Retro Thing

Less is Sometimes Best: TRS-80 Model 100

Radio Shack was a major player in the early 1980s home computer market. My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1 with 16K memory and a crude B&W video display. They were also famous for marketing house-branded machines from other companies. This was the case with the TRS-80 Model 100, designed and built by Kyocera.

The $799 Model 100 was introduced in 1983. It offered a 40 character by 8 line screen, 8K memory (enough for about 11 pages of text), ran for 15+ hours on four AA batteries, and featured a built-in 300 baud (approximately 30 characters per second) modem. It included a version of the Microsoft BASIC programming language, and rumor has it this was the last product to feature code crafted by Bill Gates. I've heard similar rumors about the Japanese MSX computer series, though.

The Model 100 was an incredible hit with journalists who quickly realized the power of this early notebook. Stories could be typed up anywhere and transferred back to the publisher using the built-in modem -- a revolutionary approach. Over six million of these portables (and their offspring) were manufactured and they still have legions of dedicated users.

If you'd like to take a Model 100 for a risk-free test drive, Virtual T is a TRS-80 Model 100/102/200 emulator that runs on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.

Model 100 User's Group (A great starting point for Model 100 information and ideas)
Various Kyocera-made portables (oldcomputers.net)

RIP: The Floppy Disk (1971-2011)

Sony recently announced plans to end  production of 3.5" floppy disks in March, 2011. What amazes me most is that they still sell about 12 million per year -- there must be a lot of legacy lab gear that still needs them.

I can't honestly remember the last time I bought a floppy. I'm guessing it was sometime in the late 1990s. How about you?

The Evolution of PC Audio

YouTuber phreakindee used the theme tune from The Secret of Monkey Island to track the evolution of PC audio. It all started in 1981 with crude square wave bleeps from an IBM PC...

Evolution of PC Audio - As Told by Secret of Monkey Island [via Slashdot]

1965: Man & Computer

M.A. writes, "Here's a very well executed promotional film made for the British market. It uses anthropomorphization to demonstrate the basics of computer logic: literally a table with several people seated around it using various business machines (naturally made by IBM) to represent input, memory, calculation and output.

The rudiments of programming and binary code are covered. There is a healthy dose of reassurance about the computer's capabilities and limitations, with a definite desire to show that the computer can never replace, only augment humans. Overall it is very well executed and has a wonderful 'dated' quality."

Yes, You Can Still Zork...

We've pulled down our April 1st front page, but it's archived here if you're a former Zork addict (or just have a thing for Grues in dark places).

Replace Your Commodore 64 Disk Drive With Flash Memory

The 1541-Ultimate II is a modern replacement for the Commodore 64's famed 1541 floppy disk drive. The original was slow and prone to misalignment, while the modern version uses removable flash memory and emulates various popular Commodore 64 cartridges such as the Action Replay, Super Snapshot and Retro Replay.

The 1541 Ultimate-II reads D64 and G64 formatted files from standard Micro SD cards and can emulate various drive versions including the 1541, 1541C and 1541 II.

While not for everyone, this device is definitely much easier to use in the modern world than an elderly electromechanical drive that requires a steady diet of aging 5.25" floppies. The 1541 Ultimate-II is in the final stages of development. As soon as the plastic case meets the designer's quality requirements, the product will be available for 129 Euros.

The 1541 Ultimate Official Website

Vimeo Videos Rendered In ASCII

Asciimeo generates ASCII art versions of your favorite Vimeo flicks on the fly. I cannot think of a better way to squander a Friday afternoon.

Watch Vimeo in ASCII [thanks, Eric Brodeur!]

HyperSID: Commodore 64 Music Synth For Your PC

The Commodore SID chip is perhaps the most famous sound generator of the 8-bit era. Its 3 channels of analog audio created kept Commodore owners from going slowly mad while waiting for their 1541 disk drives to load games at a snail's pace. As a result, the chip's distinctive sound influenced a generation of electronic musicians and game designers and has remained constantly in demand since its debut in 1982.

