I write about the past, present, and future of technology across three sites. imapenguin.com explores retro computing and programming fundamentals, milkcrunch.com covers modern software development and engineering culture, and evadot.com examines commercial spaceflight and the new space movement.
Posts
- New to me Atari Tank. Hey, at least I’m keeping it 6502 in the house right?
- Finally getting to the Romulator in a little bit. I'm thinking a VIC-20 will be the target for it tonight for first tests
- Helping some students with math contests and they're having trouble visualizing cellular automation (Rule 30 in this case). Doing it nice and slow with a color change on the row being worked on was the trick. Old computers are still valuable teaching tools
- I’ve taken a long break from this project but it’s time to get back to it. #myzenith750
- I almost never get landing shots because... well kinda busy. It's nice when someone is sitting in front and takes them for me ;-)
- I love that someone else is hacking the CERBERUS 2080 bios. Working on some hacks to mine already. Too fun
- Definitely my strangest flight path to date. Had us doing circles for weather for about 45 minutes
- Hey it even works. I’ve got a bad 6522 so I ordered those WD “modern” replacements. It boots to a cart just fine without the one so I suspect that’s the whole of the problem. If not, VIC-20s are a joy to troubleshoot. My third favorite computer of all time.
- I find this sort of evening activity pretty relaxing. #commodore
- The Mechboard64 ended up in the Ultimate after much deliberation on my part. It's rock solid and I'm very happy with it. The keyboard it replaced is in good shape and will live on in the VickyTwenty.
- Actually getting back on track with ciphers on the C64 this evening, but during my lunch I just wanted to make sure I could do a 3 line assembly program on the CERBERUS. Easy enough, but the removing SD card every time to make changes is gonna get old. Time to extend this thing!
- Patience and troubleshooting prevails! First boot of my CERBERUS 2080!!! Woot!!
- Friday night bootloader burning. It’s wild around here
- Since I'm waiting on 4 components that weigh a total of about .1 ounce for the Cerberus, I figure my lunch break can be used to make progress on one of my other 12 million boards to build. VickyTwenty, you're next
- New to me TRS-80 PC-4. More things to do dumb races against the VIC-20
- Making and Breaking Ciphers with Commodore 64 – The Vigenère Cipher · imapenguin
- Who wants an old computer that looks new? Pre distressed jeans are a thing right? So starting next week I’ll be offering a product called “retro yellow”. I think it’ll be HUGE!!
- Today on “dumb calculator races vs the VIC-20 I changed this to repeat 10 times for better comparison. A PAL VIC20 beats the TI-81 (z80 running at 2Mhz) by about 10%. A screen blanked NTSC C64 (POKE53265,PEEK(53265)AND239) is neck and neck with the calculator. #commodore
- The mystery of the VIC-42 chip is much less interesting than I hoped. I happen to have an Alphacom VP42 printer. It has the chip in it
- This week on “dumb calculator races vs the VIC-20” we add the TI-81. Its z80 processor is a much more formidable opponent than the Sharp 9300 from the same period.