Retro Thing

Vintage Computers Used To Teach Programming

2010-09-07T08:41:28-06:00

Robin Lee pointed us to this piece about using 8-bit BBC Micros from the 1980s to teach programming. Given the complexity of modern computing platforms, it's an intriguing idea. From the look of it, the class barely skimmed the surface using a BASIC interpreter, whereas making the most of the machine requires mastering 6502 assembly language.

Of course, revisiting classic machines is nothing new. The Commodore 64 -- once a fierce competitor to the BBC Micro Model B -- still has a cult following. What's new is the acknowledgement that there are several generations of young programmers who grew up without cutting their teeth on simple hardware platforms. Today's coding environments have so many levels of abstraction that it's possible to code through an entire career without having to write a keyboard debounce routine. On one hand, that's a good thing. On the other, there's nothing quite as exciting as trying to squeeze a professional application into only 16K.

Several modern manufacturers have tried to fill the void - most notably the Arduino series of microcontroller boards. These tiny 8-bit computers include dirt cheap Atmega microcontrollers that operate at five or ten times the speed of common 8-bit processors from the 1980s. These modern chips might not have the charm of classic designs like the BBC Micro and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, but they offer programmers the opportunity to design their own devices from the ground up -- something that's becoming increasingly rare.

BBC Micros used in retro programming class

A Decent Budget Turntable

2010-09-06T11:10:38-06:00

The vinyl resurgence that kicked into high gear about five years ago shows no sign of slowing. Many companies such as Sony, Audio-Technica and Numark offer entry-level turntables for under $100. However, the sweet spot for budget home enthusiasts seems to be the $200 mark.

The $209 Audio-Technica AT-LP120 USB is a direct drive turntable with a built-in USB port, just in case you get the urge to dupe your virgin vinyl to digital. It offers a nice compromise between affordability and respectable performance at a price point that isn't unreasonable in the iPod era.The turntable even includes a built-in phono preamp just in case your modern amplifier doesn't have one.

The table runs at 33-1/3 45, or 78 rpm and includes quartz speed control and a stroboscopic platter speed indicator. There's also a variable pitch control to bring out your inner experimental chipmunk.The s-shaped tone arm assembly provides an adjustable counterweight, antiskate adjustment, tone-arm height adjustment and a lock to prevent storage damage. An ATP-2 cartridge is included, along with a fairly typical cast-aluminum record platter and slip mat.

While many audiophiles will decry the inclusion of a USB port as a gimmick, I think it's an important feature these days -- like it or not, many of us listen to most of our music using portable music players and digital libraries on our PCs.

And I'll let you in on a secret: A digital copy of a vinyl record preserves most of the character of the original.

You see, the "magical sound of vinyl" can -- to a certain extent -- be captured using digital equipment. Records have a distinctive sound because of their limited dynamic range and the way that music has to be compressed and equalized to prevent the needle from jumping out of the groove. The result is a distinctive, organic sound. Capturing that sound in a digital format results in a recording that is often surprisingly different than the same track that has been "digitally remastered for CD."

Of course, some of you are going to be apoplectic at the thought of listening to digital copies of your favorite LPs. In that case, just use the analog outputs of the AT-LP120 and enjoy completely analog sound. For once, everybody wins.

Audio-Technica AT-PL120 Professional Direct-Drive Turntable

Summer Can't Be Over, I'm Still Wearing My 80s Shades

2010-09-06T10:41:48-06:00

There is sill plenty of summer left, people. Nothing ticks me off more than people greeting the first few days of September as if autumn were only minutes away. Summer doesn't end officially for another couple of weeks. I advise all fellow mavericks to dare wear white after Labor Day, keep hitting the beaches, and cook every possible meal you can outside. In return I pledge to continue wearing these flashy 80's sunglasses until I see snow.

Okay, I realize that I should have a strict geometric haircut and skin tight leathers on, but even on their own the specs offer quite the effect, eh? I did get these in the 80's, even though they're were not exactly a fit for my personality or fashion sense... ever. Perhaps I invested in them as I could see that these were going to be a real artifact of the 80's - the amateur anthropologist in me knew that this style was not going to stay part of the mainstream for long and these would be a great souvenir of that decade. Or more likely, they were 99 cents.

