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Yeah. Start building. Here are the hallowed schematics and articles (by Weisbecker himself) to build the original Elf: Build The COSMAC "ELF" Part 1[^].
Just replace some ancient parts, like the 256 byte RAM, and use something more modern. It's still a great trainer for learning. Only the CDP1861 viedeo chip you would need for the expansion of part 4 is practically impossible to get by now (and you will not get any of the three I have).
First Test of a New Build of the Classic COSMAC ELF Computer - YouTube[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Another great article by IEEE. Thanks for posting.
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Nice! The retro part of me would love to see the original circuit diagram of the processor built out of discrete IC's!
I did find this MOnSter 6502 but built out of discrete transistors? That's too much for me!
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I think I saw some articles on Weisbecker's work, but not on the processor itself. There were articles in Popular Electronics on building a Pong style video game and a shooting game from discrete 40xx CMOS ICs. These parts are still available and the two games would be easy to build, if that's retro enough.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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CodeWraith wrote: There were articles in Popular Electronics on building a Pong style video game and a shooting game from discrete 40xx CMOS ICs.
I vaguely remember that from my youth, haha.
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Marc Clifton wrote: The retro part of me would love to see the original circuit diagram of the processor built out of discrete IC's! If it still exists, this may be the place to look for it: Sarnoff Collection[^]
I did a search for you. It's not quite what you were looking for, but close:
TCNJ Sarnoff Collection[^]
Edit: The link to the search results does not work. Just enter COSMAC in the search field to see the results.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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And here I dug out a prototype from 1972 which used the two chip CDP1801, but not discrete parts.
Vintage Computer Festival East 13[^]
It's the one at the top. Does it not look like the computers they had in Star Trek?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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CodeWraith wrote: Does it not look like the computers they had in Star Trek?
Similar! (The image links are too long to post here when I googled "computers in original Star Trek")
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Now take a look at this[^]!
This system 00 looks very similar to the prototype based on the CDP1801, but is built with 74xxx standard TTL parts. This must be what you were looking for.
Edit: System 00 very obviously is part of the CDP1802's ancestry. The sample programs at the end of the document could probably run on a CDP180X, at least if I did not miss any differences. Astonishing, but it also seems to be capable of simple graphics. The interrupt/DMA code in the sample programs looks very similar to the code for the CDP1861 graphics chip of my Elf II.
Look here[^] to see the CDP1861 in action. This test program comes from Weisbecker himself. He published it together with the graphics expansion for the original Elf. Now we know that he was a bit of a Trekkie.
Graphics on a computer built of discrete parts around 1970 is really cool. Even the CDP1861 years later was still a great thing. Just add this one IC to the basic Elf and you get to see something on the screen. That was not very common in 1976.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
modified 6-Jul-18 8:20am.
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Seriously considering it, after watching some of these videos[^].
(Warning: NSFW language)
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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When I was writing software for a cab/taxi company, I occasionally got to see footage from the dash cams. Usually of the goings-on in the back seat.
Wink wink nudge nudge.
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Say no more.
Write in this case.
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Could have used one when I was in Sicily, saw unbelievable stunts
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They are driving on the wrong side! All of them!
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I'm waiting for a model with an inbuilt phaser.
Peter Wasser
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell
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That can be a long wait. Use this[^] instead.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I have a front and rear dashcam and while it is useful, in the case of an accident, for general crazy drivers it does not have much of an effect. The police are generally too busy to do anything about dangerous drivers.
So I have added some fluorescent yellow tape around the dashcams and I noticed that it had reduced the number of tailgaters.
It seems that knowing they are being filmed improves the driving of quite a few people.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Of course such footage can not be considered as evidence so it is useless.
Why?
How was it captured? How has that 'evidence' been handled since?
There are strict rules regarding this because of those very issues. Corrupted, tampered with, contaminated evidence is not admissible, and it is very easy to modify video to change the cars details resulting in a wrong conviction.
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THis website is very funny: https://rate-driver.co.uk/
for example: https://rate-driver.co.uk/YJ59HHE "Caught this vehicle another parked up behind it (YX58ZVZ) on the hard shoulder of the M62 strangling kittens and slinging their lifeless corpses at anyone who dared progress in any of the 4 lanes on this particular stretch of Yorkshire’s finest motorway."
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I wonder if it's related to the youparklikea .com site?
(Replace the emoticon with the word it usually represents here. And in case the site name doesn't make it obvious: watch out for all the naughty language!)
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Been considering one for a while, this might push me over the edge.
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