Posted by musovern on Aug 12th, 2024 in NorthStar Horizon, S100 | 0 comments
Introducing the NorthStar Horizon: A Pioneer in Personal Computing The NorthStar Horizon, launched in 1977, is a standout in the early era of personal computing, notable for its unique blend of aesthetics and functionality. With its distinctive blue metal chassis and elegant wooden case top, the Horizon offered a stylish yet practical design that set it apart from other computers of its time. Powered by the versatile Zilog Z80 processor and featuring an expandable S-100 bus architecture, the Horizon catered to both hobbyists and professionals alike. It supported up to 64KB of RAM and was among the...
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Posted by musovern on May 2nd, 2023 in Dick Smith Super 80 Rev2 | 0 comments
First power up with Monitor V1.2 Upgraded RAM to 48K and Monitor to 8R5
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Posted by musovern on May 2nd, 2023 in Dick Smith Super 80 | 0 comments
Got this Super80 in the big tech sale Auckland 2020. A little bit about the Super 80 The Dick Smith Super-80 was a Zilog Z80 based kit computer developed as a joint venture between Electronics Australia magazine and Dick Smith Electronics. It was presented as a series of construction articles in Electronics Australia magazine’s August, September and October 1981 issues. Electronics Australia had published a number of computer projects before the Super-80, including the EDUC-8 in 1974, the Mini Scamp and the DREAM 6800 Video Computer. The computer was sold as a “short form” kit for A$...
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Posted by musovern on Aug 12th, 2022 in Apple | 1 comment
Background on the Apple II Rev 0 Replica The first 6000 or so Apple II’s sold, were equipped with what is called a revision 0 motherboard. A number of Apple II motherboards were also sold at the same time without case, keyboard or power supply. Most of these bare board systems were revision 0. One of these early machines was my personal Apple II. At some point, when the machine was on loan to a family member’s business, the original rev 0 board failed. It was repaired via replacing the motherboard with a rev 3 board. Over the last few years, I’ve been working to restore the...
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Posted by musovern on May 12th, 2022 in Amstrad, Vintage Computers | 0 comments
The PPC512 had an NEC V30 processor running at 8 MHz, 512 KiB of memory, a full-size 102-key keyboard with a numeric keypad, a built-in liquid crystal display (not backlit)[1] that could emulate the CGA or MDA and either one or two 720k 3.5″ floppy drives (the model was either the PPC512S or PPC512D depending on the number of drives it had). The PPC640 was otherwise identical except that it had 640 KiB of memory, a built-in 2400 baud modem (unusually fast for its day), and its case was a darker shade of grey. Both versions of the machine had an empty socket on the main circuit board so that an...
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