You know how addictive Reddit can be, so I decided to bring something interesting back.
A guy who goes by the name dekuNukem built a backplane-oriented computer, with VGA and PS/2 keyboard support (and I believe network as well), completely from scratch, using a Z80 chip that was manufactured on order.
Here's the original gallery: http://imgur.com/gallery/hfG6e
That's some serious dedication, and I bet that's an accumulation of many years of skill around the field. So cool, yet seemingly so useless.
Personally, I'd prefer using an m68k, but maybe that's just me. The cool part is that everything is modular, so in theory you could replace the Z80 with a better processor.
I'm always interested in seeing the process of how people build electronics. Often, it seems so effortless; I vividly remember the time I could not, for the life of me, do something as "simple" as soldering some cables to an LCD! I do suppose that it depends on the environment in which one grew up in; for instance, my parents have never assisted or even supported me in a physical project. As a result, I gave up on almost all of such projects, because there was no one to teach me how to use a soldering iron properly or sharpen a tool without having to be extremely slow in my fear of something flying or catching a finger on the rotary tool.
A guy who goes by the name dekuNukem built a backplane-oriented computer, with VGA and PS/2 keyboard support (and I believe network as well), completely from scratch, using a Z80 chip that was manufactured on order.
Here's the original gallery: http://imgur.com/gallery/hfG6e
That's some serious dedication, and I bet that's an accumulation of many years of skill around the field. So cool, yet seemingly so useless.
Personally, I'd prefer using an m68k, but maybe that's just me. The cool part is that everything is modular, so in theory you could replace the Z80 with a better processor.
I'm always interested in seeing the process of how people build electronics. Often, it seems so effortless; I vividly remember the time I could not, for the life of me, do something as "simple" as soldering some cables to an LCD! I do suppose that it depends on the environment in which one grew up in; for instance, my parents have never assisted or even supported me in a physical project. As a result, I gave up on almost all of such projects, because there was no one to teach me how to use a soldering iron properly or sharpen a tool without having to be extremely slow in my fear of something flying or catching a finger on the rotary tool.
