gerry wrote on 2023-03-31, 11:33:
Jo22 wrote on 2023-03-29, 20:21:Yes, it really works. 😃 Well, most of the time. It's fascinating what a little DOS VM and a copy of QB45 or Turbo Pascal/C can s […]
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Yes, it really works. 😃 Well, most of the time. It's fascinating what a little DOS VM and a copy of QB45 or Turbo Pascal/C can still be useful for.
One of my other retro hobbies is to build old schematics in electronics books or PC interface books.
They have schematics for EPROM readers for parallel port, little LCD displays connect via COM ports, interfacing tempetature sensors to gameport etc.
Most of these schematics/projects can be built on a little vero board with little to no extra hardware.
USB serial adapters still work for DOS appli, if Windows 98 or a DOS VM is running.
The only little "problem" is power. USB converters use 3.3v or 5v, not +/-12v.
But that's no problem. Just use use two 9v batteries in series instead of using the serial port's power. Voila! Now you have +9v, ground and -9v.
In fact, even GW-BASIC and QBASIC work for most books. They always have a rudimentary sample program written in BASIC.
If you're on Windows, VB 3 and Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.5 or Delphi 1 are all it needs.
For newer electronics projects VB6 & VB NET 2005 are handy, too.
The 2005 version includes an automatic code converter for VB5/6 code.
VB NET 2008 also has it, but in a more limited form.
that got me thinking, if you can interface with the PC via a VM then with re-mapped VMs you could have dos
VM inside a raspberry pi or something and still interface with things! although in that case why not just write it for the RPi in the first place 😀
Sure, good point! 😀
There are x86 Raspberry Pi's also, however. Like that x86 Duino.
But there are quite a few more x86 based SBCs (single board computers).
My point simply is that there's existing literature about electronic projects that involves an IBM PC with CGA/Hercules graphics and classic i/o ports.
And the QB/QBASIC community has created extensions like DirectQB or that QB64 compiler/interpreter.
I like the Raspberry Pi, really, but it doesn't fascinate me as half as much as an old x86 system (or home computer) I can tinker with.
The whole technology is different. Or we could say it's a different franchise, maybe. Like Star Wars vs Star Trek.
Today, it's all about serial EPROMs, attiny13, temperature sensors with I2C/1wire bus (ds18b20 etc), integrated USB serial converter chips etc. pp.
That's nice and good, but it's not that really interesting to me.
What I like to tinker with are 100% hardware based TTL/CMOS chips. 4000 series, 7400 series. NE555 timer IC, LM741 op amps.
I want to tinker with "living" hardware that reacts to laws of physics rather than software/microcode. Hard-wired circuits, that's interesting! 😁
And that's exactly what the old literature does provide. It tells you how to connect a TTL component to Centronics port, how to toggle a electro-mechanical relays via transistor and RS-232 pin.
It explains how to use a port extender chip on parallel port, how to digitize a monochrome picture via gameport. That's fascinating.
Doing the same with a Raspberry Pi, but with "modules" rather than real electronic components (TTL) isn't the same experience. Too much software.
A similar experience provide old consoles like the NES, I think:
The real thing is "alive", it has undocumented errata, it glitches sometimes etc.
A "NES Mini" or any other emulator box doesn't do that. There's no malfunctioning happening like on a real vintage NES.
Some like that, but people like me prefer something that's "live", like a MIDI synthesizer doing its job vs a pre-recorded MP3.
Working with old electronic circuits is akin to preferring tube technology. It serves the same function, but is differently built. 😀
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