First Week in the Books

Update: Well, now I have to say something... In a bizarre case of technological convergent de-evolution, we have 3 challengers using a Z80 with the seminal MC6850 ACIA. Poor Zilog: "But we make excellent serial interfaces like the SCC and SIO!" shieladixon designing her ready-to-use MIDI interface, morecat_lab converting a general purpose serial board for MIDI, and CDP1802 trying to use his Sharp MZ-80K2 to make some hot butter-popcorn. Oh, I guess they are related after all!

We are one week in! I have been having fun keeping updated on everybody's projects. We have so many participants this year! Nearly all of you have your first post and at least a plan, while most of the you have some progress recorded. I really appreciate that some unusual platforms are getting some love here. There are some very technical projects and some simple ones focused on documenting things for those who come next. Great variety. Those of you doing endurance challenges, using your retro computers daily, I see and appreciate you! A few of the competitors are posting on gopher blogs (phlogs). Make sure to check them out using a native browser like Lagrange.

Quote of the week:

It has been a while since I entered Retro Challenge, but I think I remember what to do. It goes something along the lines of stating at the start of the month that you are going to design [something], and then at the end of the month report back in with minimal progress.
--semach.the.monkey

I know that feeling all too well! If you are feeling overwhelmed with your current project, just spend some time using an old computer and blog about it. Those are often some of the most entertaining, insightful, and rewarding projects. Or, check out the other participants and use the inpiration to do something related.

With all the competitors, I will be closing the entry form in a few days. If you don't have your entry in, do it now!

Day 1... for the Rest of the World

While half the world had an early jump on things, the rest of us are just dusting off our projects. Perfect time to give an update on the prizes:

The keychains and pins are looking great and are on their way to me! Every entry selected by the judges will receive one of each of these beauties.

RetroCheng kindly dontated two 6802 Nano SBC computers and some components. I am still gathering up the rest of the components to make complete kits. He also provided an RCA CDP1802D chip, a Nook e-Reader, just waiting to be hacked, and a TI LaunchPad dev board with his product the assembled protoboard. Lots of goodies to give away!

Oops, I almost forgot about one of the prizes. I bought a bunch of extra Motorola ICs for my 1-bit robot project. So, I will be putting the extras together into some MC14500B chip-set kits. I am not totally sure what exact components will be in there (I have to see what works well), but at the very least, there will be enough to make the Minimal lCU System:

• MC14500B Industrial Control Unit (ICU)
• MC14512B 8-Channel Data Selector
• MC14599B 8-Bit Addressable Latch
• Binary Counter, either MC14516B, or MC14040B
• Read Only Memory, either DM72LS471 PROM, or TMS2516 EPROM

And finally, the pièce de résistance, semach.the.monkey will be giving away a RC2014 Classic II kit with the final set of the original RC2014 PCBs to the lucky "winner" of the RC2014 category!

But, of course, the RetroChallenge is not about winning prizes... just ask semach "I completed RC2014 and all I got was a new career" themonkey. It is the journey that is important. The nostalgia and pride of getting something done on a computer that has been sitting on your shelf is its own reward.

Now get to that nostalgizing!