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Re: If you could design a $300 homecomputer today, what would you choose?


Marc Walters <marc@classworks.com.au> wrote in message > One of my favourite
"toys" was an old Dick Smith (Funway?) Electronics
> Learning Kit. It was a board with springs (to join the hookup wire),
> components, and project sheets. Simple, fun, and educational.
> Especially since there was no need for that ten-year old to to wield a
> dangerous soldering iron and play with mains electricity. Which leads
> nicely into...

Interesting, I had a similar kit with a board, springs, components and
project sheets. You could upgrade the entire board to a full experimental
control system complete with well written manuals (even for a kid) how to
build and design assorted circuits. Cool stuff. :-)
You could find them in some of the larger electronics stores but I haven't
seen one in years (sigh). I don't remember the name but it came from a
german company, the boxes they came in were orange with electronics and
schematics on them.


>
> If the C64 was going to be ressurected in a modern form, it would have
> to be something entirely different from a PC, and aimed at an entirely
> different market. A "learning" or "hobby" computer. Like "Mecchano"
> and IIRC "Lego Robotics".
>
> Something that was:
>
> a) Relatively inexpensive
> b) Programmable
> c) Childproof and newcomputerowner-proof
> d) Expandable
>
So it should be aimed as an educational toy/tool. Seeing the cut throat PC
business this would be a sensible approach.

> What I'm thinking of is a SCPU-driven 64 in a PC mini tower, with real
> O/S that sits over the C64 BASIC/KERNAL package and provides a
> protected environment for a new BASIC or PASCAL with strong visual and
> audio support. A component system, similar to Borland's "Delphi" would
> be really nice.
>
Having used Pascal myself I would have to agree on using a system like
Delphi. Although my heart these days is with Python. But that's a script
language ( I wish i had this as a kid, so clear and well structured!)

> The O/S would be scaleable -
> * A "Childrens' Mode" which allows a subset of the programming
> languages and lots of presets for stuff like printer output,
> menu-driven educational titles, etc (in ROM?). Perhaps a
> point-and-click programming language with built-in music to make
> "games" similar to the old Commodore "babysitter" titles ala "Pinball
> Construction Set".
> * A "Hobby Mode", perhaps using a hard-to-get-at hardware switch which
> allows access to the guts of the machine, and 64-mode, etc. A
> redesigned "hobby-port", basically the User port with build-in relays
> and perhaps a bay for a 9-volt battery to power plug-in (out of the
> box) hardware projects.
>
Truly a tinkering machine. For young and old ;-)

> In all, a machine that the user can get a real feeling of being in
> control - no worry about viruses or crashes or constant version
> updates and patches. Something parents will buy for the kids as a toy
> but may (hopefully) discover than by plugging some extra stuff into
> it, can do basic tasks like wordprocessing and may not be quite the
> toy they thought it was.
>
> Marc Walters
> marc@objectconnections.com
>
>
At least it would be a better investment than the newest game console on the
block. What parent could resist?

Cheers,

Thomas van Kooten