[GreenKeys] OT: old computers 'n stuff

[Robert Nickels]

True confessions time, I'm one who gave up mechanical machines back in 
the 70s for a "glass TTY" - it was the latest thing, ya know? Does 
anyone remember "The Digital Group" out of Denver?   Their chief 
engineer was a ham so I was drawn into their camp because of the 
availability of software to do things I was interested in, and it still 
sits on a shelf here as a reminder of how far things have come.   Later 
I went the S-100 route, pretty much for the same reason, back when Z-80 
ruled the roost, eight bits were more than sufficient, and no one had 
any idea what we'd ever do with more than 64K of memory!

Now a bunch of people have emulated things like Apple IIs and Commodores 
using Raspberry Pi, CHIP, or other newfangled SBCs at the core, but I 
see a few are re-treading the old ground in modern fashion, such as this 
guy from the UK:

http://rc2014.co.uk/

The RC2014 is a built-from-scratch Z-80 computer running Microsoft Basic 
(no Linux board underneath the hood!)    All thru-hole components and 
standard .100" pin headers and sockets replacing gold-plated card-edge 
connectors makes it easy to build and much smaller than the original 
backplane-type computers (not to mention, much cheaper!).    Of course 
this is not quite the same as restoring a vintage computer, but for 
those who just want to dabble in archaic tech or run some of their old 
software, it looks pretty cool to me.    You might have to remember how 
to wire up a serial terminal however, or there's a board that lets you 
use one of those newfangled gizmos (Pi Zero) as a terminal emulator.

The developer sells the boards on Tindie at very affordable prices. I 
don't have one and don't know him but thought it might be worth passing 
along.  Now where's that box with those old ham programs on cassette tapes?

73, Bob W9RAN