HyperSID is a stand-alone MIDI-driven hardware unit that contains a microcontroller and a SID chip. A companion software plug-in lets you edit and play genuine SID sounds from within your favorite computer-based music recording program, integrating 8-bit sound with 21st century technology.

The hardware support all versions of the SID chip (8580 / 6582 / 6581) and includes a balanced mono audio output. The OS can be upgraded via serial port and the front panel backlight brightness can be controlled by MIDI events.

The software incorporates a flexible preset manager with save and load functionality. It can run as a stand-alone program or as an integrated VST instrument. There's even an ultra-fast arpeggiator which can produce classic multi-note arpeggios at a tempo of up to 4000 bpm.

The program is donationware, while the HyperSID hardware costs $299 with a pre-installed SID chip. If you have ninja soldering skills, you can buy a bare board for only $49 and build it from scratch.

HyperSID hybrid sound synthesizer system

Altair 8800 Micro Replica Nears Release

Vince Briel is famous for his replicas of vintage Apple I and Commodore KIM-1 computers. His latest machine is the Altair 8800 Micro, a miniaturized (10″ x 7.5" x 3″) recreation of the Altair 8800, which appeared on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, billed as the "World's first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models."

While the original was based on the Intel 8080 processor, the new machine emulates the original CPU using an Atmel AVR microcontroller. It includes 32K RAM, SD flash memory card slot, VGA or composite video output using an Integrated PockeTerm serial terminal and PS/2 keyboard support.

A couple of days ago, he proudly announced, "After a month of intense programming, the Altair 8800 Micro is now functional. Early tests show it runs all 4K BASIC commands and 8K is now being tested. The Micro version is one of 3 planned versions of the Altair replica line. The full sized panel will also be available with a future option of the AltairPC, a complete PC Case with the look of a Altair and your latest PC inside."

There's still some more firmware development required, but it looks like the world will see the release of a new Altair computer in 2010, thirty-five years after the original sparked the home computer revolution. I can't wait.

Altair 8800 Micro Prototype

DIY: The Terminalscope

Matt Sarnoff's Terminalscope is a VT100 compatible bidirectional serial terminal that displays a 54x24 character raster display on your workbench oscilloscope. Apart from the lack of an 80-column mode, the display is strikingly similar to the old VT100s I once wrangled. It features a flicker-free 60Hz screen update, 7-bit ASCII character set, reverse video and selectable bit rate from 2400-38400 bps.

Sarnoff explains what makes his design special: "A great thing about the Terminalscope is its simplicity. Other scope projects require an expensive DAC or an inaccurate R-2R ladder. Rather than draw each character with individual strokes, op-amps are used to generate a raster scan across the screen (like a TV) and the Z axis (beam intensity) is modulated directly by the microcontroller."

Full source code and a schematic diagram are available on his site, and you're encouraged to build upon this project to create something even cooler.

Terminalscope Serial Console [via Hack A Day]

Brand New Music Synth -- For the Apple II?!

Although it pains me to write this, it is possible to go overboard with vintage gear. The Apple II Digital Music Synthesizer might be a case in point. It's a brand new $19.95 piece of software for the Apple II, released on 5-1/4 inch floppy. Needless to say, it's guaranteed to be a niche seller.

That said, it's pretty cool by early eighties standards. MJ Mahon & 8 Bit Weapon declare, "The DMS is the only wavetable synthesizer for the Apple //e, IIc, and IIc+ computers that is suitable for performance use. It supports up to 8 voices, which can be selected from the 10 on disk, and played (monophonically) from the Apple II keyboard. It can be used to “record” a performance for later playback as well. Also, the DMS doesn’t require a monitor! Just turn on your Apple II and when the drive light goes off. Then hit the space bar you’re ready to play live!"

There's even an mp3 demo. I can hardly wait to subject you all to my next Apple II-inspired vibraphone / sine wave / banjo opus. Bring earplugs.