Help out Retro Thing when you buy 80s sunglasses (or anything else) on Ebay

related:
Cardboard 80s sunglasses for your car
Shutter Shades make a comeback
Polaroid went from sunglasses to instant cameras

iFixit's Retro Console Teardowns

2010-09-02T10:53:38-06:00

iFixit usually takes apart and photographs expensive new devices that most of us would never dream of disassembling for kicks - smartphones, computers and the like.

This week, they're on a retro kick. They started on Monday with the Magnavox Odyssey 100 (a typical pong/hockey game from 1975), then dismembered an RCA Studio II, Atari 2600 and a Nintendo Famicom.

There's something comforting about mid-1970s technology. The Odyssey 100, for example, incorporates a spacious circuit board populated with discrete components and a simple Texas Instrument "pong" chipset. The presence of a half dozen jumper wires hints at how quickly this design was brought to market - getting the unit into stores before Christmas was more important than a perfect circuit board design. There's very little mystery here, unlike the highly integrated silicon innards of today's "magical" entertainment devices.

Even the venerable Atari 2600 -- which sold more than 30 million units -- is strikingly spartan inside. That's because Atari had to cut quite a few corners to hit a $199 price point in 1977 ($700 in 2009 dollars). The machine was built around three core chips -- a MOS Technology 6507 microprocessor running at 1.19 MHz, an I/O and timer chip that held 128 bytes of RAM, and a custom Atari TIA video chip with only 20 bits of internal pixel memory that had to be updated for each raster line.

I'm looking forward to seeing what retro treat iFixit has in store for us on Friday.

Modernizing The Console Stereo

2010-09-02T10:14:02-06:00

Robin Cooksley recently contacted us with news of his audio furniture business. He explains, "I am trying to start a furniture making business specializing in retro audio equipment, one of my ideas is to make retro record player units, like the old ones where the record player was under a lift up lid and the speakers were integrated into the unit. The units can be fully customized to the size of audio equipment being placed in them, have ipod docs etc etc and be made out of the wood of choice for the purchaser. I would love to hear from you guys as to what you think, I think it is pretty groovy and original, well originally retro."

It should come as no surprise that I'm a huge fan of stylish systems like the Clairtone Project G and even the homey Magnavox Astro-Sonic Solid-State models. Their appeal is straightforward -- a piece of furniture is much easier to blend into a room than a stack of modern stereo components.

Robin's audio furniture wraps the components of your choice in a hand-crafted cabinet that evokes classic design of the 1960s. Each console can be customized to fit the buyer's needs. He explains, "The doors of each unit are carved into waves to give a really cool 3 dimensional feel to it and there is also some classic dovetail joinery incorporated. The unit in the photo is made of walnut with the internal cabinet made of baltic birch plywood. I could make the unit in Ash (light color) Oak (medium) or Walnut (dark) for around the same price."

The speaker mounts in the prototype are approximately 20" wide by 10" high and 17" deep, and there are two shelves behind the middle door that fit standard 17" components. Additional shelves can be added as required. Overall, the unit measures 60" wide by 18" deep by 30" tall and weighs 160 lbs.

He estimates the price will be around $1800. That's expensive by Ikea standards but reasonable when you consider the hundreds of hours of labour required to craft a piece of custom furniture.

So what do you think? Do you have any ideas to help Robin get his venture off the ground?

Visit Robin Cooksley Custom Woodworking

ToneMaster: Is It Live, Or Is It Killing Your Tape Deck?

2010-08-31T14:10:46-06:00

As a lad, I was an avid taper. My friends were into taping music off of FM, or dubbing albums. Always the oddball, I was recording old time radio adventures. In Chicago, we're still lucky enough to have a radio show devoted to those old time classics like "Jack Benny" and "Suspense". My friends and I would argue the merits of various brands of recording tape, which had the best sound quality, which had the roomiest labels... I went through countless Maxell UR60's (since those old time radio shows tended to have low fidelity, I could get away with using normal formulation tape). Those tapes had a cleaning strip at the head of every tape, and if you watched the sale papers, you could catch them for a buck a piece (in 1980's money...).

If money was low, I'd sometimes cast my eye over the cheaper tape brands. ToneMaster was the house brand of national pharmacy chain Walgreens. They were quite cheap (sometimes you could get 10 for $3.00), looked cheap, were often packed in a plastic bag without protective cases, and most disappointingly sounded like death warmed over. A few times, I'd try to brave the odds, hoping that somehow ToneMaster tapes had improved. If the tape didn't snap or tangle, it was frequently significantly degraded within a few plays. The tape deck frequently needed cleaning after a ToneMaster playback. There was even an attempt to upgrade the image of ToneMaster by individually shrinkwrapping the cassettes each in a protective case, and upping the price. Still just awful.

