Advance any field far enough into the future, and eventually someone will look back with misty eyes and fond memories of the good old days and start the process of turning what would qualify as junk under normal conditions into highly desirable collectibles. Nostalgia seems to be an inevitable consequence of progress. Join us on Wednesday, March 17 at noon Pacific for the Retro Recreations Hack Chat with Tube Time! Posted in Raspberry Pi, Retrocomputing Tagged cassette tape, cassette tape hack, emulator, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Zero, Raspberry Pi Zero W, retro, retro computing, Sinclair Zx Spectrum, ZX Spectrum So whether they’re hiding inside outdated storage formats or powering a stock-looking sleeper PSP, we just can’t help but be impressed. The Pi Zero isn’t the smallest or the most powerful of options, but it is far more capable than the computer it is emulating here. Honestly, sometimes we just have to sit back and be amazed at the kind of computer power that can be packed into such tiny packages. You may recognize his work from the TZXDuino, a virtual tape loader for the ZX Spectrum. Of course, isn’t new to these cassette builds. He also put a ton of love into a literally-highly-polished aluminum heatsink, which is entirely hidden within the case but does keep the computer cool in its claustrophobic quarters. The Pi did have to undergo a bit of light surgery though he managed to lose only four GPIO pins in the operation. It’s an impressive and clean build, and it pairs so well with a downright gorgeous, retro inspired, CRT-lookalike LCD monitor, which is another creation of his.
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And that’s exactly what has done by stuffing a Raspberry Pi Zero W inside a cassette tape to run his ZX Spectrum emulator. And sometimes, just sometimes, it smacks us right in the face.įew projects can demonstrate the advancement and miniaturization of computing technology like putting an entire functional computer inside a storage medium that once only held mere kilobytes of data. Other times it thrums steadily under the surface while we go about our lives. Sometimes we are vaguely aware of the inexorable march of technological progress. And while he did a great job explaining the inner workings of the 555, you might want to take a deeper dive into how the venerable chip came to be.Ĭontinue reading “Should Have Used A Vacuum Tube 555” → Posted in Misc Hacks Tagged 5555, bias, comparator, flip-flop, pentode, replica, retro, timer, vacuum tube You can check out more of our coverage of ’s vacuum tube adventures, which started with his reverse-engineering of an old IBM logic module.
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The video below shows the design and build process as well as testing of all the common modes of operation for the timer chip. Mounted on eight outsized leads made from sheet steel, the circuit pays homage to the original 8-pin DIP form of the 555. To physically implement the design, built a large PCB to hold the 18 vacuum tubes and the handful of resistors and capacitors needed. The only part left was the discharge transistor a pentode was enlisted to stand in for that vital function, making the circuit complete.
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The urge to replicate the venerable 555 in nothing but vacuum tubes is understandable, as it uses little more than a pair of comparators and a flip-flop, circuits has already built vacuum tube versions of. It comes to us via, aka, who has lately caught the “hollow state” electronics bug and has been experimenting with all sorts of vacuum tube recreations of circuits we’re far more used to seeing rendered in silicon than glass.
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There seems to be little that these ubiquitous chips can’t be used for, and in a world where code often substitutes for hardware, it’s easy to point to instances where one could have just used a simple timer chip instead.ĭefinitely not in the meme category, though, is this overkill vacuum tube 555 timer. “You should have used a 555” has become a bit of a meme around these parts lately, and for good reason.