------------------------
Monday, October 16, 2023
RC2023/10 Halftime Update!
------------------------
We have a small group of contenders this year and it is nice to see
that they are nearly all making great progress. I also really
appreciate the variety of projects this year. If you are making
progress and have some blog posts we missed, let us know in the
comments.
Mousepad prizes have been ordered, and we can expect to have a few
prizes from the Australian Computer Museum Society as well!
Here is the halftime update (after the break), or just keep an eye on
the RC2023/10 Entrants List!
Status: Making Progress...
Granz RC 2023/10's avatar : @retrocheng
Platform: MS-DOS, x86
Project : I think that I will commit to using MS-DOS on a daily basis
(I did this throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s, in several
different professional positions.) I plan on connecting my chosen
system (see first post in my blog thread) to the internet (maybe
through an ESP modem.) Then I will try to figure out how to post to my
thread (or some other) to keep my blogging up.
Halftime Update: Granz is keeping us well updated with his endurance
challenge and is making great progress getting his Zenith Z-Star
configured and connected to peripherals. Reading the the good book and
dealing with cursed CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files... what a combo!
Happy birthday!
Etno RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: VG-5000�
Project : Using an emulator to develop for a retro-machine can easily
result in code that runs smoothly but not on the real hardware. I will
try to build an interface for the VG-5000� which injects a binary and
grabs the display in an automated way. Thus exercising the real
graphics chip (EF9345). I want to compare the resulting images with the
output of emulators running the same code.
Halftime Update: Etno has built up a clean looking breadboard for his
VG-5000� ROM emulation device "hot ROM". Nice progress!
Gergo" RC 2023/10's avatar : @gergo_erdi
Platform: HomeLab-2
Project : I'll be making a game (or maybe several) in Assembly for the
Hungarian HomeLab-2 computer from 1982.
Halftime Update: Gergo" just barely got us his first post in time for
this half-time update. Looking forward to more content here!
JKnightandKARR RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: Zenith Z-Star EX
Project : Repair an old Zenith laptop for DOS and WIndows 3.1x gaming
Halftime Update: How many Z Stars does Granz have?! JKnightandKARR got
an early start on things and is still battling replacement drives and
batteries. Hopefully the parts he ordered will do the trick!
ep00ch RC 2023/10's avatar : @ep00ch
Platform: Synertec MBC020
Project : I will focus on some 6502 projects, mostly my Synertek MBC020
ExorBus board. I never got it working correctly as a terminal: skewed
video and no keyboard yet. Let's see if I can get all of this working
properly!
Halftime Update: epooch got us one post with some fixes to his Synertec
MBC020. Hopefully he can get a keyboard working with it!
Kerry RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: DEC PDP11
Project : I have spent hundreds of hours repairing a PDP11/10 CPU box
which is now working. It is lonely for a peripheral and I have just the
thing, a PC05 high speed paper tape punch/reader. I am hoping to get it
cleaned, repaired and interfaced to my PDP11/10 and loading the DEC
pdp11 paper tape basic. Utilising another previously restored paper
tape punch I will be creating the tape and the absolute loader to suit.
Halftime Update: After "getting his bits together" and punching some
necessary paper tapes, Kerry is working hard on the restoration of his
PC05 paper tape reader and has a lot of video updates to show his
progress. I am really enjoying the multidisciplinary effort on this
one! His short videos are definitely worth watching.
Digitalrampage RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: Multiple
Project : I'm attempting to setup an ISP, restore a broken Micro PC
286, fix a PowerBook 2300 PPC laptop and others
Halftime Update: DigitalRampage has added to his list of things to do
by damaging the power supply on his 286 Carry-I terminal PC. At least
he got a bit of time playing Leisure Suit Larry.
TiredGeezer303 RC 2023/10's avatar : @ElonIsEvil303
Platform: iBook g4, IBM Netvista circa 2003
Project : Doing the endurance challenge!! Trying to use my iBook g4 and
NetVista computer for all of my computing with a few exceptions for
work, texts, phone calls, etc.
Halftime Update: TiredGeezer made some initial progress with his Net
Vista PC, installing Debian 10, but I fear we may have lost him. Give
us some more updates!
Cefiar (aka Stuart) RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: Applix1616
Project : Restoration/rebuild of an Applix1616 kit computer that hasn't
been powered up in years. Cleaning, checking all components, redoing
bodge wires, etc, through to booting the system and hopefully accessing
files on a SCSI attached volume (on a BlueSCSI V2).
Halftime Update: Cefiar is making awesome progress with his handsomely
minimalist Applix1616. Great photos and great content here, as he
basically re-solders the entire logic board and installs a BlueSCSI
card. Keep up the great progress!
paulscottrobson RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: Sinclair LC3
Project : Try to recreate the Sinclair LC3 unreleased prototype as
accurately as possible. There's not much information, but some
intelligent guesswork will do. I have inquired of both of the main
people involved, not "for information" but to ask if my thoughts and
guesses were right. If it changes, it changes, that'll teach me to
write code that can be adapted easily. I'll write some games and system
software for it.
Halftime Update: Paul is back with another ambitious entry! He gave us
some great background posts about the Sinclair LC3 and his choices for
period appropriate components. Finally a post about video RAM and
sprites before we might have lost him. We are looking forward to more
progess on this project!
John Honniball RC 2023/10's avatar : @anachrocomputer
Platform: Compukit UK101
Project : I built a Compukit UK101 from a kit in February 1980. 43
years later, I'm going to write a demo program for it. Something snazzy
that'll wow the onlookers.
Halftime Update: Only one great background post about the Compukit
UK101 so far. John usually makes a late surge, so we won't count him
out yet.
LambdaMikel RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: Busch Microtronic
Project : My goal is to create a multi-purpose expansion for the Busch
Microtronic Computer (1981, 4bit). I already have a Raspberry Pico set
up to emulate the Microtronic's 2114 SRAM. The Pico enables me to store
and restore Microtronic memory dumps as files to resp. from SDcard, in
milliseconds (the cassette interface takes minutes for a decent
program!) By "snooping" the address bus and SRAM (which the Pico
emulates), the Pico also knows the instruction currently being executed
by the Microtronic. I can hence turn the Pico into co-processor, adding
new op-codes to the original Microtronic. I plan to add op-codes for
OLED display output, sound, speech synthesis, a Real Time Clock, as
well as bank switching. The goal is to have a working prototype at the
end of the Challenge month that can then be turned into a PCB
(consisting of a Pico, OLED display, loudspeaker am op-amp, SDcard,
speech chip, and a few buttons for the user interface).
Halftime Update: LambdaMikel gave us a thorough log post and video
right at halftime. He demonstrates the voice function and fully
functional SD card. He even has the RPi Pico interfaced with the Busch
Microtronic allowing it to run programs directly from the to RPi. Great
work so far!
Status: Non Starter
MacEffects RC 2023/10's avatar
Platform: Apple Lisa
Project : Restore a non-working Apple Lisa 2/5
Halftime Update: Hmm, not sure where I should be looking for updates
here.
epooch at 4:47PM
