Video: IBM 5100 First Portable Computer commercial 1977

Well it has been a while since I posted to this blog, so I thought that this classic commercial from MrClassicAds would be a great way for me to get the ball rolling again:



I love the line "It weighs about 50 pounds". Now that's a portable, or at least that was the standard back when I graduated from high school.

Feel free to comment and if you have any suggestions for links drop me a line, and if you are on Linkedin.com you are welcome to join the 8-BIT RETRO COMPUTING Group.

Cheers ~ Jim

FORA.tv - Steve Wozniak: How I Invented the Personal Computer

FORA.tv has an excellent video featuring Steve Wozniak.

I tried to embedded a 5 minute segment where Woz was talking specifically about the Apple I and II, but for some reason the embedded code kept going the wrong section of the video.

So instead I am just going to point you to the 5 minute section here at FORA.tv

Enjoy ~ Jim Cox

Video: FPGA Tuning C64 SID Jeri Ellsworth

Here's a video for all you Commodore 64 and Jeri Ellsworth fans out there:



I need to do some digging around to see what other classic systems and chips are emulated with FPGAs.

Color Computer Manuals And Books AvailableColor Computer Manuals And Books Available

Update 10/18/09: All manuals have now been given away.

I have been doing a little house cleaning, and I have gone through all my Color Computer manuals and books and sorted out all the duplicates. All the manuals and books below are available for the cost of shipping (USPS or UPS, your choice).

I want to give back to the CoCo Community, so I would prefer to give these only to those I know from the CoCo list hosted by Maltedmedia, and not to speculators who will just sell the stuff on eBay.

If you are not a member of the list, but are in need of these manuals feel free to contact me via the email link in the "Welcome" section, and will can discuss your needs.

This list will be updated as items are given away, so check back often to see what is still available ~ Jim

Color Computer Manuals And Books:

1. Getting Started With Color Basic. Radio Shack Catalog Number 26-3191 3 Copies - 1 spoke for
   
2. Going Ahead With Extended Color Basic. (No Radio Shack Catalog number listed.) Spoken for
   
3. Color Computer 3 Basic Quick Reference Guide Spoken for
   
4. TRS-80 Color Computer Operation Manual. Radio Shack Catalog Number 26-3001/3002 Spoken for
   
5. Color Computer Disk System - Owners Manual & Programming Guide. (No Radio Shack Catalog number listed.) 3 Copies - 1 spoken for
6. Color Computer 3 Extended Basic. (No Radio Shack Catalog number listed.) Spoken for
7. Introducing Your Color Computer 3. (No Radio Shack Catalog number listed.) 3 Copies - 1 spoken for
8. Tandy Service Manual - Color Computer 3 NTSC/PAL Version with 512K Exansion RAM Card. Radio Shack Catalog Number 26-3334 - Spoken for
   
9. TRS-80 Color Computer Technical Reference Manual Spoken for
10. Direct Connect Modem Pak Operation Manual 26-2228 Spoken for
11. Deluxe RS-232 Program Pak Operation Manual. Radio Shack Catalog Number 26-2226 4 copies - 1 spoken for
    
12. DMP-100 Printer Manual. Radio Shack Catalog Number 26-1253
13. TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language Programming - William Barden Jr. Radio Shack Catalog Number 62-2077 - Spoken for
14. Instructions for Presto Painter for the CoCo

OS-9 Specific Manuals And Books:

1. The Complete Rainbow Guide To OS-9 ISBN: 0-932471-00-5 2 Copies - 1 spoken for
   
2. The Official Basic 09 Tour Guide ISBN: 0-918035-00-7 Spoken for

The following is a collection of Radio Shack OS-9 Manuals that have been hole punched and placed in a three ring binder, and will only be offered as a complete set:

• Getting Started With OS-9
• OS-9 Commands
• OS-9 Program Development
• OS-9 Technical Information
• This set has been spoken for.
  

Miscellaneous Manuals and Books:

1. 6809 Microcomputer Programming & Interfacing With Experiments ISBN: 0-672-21798-8 Tentatively spoken for.
   
2. Circuit Design Programs For The TRS-80 ISBN: 0-672-21741-4
3. Color Computer Graphics - William Barden Jr. Radio Shack Catalog Number 62-2076
4. How To Use Your Radio Shack Printer - William Barden Jr. Radio Shack Catalog Number 26-1242
5. Motorola MC6809-MC6809E Microprocessor Programming Manual Motorola Catalog Number: M6809PM(AD)
6. Technical Manual for the Star Mitronics Gemini-10X Dot Matrix Printer
7. C. Itoh Dot Matrix Printer Model 8510A Users Manual

WIRED: Homebrewed CPU Is a Beautiful Mess of Wires

If you ever wondered what it would be like to spin you own 8-Bit CPU then check out "Homebrewed CPU Is a Beautiful Mess of Wires" from WIRED.com.

The article details how Steve Chamberlin of Belmont California designed, and wire wrapped his own 8-Bit CPU called the "Big Mess of Wires" or BMOW. The design is similar to the 6502 and the completed project will be on display at the fourth annual Maker Faire this weekend (May 30 - 31, 2009)

Take a look at Steves site for more details: http://www.stevechamberlin.com/cpu/about/

Vintage commercial: Sinclair ZX Spectrum +

Here's something for all you Zed fans out there:



Have a great weekend ~ Jim

About that "History of the Internet" video, and something for the Apple II crowd

I have received a couple of emails about how the video in the previous post "Video: History of the Internet" is a little on the inaccurate side, so I would like to invite those of you who are a little more up on their about the history of the internet than I am to comment at that post, and state what you believe the inaccuracies are. (That's a subtle way of encouraging comments to this blog huh? :)

I'll try and do some more research on my own and follow up with another post at a future date, or if someone else want's to submit a more historically accurate article for this blog, I will be happy to post it for them.

Remember that this blog is for members of both the 8-Bit Retro Computing and Vintage Computing & Computers groups on Linkedin.com, so if you are a member of either of those groups you can submit articles for this blog. I am also open to allowing non-members to submit articles and news, so drop me a line if you have something you would like to add to this blog.

Now I haven't done much in the way of adding links or news for the Apple II fans out there, but I do plan to do so in the near future. In the mean time here's a picture I snagged from this site at Flickr that should bring back some memories for you Apple geeks.

Please feel free to comment, and drop me a line if you have any suggestions, concerns, or corrections for anything posted in this blog. And as always, please let me know of any links I should add to the links list in the sidebar. Cheers ~ Jim Cox