9 May
1997
9 May
'97
5:01 p.m.
On 10-May-97, classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu wrote:
Just a quickie....
Have any of you guys ever made your own computers?
This is someting I have been thinking of doing but really don't know where
to start. It doesn't have to be fancy (something with a 8088 or Z80 or
6502 would be fine) So does anyone have any "plans" to make one?
There was a book published in the early to mid 80's sometime which went
into quite exact detail on designing and building an 8bit microcomputer, using
the Z80 I believe. Unfortunately, I don't recall the exact name, and my copy
of it was lost years ago. I believe it was something like "Building Your Own
Microcomputer" and I thought it was a fascinating book. Anyone else recall
this book?
Jeff jeffh(a)eleventh.com
--
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Sent from an Amiga 3000..the computer for the creative mind!
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Collector of classic home computers:
Amiga 1000, Atari 800, 800XL, Mega-ST/2 and XE System, Commodore
C-128D, Plus/4 and VIC-20, IBM 5155, Kaypro 2X, Osbourne Executive
Radofin Aquarius, Sinclair ZX-81, TI-99/4A, Timex-Sinclair 1000,
TRS-80 Color Computer-3 and Model 4, plus Atari Superpong and
2600VCS game consoles.
10 May
10 May
6:57 p.m.
On Sat, 10 May 1997, hellige wrote:
There was a book published in the early to mid 80's sometime which went
into quite exact detail on designing and building an 8bit microcomputer, using
the Z80 I believe. Unfortunately, I don't recall the exact name, and my copy
of it was lost years ago. I believe it was something like "Building Your Own
Microcomputer" and I thought it was a fascinating book. Anyone else recall
this book?
Jeff jeffh(a)eleventh.co
Yes, I believe it was published by TAD Books although I don't remeber the
exact title, either. It was available at my local library. At the time I
read it, I think I estimated it would cost about $1,000 altogether to
build the computer. It would probably be a lot cheaper today. Seemed
like a very good boook.
Susan
8:11 p.m.
On Sat, 10 May 1997, Susan M Johnson wrote:
Yes, I believe it was published by TAD Books although
I don't remeber the
exact title, either. It was available at my local library. At the time I
read it, I think I estimated it would cost about $1,000 altogether to
build the computer. It would probably be a lot cheaper today. Seemed
like a very good boook.
Susan
TAB books published a few on how to build a microcomputer:
"How to Build Your Own Working Microcomputer" by Charles K. Adams
"How To Design, Build & Program your Own Working Computer System" by
Rovert P. Haviland.
"How To Design, Build & Program your Own _Advanced_ Working Computer System"
by Rovert P. Haviland)
"The 8088 Project Book" by Robert Grossblatt. ISBN 0-8306-0271-1
The first one describes how to build an 8K 8080 based machine while the
second one describes how to build a computer based on the SC/MP chip.
(I have not seen this book, but I have a copy of the follow-on book.)
There was also a book written by Steve Ciarcia titled "Build Your Own
Z-80 Computer". This one has been recommended highly. The last I
heard it was still in print. (ISBN 0-07-010962-1).
A quick look through the alt.comp.cardware.howmebuilt FAQ produced
a few more:
- "Z-80 Microcomputer Design Projects" by William Barden Jr.
ISBN 0-672-21682-5, published by Howard W. Sams & Co. Inc
- "The Z80 Microcomputer Handbook" William Barden, Jr,
The A.C.H.H FAQ can be found at:
http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~msokos1/home19.faq
The Adams book seems like it was a rush job. There are quite a few
error and a few omissions in the book which should have been caught
by a proof reader.
Tangent:
Did TAB books just crank out books during the 80s? I haven't been able
to find a complete list of TAB books, but they cover the range from "33
Challenging Computer Games for TRS-80/Apple/Pet" (total crap) to "The
Handbook of Microcomputer Interfacing" (very good).
--pec
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12 May
12 May
4:23 a.m.
On Sat, 10 May 1997, Paul E Coad wrote:
TAB books published a few on how to build a
microcomputer:
"How to Build Your Own Working Microcomputer" by Charles K. Adams
The Adams book seems like it was a rush job. There are quite a few
error and a few omissions in the book which should have been caught
by a proof reader.
Did TAB books just crank out books during the 80s? I haven't been able
to find a complete list of TAB books, but they cover the range from "33
Challenging Computer Games for TRS-80/Apple/Pet" (total crap) to "The
Handbook of Microcomputer Interfacing" (very good).
While I never got into the hardware books from TAB, I tried a number of
their programming books on BASIC and Pascal. The line was typoed to hell
and back -- nothing worked without extensive editing. I've got OCR
software that reads handprinted text with more accuracy than TAB ever
published. The biggest tragedy is that they got Radio Shack to resell
some of their atrocities -- and I'm the guy who did customer support
answering questions about why nothing worked.
--
Ward Griffiths
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within
the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." --Claire Wolfe
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3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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gram＠cnct.com -
jeffh＠eleventh.com -
pcoad＠crl.com -
sjohnson＠GAS.UUG.Arizona.EDU