XtalJ

I’m working on an open source 3D printed vacuum cleaner robot:

https://github.com/CodileAB https://www.instagram.com/wolley.xyz/

I’ve been working with it on and off for two years now and hopefully it can soon actually vacuum my floors :-)

Yes, the container tabs are really nice if you want to make tracking harder for advertisers, LinkedIn etc.

I like the name, it means "Pictures" in Swedish. Is that intended?

Five years ago, I would have recommended AlphaMail, a service me and some others were building. However, it does no longer exists...

I totally agree! That is how I did it :-)

I had the N9 with MeeGo, best OS for phones I have ever used. Also very beautiful and easy to use.

I was just about to mention Digital Ocean. Very simple and easy, but MySQL is eating all my available memory...

I see that it could be true for many desktop and mobile phone applications but who should develop the operating systems, embedded applications and backends? It is a full time job just to learn all the programming languages, libraries, frameworks, standards, protocols and other related things.

Well, typing is more of a motorical skill than programming. Almost everyone can learn to drive a car (manual gearbox) but the same could not be said for programming where problem solving, logic and intelligence is a must.

But with that being said, people from other professions could still learn how to program and do it well.

Maybe you think of a programmer as person that is just typing in the program designed by someone else, a developer, in a specific language with a specific syntax?

Do you mean the text? I was writing the text for me, as some kind of project log. Actually, I found a couple of errors in the design while writing which I wouldn't have found if I haven't written the text.

The text may only be interesting for people building or thinking about building a retro microcomputer.

Thank you, it was exactly the look I was after :-) But the logo was supposed to be copper but it is "silver". I don't really know why...

This was the effect I was looking for: https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQHkdLM...

Sound like you have the right mindset ;-) The most boring part of the project was routing of all the bus lines in KiCad, but I knew that if a kept on working, the reward would be big :-)

I was actually planning to do a ROM emulator with a PIC MCU at first, but ended up using a regular EPROM, SIO/UART and a bootloader to load programs via RS232. When I had a stable program, I burned it to the ROM and continued. This is because when I got started with the "test circuit" I didn't want to go back to the PIC :-D

I'm currently developing my ROM monitor so that I can get CP/M running :-)

Yes :-)

Five PCBs cost me $250, but they can be made cheaper. Otherwise the price depends a lot on the components. Ceramic ones are very expensive and the whole computer would probably end up at around $300 - $400. For plastic components, the price would be more close to $200.

Sounds great :-) Only problem is the "not-so-great" keyboard :-/

Yes, the programming is the fun part so if you don't want to design a new computer from ground up, a kit or a complete computer is to recommend :-)

Wow, really cool. Do you have more documentation about the ISA bus implementation? :-)

Thank you :-)

I think that the 68k will be more fun to write OS and other software for as it is 32-bit, has memory protection, and can run UNIX :-)

The easiest way is probably to buy an old computer from the eighties, but they can be very expensive :0 I don't know much about other homebrew computers, but mine (Calculon/80) could probably be expanded with those things. I haven't tested the expansion port yet, but I will when have some time :-) Also, if it does not have to be using the Z80 CPU, I would recommend the Motorola 68000 CPU, which I will use in my next project.

Thank you, I will write and publish much more documentation as soon as possible :-) It is a four layer PCB, one for Vcc, one for ground and the other two for signals. I designed it in KiCad and ordered it from PCBWay.com.

I will also upload the schematic etc. if anyone wants to have a look or create one their self. However, if anyone wants to build it, it may be a bit expensive due to the high IC count.

I have not heard of BLS Pascal, but it is possible to run Turbo Pascal (version 3, I think) on CP/M, which I intend to do when I have the OS in place :-)

I actually own a Ti-82, but I have never programmed it :-)

I think maybe the regular black would be more beautiful than the matte black, it wasn't really what I expected. Adding fewer labels makes the task easier for me ;-)

It is a really fun project to do, so I think you should continue :-) I'm going to add more documentation on the website, like timing diagrams etc. that may be useful for other people building a Z80 computer.

Yes, the composite solutions sounds more fun :-)

I think my next project will be a computer based on the 68000 and the ISA bus :-)

Agree, I have the Z-80 Handbook by William Barden, and it is really well written and contains a lot of information without being a tutorial :)

Nice, I'm thinking about making it possible to connect it directly to a display/TV and keyboard. Now, I have to have a terminal or laptop + terminal emulator.

Me too, and it's great and even works on Windows with Babun :-) If I use tmux as window manager, I don't have the problem with installing fluxbox etc. on Windows :-)