Homebrew 8085 sbc w wooden jig

[mountainking]

I have a developed a knack for finding homebrew stuff on ebay that's listed in a way that all of the title searching in the world wouldnt pull up, lol. This piece was listed as "Electronic parts board ics microchip tester development", lol! I had this feeling that for some reason there would be some extras included with this computer and sure enough there was, always makes these homebrew creations even better when they come with some of parts that builder would have had in his (or her) workshop. Speaking of the builder, the listing stated that the builder was a "microwave engineer designer that passed last year". Shame there wasn't some documentation with this computer.

Anyway, one of the crazy things about this piece is that it is shocking similar to this:
https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/8085-s100-pinsetter.1244676/

Same exact s100 vector board, pretty much the same circuit and pretty much the same jig, albeit wood vs metal. Mine is a bit later than the above one, looks mine is from around '84. What could this mean? Maybe this is a particular project from a magazine article? I haven't dump the eprom yet, still trying to figure out how to make that happen. Btw, what is up with the 4 pin connector? Why would someone yank the other pins? I mean even if that's all that was needed for serial (you only needs 3 for serial, right?) communication it would only serve to weaken the connection.

P.S.- Did anyone else think "ant farm" when they first saw this computer?

Alan

 

[mountainking]

The forum really should have a "vintage homebrew" section, I mean the homebrew community has been an important part of the history of the microprocessor/microcomputer going back to the very beginning, seems wrong to not have a dedicated section people can go to check these amazing, hand crafted marvels. Anyway, just needed to say that.....

 

[seat safety switch]

The forum really should have a "vintage homebrew" section, I mean the homebrew community has been an important part of the history of the microprocessor/microcomputer going back to the very beginning, seems wrong to not have a dedicated section people can go to check these amazing, hand crafted marvels. Anyway, just needed to say that.....

Cool machine!

There is a "Home Brew Computing" group near the very bottom of the forums listing, although it's mostly the people making new homebrews instead of enjoying historical ones. The groups in general seem to be pretty rarely visited, so please feel free to spice things up around there!

 

[mark0x01]

The 4 pin connector "was" a common thing, where you ordered an empty shell and a bunch of pins, and just inserted the number of pins required.
There was a tool for inserting and removing pins so no soldering iron needed to swap pins about.

 

[syzygy]

Nice. It looks like a basic "trainer" type 8085. I agree...something that would appear in a magazine. There are chips from '84 but I bet the design is earlier. He did a nice neat job on the build and it looks like everything is there. Not sure what pin 11 on the terminal connector is for but you see the usual 2-3-7 and the old GI UART. Not sure about that heatsink with the 2 screws. Reading the eproms could give you a clue about where it came from. Loving the case!

When are you going to fire it up?

 

[mountainking]

The 4 pin connector "was" a common thing, where you ordered an empty shell and a bunch of pins, and just inserted the number of pins required.
There was a tool for inserting and removing pins so no soldering iron needed to swap pins about.

Thank you for clearing that up! Never ceases to amaze me how the amount of knowledge that can be found here through it's members.

 

[mountainking]

Nice. It looks like a basic "trainer" type 8085. I agree...something that would appear in a magazine. There are chips from '84 but I bet the design is earlier. He did a nice neat job on the build and it looks like everything is there. Not sure what pin 11 on the terminal connector is for but you see the usual 2-3-7 and the old GI UART. Not sure about that heatsink with the 2 screws. Reading the eproms could give you a clue about where it came from. Loving the case!

When are you going to fire it up?

I was wondering about the heatsink as well.

I need to get my act together and figure out how to use my MacBook as a terminal so I can use my BT eprom programmer as well as hooking up all of my various SBC like this one. I've been more focused on acquiring pieces like than using them, since I can always find time later to use and enjoy them but I need to have the stuff when I do end up having time later. Would love to pick up a video terminal, do it the proper way.

 

[mountainking]

Cool machine!

There is a "Home Brew Computing" group near the very bottom of the forums listing, although it's mostly the people making new homebrews instead of enjoying historical ones. The groups in general seem to be pretty rarely visited, so please feel free to spice things up around there!

Yes, I know about that group but that's about modern home brew stuff built by members, what I want is a "vintage home-brew" category in the GENRES section.