Bits Of The Golden Age | Craig Andrews | Activity https://bitsofthegoldenage.org/members/craig/activity/ Activity feed for Craig Andrews. Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:10:57 -0800 https://buddypress.org/?v= en-US 30 hourly 2 78917c1610cbe68998bd21310b75fdc3 Craig Andrews wrote a new post https://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=46241 Tue, 11 Nov 2025 22:25:52 -0800 SC/MP Based Nibbler System From mid-summer of 1978 to mid-summer of 1979, Digi-Key’s advertisements in electronics catalogs listed a SC/MP based single board computer that […]

]]> 824e5012637debab156c6c6c4166e02e Craig Andrews wrote a new post https://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=46230 Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:08:46 -0800 PROM to Serial Adapter Dongle DooDads I tend to work on a lot of CPU hardware that has no documentation, sometimes components are missing, or the board is just too broken to show any […]

]]> e4c50b4827242398ec2d5fb22f55c7ad Craig Andrews wrote a new post https://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=45257 Fri, 23 Feb 2024 20:39:47 -0800 Solid State Music CB1 S-100 Single Board Computer Workalike Not too long ago I came across a couple of unbuilt Solid State Music CB1A, 8080 based, S-100 single board computers.  This board has 2K of ROM, […]

]]> 7a26ec775f04920f8e2e9a1530cab246 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=42226 Wed, 28 Sep 2022 23:51:27 -0800 I have populated and have nearly completed my testing of the intellec 8 imm8-82 8008 CPU board, the only part left to test are the HOLD.  the 8008 is a helpless little dude so there is a great amount of support […]

]]> 50da9354f861ba4b8d3896ad4318c019 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=42214 Tue, 20 Sep 2022 19:45:32 -0800 Now that the companion imm6-26 PROM board is tested, it is time to move onto testing the 5-28 RAM board.  Like the PROM board, this board has 4K of memory but it is made up of four banks of 1K 2102 Static RAM […]

]]> 5e2feb895f2b4dae94709ccb1bfd0695 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=42065 Sat, 10 Sep 2022 18:01:49 -0800 After the SIM4 and SIM8, Intel began introducing the intellec series of Microcomputer Development Support equipment, first up were the intellec 4 / 40 and intellec 8/80 having the 4004, 4040, 8008, and 8080 […]

]]> 1575933d5b7fc57f7da508c183cc0dbe Craig Andrews commented on the post, STD Bus Backplane Anyone? https://bitsofthegoldenage.org/std-bus-backplane-anyone/#comment-99 Thu, 18 Aug 2022 00:48:14 -0800 oops, yes that is just when i duplicated that page. as simple as it is for the backplane, I still need to do the documentation.
thanks for your excitement.

]]> b31123648c954d9111776df60939c52a Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=42009 Sat, 13 Aug 2022 21:48:32 -0800 I mentioned in an earlier post that the first 8085 system I ever created was the Intel MCS-85 3-Chip Minimum System.  This has the 8085, an 8755 I/O EPROM, and a 8156 I/O RAM.  The capabilities of this minimum s […]

]]> fc4b9628758c1282c47b984190b9804a Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=41886 Sun, 07 Aug 2022 20:19:45 -0800 I have dozens of STD Bus backplanes, but as I mentioned in my last post none of them are ideal for when I have a sick card on the workbench.  So I am working on an eight-slot STD Bus Backplane that has all the […]

]]> 81e4decded21c804567d8040de7d4bd3 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=41834 Sun, 07 Aug 2022 17:00:49 -0800 It took me a while, but I finally got back to the STD-85 project and have completed a first round of testing on the board.  Overall, I am very happy with the way it turned out and I have not found anything that […]

]]> 7b7b067f7ac4b078ae1f46ed974f2936 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=41496 Sun, 10 Jul 2022 19:13:21 -0800 The first single board computer that I wire wrapped was the Intel 3-chip MCS-85 minimum system with an 8085 CPU, a 8156 RAM + I/O, and a 8755 EPROM and I/O.  The second that I wire-wrapped was a […]

]]> ae92f393f1047c11a7794098113e2560 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=41428 Sun, 29 May 2022 20:41:46 -0800 I needed a STD bus pad-per-hole prototyping card and it seems useful enough to take the trouble to document and share with others.

This card is STD Bus standard size and provides a nice pad-per-hole […]

]]> 7f5fcc7cb4d531af5839e2fbd0ca7e0c Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=41362 Sat, 21 May 2022 01:17:20 -0800 A few months ago, my new buddy Will sent a couple of Mostek MK38P70 microcontrollers and suggested I could make something useful out of them.  Being intel brainwashed at a tender age, I knew next to nothing about […]

]]> 33112c688420caf5caa5201e64af44a7 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40817 Wed, 23 Feb 2022 23:24:39 -0800  I have decided to port the SBC-85 8085 CPU board over to STD Bus.    I am just at the design stage so if you want to have any input, now is the time.One of the biggest features that people have been asking for th […]

]]> ae1a96979bd82046042373aac75f3460 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40794 Sat, 10 Jul 2021 23:10:15 -0800 In my last post I introduced Guus Assmann’s SBC-V20 board, here is his SBC-Z80 version whose design files can be downloaded here.

