S-100 Bus computers that don't cost thousands?

[Hugo Holden]

If you are really dead-set on entering the S-100 world, then first work on ways to increase your disposable income.
-J

Or you could do what I once did when I wanted to buy my first car and didn't have the money, I sold something else I owned and really valued, to help pay for it and of course I have always regretted it.

 

[Hugo Holden]

@Hugo Holden In principle it shouldn't be that hard....

"in principle solutions" have never appealed to me completely, because the Devil is in the detail.

 

[Istarian]

"in principle solutions" have never appealed to me completely, because the Devil is in the detail.

It's not really a solution so much as one possible approach you can take to not wanting to spend a ton of money. Especially if you already happen to already have an S-100 card you want to play around with.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

But it all becomes a nonsense argument.

You either want a vintage S-100 computer based on a CPU like a Z80 or an 8080, or you want something else, some sort of modern emulator for low $.

No, there’s a third way that’s been chucked out there, which is the ecosystem of “authentic” modular small hobby computers, like the RC2014 system, that can give someone the experience of building up a computer “from scratch” like buying an Altair or SOL-20 kit in the 1970’s, but because they’re built from more modern components (we’re talking 80’s and 90’s vintage through-hole, not FPGAs) they’re a lot cheaper and more compact than an S-100 remake. If it’s *that* aspect of computer ownership someone wants to explore, IE, graduating from just collecting simple 8-bit computers to actually learning how they work by building one, these are perfectly valid and, in fact, probably a better choice than S-100 because they avoid a lot of the orc-ish nonsense that comes along with that bus.

(You know, little things like needing giant expensive PCBs and slot connectors, a power supply suitable for a welder to power the separate voltage regulators on every card, the unnecessary weirdness that comes along with oddities like the unidirectional data busses… that aren’t unidirectional if it’s an IEEE-696 compatible card, etc.)

It does worry me that we’re probably approaching the end of this third way; Zilog killed off the Z80, it’s only a matter of time before the remaining small CPUs that are “just CPUs” (vs. MCUs) go away, along with the old-fashioned supporting components like parallel SRAMs. But for now, at least, there’s still enough of this stuff in production (or still floating around old stock) to let people build “real” hobby computers that aren’t emulators for the foreseeable future. It’s just going to get more expensive… but it’ll still be about an order of magnitude less expensive than S-100 for a while yet.

 

[DeltaDon]

The OP hasn't been heard from since the 21st where they stated they didn't have $1,000 to spend. So without more feedback as to what they want to accomplish for their end point, the rest of us are tossing out suggestions that may or may not be important to that person.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

So without more feedback as to what they want to accomplish for their end point, the rest of us are tossing out suggestions that may or may not be important to that person.

Yep. It's possible, perhaps, that the discussion in this thread might be useful to someone else in the future who develops a curiosity about S-100 machines and wants to explore possible options, but the same issue, IE, understanding exactly what the motivation they might have/what they're hoping to accomplish being kind of important, remains.

I sort of have to admit that actually getting an S-100 computer significantly cooled my enthusiasm. Granted mine was a train wreck and still needs a ton (more) of restoration to actually run, but actually working on it made me feel like it was a huge PITA compared to even a *slightly* more modern computer. I've repaired both PETs and TRS-80 Model Is, and both of those feel a lot less like trying to disarm unexploded ordinance.

 

[RetroAND]

I have said from long time ago that the future of new S-100 system production resides in Eastern Europe. Some countries still manufacture MCS-80 and MCS-85 chipsets, and the prices for those components aren't expensive.
There's another way to have a S-100 computer, or more likely, a pseudo S-100. There's a TRS-80 clone, the EACA Video Genie, that has a S-100 bus expansion. It wouldn't be necessary to acquire one, just cloning it would be fine. And there would be a single-board computer as a base, so it would be easy to troubleshoot.

 

[falter]

S100 can be had cheapish if you watch ebay closely enough. Requires great patience.

Or you do it 'on layaway'. You buy a chassis for $200, then later a card, then another. I've done it that way.

 

[Hugo Holden]

S100 can be had cheapish if you watch ebay closely enough. Requires great patience.

Or you do it 'on layaway'. You buy a chassis for $200, then later a card, then another. I've done it that way.

I once bought a Guitar on layaway and after that process was complete I decided never to actually buy anything that I could not afford off the bat. Lets not start another GFC.