If you mention ToneMaster tapes today, pretty much everyone is in on the joke. The name has been reduced to a punchline on cassette enthusiasts message boards. If the rotten audio weren't enough, there was always the fear that this inferior tape was actually harming your tape deck. Shoddy quality like this ToneMaster cassette is what made me welcome recordable optical media. Those times I had to use cheap audio cassettes or VHS tapes, I feared the irreparable damage I might be doing to my equipment. No matter how lousy a blank CD-R or a DVD-R might be, at least you're not wrecking your gear by using one.

I do still look for bargains, and I'm not afraid to test out an off brand product in search of a great deal. However ToneMaster has taught me that just because it fits into a cassette deck doesn't make it a particularly good thing to have in there. Sometimes a bargain can actually end up being quite costly.

Pantomation - Video Art The Way It Used To Be

2010-08-30T08:22:22-06:00

I love old video performance gear. The real-time analog nature of the art form still holds exciting possibilities. Pantomation was a system from the 1970's that did some amazing stuff using what today would be considered a rather slow and low res video camera and a PDP computer. Pantomation was able to follow specific colored objects in the visual field using chromakey, then trigger audio and graphical events based on those movements. This is amazing stuff, especially when you see how the tracking system worked in concert with music and video synthesizers of the day.

Today's video game consoles are caught up in the "all new" area of gestural control, but look how capable the Pantomation system was at achieving this sort of effect decades ago. I would love to see more of this kind of kinetic art today using these breakthrough video game technologies. I miss the exuberance of video art pieces like these. Lots of computer based art these days just comes down to being elaborate computer animations. With all these great new real-time performance technologies, maybe we'll catch up with how cool the Pantomation was back in the late 70's!

related:

Wicked DIY analog video synth
Replicating the PDP-8

Commodore 64 Modern Replica Coming Soon

2010-08-28T16:04:34-06:00

When I read a year ago that Asus, one of the big companies behind the netbook craze, was coming out with a keyboard PC, I couldn't help but think of the Commodore 64. A keyboard with a personal computer inside that you hook up to your TV? Everything that's old is new again.

But when I read recently that the company licensing the Commodore brand was planning a Commodore 64 replica with an Intel-powered PC inside, I had to check the calendar. I thought for sure it was some sort of April Fools' joke. (August Fools' Day, perhaps?)

Alas, it's apparently for real.

ZDNet UK reports that the new Commodore PC64 will have an Intel Atom processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 1 TB hard drive and an optical drive (CD/DVD or Blu-ray). It also will have modern video connections, six USB ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a media card reader.

Pricing has not yet been disclosed. Commodore's current keyboard computers start at $495 and rise to $1,295. The Asus Eee Keyboard PC is a somewhat comparable competitor, sporting some lesser specs and the aging Windows XP operating system but also a built-in 5-inch LED multi-touch display. It is going for $550 right now on Amazon. (The original C64 went for $600.)

I haven't seen any reports of what operating system the new machine will have. Ubuntu, with Windows 7 as an optional upgrade, seems likely, based on Commodore's current offerings.

The original C64 keyboard had a "Commodore" key and a control key. I don't know exactly how you cram in Windows, shift, control and "alt" keys onto the old layout. The original also had four function buttons on the right, far fewer than modern PCs.

I also wonder if they'll be able to match — of all things — the red power light. Blue LEDs are so fashionable these days, and the Commodore 64 wore that red little nubbin so nicely. I also have very strong memories of the C64's power switch, which had a very satisfying snap to it. Can the one on the PC64 be as good or will it be a squishy push button?

And then there's the beige-brown color combo. In a tiny photo from the Commodore USA website, the new machine looks 1990s PC beige, not 1980s Commodore beige. It's a small thing, but if you're going for nostalgia, you have to nail that sort of thing.

Ultimately, I wonder who the target buyer is. Considering the likely price, it better be more than a nostalgia experience: It should be a good computer.