Guus’ SBC-Z80 is built upon the just4fun @hackaday project 159973 Z80-MBC2: a 4 […]

]]> 43824ac108a50c04f5aad34ad95e9870 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40763 Fri, 09 Jul 2021 23:31:53 -0800 For those SBC-85 advocates that have been longing for the power and prestige that comes with the Z80 or 8086, Guus Assmann has been one of The Netherlands’ busiest beavers this last year contributing to the […]

]]> b1d14c1473db6fe75fd2e727a1099d62 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40671 Fri, 11 Sep 2020 23:06:13 -0800 Charles in Tennessee was having trouble with his USB to RS232 adapters working with his version 2 SBC-85 CPU board. It was working fine with the native COM port on his computer, but refused to communicate […]

]]> 97995030970d713199a80463884202e0 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40644 Fri, 24 Jul 2020 01:30:05 -0800 Version 1.0 of the Serial, Parallel I/O board features RS232 up to 19.2K, 24 pins of I/O on the 8255 PPI, 8 bits of home-brew output or input, and a predecoded expansion bus for off-board playground.  The […]

]]> d46e9d979fab408a791c33e7d0f17a33 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40594 Sun, 12 Jul 2020 22:24:26 -0800 Someone in the SBC-85 community came across the mother lode of quad flat pack 80C85 chips and suggested that I make a QFP44 version of the CPU board. Since it wasn’t that large of an effort, I did the layout […]

]]> 453fc14ffdf4fb4deb35165d0c79d994 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40557 Sat, 04 Jul 2020 23:05:53 -0800 The four channel memory expansion board is now available for download.  It is also available on Tindie, but my preference is for user’s to make their own boards and share the extras.  The board is still u […]

]]> b35ba89c0f1039fe9b6bdd9ad63be225 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40520 Sun, 28 Jun 2020 23:48:09 -0800 The SBC-85 backplane prototyping board has been a hit and, at least from what moves through here, goes out the door at a rate far higher than any other SBC-85 circuit board. Evidently there is a lot of […]

]]> 43c0843c02aab2c76375462ff4a1e7f8 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40456 Sun, 21 Jun 2020 17:23:01 -0800 With every job at the PCB fab I like to include a prototype of a new design. This month, someone suggested a Serial & Parallel I/O card with a USART and a PPI (Programmable Parallel Interface), so the last couple […]

]]> 040d0d08382452d7002935073029687a Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40325 Mon, 25 May 2020 21:04:20 -0800 Curious about the condition of bubbles that I have seen available for sale, I decided to take the plunge and buy a few of the reasonably priced bubbles to get an idea of the risk level of buying used bubbles.  I […]

]]> 24973f91846db34d7c87e13f8b3b4a43 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40319 Fri, 22 May 2020 20:13:40 -0800 I am getting a number of purchases from overseas buyers that want in on the SBC-85 system, seemingly at any cost. However, I feel bad every time I have to pay&charge $20-$25 for simple first class international […]

]]> 373de2b937e02dda9aa6884a55b65baa Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40235 Fri, 24 Apr 2020 03:41:30 -0800 The first “real” version of the SBC-85 1 Mbit bubble board is about ready to go to the fab shop so they should arrive back here mid May.  The 7110A is the 20-pin version of the bubble, not the leadless versio […]

]]> c583e1a2c2cd8afa8cf2a5ad9cef6fe2 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=40061 Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:42:42 -0800 I just realized that I have not given an update on the Cassette Tape Interface board. The boards have been received and I have populated one, got the software going and started testing. There is always more […]

]]> 8d49489134c0fe01b34975925ae08f81 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=39993 Tue, 24 Mar 2020 20:52:33 -0800 The SBC-85 100mm x 100mm pad-per-hole Protoboard v1.0b has been received, inspected, and its files are being released and are on the Protoboard Documentation page.  The ‘b’ in the version number reflects the […]

]]> 743a2d7e2634d703f6f4ee5cae20bc99 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=39932 Mon, 09 Mar 2020 19:01:17 -0800  

One tool for a healthy hardware user group is the ability for the users to create, invent, and contribute. I pretty much got the desire to wirewrap out of my system decades ago, so now my personal […]

]]> 73109bd9a84c2e5e5f37dcbc440db3e7 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=39677 Sat, 29 Feb 2020 18:40:03 -0800 Update on version 1.1 of the SBC-85 CPU board that just arrived—-  Rather than tease out the build like I did last time, this time around I just did a full population, quick check, and then power up.  Quite to m […]

]]> 25a200d201e9a33bb5f2cca1fbc98765 Craig Andrews wrote a new post http://bitsofthegoldenage.org/?p=39618 Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:07:27 -0800 For those that can’t remember things like glass shampoo bottles and paper straws, the “100% Plastic” claim on this 8086 reference card probably doesn’t make much sense.  I remember paying top dollar for for the […]

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