Anyone actually built a computer?

[Morningside]

I dont mean getting the parts form ebuyer and putting them in a box..I mean real hardcore soldering iron/wirewrap stuff.

[jimmyjimjim]

Nope, but been tempted -

http://www.brielcomputers.com/

There's vintage spectrum kits out there still, and another couple of Altair replica kits, amongst others.

[JB!]

LOL.

i've done the ebuyer thing.

was good craik!

[Morningside]

jimmyjimjim said:

Nope, but been tempted -

http://www.brielcomputers.com/

There's vintage spectrum kits out there still, and another couple of Altair replica kits, amongst others.

The Altiar looks fun.

I did look at the Apple 1 replica (still have the book here) but it was a bit of a swizz.
http://www.brielcomputers.com/replica1.html
Yes, I agree its functionally correct but the hardware should be close as well otherwise you may as well use a PC emulator and where is the fun in that?

Edited by Morningside on Saturday 20th February 23:29

[jimmyjimjim]

Taking that view, the original spectrum kit that is still available from a few sources is going to be the best bet.

I look at soldering projects from time to time; saw someone was trying to replicate an 8086 with transistors - that would be quite tempting if you could find everything else as well. BIG project, though.

[annodomini2]

Loads but I do work on Embedded systems.

But I'm guessing you're referring mainly to the early 80's desktops where some of the processor components are spread across the board.

[Morningside]

Yes. I am talking Z80 or 6502. I did some work in the late 80s on 8051 derived stuff and including the Basic chip version.
I also like to dabble in PIC chip stuff but I have some old boards floating about with 90's tech on them (ie CPU/RAM) and thought about 'converting' them into a workable computer. I may go the Z80 route as there is quite a number of assemblers for them.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Loads in the past. Z80A's, 6502 and even a 68000 with dynamic ram and no memory controller. 5 (worth nothing in the real world) geek points to the first person who works out how that was done

[tribbles]

I've done a couple of 6502 based machines, and a fair number of ARM boards (this is pre-microcontroller times - namely ARM2, ARM3 and ARM250 back in the mid-90s).

Somewhere in my cupboard I've got a wire-wrapped ARM3 that should be in a good state to be used - although due to a recent clear up of my loft, it's now a lot harder to find.

Microcontrollers take some of the fun out of it, but are a damn site easier to use.

Can't think of a solution for 68000, unless you used the video as DRAM refresh (which is what the BBC micro did). However, I skipped the 16-bit generation, and went straight from 8 to 32 bits

[FamilyGuy]

A Tangerine Computer Systems MicroTan 65. It came as a heap of components and a circuit board. No PSU - you find that for yourself. I still have it and it still works, although an 8 bit 6502 running at 750Mhz (yes, that's an K, not an M...) doesn't give my PC much competition.

Edited to fix error in the order of a magnitude of 3...

Edited by FamilyGuy on Sunday 21st February 17:51

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

FamilyGuy said:

A Tangerine Computer Systems MicroTan 65. It came as a heap of components and a circuit board. No PSU - you find that for yourself. I still have it and it still works, although an 8 bit 6502 running at 750Mhz (yes, that's an M, not a G...) doesn't give my PC much competition.

Bet that's a K not an M.

[tribbles]

Would have to be a K.

[FamilyGuy]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

FamilyGuy said:

A Tangerine Computer Systems MicroTan 65. It came as a heap of components and a circuit board. No PSU - you find that for yourself. I still have it and it still works, although an 8 bit 6502 running at 750Mhz (yes, that's an M, not a G...) doesn't give my PC much competition.

Bet that's a K not an M.

Arse - you're right. It is a K.

[Zad]

Loads. At school I built a total of 7 ZX81s (including my own) for people. Despite being 11, I was the only one they trusted to solder school's new computer, a Nascom II kit! I wire wrapped an 8085 single board thing too, and designed a 68000 ( I was given the cpu and memory) but ran out of cash to buy the copper clad and support chips. I would guess that you got around the refresh by creating sequenced memory access via interrupts?

I did start to build my own CPU with a bucketful of transistors and a reel of diodes from an amateur radio rally, but after a couple of hundred transistors I lost enthusiasm. After that, it was mainly embedded systems as "proper" computers just got way too fast and complicated for casual construction, needing multi-layer PCBs. I save that sort of thing for work

Ask yourself, what would you do with the Altair? They are huge buggers and don't do much.

[Blue Meanie]

Built ones for data transmitting buoys, that work with speedlan radios, and all that guff. Very dull.

[paul.deitch]

Haven't seen a 6502/Z80 mentioned for a long time. The joys of learning assembler codes and stack limits and interupt levels and entering it all byte by byte. Still it taught me a lot though.