- I've still got my early Power Computing clone: I was actually just doing some maintenance on it. Great machines for a good price.
- Ah, thanks for posting this!
I will probably be implementing the 16K version soon, once I figure out the inconsistency of the documentation around the select lines. Some RAM wouldn't go amiss either, so I can see how much more fun BASIC-G is.
I also have a version of CamelForth-80 that I've been working on for the SG-1000, but I put it on the shelf because keyboard scanning is boring. If I can pick that back up, I can probably port it to this as well.
- classichasclass 15 days agoOf course! It was a fun article.reply
- Thanks! I would like to do more with it, but I think I may want to start looking at doing my own cart (with more RAM, and maybe SD) first.
- Yeah. You should add both. The BASIC appears to deserve it.
This is a bit off topic, at least for this thread, but I am doing some similar activities related to pocket computers.Sidebar:Back in the day, what I really wanted was a Model 100 by Tandy. I have one now, and yeah. It would have done the work back then. Well.
My use case was manufacturing. Actually still is! I have an opportunity to make some parts similar to ones I did then. At the time, I used a combination of a Tandy PC-6, I believe? The folding one. And also a Casio scientific.
The Tandy had just enough to be useful, but no graphics. Only 20 character, one line display too. Ugh.
But that was enough to help lay out parts and crank out some g-code, which I would just type into a machine and run.
Well, little didnI know, but SHARP was flat out killing it in this space. They got really good at designing little, fast organizers that ran an bit CPU of their own design I think, and button cells!
Their displays were often super too. Clear, fast, respectable pixel counts.
The SHARP G850VS is basically a whole darn workstation. Battery requirements went up to AA cells, but worth it!
Display has 20x5 lines too. Pixel addressable.
But get this!
It has a huge system ROM containing:
BASIC with graphical, scientific, statistical and robust logic commands.
System Monitor
Z-80 Assembler
C Compiler! ! ! (Seriously?)
PIC Assembler
And one other pseudo machine assembler for education I do not fully understand other than the consensus it it being useless.
System Bus, like for cartridges or and / dock.
10 Pin GPIO block, similar to the Raspi machines.
IR comms capability.
That is nuts! And back then it was easy to miss this kind of thing. No Internet meant a lot of us just did not get info. Heck, I learned 6502 out of the magazines in the grocery store magazine racks!
I am on the hunt. And they are not too hard to find right now, so I really just gotta save my pennies and pull the trigger on a good one.
That kind-of capability would have enabled a little CAM system with back plotting to verify g-codes!
Seems to me you found enough here in your exploration to want the same thing. Flesh it all out and go! Bet you it ends up worth it. :)End SidebarVery enjoyable write up, BTW.
- Thanks! I happen to have have a G850V (non-S,) but the zebra cables on the LCD have gone spotty. I'm going to see if I can reflow it somehow, or simply put a block of foam behind to re-establish contact.
Truly impressive machines, but vulnerable to the classic Sharp durability issues. I'm still hopeful I can bring it back :)
- I had some stuck on a Famicom and it just crumbled. I'm impressed the Atari one came off cleanly.
- I was happy to make it somewhat modular, so at least the original keyboard (and Tandy bodge board) has survived intact. The machine was never original in my possession – the previous owner has done a lot of modifications to it - so I feel like I am carrying on with his wishes rather than tinkering with Tandy's.
I do want to still replace the membrane/backplate inside the keyboard with low-profile switches as I did to my PC-6001mkII (https://www.leadedsolder.com/2024/11/26/pc6001mkII-keyboard-...), but that involves a lot of picky measuring for mounting holes, outlines, key switches, etc and you can tell from the article that accurate measuring is not one of my strongest suits :)
- You can even write networked code in it now if you have a FujiNet.
https://forums.atariage.com/topic/312941-fujinet-bindings-fo.../
- Tools! Pinecil, bench power supplies, battery compressed-air blowers, chip pullers, EPROM programmers, RAM testers, disk drive cleaners, video capture gear, Greaseweazle. Lots of relatively inexpensive stuff can enable whole new projects.
- This is an excellent writeup, and is basically how I figured owning one of these was going to go. My own current bête noire is a Sega Teradrive with what feels like occasional inter-layer shorts.
- Hey, thank you! I will add that the MacIvory is probably the easiest Symbolics system to actually own and run. The full-size systems are VMEbus tanks, and some can be incredibly loud.
On the other hand, I hear from others that Symbolics had the best software, even if the TI Explorer series may be more liveable.
- Hello from Canada! I post some links once in awhile when I get a chance, but I read the site at least once a day. It's a great community.
- At first I thought this was going to be a remake of Freeverse's SimStapler.
- More