APPLE CRAPPLE

Well, I finally worked up the courage to flip the switch on my robot with everything connected. I quickly noticed problems on the logic anal...

I have been working on the MC14500b firmware for the line robot on and off for a few days. I sort of realized that it is so simple, I probab...

Spent a bit of time testing the addressable latch outputs to make sure they could enable the driver board. Very similar to my sensor testing...

Today I test the the driver board that I just soldered up. My vintage digital logic trainer is pretty much the perfect 5V signal source as i...

Finishing up this output driver board took a lot longer than I expected. I had to get the aluminum heat sink, cut it to fit, then grind down...

After testing out the inputs last week, I am wiring things up (including my recently arrived quad NAND IC that I am using for glue logic) so...

I realized that it would be nearly impossible to test every part of the robot at once, so I removed the ROM and processor and just focused o...

So, I am getting to the point where I really need some firmware to test out everything and get the breadboarded control system running. The...

Ok, THIS is why I don't like breadboarding. Total loss of momentum. But to be fair, it has allowed me to replace some components easily....

While trying to wire up this breadboard, I realized that I had already made enough changes that it probably warranted another schematic. I m...

Breadboard wires, boring, not finished. 'Nuff said.

In trying to figure out the best way to attach this most common of switches, I found some tiny rivets that fit the small chassis holes well....

I had a lot of IC's arriving by mail over the last month to prepare to build this robot. I made a few small kits and the rest kind of sp...

Spinning My Wheels... and that's a good thing! I had some time this morning before work to grind off the ends of the motor mount screws....

So, I started right in on this project and didn't really explain much. You can't blame me. That robot chassis had to be built immedi...

Intending to start discussing and working on the MC14500B processor board, I had to change plans when I saw voltage regulators in the mailbo...

After a bit of research, I realized that the QRE1113 "Reflective Object Sensor" (Digital) that I had purchased for the line sensor...

I stayed up late to start the RetroChallenge right at midnight. I have been itching to put that robot chassis together! It assembled pretty...

Lots of robot goodies arriving for Retrochallenge! It is taking all my willpower to not assemble that robot chassis...

I was really inspired by avretro's MC14500b based RetroChallenge project a few years ago. A line following robot is such a perfect appl...

In the past I had a lot of difficulty finding a reasonably priced backplanes and card cages for EXORbus systems and ended up trying to make ...

A while back, I tested out the video output on my new-to-me SYNERTEK MBC020 ExorBus SBC , and noticed problems with the upper half of the vi...

This year for RetroChallenge, I think I will focus on some 6502 projects, mostly my Synertek MBC020 ExorBus board. I never got it working co...

I have seen a lot of overpowered PS/2 keyboard interfaces lately: microcontrollers, bit-banged PIAs, PIAs with shift registers. All sorts of...

I previously hinted at a hardware project I have been working on- an expansion bus adapter for the MC-10 allowing it to use EXORbus peripher...

Day 14: So, I was making good progress doing daily tasks on my MC-10, but lost my momentum after a camping trip. I have been doing minor dev...

Days 7-9 I started working on a BASIC game for the MC-10. Previously, I had been able to use the MC's serial port to "LPRINT" ...

Day 6: I mostly played MC-10 games from Jim Gerrie's TRS-80 MC-10 Files repository . So much stuff in there! Unfortunately Google Drive ...

Day 5: I spent a fair bit of time today downloading and running TRS-80 MC-10 games and utiliites. Unfortunately, the process was rough: d...

Day 4: I found an MC-10 serial terminal program "COMPAC" online and was able to load it onto the MC-10 using my new 'cassette...

Pinout: 3.5mm TRRS plug | | ----- | = (5) MIC + 10K OHM resistor to ground _ | = (2) Signal Ground _ | = (N/C) right EA...

So basically, MC-10 can load from Mac, but can't save cassette/audio output to Mac yet. XRoar is converting file formats for me. H...

BASIC code samples after the break...

Annotated MC-10 Service Manual Here is the transferred BASIC for this post: 10 CLS 20 PRINT "I MADE AN MC-10 SERIAL CABLE TODA...

Between running RetroChallenge and how limited the TRS-80 MC-10 is, a real endurance challenge is not in the cards for me. But I fully inte...