Re: Computing Editorial (please read)

["Kelly Hall" <hall@priest.com>]

"Lee Hart" <leeahart@earthlink.net> wrote in message
3E3C4945.3DDF@earthlink.net">news:3E3C4945.3DDF@earthlink.net...
> The Parallax BASIC Stamp development kit is $150, and then you still
> need a PC to use it. But you can pick up an Apple II for next to
> nothing. Is there anything the BASIC stamp can do that the Apple II
> can't?

Fit into an Altoids box, run off a 9V battery, and be actively supported by
the manufacturer?

I've got a shelf full of 8 and 16 bit CPU eval kits, and most cost under
$100.  If I had more time and cash I'd pick up that slick programmable Lego
brick, too.  Lots of ways for interested parties to get down and dirty with
computers these days - all they need is a little bit of money and some
motivation.

> But, there is more to it than that. The model T is not in production,
> and no one uses them as their daily driver (for safety's sake, if
> nothing else). But the Z80 is still in production, and being used in new
> products! It's a bit premature to pretend it's dead.

If people are using Z80s in new designs, they must not mind the additional
power and board space required for the ram and rom.  With the flash-based
CPUs available from almost everyone, old parts like the Z80 are not getting
a lot of new design-ins.  But I can't imagine it will ever EOL, either.  Or
are you lumping the Z18x and eZ80 and Rabbit all under the 'Z80' umbrella?

> Yes. But does it help, or hinder? If you were a high school student and
> wanted to build your own computer, where would you go? Where are the
> plans? The parts? The kits? The software? The information on how to do
> it?

If a high school kid doesn't know how to use Google, then their teachers
should be shot.  It's like not knowing how to use a card catalog :)

> Some computers really *are* simpler than radios and audio amplifiers. In
> 1978 I built an 1802 "ELF" computer. You can't get much simpler, even
> today!

Flash-based PICs, AVRs, 8051s, and the like, IMHO.  Many of them don't even
require an external resonator, let alone crystal or oscillator.

> That's a good idea, although the web is not where my skills lie. I have
> instead been doing a lot of volunteer work in schools, showing kids how
> to do it. But I am only one person. I'm writing here so perhaps others
> will do their part, too.

Good on you!  It's great to hear about people volunteering!

Kelly