I have an Atari 1040STFM. These can still be had for reasonable prices and the aftermarket is pretty neat. In fact, you can build your own 030 accelerator for like $100 all told (if you’re handy with a soldering iron!)

cloverskull wrote on 2024-01-12, 07:02:

I have an Atari 1040STFM. These can still be had for reasonable prices and the aftermarket is pretty neat. In fact, you can build your own 030 accelerator for like $100 all told (if you’re handy with a soldering iron!)

I have been building accelerators and peripherals for my A500 for a while now. I was never an ST guy, jumped ship from the 800XL to the A500 back in the day and always looked upon the ST line with scorn, but I am happy to give it a try these days, particularly to see their MIDI capabilities in first person. I hope to find a 520ST or 1040ST locally some day. Who knows. They don't seem to have gone crazy in terms of price like the A1200s..

appiah4 wrote on 2024-01-12, 07:30:

cloverskull wrote on 2024-01-12, 07:02:

I have an Atari 1040STFM. These can still be had for reasonable prices and the aftermarket is pretty neat. In fact, you can build your own 030 accelerator for like $100 all told (if you’re handy with a soldering iron!)

I have been building accelerators and peripherals for my A500 for a while now. I was never an ST guy, jumped ship from the 800XL to the A500 back in the day and always looked upon the ST line with scorn, but I am happy to give it a try these days, particularly to see their MIDI capabilities in first person. I hope to find a 520ST or 1040ST locally some day. Who knows. They don't seem to have gone crazy in terms of price like the A1200s..

Yeah that's true about the Atari ST, they can be had fairly cheaply compared with even the Amiga 500. When I got my STE a couple of years back, I'd budgeted for at least twice the price I ended up paying. I got a 520 STE with a 4160 STE case badge indicating the RAM banks were fully populated to 4MB. Mine was even modded with a dual TOS switch. The demand for the ST seems quite low compared with the Amiga, which is crazy as they are very capable machines.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-01-10, 19:19:

Yay! I think that's cool. The TNCs were (are) intelligent modems. They do have a terminal mode, in which you can interact in Eng […]
Show full quote

Yay! I think that's cool. The TNCs were (are) intelligent modems.
They do have a terminal mode, in which you can interact in English with them.
Those with the original, American TAPR firmware, I mean.
It was used to operate the TNC from within a real glass terminal or home computer+terminal software.

Unfortunately, we Europeans dropped terminal mode in the 90s and began to use Hayes-like abbreviations in our TNC firmware ("The Firmware", TF). *sigh*
The idea was to use a computer optimized communication instead.

Hardware wise, these TNCs are Z80 single board computers. They technically could run CP/M, if enough RAM was installed.
Some even have an memory expansion, to allow for a mailbox (users can store messages in your TNC).

Here's a quick video of my PK-232, to give an idea.
It's a multi-mode model, with its own firmware. It can be replaced TF, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6_PNpWEhNc

Interesting is the auto-baud detection.
By typing a star (*), the TNC firmware would try to detect the terminal baudrate.

The same method was used in the days of our X.25 service (Datex-P, by our Federal Postal Agency/later operated by Telekom here).
The local PAD you'd called with your telephone modem or acoustic coupler had an automatic baud rate detection.
It was a dot ("."), followed by pressing the enter key.

Edit: Anyway, I didn't mean to spam this topic. I just meant to say that your chassis is a good choice.
SBCs were actually installed in such chassis in the 8-Bit era.
And in case you need further inspiration, you may want to have a look at some RTTY decoders of the 70s/80s.
They've used panels with switches and lights, too.

That's actually pretty cool! Kinda wish I had one to play with now. 😜

Growing up, my dad and many family friends were hams and used RTTY in the early 80's, I thought it was the coolest thing ever at the time! I do miss those days.

I'm always looking for new ideas on where to cram an MBC2, I still have enough parts to build 3 more. 😁

maxtherabbit wrote on 2024-01-11, 01:19:

I have absolutely no interest in the mass produced "home computers" of the 80s, but the 70s homebrew/kit scene has quite a bit of appeal. I could also see myself getting into 80s business class machines like the 8" floppy trs-80 line for example.

Sadly, I have the bug for both. If time, space, and money were no object, I would probably have at least one of each and have my own museum by now. 😜

Since they are not, I stick to modern homebrews, recreations, and emulation for that era. 🙁