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Review – Usborne Guide to Understanding the Micro.
Well, after finally making some (painful) progress on Orwell it is time to do another review on one of my stack of Usborne books. This book includes some actual Basic programs to try and Orwell should...
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Review – Usborne Introduction to Computer Programming.
Here we have another review of one of the 80s Usborne computer books. This time we’ll learn about computer programming. Title: Introduction to Computer Programming Subtitle: A guide for absolute...
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Review – Usborne Computer Battlegames.
Another review, this time one with lots of code to test out. This time we’re doing Computer Battlegames. Title: Computer Battlegames Subtitle: For ZX Spectrum, ZX81, BBC, TRS-80, Apple, VIC & PET....
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A new layout for Orwell.
I decided it was time for Orwell to progress past the breadboard stage. The Usborne reviews are going well. I have added in a silent LOAD mode where character aren’t echoed to the screen which speeds...
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Review – Usborne Creepy Computer Games.
OK, another review. This one is interesting for a number of reasons. I did most of the work away from home on holiday between Christmas and New Year. This proved Orwell makes a good travel computer...
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Updating Orwell’s video output (possibly).
It’s been a while since I worked on Orwell. I need to get back into doing my Usborne book reviews, especially since I finally found the last book I was missing on eBay and that should be on it’s way. A...
View ArticleOrwell Documentation
This post is to start documenting how my Orwell machine works. I’ll update it as things change. Orwell is a home made 6502 based machine. It has 16K of RAM, 32K of ROM and a 6522 VIA and a 6551 ACIA...
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Orwell video updated.
I finally got around to successfully updating Orwell’s video to Grant Searle’s video board. So Orwell now supports 80 characters as well as 40 character, bold and double size outputs. It also now has...
View ArticleOrwell graphics.
With Orwell updated and the new video working I started looking at adding graphics commands. I started with plot, easy enough, to draw a pixel at a given location on screen. Since it is hard to add new...
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Review – Usborne Computer Spacegames.
Right, finally another review. This time it’s the partner book to Computer Battlegames. But now we’re IN SPAAAACCCCE! Title: Computer Spacegames Subtitle: For ZX Spectrum, ZX81, BBC, TRS-80, Apple, VIC...
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Orwell IO daughter board.
Recently I was in the UK for Christmas and New Years. One of the trips I did was to Bletchley Park which is where the codebreakers in WW2 cracked the Enigma code. Bletchley has a working version of...
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Orwell joystick.
As well as the railway table I also finished Orwell’s joystick. Actually I made several since the first one I muffed up a bit. The DA15s I ordered arrived a few days apart so during the week I wired up...
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A three rotor Enigma machine wrist watch.
This is one of the most satisfying projects I have done I think. Mainly because this is a real device and something so historically important. It is a fully functioning Enigma machine you can wear on...
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Orwell computer case.
Since no one reads this stuff here is a film Over the last month or so I finally got around to making a housing for my Orwell computer. After a little distraction trying to get a SID chip working...
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Turing Welchman Bombe BASIC code.
This is a follow on from my software Bombe post here: http://www.asciimation.co.nz/bb/2015/06/14/a-turingwelchman-bombe The code is written to run on my home made Orwell 6502 computer. Orwell runs a...
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A Turing/Welchman Bombe.
This is the next step after my Enigma machine wristwatch project and putting my Orwell computer into a case. The next step was to investigate and hopefully simulate the Turing/Welchman Bombe. The Bombe...
View ArticleTuring-Welchman Bombe update.
A quick update on my Bombe project. I am too lazy to write it all up in detail so here is a film! I had sent links to the previous update to the various geek sites but no one was interested I guess....
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Turing-Welchman Bombe completed.
Well, it’s finally complete! Probably what most people want to see is the Bombe in action so here we go. For those who haven’t been following the whole project basically I reverse engineered then build...
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