting to me, but on what paid the bills.

I have had time recently to revisit the technologies that I enjoyed the most along the way. The race to always go another few MHz faster
and have more memory and larger hard drives, caused us to leave behind systems that were both lovingly created and fun to use.

The N8VEM experience has brought me back to those times and feelings.

I am still impressed with how much can be done with 64K of RAM.

I have done extensive programming using RMAC and LINK and now the Aztec C, all hosted on the Zeta (CP/M-80). I would be
pleased to share my development files and knowledge with anyone wanting to program on CP/M. Just ask me. My stuff is all
on-line, either on my svn server or posted on the N8VE wiki.

Again welcome to our playhouse, we have fun here.

Douglas Goodall

 
On Jun 11, 2012, at 12:43 PM, Norbert Joppen wrote:

Hi all,
 
from the first moment on I wondered if there is a place to introduce myself to this group.
 
Now after the detection of Waynes' introduction,  I'll also try to say hello (although I have already caused some threads before..)
 
 
I'm : Norbert, living in Aachen in Germany, 58 years old, systems engineer, and interested in electronics from youth on. 
        Play the guitar, interested in astronomy, scuba diving.
 
 
In the late 70th I builded my first computer, a 6502 Junior Computer from Elektor, a electronics magazin, originally from the Netherlands.
 
After that I got interested in the world of the Apple ][ . I had not much money and so I decided to wire wrap my own. Good job, it worked.
 
Now much programming in Pascal, Basic and Assembler followed. I built a 256K ramcard with 16 x 16k bank switching and still some other stuff for Apple ][.
 
Running CP/M was possible! Then - after long doubts - a IBM PC Clone followed. In a moment of mental darkness I gave away all my old computers to a friend of mine.
 
Now, after many years, I'm back again. My first project was a Micro-KIM of Vince Briel, again a 6502 system. After building a cassette interface, a 16Kand a 6532 card,
 
I came in contact with a australian hobbyist (also member of this group I suppose). He told me about N8VEM and from the first moment on I thought:"That's it!"  .
 
 
Now I have builded 'my' Zeta SBC. There are still some problems, but I hope I will get it running with your friendly help.
 
A MUST to say: this project is very interesting, thank you for its existence and your good and hard  work for it!
 
 
Best to you!
 
Norbert
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 8:47 PM
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 13801] New sucker...er Builder

Welcome Wayne,

This group is a huge amount of fun. I have written thousands of lines of code
for my N8VEM SBC's in the last year and a half.

It is both the trip through memory lane, and a chance to learn a lot about various
aspects of the homebrew experience.

Since I have been here, I have learned to...

1. Locate and purchase parts from various distributors

2. Carefully stuff and solder PCB's (sockets recommended).

3. Debug digital logic using various inexpensive tools

4. Think creatively about bootstrapping embedded software

5. Learned a lot about getting along with different kinds of people.


It is a GOOD Hobby, and we help each other a lot here.

Have fun, and keep us informed of your progress, we care.

Douglas Goodall



On Jun 11, 2012, at 2:54 AM, opticpow wrote:

Hi All,

I'm not sure on the protocol for the group in regards to new users, but I thought I'd introduce myself.

I'm Wayne, 36 from Newcastle Australia. I ran across this great little community a few weeks ago, and since then have been engrossed reading as much as I can. It has brought back memories of my youth playing with CPM and those early 8bit micros. A few years back while I was off seeing the world, my mum decided that those old computers were taking up space and to my horror, gave them away! Alas I do not know how the Amstrad, Microbee and my 2600 have ended up, or even if they are still alive :(

I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head, but what the heck. The attraction to that golden age from when I was a kid is just too strong, so hobbies +1 it is. I'm hoping to build the SBC v2, with the Disk IO V3 board so that I can connect up some 5.25 floppies. You can't have an old computer without the disks, IMHO.

I'm sure this is going to be a lot of fun. I'm keen to do some programming in CPM, something that was a bit beyond me first time round!

You never know, if all goes well, I might end up graduating to Sergy's XT so I can reminisce with GEM!

I look forward to getting my hands on this stuff.

Cheers,

Wayne.




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"Even a blind pig finds a truffle now and then" oink oink!!







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Douglas Goodall
Santa Maria, CA

"Even a blind pig finds a truffle now and then" oink oink!!






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