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posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 05 2015, @08:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-things-we-do dept.

ArsTechnica has a fun project--hacking a TRS-80 to get online:

The true test of a man's patience is crimping pins onto the end of a cable that leads to building a custom serial cable—especially if it's the first time you've even handled a serial cable in a decade. So as I searched under my desk, using my phone for a flashlight, I wondered whether I had finally found the IT project that would send me over the edge. On a recent day, I set out to turn my recently acquired vintage Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 computer into a working Internet terminal. And at this moment, I crawled on the floor looking for a DB-25 connector's little gold pin that I had dropped for the sixth—or maybe sixteenth—time.

Thankfully, I underestimated my patience/techno-masochism/insanity. Only a week later, I successfully logged in to Ars' editorial IRC channel from the Model 100. And seeing as this machine first saw the market in 1983, it took a substantial amount of help: a Raspberry Pi, a little bit of BASIC code, and a hidden file from the website of a certain Eric S. Raymond.


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  • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday August 05 2015, @09:12PM

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @09:12PM (#218779)

    >_
    >CSAVE "TEST/BAS",A > /dev/ttyUSB0
    SORRY
    READY
    >_

    we really only do need 3 error messages: how, what and sorry. all else is just made up by marketing to sell bigger cpus ;)

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @10:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @10:20PM (#218813)

    10 goto 20
    20 goto 10

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 05 2015, @10:59PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @10:59PM (#218828)

      10 GOTO 10 # because pipeline flushing on Branch is more fun if the PC doesn't change.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @11:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2015, @11:28PM (#218841)

        Or better yet...
        10 cls
        20 print "All work and no play makes jack a dull boy"
        30 goto 20