San Diego Wondering

[Andrew Lynch]

Am I the only classic computer enthusiast left in San Diego?

[snip]

If so, drop me a line. Don't mean to sound needy - but it's lonely down
here. San Diego was a major epicenter of the development of the S-100 CP/M
computer. We're all getting older but it can't be that of 3 million people
I'm the only one left?!?

Vern Wright



-----REPLY-----

Vern, I think the focus of S-100 system development has moved away from the
local area and is now more of an internet phenomenon.  CCTALK,
Vintage-Computer.com forums, comp.os.cpm, is where a lot of activity takes
place.  There are vintage computer festivals and ham radio conventions where
hobbyists meet but I think the bulk of the communication is via the
internet.

If you'd like to see active S-100 development take place once again, have
you considered starting a home brew hobbyist S-100 project?  I started a
home brew computing project a couple of years ago (N8VEM) and it has been
quite successful.  There is a lot of interest and all sorts of people have
built their own systems.  I've had ideas of expanding the N8VEM system into
S-100 for some time now and am building a hobbyist S-100 backplane.

With the availability of low cost EDA tools and PCB fabrication its possible
for home brew hobbyists to make their home brew systems available for
everyone.  Maybe if S-100 hobbyists would design and manufacture a
completely open and free system similar to the N8VEM.  Recently, a hobbyist
made a completely new S-100 prototype board.  I recall others (Dan Roganti?)
designing new S-100 boards months ago too.  For example, start with a
backplane, another hobbyist makes a linear or SMPSU power supply PCB,
another a CPU board, yet another builds a SRAM board, someone else a serial
UART board, etc.

Many hands makes light work so maybe it could happen.  I am optimistic its
possible although I am aware of the many hobbyist projects that have been
attempted on CCTALK.  I think it would be fun and might recapture some of
that "lightning in a bottle" magic from the early home brew microcomputer
community.

Andrew Lynch