Obfuscated C 8080 Emulator Ported

[Oscar] is no stranger to writing hard-to-read C code. While most of us do that by accident, there are those who strive to write the most unreadable code and enter it in the IOCCC — the Inter…

Retro Gadgets: The Real Desktop Computer

People argue about the first use of the computer desktop metaphor. Apple claims it. Xerox probably started it. Yet, when I think of computer desktops, I think of the NOVAL 760. Not a household name…

Versatile DRAM Board Adds Memory To Any Heathkit H8 Variant

Ask anyone to name a first-generation home computer from the 1970s, and they’ll probably mention the likes of the Altair 8800 and IMSAI 8080. But those iconic machines weren’t the only …

Old Barcode Scanner Motherboards Live Again

Sometimes, hacking is just for the pleasure of diving into the secrets of old hardware. That was very much the case when [glitch] and a friend started hacking on some old Intel 8080 boards that had…

CP/M Is Now Freer Than It Was

It’s easy to think of the earlier history of desktop computing operating systems in terms of DOS, Windows, and Mac OS with maybe a bit of AmigaOS, TOS, or RiscOS thrown in. But the daddy of d…

Retro Reproduction Captures The Style Of The Sol-20

In the early years of the computer revolution, a machine like the Sol-20 really stood out. Where most hobbyist machines had front panels that bristled with toggle switches and LEDs, the Sol-20 was …