It's Time to Retro!

Tin your soldering pens, clean your cassette player heads, reform your power supply capacitors, and flex your typing fingers... It's October 1st somewhere... RetroChallenge 2024/10 is Goooooo!

We have a lot of great entries, including a very strong contingent of Z80 projects by way of the RC2014s, the Sharp MZ-80Ks, and even the PERQ 2T2's I/O subprocessor.

I also like the focus on Web 1.1 and pre-Web technologies. I did some work trimming the fat on this website and supporting non-Web project URLs (more updates to come), and I have even started a new gopher site for the RetroChallenge (Web-proxy link) to join this effort!

A few entrants started early, posting about their too-large-for-a-month projects. No problem! But, rest assured they will be only judged on their progress during October.

If you are still thinking about joining but you are not exactly sure what to do, join now and see where your retrocomputing leads you during the month. Just spend some quality time with your vintage computer!

Here is some emulated Tandy TRS-80 Model 200 BASIC fun to get you inspired:

It's on like Tele-Pong!

Two weeks 'till RetroChallenge!

We have 9 great entries so far and we are still hoping to hit 20 entries before the start. I know that a few of you have been talking about it... come get your entry in now!

20th Anniversary

I recently realized that not only is it the RC2014 kit computer's 10th anniversary, but according to legend, it is also the RetroChallenge's 20th anniversary! We are vintage! The RetroChallenge is retro! I am putting together a little history of the RetroChallenge that I hope to have finished by the end of the event, along with some recognition for the people who have kept this fun event running over the years.

Prizes

As much as I love our traditional mousepads, I am really excited about the custom RetroChallenge enamel pins and keychains that I just ordered:

The pins are perfect for your vintage computer festival lanyards and the keychain will keep your Macintosh Quadra 950, Centurion minicomputer, and IBM 5170 keys nicely organized. Maybe even your house and car keys too. Every entry selected by the judges will receive one of each of these beauties.

semachthemonkey is providing a "pretty special" RC2014 related prize for a winner of the RC2014 category. I can't wait to hear some more details from him.

I have some MC14500b 1-bit computer chipset kits that I put together from extras purchased for my RC2024 project.

Granz has kindly offered up some 6802 Nano computer PCBs for prize winners. We will gather up the components to make full kits out of them.

Finally, ACMS will be providing prizes to its members as one of its official activities.

But remember, the RetroChallenge is not about the winning! Anyone who completes the month will receive the judge's applause and the internet's respect, forever!

Projects

As the years have progressed the RetroChallenge projects have trended more and more technical, but I want to assure you all that you don't need to be an engineer to participate. Just use your retrocomputer for a month, whether it is for journaling, composing chiptunes, playing games, or using MacPaint to make some funny drawings. We are here for all of it!