hardware - Imapenguin

hardware

A collection of 17 posts

A little more speed from the 6502

A little more speed from the 6502

Can we get a little more speed from a 6502 than we did last week? Almost certainly. The memory test we used was a general-purpose one. It's flexible and reusable. The price is some speed. Let's try and make it faster. The test machine for this one I'm going to

Almost primes with TinyBASIC on the KIM-1 clone: PAL-1

Almost primes with TinyBASIC on the KIM-1 clone: PAL-1

Bill Gates has been a controversial figure in the Computer World for 50 years now. Back in 1976, he famously (infamously?) wrote a letter bemoaning what he saw as rampant piracy of BASIC. Micro Soft was selling their version of BASIC, which is quite good for a whopping $150. This

VIC’s Revenge, the drop-in replacement for the VIC-20 VIC chip Part 1: Introduction, design goals, and FAQs

VIC’s Revenge, the drop-in replacement for the VIC-20 VIC chip Part 1: Introduction, design goals, and FAQs

I'm doing a year-long project to reverse engineer the output and functionality of a VIC-20's video chip, and create a drop-in replacement. At the start of this project (a few days ago), I only actually know how to do a percentage of the things I'll need to complete this project.

Simple exponents on an HP-16c

Simple exponents on an HP-16c

I've been on the prowl for an HP-16c for quite some time to add to my rather large calculator collection. My daily driver for the last 25 years is an HP-32SII. Simple, rugged, reliable, and does everything I need it to do. I stumbled on a kit that runs an

Fibonacci 1-10 on the KIM-1 (and clones)

Fibonacci 1-10 on the KIM-1 (and clones)

Sometimes there's an absolute joy in doing something the hard way to REALLY understand what's happening. I struggled (still struggle) with wrapping my mind around using the display on the KIM-1. The best way (for me anyway) to be motivated to learn something is to have an outcome in mind

Getting green and amber screens from a MiniPET 40/80

Getting green and amber screens from a MiniPET 40/80

In mid-2021, I built a MiniPET 40/80. It's one of the best replica kits I've ever seen. Even the keyboard is wonderfully awkward to use, just like a real Chicklet PET keyboard is. Switching between ROM versions with DIP switches has been great for learning and experimenting with internals.

A week of diving a little deeper into my Atari 800XL

A week of diving a little deeper into my Atari 800XL

I'm a Commodore guy through and through. This isn't tribalism, it's what was in my room from 1983 to when I graduated High School in 1993. After my sorta failed attempt at spending the month of September with my Coco 2 [https://imapenguin.com/two-weeks-with-mostly-a-coco-2-in-september/], I decided for October to

Two weeks with a Coco 2 in September

Two weeks with a Coco 2 in September

In the inside baseball realm of vintage computer enthusiasts, a few hashtags have emerged to support one's favorite retro computers. The main one in September is #SepTandy While I've had this Tandy Color Computer 2 for many years, I've almost never used it. Out of all of my vintage systems,

Slot Game On Tandy TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-4

Slot Game On Tandy TRS-80 Pocket Computer PC-4

One of my first ever real programs was a blackjack game I made in BASIC on a Sharp 9300 calculator to impress my Adv. Algebra teacher. I have seen the handwritten copy of this somewhere around here recently, but I'll be darned if I can't find it now. Slot Game

The CERBERUS 2080

The CERBERUS 2080

A few months ago, I stumbled on a project that really caught my attention. Mr. Bernardo Kastrup, aka TheByteAttic [https://www.thebyteattic.com/#!] finished a video series on a computer he designed and built "by hand [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ASspLiE39g&list=PLDf2uklC__d2DAXmF9XuOq_-uNc2M9ITd] ." It's an impressive

The retro pinout project

The retro pinout project

One of my main goals in sharing retro computing is to help people DO things with these machines. They are useful for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is education and demonstration. The constraints are wonderful for this. Using 30-50 year old hardware comes at a price.

The Commodore 64 N.O.O.C.U.L.A.R. futbal project

The Commodore 64 N.O.O.C.U.L.A.R. futbal project

Concept I'm fortunate to have a number of vintage computers I've collected over the years. Some were fun finds, others donated. One I've had since 1983 (we think) and it's one of my most prized possessions. I travel a fair bit and not long ago I was looking for something

Repairing a Commodore 128 and DIY Chris's RAM tester review

Repairing a Commodore 128 and DIY Chris's RAM tester review

I have several items from DIY Chris [https://diychris.com/index.php/shop/] that we'll review over the next week including a GAL PLA and flash-able ROM drop in that can hold kernal, character or BASIC ROMs. First on the list is the RAM tester. The problem child 128 I

Finding the Prodigal Easter Egg inside the Easter Egg on a Commodore 64

Finding the Prodigal Easter Egg inside the Easter Egg on a Commodore 64

If you REALLY want to get into the weeds on how I figured out the Easter Egg(s) inside the Easter Egg on a 35 Year old album on a 35 year old computer then you're in luck! This video is for you! I mention "the original author" in the

Benchmarking Retro Computers (mostly Commodore) with marginal methods

Benchmarking Retro Computers (mostly Commodore) with marginal methods

Just the BASICs, please Our friend in retro @NoelsRetroLab [https://twitter.com/NoelsRetroLab] has a simple BASIC benchmarking tool that's fun to use to compare different basic systems execution speed. We're counting jiffies [https://imapenguin.com/jiffies-in-assembly/], which is roughly (sometimes very roughly) 1/60th of a second. We're using

c0pperdragon verdict

c0pperdragon verdict

Ahh, the quest for a better Vintage computer picture never ends. I'm having fun with it anyway. Side thought: At what point does a computer cross over from old: no one wants that 2007 Windows tower you built in your basement, to OMG, it's Vintage, let's drive up the eBay

Replacing an RF Modulator on a Commodore 64C

Replacing an RF Modulator on a Commodore 64C

The output on my newest Commodore 64 (1989) is pretty marginal. The colors are okay(ish) but the text lines are clearly bleeding and the picture is very muddy. Most vintage computers don't do red text on blue very well, but this one is particularly painful. Red on dark blue