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From: mpm on 8 Jul 2010 21:03
On Jul 8, 2:01 pm, AM <thisthatandtheot...(a)beherenow.org> wrote:

>   That's the shittiest wiring job I have ever seen in my life.- Hide quoted text -

It's close.
The worst cable job I ever saw was on a sightly grander scale.
This was circa Hurricane Andrew.

A two-way radio installation (trunked radio /SMR) down at the old WCIX
tower in Miami.
We had nicknamed it the "Scud Missile" room.

Wires and coax everywhere.!!!!
You have to picture a Ted's Shed (like a big garden shed) - open the
door and BAM!! so many cables in your face you couldn't even enter!
I mean -- you have to work HARD to end up with something like that.
Entropy will never quite get that bad.

I must say...
It was much improved (if a bit wet and scattered about the property!)
after Andrew. :)
I suspect a scud would have yielded similar benefits.

From: Robert Baer on 9 Jul 2010 05:10
Jan Panteltje wrote:
> On a sunny day (Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:24:55 -0700) it happened Robert Baer
> <robertbaer(a)localnet.com> wrote in
> <Z9udnXdo-qJxiqvRnZ2dnUVZ_o6dnZ2d(a)posted.localnet>:
>
>> Jan Panteltje wrote:
>>> On a sunny day (Wed, 7 Jul 2010 18:24:25 -0700 (PDT)) it happened
>>> "langwadt(a)fonz.dk" <langwadt(a)fonz.dk> wrote in
>>> <ed6abd35-6586-4594-8408-efc8d58b64c8(a)j8g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>:
>>>
>>>> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Dolby_SR_breadboard.jpg
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -Lasse
>>> At least somebody had patience...
>>> Wonder what the bottom side looks like...
>>>
>>> Here one of mine:
>>> ftp://panteltje.com/pub/z80/graphics_card_top.jpg
>>> ftp://panteltje.com/pub/z80/graphics_card_bottom.jpg
>> What did you use for the background?
>> It seems better than a rug or towel.
>
> Much better, my desk, 'formica'.
>
Interesting pattern: seemed to be like one of those Handi Wipe
reusable cloths.
From: Jan Panteltje on 9 Jul 2010 08:07
On a sunny day (Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:56:56 +1000) it happened Grant
<omg(a)grrr.id.au> wrote in <omsc361n2vabo8thcb3qdhs5vec77n8g1g(a)4ax.com>:

>I assembled several Ferguson BigBoard z80 based cp/m kits back then,
>wrote some stuff in assembler for it, even the SIO code for one of
>the then popular comms programs which was picked up by others. Also
>a keyboard 'macro' buffer stuffer. Remember when adding special
>functions to keys was the rage? Cp/m and ms-dos had it, died out
>alter.

I dunno, I never had access to CP/M, but wanted to read some
floppies from the CP/M user group at that time (early eighties).
I only had the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81(US called it 'Timex' IIRC),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81
so I started converting that hardware little by little to a more
universal thing that could run CP/M.
I had the API specs for CP/M, so I then wrote a CP/M clone using a Z80 assembler on the ZX81.
That was a tape assembler, so every time you made an error and it crashed, you needed
to reload it, took about 15 minutes to reload and try again.
Made me a *really* precise programmer :-)
First thing I build was a PIO extension board that could be used as EPROM programmer.
Later I got hold of an IBM PC keyboard, the ZX81 had a foil keyboard that
was difficult to use, so I added some flip flops to make a shift register to use that IBM keyboard:
ftp://panteltje.com/pub/z80/z80-cpu2.jpg
Did you mention aged labels? :-)
Note the connector con2 marked 'IKBD' on the right,
IC21 is the shift register for the keyboard, IC18 the PIO that reads it, true IBM style, like the original PC>

Added a floppy driver, and later added the graphics card,
By then my CP/M clone worked so well I could run the C80 Software Toolworks C compiler on it.
With that C compiler and a real keyboard things speeded up considerably.

I wrote all the soft for it, many comm programs, even an audio editor.
Yes there was a sound card too (8 bits).
Later when I finally bought a PC with DRDOS, wrote a MSDOS converter so I could read and write
MSDOS floppies on the CP/M system.
I thought DOS was less advanced compared to CP/M, so did not bother to write a clone .....
Somebody called that DOS a 'dirty hack' IIRC, before Billy bought it.


>>I made many more cards, filled up 2 backplanes.
>
>Ugh, I moved to embedded controllers at the small end of town, even
>a mask programmed CPU which flew first try, back in late '84.
>
>Grant.

Yes, at my job I worked with the IBM PC, among other things designing ISA cards...
I started using the 8051 and the like for embedded,
I did the CP/M thing in a summer holiday :-)
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/z80/index.html

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