Build your own home computer

[Mark R]

Kit of matched parts

The final product

 

[ViviTheMage]

eheheh 65,000 words is the max memory.

 

[imported_stev]

How well does it run HL2?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Hey, don't laugh that was some pretty heady stuff in 1975.

Almost embarassed to admit I help a buddy build one of these😱

If you think building a modern PC is challenging, you should try one of these🙂

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Almost embarassed to admit I help a buddy build one of these😱

Just to be clear. They did actually expect you to solder all those components to the PCBs?

HTH did they expect home constructors to debug something like that?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: stev
How well does it run HL2?

The best it could probably do was calculate out the half life of 2 different elements.

 

[n7]

😀

 

[KeithTalent]

Hah, I love it. I bet it could beat me at chess.

 

[wamasters]

Ouch! You know you're too ... (expletive deleted) old when you see something like this. I remember this stuff (and that ad)! Thank the gods that I finally have software that DOES SOMETHING ('cause these systems did very little and they came WITHOUT and operating system).

 

[imported_LoKe]

It's like a ham radio, but so much fscking harder.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: Mark R

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Almost embarassed to admit I help a buddy build one of these😱

Just to be clear. They did actually expect you to solder all those components to the PCBs?

HTH did they expect home constructors to debug something like that?

Yep, everything had to be soldered and your chance of making it work right were pretty slim. My buddy that owned the kit was in an electronics class in college, we worked on it for three straight weekends then he took it into his class. I think they eventually got it to boot up and do some basic tasks, but I don't think they ever got it working completely right.

These kits were really sold as educational projects with no useful purpose, in 1975 there was no OS available and no software to run on it

 

[DaveSimmons]

My TRS-80 model 1 was sooo much more powerful -- 12K BASIC in ROM, 16K RAM, cassette tape data storage, RO33 teletype printer, AM radio for RFI based sound, black & white 64x16 character text display and 128x48 resolution graphics.

It did cost a bit over $1,000 but it was pre-built

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
My TRS-80 model 1 was sooo much more powerful -- 12K BASIC in ROM, 16K RAM, cassette tape data storage, RO33 teletype printer, AM radio for RFI based sound, black & white 64x16 character text display and 128x48 resolution graphics.

It did cost a bit over $1,000 but it was pre-built

I've got one of those in my attic🙂 It truly was the first prebuilt computer, and you could actual do something with it

 

[wamasters]

My first build was a Southwest Technical Products Corp (SWTPC) computer (SS50 bus, MOTOROLA processor, still waiting for software - just kidding). I moved up the ladder slowly (didn't adopt an IBM compatible until long after the 'clone wars') waiting for a decent OS (other than MS-DOS, CPM, or MacOS). I have a Delmar Co. System IV computer in MY attic (I actually worked for the company that built those).
Still rolling my own (and it's SO much easier than it used to be - no soldering, no software to write, and lots of good stuff to run).
Once again thank the gods that things have evolved!