[vcf-midatlantic] A good class for the Altair 8800 50th birthday...

[Dean Notarnicola]

I think a class that started with the fundamentals of microcomputer
architecture (with the examples Neil gave) would be a great start. It would
be a great launching point toward understanding any early platform, as that
knowledge is easily built upon.

On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 3:00 PM Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

> On 4/26/24 14:33, Jonathan Chapman via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
>
> > Starting from "I bought this Altair on eBay!" would be a week-long
> course, assuming the individual(s) taking it had enough
> > background for the material in the first place! There's a lot involved
> in getting them fully operational and *stable* and having
> > an unstable machine is a nightmare for someone who's just getting
> started on S-100.
> >
> >> and S50s
>
> I'd say it somewhat depends on your background. I started in the industry
> as an
> EET. Worked in a small company and learn every step of embedded systems.
>
> With the exception of things like the 4004/4040 I can look at a computer
> and
> figure it out. The 4004/4040 is strange software. The rest of various
> processors
> don't look that different to me. TTL or transistor computers are a bit
> harder
> to follow. :-)
>
> Now someone who started in software but wants to play with hardware is
> going to
> have a different view of the world. I know I've seen a lot of software
> folks
> struggle with the hardware. I'm not always good at explaining the hardware
> to help
> them understand.
>
>  > Assuming you mean SS-50, these things aren't really related, the
> (usually) completely different processor architecture changes a
>  > lot of things.
>
> Start with the basics, Serial (RS232, current loop, TTL 5v0/3v3) and
> parallel.
> Then work in to the logic.
>
> I will agree starting with an unstable system is not a great place to
> start but
> it will teach you how the systems work. And that's where the repair
> workshops
> come into play.
>
> --
> Linux Home Automation         Neil Cherry       kd2zrq at linuxha.com
> http://www.linuxha.com/                         Main site
> http://linuxha.blogspot.com/                    My HA Blog
> Author of:      Linux Smart Homes For Dummies   KD2ZRQ
>
>