Welcome Neal! I believe we’ve met once, at an event in Cambridge at the CCH. And I’ve met your code for sure - your 6809 model. Thanks for sharing!
My name is Ladislau Szilagyi, I’m 67.
Back in 1978, as a programmer, I was allowed to use a computer named PDP-11, built by the late Digital Equipment Corporation, using RSX-11M as operating system. This was one of the first good multitasking, real-time operating systems ever designed.
Also, my job included programming an INTEL 8080 based computer.
I managed to write for this INTEL 8080 computer a small kernel (less than 8 Kbytes), containing multitasking support, I/O drivers (on interrupts) for the real-time clock, serial console, digital and analog inputs/outputs, punched paper tape (!) reader, etc.
It was used in Romania until the late 80’s in various industrial projects.
Since then, I worked in almost all the possible roles in a software project: programmer, project manager, architect, business analyst, requirements engineer, tester, test manager. In the last 15 years, I was involved in training, for testers and business analysts.
I am a big fan of Z80 computers.
regards,
Ladislau
8 Likes
Hello Ladislau,
I read with interest your post. I am interested on the history of “eastern block” computing during socialist era. If you have any personal stories you want to share, facts, links, books, please let me know at islaind
at yahoo
co uk
Eds, sorry for hijacking this but could not find Ladislau’s email elsewhere.
1 Like
One should also feel free to post personal histories and recollections here too! (In a new topic, of course.)
1 Like
Hi everyone!
I have been interested in retro-computing and vintage computers since the early '80s.
I love coding for these systems.
I have written several BASIC games and competed in a few BASIC 10-liner competitions:
and many others (I cannot post more than 2 links)
but my largest project is Cross-Lib:
which is a universal 8-bit development framework that supports about 200 consoles, computers and other devices.
2 Likes
Welcome! Thanks for starting a thread about Cross Lib
Cross-Lib: a universal framework to code on 200 8-bit vintage systems
2 Likes
Hi, I’m a UK-based nerd just joined here… My computing journey started with a friend’s Commodore PET and the family ZX81. Through the 80s it was the usual UK home micros - Spectrum, C64, QL, Atari ST (my one and only published game on that one), and from the 90s onto PCs and low-end Unix (SGI/Sparc/DEC pizzaboxes) stuff for school and work. My first job was writing database-driven websites for that new-fangled www, in 1994, served off BSDi systems, along with a Pipeline service. These days I work for cloud services of various kinds.
I tend to have a big backlog of slow-moving projects, in the programming, low-skill electronics and 3d printing realms. Currently: CAD and 3d print my own vt100 with a correctly laid out USB keyboard, and various retrogaming and Arduino/FPGA things.
3 Likes
Hello I am Patrick, a Computer Technician since 1986, first introduced to the world of computing on a TRS-80 Model 3 in 1982, I enjoy restoring old units, making them purr once again and if someone wants it for their collection or personal use, they can acquire it. I dabble in 3D Printing to restore broken components, I run a little web hobby site called “Texas Tandy Restorations” https://www.texastandyrestorations.org/ I am mostly focused on the TRS-80 Line products with extension to Tandy PC Compatible and later hardware.
1 Like
Hi, I’m Jeff. I started off soldering circuit boards for $2.50 an hour in the 1970s when hardware was still built by hand in the US. Along the way I’ve worked on all kinds of crazy stuff including the Trident missile test program and one of Glen Culler’s computer companies…Glen was a true old-timer. More recently all software at work, but my retro hobby interests lie mostly in hardware construction. Currently putting together a retro-ish computer of my own design using mostly 74HC-family components. This is a pretty well-explored topic area I know, but there it is; perhaps I’ll post about it sometime. Nice to meet you all.
5 Likes
Welcome, Jeff! We never tire of seeing retrocomputer designs, no matter how many we’ve seen.
2 Likes
Definitely want to hear more about this computer you’re designing, and what OS it will run.
1 Like
Hi,
I’m Radiance32, my full name is Terrence Vergauwen.
I am obsessed with old HP MS-DOS Palmtops (the ones released during the early/mid 1990’s like the 95LX, 100LX and 200LX).
