Software Engineer, Entrepreneur, Retro Hacker
I recently attended the Vintage Computer Festival Southwest (VCFSW) at the University of Texas at Dallas campus. This 3-day event was packed with presentations and displays of retro computer and gaming hardware from the early days of computing. Here is a more detailed analysis of the weekend:
https://medium.com/the-ember-project/vintage-computer-festival-vcf-southwest-2025-68351d004434
Hi friends! SIGGRAPH 2025 is only a few weeks away! I hope to see everyone there!
If you'd like to get together during the week to discuss 3D graphics, startups, or even retrotech or circuitdesign, please feel free to message me!
I always have time to talk about graphics!
#projectember #3dgraphics #rendering #realtimerendering #cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #DIYProjects #retrocomputer #retroconsole
I attended the #vcfsw in Dallas at the UTDallas campus this weekend. Quite a show! It's considerably smaller than those in Chicago or New Jersey, but still an excellent opportunity to see some vintage hardware in person and attend presentations from some original creators in the industry. The primary focus this year was #texasinstruments and the #TMS9900 and #TMS9918 chips.
Hello from Amidon on my A1260 :) #Amiga #RetroComputing #BackToTheFuture
Merry Christmas from the Man Cave.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zwbBquNRmKdYDCFB8
Seen at a Save N Continue store in San Jose CA (USA) 😋
#Retrocomputing #VintageComputing #Atari #Commodore #TRS80 #TI994A #Coleco
Everything's better with Bluetooth, right?
Well, almost. This little fella that I have attached to my #RC2014 doesn't have flow control enabled by default, and enabling it seems to make the Bluetooth adapter non-responsive. The problem is most assuredly between the keyboard and the chair -- troubleshooting is ongoing.
This little device has been so much fun porting the old BASIC games to.
This year's major topic at the Vintage Computer Festival Southwest is Texas Instruments. The first of several great talks and panels included Granville Ott, a major contributor to TI in the 1970s and 1980s, and one of the primary drivers of the TI99xx series processors used in, among other things, the TI-99/4a series of home computers.
Granville is on the left, next to several prominent YouTube creators who cover the tech of the 1970s.
#texasinstruments #ti9900 #ti994a #ti #retro #retrocomputing
I was reminded today of the ATARI 1200XL I had back in the day. It was my first computer, and I spent many hours programming graphics and games in BASIC, and eventually in Assembly with the ATARI Macro Assembler, and playing Alternate Reality: The City...
In 7th grade, I also built a voice synthesizer for it using a SP0256-AL2 sound chip, and then interfaced the ATARI with a Big Trak, allowing the computer to drive the programmable tank and have it follow people around. Good times!
#atari #atari1200 #atari800 #assembly #assemblyprogramming #retrocomputer
n 6th grade, my middle school had one of these. It was the first computer I programmed. It had 4k RAM and BASIC.
Heading to Dallas today for the https://www.vcfsw.org/ VCF Southwest! Hope to spend some time with the real retro scene!
#vcfsw #retrocomputing #retrotech #retrogaming #8bit #emberproject #ember #projectember
We're seeing some great progress on the hardware (FPGA) implementation of the Ember CPU! The Verilog simulation of the CPU on a Cyclone V FPGA in QuestaSim can now process LDI (Load Immediate) and MOV instructions. Next step, the ALU!
#cpudesign #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #DIYProjects #retrocomputer #Verilog #ALU #8BitALU #FPGA #ASIC #ProcessorDesign #retrodev #analoguepocket #cyclonev
Let's write a bit of Ember assembly code for the GPU driver!
https://skicat.medium.com/b72c0e86cb23
#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #DIYProjects #retrocomputer #retroconsole
My MiSTer and Analogue Pocket Core development setup!
#analoguepocket #devkit #verilog #mister #misterfpga #cpudesign #console #8bit #misterfpga
Now that we have a basic system design for the Ember CPU, GPU, and PIA, we need some startup firmware to get things up and running…
#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #DIYProjects #retrocomputer #retroconsole
In unrelated news...I am building a new shelf for the kitchen, so I decided to make a few additions to my office desk as well...
A sturdy keyboard tray, and two under-desk laptop shelves to provide more desktop space for projects!
I got a new toy in the office! An Analogue Pocket dev kit! I will be porting my original Project Ember MiSTer core implementation from a few years ago to the newer device! Actually, a complete rewrite, but based on the same hardware design from my Ember series.
#analoguepocket #devkit #verilog #mister #misterfpga #cpudesign #console #8bit
Switching gears back to Ember for a bit, I'm updating the emulator and debugger with changes since my last round of blog posts on the Project Ember implementation, including adding rudimentary syntax highlighting to the debugger disassembly display!
#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #DIYProjects #retrocomputer #retroconsole
Circuit board bodge of the day: Socketzilla! 🙄
I had some of the pins off by 1, so needed to shift them...
#retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #RetroDev #DIYProjects #retrocomputer
