Recording audio to a floppy disk

I came across this article at CrunchGear on how to record analog audio on to a floppy disk. It's a pretty good hack, so check out the article: Video: Recording analog audio to a floppy disk

Below is the video that was featured in the article. It was produced by The Fat Man and Circuit Girl which looks like a great site to find some interesting hacks, some using surplus equipment.



The Fat Man and Circuit Girl are George Sanger and Jeri Ellsworth respectively. Jeri is best known for her work on the Commodore 30-in-1 Direct to TV, and she has a YouTube page at: http://www.youtube.com/user/jeriellsworth. I especially like the video: CDROM Tray Cup Warmer / Cooler with Over Clocked 8bit CPU's and Peltier Cooler

Now I know a many of you have lots of surplus stuff lying around, so The Fat Man and Circuit Girl should give you plenty of inspiration to hack away at some of it. Cheers ~ Jim

Video: History of the Internet

A friend pointed me to a video on YouTube titled "History of the Internet", and while it is not directly related to 8-Bit retro computing it is still pretty cool, so I thought I would share it with you. Cheers ~ Jim

Cool CoCo videos!

Allen Huffman put together this great video of the 18th "Last" CoCoFest that took place last weekend. I have never been to a CoCoFest, so for me this is a great treat because I finally get to see some of the people who I have only known via email or chat.

So check out Al's great "CoCoFest 2009 Teaser" video, and be sure to read his "2009 CoCoFest Report"!



Allen also let me know (and the entire CoCo News Group) about this video montage from shubibinman titled "Tandy CoCo Tribute" If you are an CoCoNut or an 8-Bit Retro gamer then you should get a blast out of this!

OS News: 8-Bit Game Creator Now Available for Order

I just caught this posting over at OS News, thought many of you would be interested in it: 8-Bit Game Creator Now Available for Order.

The system is from Playpower.org, is available from MakerShed for $49.99, and comes with:

• 6502 processor,
• Keyboard, and mouse,
• 2 game controllers,
• Operating system cartridge -
• RCA cables (NTSC video and stereo audio)
• 9 volt power supply
  
• You can also get an adapter for your NES cartridges
  

At a glance I couldn't see anything about how much memory comes with the system. I did notice that the OS cartridge comes with a GUI in Mandarin Chinese, but fortunately has an DOS prompt in English. Maybe someone will come up with an Englsih version of the GUI in the near future, but then again for me working with a command line is a blast!

It looks like a great little system, and if I were current working and not worried about saving my pennies I would consider getting one.

Take a look at the Playpower.org site. I like the organization's philosophy of getting low cost systems into the hands of kids that provide them enough resources to encourage them to explore computing.

Feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment if you know more about this system ~ Jim

Amazing video of a large vintage computer collection

Update 05/18/09: Steve just left a comment stating that the Color Computer 1 is not actually black, but it just looks that way due to the lighting ~ Jim

Original Post:

This is just an incredible video of a very large collection of vintage computers and gaming systems. For all you Radio Shack Color Computer collectors take a look at the black Color Computer 1.



Here is the URL for Steve Benway's site: http://www.benwaysworld.co.uk/

If you have any news or links to add for this blog just drop me a line. Thanks! ~ Jim

Basic Stamp Super Computer!

I came across a video on YouTube title "My Basic Stamp Super Computer" and while it's not exactly 8-Bit, it still is cool:



Now this has got me inspired to play with my Basic Stamp kit ~ Jim

New CoCo links, and some cool CoCo videos

A friend of mine suggested some CoCo links for me to add to the CoCo Links ( Tandy Color Computer ) list, so I have gone ahead and added them. Check them out when you have the time.

My friend also sent me some cool looking CoCo vidoes; two are Radio Shack Commercials, and the other is a video of the Boink Bouncing Ball demo. Here they are:

• Radio Shack Tandy CoCo 3 Commercial: Merry Christmas HQ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3dtQ01MFlg
• 80's Radio Shack Color Computer Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2jRuh1bAxw
• Boink Bouncing Ball demo on CoCo 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eonlhPhv01s

I rcouldn't find much in the way of retro computing news except the Slashdot article below:

• Slashdot: Apple IIe Emulator Released For the Wii

This blog could use a lot more links, especially for the Apple II, Commodore, and Atari links lists. Feel free to leave a comment with your link suggestions or any leads for articles. You can also send me an email by clicking the "here" link in the "Welcome" section on the left-hand side.

PS: I just found this great CoCo posting! Check it out: The Color Computer (a.k.a. CoCo).