Monday, February 21, 2022

Nostalgia Strikes Deep

I was looking around the net for this January 1975 Popular Electronics Magazine cover. The start of the Computer Revolution. I knew it the minute I saw it and rushed to tell my girlfriend (in 1975).
You can read more about it at Vintage Computer.net.

I had a hand in all that. I designed the S-100 I/O board that went into the worldd's first BBS. A precursor of the internet. I was also writing Magazine articles. My first published article was in the March 1978 issue of Kilobaud. "Faster Erase Times" It was about building your own high intensity ultraviolet light to erase EPROMs. I sold kits of the hard to get parts. I sold 500. Back then you had to build your own. Buying was way too expensive.

I also wrote something for Dr. Dobb's "Building a Programable Frequency Synthisizer". It was about Phase Locked Loops. I still use the CD4046 and variants.

Which brings me to the present. I just bought a 3D printer (I'm in the process of assembly - I'm going slow and methodical) and thus have joined in with the next revolution. I plan to write articles.

My wife and I (the same girlfriend from January '75) made "Support the Revolution - Buy a Computer" t-shirts back in the day. And now ==> "Support the Revolution - Buy a 3D Printer".






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This is the printer I'd buy if I was starting out today. I got the previous model with a silent motherboard upgrade.

This is the best Ender 3 assembly video I have been able to find. It is actually a series of 5 videos. The link is to the first.

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Engineering is the art and science of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.