I don’t create beautiful code. I just want to understand how stuff works. Old computers are my way to understand the fundamentals of computer architecture with the added advantage of nostalgia.

My story

I’m a historian at heart. I try to understand how stuff works by going back in time. I’m a biologist by training, and I make a living understanding life’s blueprint, juggling sequences of A’s, C’s, G’s and T’s. I guess you could call me a bioinformatician, although I’ve never had any formal training in computer science.

My interest in computers started because of my Commodore 64. This little machine is where I wrote my first - trivial - programs, in BASIC. I had a small book on 6502 machine code, but for the life of me couldn’t figure out what it all meant, let alone get it running on my C64 without a monitor or assembler. I did some PASCAL programming in secondary school and my first year in university. Then - nothing regarding coding for a long while. I got my hands dirty - literaly - exploring the beauties of life.

But I’m a data-junky, and as I got more and more into molecular genetics, getting more and more of those A’s, C’s, G’s and T’s in, I realized to get a good fix from all that data I needed to code. So, since then, my work involved not only DNA code but computer code too - Perl, R, and, my favorite, Python.

It also got me hooked on Linux. I wanted to learn more about computer architecture. I explored Arduino and Raspberry Pi, which I still enjoy tinkering with today. But along the way, I also discovered that those 8-bitters of my youth were actually perfect for learning the fundamentals of computers. Moreover, I discovered electronics is fun, and soldering is Zen. At this blog I intend to share some of my discoveries. Don’t expect me to create useful tools, and certainly not beautiful code. I just want to know how stuff works.

Vintage computing interests

I like those ubiqutous 8-bitters that from the mid-‘70 revolutionized personal computing, especially the ones that are easy to obtain today (6502, Z80). I like single board computers or modular and newer versions of these - KIM/PAL-1, Ben Eater 6502, Microprofessor, RC2014, and SDK-85. But of course I also like my old C64, and the Ultimate 64. I like FPGA recreations if well done.

I have a particular interest in the PDP-11, for which I’m learning assembly and other interesting things. I don’t own a ‘real’ PDP-11 but I have a working minimal Qbus system running in a minimal configuration. However, it is my PiDP-11 that’s seeing most action - an 11/70 with virtualized disks and tape that you can store on your bookshelf.

Furthermore I’m really interested in old human-to-computer interfacing devices - teletypes, terminals, and old keyboards. The absolute favorite in my collection is my VT100. My favorite keyboards are my IBM Model M’s and my Northgate Omnikey Ultra with near-mint white Alps switches. Still looking for an IBM F AT or F-122 Battleship, and a keyboard with crisp blue Alps switches, so I you have one you want to part with please let me know!