Apple II DMS Music Software [via CDM, Technabob & Matrixsynth]

My 23 Year Old Tablet Computer

What with all the talk about Apple's forthcoming iPad, I decided to dig through the closet for my old Cambridge Z88. Introduced in 1987, this lightweight tablet was a serious attempt to revolutionize portable computing. 

True, it didn't have a touchscreen or wireless connectivity. However, it managed to cram a silent rubber keyboard and 640 x 64 monochrome LCD panel into a tiny frame perfectly sized for airplane or boardroom use. It also shipped with a decent set of productivity tools that made it a genuinely useful portable computer.

Almost 23 years after it rolled off the assembly line, mine functions perfectly. It's still quite useful as a dedicated word processor, actually. The Z88 runs for about 20 hours on 4 x AA batteries, which is quite impressive even by today's standards. This one has a 128 K RAM pack and a 1 MB EEPROM pack for non-volatile program storage (which would have been absolutely enormous back then). Someone was nice enough to port Lemmings, too, so I can sneak in a quick game while waiting for inspiration to strike.

One thing the Z88 has that's missing from devices like the iPad is a decent built-in programming language. It offers a capable BASIC interpreter that can prove quite handy for solving financial or engineering problems in a hurry. All in all, it's a neat little package for DIY tinkerers that was years ahead of its time. I can only imagine what designer Clive Sinclair would have done with today's LED backlit screens and extreme miniaturization.

While this little machine eventually lost its battle against an onslaught of boring beige MS-DOS laptops, you can still buy new old stock Z88 computers and accessories from Rakewell Limited in the UK. Prices start at £80.

Is This The Ultimate Commodore 64 Mod?

The C-64 occupies a unique position in the 8-bit music world, thanks to its amazing little SID synthesizer chip. The RX-64R is a rather impressive C-64 that's been modded to include a 7" LCD screen, dual port switchable joystick, 4 analog controllers for synth applications, a custom control panel a SID2SID dual SID-chip mod and more. The case is modeled after a Moog monosynth, with wooden end caps and lots of metal.

After two years of development, the project still has a sizable to-do list. Luckily, this is one project that won't be out of date anytime soon -- it's already 20 years behind the times.

RX-64R Monosynth style WIP – The ultimate modded 64 [via Matrixsynth]

Exidy Sorcerer: The 8-Track Computer

The Zilog Z-80 powered Sorcerer was built by arcade game maker Exidy. It was short-lived and fairly unremarkable, except for one thing -- it was the first home computer with a ROM cartridge port for instant program access (most home users still struggled with error-prone cassette tape storage in the late 1970s).

The designers cleverly repurposed 8-track tape shells to house the cartridge circuit board and EPROM chips ( to reduce development costs, no doubt) and a Microsoft BASIC cartridge was included with every unit.

The Sorcerer retailed for $895 with 8K RAM and an expansion chassis was available to allow the use of S-100 expansion boards. The machine ran the CP/M operating system, which was popular with hardcore hobbyists and business users. It generated a 64 x 30 character monochrome display, with a fairly impressive 512×240 graphic mode.

Exidy walked away from the home computer market in 1980, unable to compete with machines like the Apple ][, which offered color graphics and built-in expansion (including a remarkably affordable floppy drive designed by Steve Wozniak).

The Sorcerer and other classics are featured in Maximum PC's Dawn of the Personal Computer: From Altair to the IBM PC

Have You Visited Atari Mania Today?

Atari Mania is a fantastic archive of vintage Atari Magazines and software. How could you not love a site that offers over 7,000 Atari 2600 ROM images? You'll also find the Top 100 games for the Atari 400/800 and stunning high resolution copies of magazines such as ANALOG Computing and Antic. It's funny to discover that the ads are still the coolest part of the magazines, even after three decades. Hmm. Wonder if dad would lend me a couple of hundred bucks for a snazzy new double density floppy drive?

Atari Mania: The World's Finest Atari Database