RoboSavvy Forum

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-21T08:09:32+01:00

The TS-1000 was the same, and was a gold mine of parts for robots. I built several, and had the RAM pack for longer programs. You could make portable computers from these using a small battery operated UPS. You can still buy these off ebay but a conversion to disk is needed. The original tape standard was Kansas City, but considering how tape deteriorates - the surviving code is mostly in print these days.

humanoido

Statistics: Posted by Humanoido — Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:09 am

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-16T23:51:27+01:00

Ah yes , the zx81's, have a couple of those with the memory pack add-ons

Statistics: Posted by Orac — Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:51 pm

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-16T12:41:24+01:00

I started with a good old 1k ZX81 and then became a Commodore boy when the Vic20 came out.

Statistics: Posted by DirtyRoboto — Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:41 pm

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-16T11:33:42+01:00

Yep, manuals, tapes and disks are all kept secure as I find them.

Tapes will unfortunately deteriorate with time but most games/apps are available as emulator rom images so should be preserved online somewhere.

The machines will not last for ever, the IC's legs oxidise even with the best of my limited efforts, but I can try to keep them going as long as I can.

Statistics: Posted by Orac — Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:33 am

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-16T04:25:36+01:00

There was a guy on ebay who was selling his collection of Atari computers and cartridges. He had over 270 carts some very rare and a couple of each consoles they made.

He was asking $5,400 for the lot

I actually have my very first Atari 400 still! I upgraded the memory for a crazy amount of cash back in the day, then sold the system to my cousin. He bought the floppy drive and a few games then gave the thing back to me. It has sat in a box under the stairs for years now

Statistics: Posted by BrianG — Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:25 am

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-16T04:17:44+01:00

Orac,

Amazing! Do you also zip lock the instruction manuals in air tight bags for all those computers? AND include some tape and 5.25-inch floppies? I think what you are doing is a very profound and important project, one that may possibly lead to one of the greatest archaeological finds in the year 3000. Be sure to put your autobiography in there too. You'll surely be famous!

humanoido

Statistics: Posted by Humanoido — Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:17 am

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-12T11:19:39+01:00

Getting a bit off topic, but I have been cruising the car boot sales over the last 10 years or so for 80's home computers and must have around 80

I stick them in bin bags, vacuum out the air and seal them up before stuffing them up in the loft.

One day, an achaeologist is going to find these and proclaim it as the best find of the century.... maybe I should have coughed in a few of them first.....

"Lets bring the owner back to llife with a sample of his DNA"... knowing my house, what they brought back to life would have 4 legs, a tail and be hailed King Hairball.

Statistics: Posted by Orac — Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:19 am

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-12T07:59:28+01:00

lol My starting place to. Infact still have an Atari 400 and an Atari 800 in the cupboard complete with 80k 5.25 inch floppy drive lol. Ah those were the days .......lol

Statistics: Posted by Pev — Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:59 am

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-09T17:21:40+01:00

BASIC on the Atari 400 rules all! OK, maybe not, but that's exactly where I started. I think it was 9th grade. Finger placement accuracy (and strength) really got honed on that keyboard. A few years later I upgraded to an 800XL with real keys and a whopping 64k of RAM! Who could possibly use up 64k?

Statistics: Posted by Zoid — Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:21 pm

Going to get one soon!

2007-10-09T05:30:13+01:00

Bought a Robosapien a few years ago, yawn!

Bought my son the Roboraptor, yawn!!

Bought my son the Lego NXT, yawn!!!

The NXT wasn't bad, but a little too simple for me and a little too much for him. Being only 6 he got bored after the "humanoid" attempted to "walk" after he built the thing. He worked on it for a couple hours straight by himself just to get it all built then was let down - we all expected a little more out of the thing.

I have been drooling over the Kondo and others for a couple of years now ever since I seen the vids of them "fighting"

And of course I watched Robot Wars with my son, he wanted us to build a Battle Bot and compete!

I still want to get a KHR-1HV Kit for the extra DOF's but I think the Robonova will be an excellent start for me

I can dust off that Basic programming skills that I used back in the old days on the Atari 400 and it's membrane keyboard

Statistics: Posted by BrianG — Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:30 am