---PC---

[Akir]

Since I'm really tired of seeing an empty "PC Hackary" forum, and everyone's talking about Intel PCs, I thought I'd do us all a nice little favor by opening up the definition a bit.

First off, A PC is a Personal Computer.
That's it.

The point I'm trying to make is that PCs aren't soley x86 based computers. PCs are Amigas, Macs, Commadore 64/128s, Sinclare ZX Spectrums, X68000s, and so many more that I'm not even going to bother mentioning.

I know that about at least half of you must have some old computer (like an Apple ][) or another (like an AmigaOne PC), so please, don't kill this topic!

[Endymion]

Did you miss my thread last  month?

[TJ_Kat]

i have a tandy! but.. umm.. no tv to hook it up to =\

[Aidan]

I had a bunch of older machines at one point. However, lack of space means I don't have them any longer!

[kendrick]

I've still got a Commodore 64 lying around, but it's one of the first-run machines with the bad RAM and the faulty video driver. I've also got a Tandy CoCo, purchased for $7 at a local thrift shop. It goes great with the one game I have for it, a bizarre text-based RPG with a ridiculously picky input parser. I've also got a handful of TI-99/4a machines that don't work, but are great for components.

To the original point? Every word in the English language has a proper definition, and a popular definition. By the proper definition, a Macintosh is a PC, but no store will sell you the right software for it if you call it a PC. When this forum first went up, I had the opinion that the subject matter wasn't relevant unless it fit into the enjoyment of video games as a whole. So maybe instead of the 'PC Forum' this place should properly be called 'Non-Arcade and non-console forum.' That would broadly cover PC devices, other 8-bit home computers, cell phones, digital cameras, GPS receivers, and anything else they managed to get MAME running on. :)

-KKC, who's at work today. Americans will understand why that sucks.

[kripp]

Ive got myself a Tandy CoCo aswell, like yourself I paid $5.99 for it at the thrift store. Strange!?! I have some Space Invaders or Space Lasers game for it, something with Space in the title anyways.

Looks good on a shelf, but its not very practical for me anyways.

Thanks.

[atom]

I have an Apple][ GS  that uses the only RGB monitor I have ever owned. Had a commodre as a kid that was rolled down the stairs. Tandy is a x86 computer is it not?

[kendrick]

Not all of them. It's not well-known that Radio Shack didn't actually manufacture any of its personal computer equipment. It was all re-branded and licensed hardware, and only the last half of Tandy-labelled hardware happened to be PC-compatible. Most of this was the numbered variety, with the four-digit model numbers. 'CoCo' is short for Color Computer, an 8-bit piece of junk that didn't have nearly the power or the capabilities of the contemporary Apple and Commodore hardware, but managed to sell just as well based solely on Radio Shack's ability to distribute merchandise.

-KKC, who now owns a DVD burner. That makes me what, three years late to the party?

[Endymion]

Not sure what the CoCo used, but the TRS-80 model I, II, and III used a Z-80.

[kripp]

That much is true, my TRS-80 is Z-80 based. The first thing I did when I got this monster home was take it apart, I enjoy looking over old PCB's. It sure is nice to see something without any SMD's.

[ido8bit]

I have too many old computers.  I've got a TRS-80 model 3 that I've installed double sided drives.  I have several TRS-80 Color Computers with video mods and modified drive controllers.  I've got an SVI-328 (an almost MSX compatible) in which I've installed a parallel port so it can load games directly from a PC instead of a tape drive.  Then there are many Atari XL/XEs, STs, Amigas, Apple ][e/c/gs and various Commodores from the VIC-20 to the C128.  There are probably others I've forgotten as I haven't actually seen them in a while.  

I've got a few projects in mind that I still haven't gotten around to:

32KB internal RAM expansion in a Commodore VIC-20 with Block/Write protect switches for playing cartridge images.

4MB RAM expansion for an Apple IIgs using a single 4MB 72pin SIMM.

48KB internal RAM expansion in a Radio Shack MC-10.

64KB internal RAM expansion in a Dick Smith VZ-200

1MB internal RAM expansion in an Atari 130XE.

RGB video output for an Atari 130XE.

I don't claim any of these ideas are original.  I've seen at least partial plans or schematics for most of these online, but some I plan on extended.

[Darkman]

Thought some of you might want to see this. It's a Russian ZX-Spectrum 48K clone.
Front, rear, opened.
Got this in 1990. It still works, and I want to make it work with semi-modern TVs. I'm planning to replace the DIN5 RGB out socket with something that has more pins. I might make it a full featured AV port with mono audio as well.

[ido8bit]

I'd stick with the RGB output if you have a suitable monitor.  The RF output is probably SECAM.  While most modern TVs will handle NTSC/PAL, SECAM is less common.  

I bought a Russian Spectrum clone with an internal 5.25" floppy drive from ebay ages ago, but I still haven't got it working yet.  Unlike yours mine appears to have been built from scratch.  

The floppy controller is completely hand wired with this wierd fabric covered wire that is all the same color.  You can see were the guy who built it tied tiny knots in the wires so he could tell them apart.  The case is hand bent from sheet metal and isn't completely square.  The power supply is made from two odd transformers and stud diodes that could probably handle 20A.