I recently (about 2 months ago) created a new YouTube channel completely dedicated to these machines.
I do game reviews on them, show how to open them and install upgrades, install exotic software and OS’es on them, and have even managed to get a full SCSI-2 bus with peripherals working with a 200LX 
I hope to make regular posts here with links to interesting, nerdy and educational videos about these beautiful pieces of nostalgic history, the HP DOS Palmtop.
Thanks for your time,
Radiance
1 Like
Welcome, and thanks for your new threads!
Great to see that we’ve had more than a dozen new joiners in the past month, and I see half a dozen have already joined in the conversations. So, this is to say welcome, to all, and to encourage you to post a bit of your story here, if you like - how you got into computing, back in the day, or how you got back into retrocomputing more recently, or which machines you are especially fond of, or what you like to do with the machines you have now.
2 Likes
I was first a writer of software, and then a collector.
60 years ago, as a 7th grader, I read a “TutorText” book that taught machine language for a simple made-up computer using short lessons interspersed with multiple-choice questions. In 1966 I ran my first Fortran IV and assembly language programs using borrowed time on an IBM 7094. That led to an intern job with Jack Perrine at Athena Programming the spring and summer of 1967, which in turn led to a job at the Computer Center at U.C. Berkeley in the fall of 1967. There I worked with Charles Simonyi on CAL Snobol4 for the the CDC 6400, and with a larger team on the CAL Timesharing system for the same machine. In 1972, after graduating, I designed a microcoded (Digital Scientific Meta4) APL virtual machine for Berkeley’s Center for Research in Management Science, and systems software for minicomputers at a tiny software house for about a year. In 1974-1975 I worked with John Backus on functional programming at IBM San Jose Research, and then transaction processing with the System R team at the same lab. In 1976 I moved to Xerox and worked on the Pilot operating system for the Star office automation system. During that period, I purchased my first computer, an Atari 800. In 1981 at Tandem Computers I led a team building a prototype Motorola 68010-based workstation. During this period, I purchased my second computer, a Macintosh 512K “Fat Mac”. In 1985 I joined DEC’s System Research Center, where for the next 13 years I worked on a variety of projects including the operating system for the Firefly multiprocessor workstation, programming environments, a document viewer, and a recommendation system. In 1998, after Compaq had acquired Digital, I spent a few years at startups (Epiphany, a CRM company, and AgileTV, with a voice-based TV interface). Finally in 2003 I joined Adobe’s advanced development group, where my most satisfying contribution was coauthoring Elements of Programming with Alex Stepanov. My “retrocomputing” phase began at about this time, when the Computer History Museum recruited me as a volunteer and I began searching for historic source code, including Fortran 1, Lisp 1 and 1.5, Algol, and many others. After retirement in 2009, I could devote more time to this work.
7 Likes
Excellent introduction and great story - thanks!
1 Like
I enjoyed reading your texts about the APL machine. I had researched reconfigurable computers of the past (such as the Burroughs 1700) but had not come across the Meta4 before.
I think the Meta4 was designed for IBM 1130 emulation. It was pretty fast.
Hi folks, I’m Pete, a software engineer of about 40 years. I started as a hardware engineer but quickly switched and haven’t stopped yet.
I persuaded my parents to buy me a CompuKit UK101 and built it and played around with at University, where I met other fans - one who wrote Defender for it over summer.
I build my own 6809 based machine which grew to have 64K of dynamic RAM, video and a floppy disk controller. It didn’t live beyond about a year or two, and I don’t have any pictures of it - but would love to build another 6809 machine again.
I joined Digital Equipment Co Ltd and was there for about twelve years, first starting on a DECmate (PDP8 based) word processor.
After DEC collapsed, I joined Sensaura and worked on 3D positional audio for about another twelve years.
After Sensaura got bought out by Creative, I joined Codemasters and became a games developer. I lasted about four years then found myself out of games for a while. I’m back in games now, as a tools programmer, working for a different company.
I love tinkering with Arduino, Netduino and various other bits of hardware in my spare time.
I’m a STEM ambassador and go into schools to promote STEM subjects - love talking about my long career as a software engineer.
7 Likes