What was your very first computer ... ?
Mine:
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ZeVXohSyo]
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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ZeVXohSyo]
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RealtaReoite · 61-69, M
IMSAI 8080. 24K RAM, 5-1/4" hard-sectored floppy drive, front panel to toggle in bootstrap code, weighed a ton, ran hot as hell. Lovingly soldered together on the coffee table in my apartment. LSI 3A terminal, upper case letters only.
Taught it to play Star Trek and Hammurabi and used it in VERY early attempts to do embedded firmware development. Those were the days.
Just sold it a year or so ago.
Taught it to play Star Trek and Hammurabi and used it in VERY early attempts to do embedded firmware development. Those were the days.
Just sold it a year or so ago.
SW-User
@RealtaReoite one of my physics profs had an 8080 but it was in pieces. That Star Trek game got ported to a lot of things, I think it's one of the very few actually good Star Trek games.
RealtaReoite · 61-69, M
@SW-User I spent a while in the summer between 3rd and 4th year engineering trying to get one of my prof's Altair running reliably. The 8" floppy controller was AWFUL, as I recall. All sorts of one-shots for read timing. Got it somewhat better, it would boot much of the time, but never really any good.
I wonder what the grandkids would think of Star Trek. I bet they'd laugh and laugh and laugh. Or maybe just wonder what the hell was wrong with grandpa. Maybe I should find a version somewhere (or write it, if I could only remember how it worked).
I wonder what the grandkids would think of Star Trek. I bet they'd laugh and laugh and laugh. Or maybe just wonder what the hell was wrong with grandpa. Maybe I should find a version somewhere (or write it, if I could only remember how it worked).
RealtaReoite · 61-69, M
SW-User
@RealtaReoite yep, that's the one!
RealtaReoite · 61-69, M
SW-User
@RealtaReoite I've never seen a real teletype in operation, just some old broken ones in a computer lab storage room. I did see a Tektronix 4014 with the cool Battlestar Galactica screen.
RealtaReoite · 61-69, M
@SW-User Aw, you missed a treat. The old ASR33. Complete with paper tape punch and reader. I had a perfectly good one for many years in my Museum of Antique Computer Technology (aka my crawlspace). Hooked up to the IMSAI, even.
Our engineering computer lab had a 4014 on the PDP-8, I think. I wasn't, technically, supposed to play with it, I guess, but I just couldn't resist.
Our engineering computer lab had a 4014 on the PDP-8, I think. I wasn't, technically, supposed to play with it, I guess, but I just couldn't resist.
SW-User
@RealtaReoite I've seen them in action on YouTube, they were completely electromechanical, weren't they? Like the rotary phone of terminals.
RealtaReoite · 61-69, M
@SW-User Yes. Entirely, relentlessly mechanical. With a big motor and flywheels and all sorts of great noisy, rattling linkages. Mine would actually walk across the floor if given half a chance. It amazes me that they worked as reliably as they did.
Sort of like the Strowger switch of terminals, not just the rotary phone.
Sort of like the Strowger switch of terminals, not just the rotary phone.