using new technology on old machines. Was: PDP-12 Restoration at the RICM

[Chris Osborn]

On Jun 15, 2015, at 3:06 AM, Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE> wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 11:52:28AM +0200, Johnny Billquist wrote:
> 
>> We're talking about putting in a rather complex computer to generate
>> a baud rate. Are people really that handicapped when it comes to
>> building hardware nowadays?
> 
> Speaking for myself, yes.
> 
> I have a Teensy 2.0 lying at my desk, it's Arduino compatible. I have 
> the development environemnt set up, a small solderless breadboard and 
> proper power supply. I could probably whip up the C-code for a flicking 
> pin on and off in the correct pace in very little time.
> 
> Now, if the alternative is reading up on crystals, oscillators, dividers 
> and related support chips, figure out where to buy and then wait for the 
> parts to ship, which option do you think I will choose?


Agreed. I really love the modern microcontrollers like the Arduino and tiny embedded computers with GPIO like the Raspberry Pi or Galileo because they make it so incredibly easy to turn a hardware problem into a software problem. And writing software is super easy, even if you’re not an expert. You can just keep trying another solution over and over and all you have to do is push a few keys on your keyboard.

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