Landie Dying, Will Rise Again (Iconically)

2010-08-27T13:38:23-06:00

The Land Rover Defender has been around in its current form for nearly 30 years, and the current model can draw a pretty straight line to the 1948 Series I. But time is short for the Landie. Stricter safety and emissions standards coming in 2015 are going to kill it.

Tata, the Indian carmaker that recently bought Land Rover from Ford, has undertaken "Project Icon," an effort to create a new Defender. Its challenge is immense: design a successor that has the same ability to swallow terrain like the current vehicle, build it for less money and sell many more of them. (It also might not hurt to appease those who have grown to love the vehicle over the past 60-plus years.)

There are various insights into how the company might accomplish this. Tata recently said it is shifting some Land Rover production to India, so it's possible the new vehicle could be built there, rather than in Solihull, England. The new model also could be a hybrid.

The current Defender definitely keeps the utility in sport utility vehicle. Ground clearance is 13 inches. Water up to 20 inches deep doesn't bother it. Neither do inclines up to about 45 degrees. Mileage? As they say, "If you have to ask …"

The Defender hasn't been sold in the U.S. since the late 1990s. I test drove one on a lark just before its U.S. demise. (In British Racing Green, of course.) The ride included the salesman navigating an on-the-dealership-lot obstacle course of various inclines and rough terrain. It was great fun.

That kind of fun might come back to the States, because the vehicle that comes out of the "Project Icon" initiative seems very likely to wind up in U.S. showrooms.

Miserable Model M View-Master From The 1980s

2010-08-25T12:39:54-06:00

I've been a huge fan of View-Master 3D all my life. It wasn't until I was an adult that I discovered the older scenic reels. When View-Master started in 1939, it was originally intended for what we might today refer to as virtual sight seeing. It was decades later in the late 60s that the line morphed into being more of a childrens toy (admirable that the standard for the reels has stood throughout the product's entire lifetime. Any reel will mount into any viewer ever made).

The Model M viewer is from the late 80s and wasn't available for very long. I briefly thought that the Model M might have an advantage over more conventional viewers as the clear back would theoretically let in a lot of light. The transparent plastic is more to inspire the fascination of children as they watch the reel advancing mechanism work. As it turns out, the structure of the internals actually block out some of the image. Makes you wonder how this got off of the drawing board.

The curious shape is actually somewhat reminiscent of the first spindly View-Master Model A, so I guess it might be somewhat interesting for that reason. Though if using it occludes part of the dazzling 3D imagery within every View-Master reel, it's probably better to just put it back in the toy box.

related:
Ultimate View-Master
View-Master reels that talk!
View-Master 3D Trivia Quiz board game

Fly Your Own Spitfire For $239

2010-08-24T13:42:28-06:00

The AirField RC Spitfire is about as close as I'm ever going to get to flying a classic warbird. It features a respectable 55 inch wingspan, with a 2.4 GHz 5-channel digital proportional radio control system and a brushless electric motor.

The pachage includes everything you need to get flying except a LiPo battery charger, which costs an extra $35 to $99.

The EPO foam kit includes the motor, 14.8V 2200 mAh battery, five servos and an electric retractable landing gear system. You can save $20 by opting for fixed landing gear, but the aircraft won't look nearly as sleek in the air.

The only problem I can see is that it won't be long before someone shows up at the airfield with a matching Messerschmitt Bf-109, eventually leading to a horrific mid-air crash.

5-Channel RC Spitfire Kit

The Museum of Soviet Synthesizers

2010-08-24T11:27:15-06:00

Ask someone from the west about Soviet technology, and they'll probably mention Sputnik, Poljot watches and MiG fighter jets. However, the USSR produced a surprisingly broad range of consumer goods - radios, calculators, timepieces, games and even musical synthesizers.

The Museum of Soviet Synthesizers is an attempt to catalog the various electronic musical instruments that made it into production in the final decades of the Soviet era. Most of them appear to have been ten years behind western designs, but undoubtedly there was some clever engineering under the austere front panels.

The Ritm-2 was manufactured by the Kirovsky musical instrument factory in 1984. The little machine is a surprisingly attractive analog monosynth with a basic front panel. It was intended to be played live - there were no MIDI jacks or computer ports on this simple beast. The Museum is filled with instruments like this that could only have survived behind the Iron Curtain, where slyly imported Japanese and American instruments were few and far between.

Visit The Museum of Soviet Synths

Kirovsky musical instrument