4 ms·
Thought the retro people might like this - the first computer I built - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_Super-80_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
by chadcmulligan 10y ago
Thought the retro people might like this - the first computer I built - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_Super-80_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_Super-80_Computer.
Z80 based 16K ram, yes thats a K. 2MHz processor. Plugged it into a cassette player for storage. Loading programs was hit and miss. I later splurged and bought a Basic ROM, initially you had to program it in Hex. I used it for most of my uni days, running linear regressions for lab. It cost me $300 AUD then, all my school kid savings :-).
This was the book I learned assembler on https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Z80-Rodnay-Zaks/dp/0895880695/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0895880695&pd_rd_r=JGJVMVFNRKPHMKR3R4Y8&pd_rd_w=EdHN0&pd_rd_wg=3HMjb&psc=1&refRID=JGJVMVFNRKPHMKR3R4Y8 https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Z80-Rodnay-Zaks/dp/089588... a classic.
Edit: It initially had just upper case characters - these were bitmaps stored in a ROM. I later bought an add on board that added lower case characters and graphic characters (like the old PC-DOS characters) contained in another ROM. I think from memory you could also add a RAM chip and load your own programmable characters, though that could have been my imagination. I have vague recollections of trying to figure out ways to make it have graphics that you could move around using the RAM, so I could make my own space invaders game :-)
- endgame 10y agoThe fall of Dick Smith Electronics makes me rather sad.
- chadcmulligan 10y agoyes, it had stopped being an electronics place a long time ago though. Jaycar is still around
- ganley 10y agoZaks is one of the best programming books ever.
- stevekemp 10y agoI have that same book on my shelf, survived 20+ years and more moves than I can count. My first computer was the Sinclair Spectrum and I've always been pleased that the z80 assembly was close to Intel's syntax. The competitors at the time, such as the 6502, always looked so dense and hard to read.