Ordered my AltairClone :) very excited :)

[waltermixxx]

I can't wait for the Altair 8800 Clone to arrive. I will have to start building my Pocket Term from one of the many Parallax Propeller USB Proto boards I have lying around, with VGA output, and PS/2 keyboard input. Very handy these propellers. :)
I wish I had purchased this last year when the Canadian dollar was more at par with the U.S. currency. :) Oh Well. At any rate the order is in, and I have a few hours before I have to tell my wife... :)

At any rate, I'm new here, and will most likely have lots of questions. But before I ask I will do my best to check the documentation. I have already downloaded the Manual for the Clone so I will read that on the way home on the subway. :)

Cheers. :)

Ok I know it has not arrived yet, but I was wondering where i would get a "disk activity signal for the three virtual drives. I 3d printed a dual disk drive relief for the Briel 8800micro i own and grabbed the signals from the main microcontroller on the drive expansion. Would this be possible with the Altair 8800 clone? I know schematics may not be available, but I was wondering if there were three pins i could "tap" for a disk activity led. :) ( would they be 3.3 volt? )

If not no problem :) but it would be a cool little box :) to have on top of the Altair. :) (perhaps even disk drive noise from one of those digital playback chips... :) ) that would be cool :)

for those interested in seeing the relief here is the link to the thread on the Briel forum :)

http://www.brielcomputers.com/phpBB3/vi ... 6201#p6201

Cheers. :)

[Drunkle]

First welcome. I remember my waiting for my Altair clone. Once I received it, I was playing around for days. My wife and kids had to come down to see if I was still in the land of the living. I even managed to get my family interested in okay some of the adventure games like Zork.

As for tapping drive signals, Mike will have to answer that. The "drives" are serial non valital memory chips on the board. Not really any easy select signal. With a little code magic you might be able to re-task the Serial hand shake lines. I'll have to give it a think.

When you get your setup going, please make sure to add a picture in to one of the post that has several other clones.

[waltermixxx]

I will be sure and post a pic once I get my unit.

I think your right, if it's a serial memory device on a I2c bus it might be more challenging. I would at this stage rather not mess with it. I will have plenty to keep me busy, as I work through the 30 or so video's Mike posted. :0)

Cheers!

[snuci]

I will have plenty to keep me busy, as I work through the 30 or so video's Mike posted. :0)

I thank Mike every chance I get for those videos. They are awesome.

Congrats once again on the Altair Clone!

[waltermixxx]

Wild, my Altair 8800 clone just arrived...

Very Cool, it seemed to come overnight, as it was shipped out yesterday...crazy... :)

Talk about super fast service, Thank you Mike...

and so it begins.... (again....)