[cctalk] Re: Massbus emulation

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 6:47 AM Jim Davis via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote: I guess for the same reason that I've spent the last few weeks literally playing with 'toys'. The toy in question is Fischertechnik, a rather nice construction system for hackish engineering. Back in the mid-1980s they sold a set to be controlled by a typical home computer. I have that set and the interface to the BBC micro. Turns out (after a bit of investigation) that adding a single wire to the interface circuit board makes it compatible with the IBM PC version of the interface, which connects to the parallel port on said machine. But that wasn't enough for me. No, I've now linked it to the parallel port on my Osborne 1, written the driver software in Z80 assembly language and ported most of the demonstration programs (BASIC, most of the 'porting' was due to the differences in the screen display of the IBM PC and the Osborne). Why? Because it's FUN! -tony