PETS & the Silly Game

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Mon Apr 28 06:57:04 1997

On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, Sam Ismail wrote:

> On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, Doug Spence wrote:
>
> > Interesting. I performed the piggyback RAM hack on my Amiga 1000 (back
> > when it was worth real money) and that seems to still be holding up. I
> > *don't* want to do that to my PET, though. :) (In fact, in retrospect, I
> > wish I hadn't done it to my Amiga, either - I should've bought an Insider
> > board instead and keept the Amiga in its original condition. I wasn't a
> > collector yet, though. :) )
>
> Don't worry. It just adds character to the machine. You can just say
> some "unknown" hacker made the mod if anyone asks. And don't forget to
> mention it adds character to the machine.

Nah, I may as well claim the credit. I think it says more for my bravery
than my skill, though, because I did a really messy job and it's some sort
of minor miracle that it worked. (I was too imatient to get it done and
didn't wait to collect the right tools first... ended up having to REBUILD
pins on chips on the motherboard that had been sheared off to
barely-visible protrusions of metal, using model railroad connectors.)

> > BTW: Who here thinks I'm crazy for wanting to run an "old-time BBS" off a
> > VIC-20? Who here thinks it's impossible? :)
>
> Not me. Of course its totally possible. As soon as there are 27 hours
> in the day I'm going to be putting up and old style BBS on my Sinclair
> ZX80! (Just kidding, it'll be on a Linux box probably, but I'll just say
> it runs on a Sinclair).

Now, I think I'll declare a ZX80-run BBS as an impossibility, if only
because I really want to see it done and I know that whenever anything is
declared "impossible" it just acts as added incentive to hackers. ;)

> > This strange contraption wouldn't be some kind of interface between the
> > PET and an S100 bus, would it? (THAT would be cool!) How would I know an
> > S100 bus if I saw one? :)
>
> It would have slots that have 100 pin connectors (50 on side side, 50 on
> the other).

Actually, I just picked up an excellent book entitled "The Micro-Computer
Builder's Bible" by Chris Johnston, and it's got some pictures of S100
boards in it (I like the one labeled "A typical 4K static board"). It
looks like the chances are excellent that what I've got is an S100 bus
interface for the PET, but I really have to drag the thing out of storage
to count the pins on it to make sure.

If it IS an S100 bus interface, I wonder where I could find documentation
on how to use the thing. It would be extra neat if I could plug I/O
boards and graphics cards into the PET this way. :)

> Sam
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass

Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
Received on Mon Apr 28 1997 - 06:57:04 BST