13 Mar
2000
13 Mar
'00
6:15 a.m.
ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
--snip--
Oh, I
don't doubt it's _possible_ to get a machine like that working, but
it's also a lot of work (which can, of course, be fun). I also doubt that
everybody here can do it....
True but learning how to do this sort of think is what
I consider the fun part about these machines. Having a box
that works without understand what is going on inside
would drive me batty. I'm really frustrated when I can't
find a schematic for some of the things I have. I have been
known to trace schematic myself but this is really time
consuming and I'd prefer to get copies of originals.
I don't have a piece of electronic gear that I haven't
at least taken the cover off of and looked inside.
There are people who can take a totally undocumented computer (no
manuals, no boot disks), and produce a memory map, I/O map, schematics,
ROM routines list, etc. And then write/modify an OS for it. Such people
are generally called 'hackers[1]' or more ;-)
[1] In the true, original, sense, of course...
Others prefer not to have to do all the work themselves....
Me? Well, I don't mind sorting out hardware, no matter how complex, but I
don't want to have to write an OS. I might manage a machine code monitor
on a good day :-)
So IMHO it's worth _considering_ what software/manuals are available for
a classic computer. It may well not make any difference to you, but it's
one thing to think about.
I tried to locate original software and also posted to this group
but the darn thing was a rare one. Finally a local friend found
some schematics and a little information. I still had to do
a lot of experimentation because the controller needed the right
information in the RAM that it was reading or writing to.
I guess I am just a hacker at heart. I think that all collectors
should take on such a project at some point on some machine.
The knowledge gained is valuable for all kinds of things. I
will have some hardware to play with on my death bed.
Dwight