Altomare

I like old hardware and to start projects I'll never finish.
From Paris, with leaded solder.

2025-07-10

@Wintermute_BBS @rc2014 @electron_greg Neat machine, I've always had a soft spot for these.

I saw something similar at the Home Computer Museum, but I'm not sure if it was homebrew or MFA...

It's not S-100 btw : mfa-8085.de/mfa-bus/

2025-07-02

@hansotten I recently got a Pascal MicroEngine board (SB1600).
Here are the ROM dumps if you're interested:
altoma.re/files/western_digita

Picture of a Wester Digital SB1600 single board computer. The 5 chips of the WD16 chipset can be seen on the left side
2025-06-28

@jgeorge Thank you, that makes much more sense than power switches, especially when it has a power switch on the front 😅

2025-06-28

@f4grx @jgeorge Decision Data 3751-11, it's compatible with the IBM 5251-11.

There's some info on bitsavers:
bitsavers.org/pdf/datapro/alph

I'll try to take nice pictures when I take it apart and when I get it running.

2025-06-28

@ovalenti Ouah kecébô ! Ça date de quelle année ?

2025-06-28

Note: this is no @NanoRaptor shenaniganery, it's real. As to why, I got no clue but I'll know when I take it apart.

It's a Twinax terminal but there's an empty spot for what looks like RS-232. I hope it's an unpopulated option I can add myself!

2025-06-28

Have you tried turning it off and off and off and two and on and on and on again?

#retrocomputing

Backside of a "Decision Data" terminal, with 3 ON/OFF switches and a One/Two switch for some unexplicable reason?!
2025-06-19

@vicgrinberg @acb Now that's a shirt I'd proudly wear !

Altomare boosted:
Dr. Victoria Grinbergvicgrinberg
2025-06-19

@acb like this?

A black & white digital drawing (made by me) of a raccoon in a trash bin saying "yes, we are made ot stardust. but so is garbage."
Altomare boosted:

Who needs a Rolex if they can have the Würth Elektronik 7 Segment watch?

2025-06-18

@tomjennings Perhaps the real treasure at the end of this journey was the files we made along the way...

If you need other versions or help converting IMD/TD0/other files, let me know. Always happy to help!

2025-06-17

@tomjennings Well, I also came across these files in my archives. The original uploader name sounds... familiar :-)

altoma.re/files/otrona/softwar

2025-06-17

@tomjennings I can make you a zip image yeah. IMD files and the rest are a pain to open. cpmtools is good, but it's also very finicky...

I'm working on adding CP/M filesystem support to the HxC Floppy software, but it nowhere near complete.

2025-06-17

@tomjennings I probably have a Multiplan disk image for the Otrona Attaché if needs be.

2025-06-15

@hamishtpb Hi, it's still in my living room. Life and laziness got in the way but I'll try to send it soon

2025-06-12

@gigabecquerel Would you recommend that lil radiation detector? I'm tempted to buy one for fun

Altomare boosted:
rrmuttrrmutt
2025-06-01

My first job out of college was at Teradyne, a company that makes PCB and semiconductor testers. Had a nostalgia jag and looked up pictures of the bonkers PCBs that went into their equipment. (I was writing test automation software: with hindsight I wish I had worked with the HW folks, I would have learned a lot!)

PCB with round array of hundreds of contacts and silkscreen labelsPCB stuffed with ceramic driver modules, red relays, and logic modules with square ICsPCB with relays and ICsPCB with a radial layout of channels for testing semiconductors
2025-05-28

@mwichary well you'll have a good excuse to visit again :)

I'm in talks with them about old computers (big iron from the 60s) and the staff members are lovely

2025-05-28

@mwichary Arts et Métiers in Paris, France. They're doing an exhibition about technology innovations that failed. The name will be "Flops" and will start near the end of the year.

They were looking for obscure typewriters, keyboards and input devices, and were delighted when I brought them your book :)

2025-05-28

@mwichary Here's a very unusual early French ergonomic keyboard prototype, the Marsan. The previous owner tried to wire it to use with a SwyftCard

It's going to a museum for an exhibition, as well as a copy of Shift Happens available for visitors to read

Picture of an ergonomic keyboard with unmarked keys of various colors. There are two thumb leversPicture of the keyboard layout printed on paperClose-up of the thumb levers

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