3 ms·

While we now have the Arduino and RPi with convenient GPIO and other inputs and outputs readily available, you can do an awful lot with the edge connector on th

by rleigh 6y ago

While we now have the Arduino and RPi with convenient GPIO and other inputs and outputs readily available, you can do an awful lot with the edge connector on the speccy. You used to get books full of projects you could make. At the time, I couldn't afford all the components and tools to do this, so I missed out on that side of things. Today, I'm not sure what benefits it would have--no SPI, I2C, ADC or PWM. But you do have effectively direct access to the bus, so maybe there are interesting expansion projects you could work on, though the new hardware itself does a lot of the traditional expansion options like more memory, networking, storage and the like. The storage factor is huge. Absolutely no one is going to miss the cassette tape. Or (worse) the microdrive. I wonder if any of those remain, or if they all got "eaten"! Likewise the 3" floppy on the +3. While a big step up from tapes, the media is simply obsolete and impractical. And the CP/M-inspired +3DOS is also quite primitive and obsolete.

II2II 6y ago
Even if something like this popped up in my preferred 80's platform, I doubt that I would jump at it precisely because of the Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and other platforms that provide convenient I/O. I ditched my vintage hardware a long time ago simple because I decided that these microcontrollers provided most of the benefits and were more forward looking. Something like the ESP8266 running MicroPython even offers a similar feel to an 80's PC running BASIC. That being said, I can understand the appeal of vintage machines. I can understand why the developers wanted to create such a machine. (How many technically inclined youth from the 80's didn't want to create their own computer?) I am also saddened when I see people who think the only reason to be interested in this hardware are classic games! As for storage, reliability is a huge even if someone was interested in the archaic media. Dealing with impractical and obsolete is only possible if you can obtain functional media in the first place.

by rleigh 6y ago

II2II 6y ago

Even if something like this popped up in my preferred 80's platform, I doubt that I would jump at it precisely because of the Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and other platforms that provide convenient I/O. I ditched my vintage hardware a long time ago simple because I decided that these microcontrollers provided most of the benefits and were more forward looking. Something like the ESP8266 running MicroPython even offers a similar feel to an 80's PC running BASIC. That being said, I can understand the appeal of vintage machines. I can understand why the developers wanted to create such a machine. (How many technically inclined youth from the 80's didn't want to create their own computer?) I am also saddened when I see people who think the only reason to be interested in this hardware are classic games! As for storage, reliability is a huge even if someone was interested in the archaic media. Dealing with impractical and obsolete is only possible if you can obtain functional media in the first place.