The system was a very early singleboard personal computer. All software comes with user andor programmers manuals. The elf, on the other hand, could be put together on a piece of perf board. Starship animation program from popular electronics. The program runs under windows in a dos window command line as a 32bit msdos program. Nobody had yet written the software to make them useful, and little existed in the way of standards. May 17, 2012 my very first mac and computer was the infamous imac revision b in 1999, exactly years ago. At some point the original elf got dumped into a box and bounce from place to place and finally ended up in my storage locker where it remained lost and forgotten. Lee harts membership card also has a pc parallel port interface, to operate the. Over the past 35 plus years my original elf was replaced by the more expandable quest electronics super elf and then other more powerful systems. The cosmac elf was one of the more interesting specimens from this era.
Tinyelf version notes cosmac cdp1802 emulator for mac os x. The 1802 represented the majority of cosmac production, and today the entire line is known simply as the rca 1802. It makes me feel old just to think about it, but in august 2006 it has been 30 years since joseph weisbeckers famous cosmac elf article originally appeared in the pages of popular electronics magazine. Some even built their own computers, guided by instructions in electronics magazines of the day. For software designed for the classic mac os, see list of old macintosh software. I will be writing a full init prgram that can read a startup script for running multiple programs at startup. Welcome to the cosmac elf goldmine a web site about the 1802. I am designing this os initially for the hardware that i already have for my real elf. Links to websites and resources related to cosmac elf and other rca. However rca is not responsible for any of the material in this booklet. I cannot wait to play with this thing and display it proudly next to my cosmac elf 2k which i modified to work more like the original cosmac elf i built with pixie chip cheers.
This collection of rare and vintage computers is one of the largest collections of historical computers in the united states. My hello world program simply blinked the led which of course had. As seen, the elf has eight toggle switches for setting eight bits of data for program input, one input switch, and three system control switches that include memory protect. Development of the cosmac 1802, elf, and the membership card. Actually, the board works fine and is in stock, but because the dma circuit of the elf ii and quest elf is dedicated to the hexpad, it will only work on the tec 1802 at the present time. As soon i get back to the printer at the home base, i can do the front panel instrument control prints. The cosmac elf is now reputed to be the fifth most popular microprocessor for.
Vintage cosmac elf is pretty close to original hackaday. We are also approaching 1,000 sales of our 1802 cosmac flea microcomputer trainer. If compiled with a msdos c compiler, it could run as a 16bit msdos program under msdos. Macinhome mac consulting apple certified consultants 350,745 views. The processor design traces its history to an experimental home computer designed by joseph weisbecker in the early 1970s, built at his home using ttl components. As you know, the propeller elf ii is a work in progress, com ing. The article showed a home hobbyist how to build this simple and very straightforward microcomputer system based on rcas then new cdp1802 microprocessor.
In july 2019, joe blackburn wanted to run a18 under mac os x. Btw, theres a very small update on the propeller elf ii ready for posting. Unixwindows, mac os x, and in the files area of this group. The cosmac elf was an rca 1802 microprocessorbased computer described in a series of construction articles in popular electronics magazine in 1976 and 1977. Ipso facto is the only publication dedicated to hardware at the hobbyist level so far as i know. Build the cosmac elf a lowcost experimenters microcomputer. While the group is generally selfpolicing and needs little in the way of moderation, this. Apr 30, 2010 also, you can save programs and enter bytes manually into memory thus bypassing the loader. The spare time gizmos cosmac elf 2000 is a reproduction of the original cosmac elf as published in the pages of popular electronics magazine, august 1976. Elfish an interpretive development system 1983 viper issues.
A simple circuit used the dma feature of the 1802 to permit entry of programs and data into ram through the toggle switches. In honor of that anniversary, nuts and volts magazine is running a two part article about the spare time gizmos cosmac elf 2000. The original cosmac elf was a construction project printed in the august 1976 issue of popular electronics. The design of a microprocessorbased data logger, kenneth j. Quick, inexpensive solutions to control problems are always desirable, so owners of cosmac elf microcomputers may find many interesting ways to use the quickie programs in listings one, two and three accompanying this article. I could not wait to see the newest hardware and software in person.
May 27, 2010 8bit 1802 apple arcade assembly language audio bash basic books cosmac elf ddwrt evo gentoo haiku infosec ipad iphone ipod isd libretto linux mac mattel aquarius msdos openwrt os x pcb pc xt pinball podcast python sed serial port shell script tinyelf uboot ubuntu unix vhdl vmware wordpress wrt54g wrt54gtm wrt54gl zipit. I recently constructed the cosmac elf described in your august 1976 issue and thoroughly enjoyed the construction and testing of this microprocessor system. The first production model was the twochip cdp1801r and cdp1801u, which were later combined into the singlechip cdp1802. I intend to dedicate this page to emulation of elf systems. Ive been using mac ever since, but cant say im a fan anymore. Although i tried to keep the look and feel of the original, i had no hesitation about updating the elf 2000 with the latest in hardware. This little beauty is a reproduction of the original popular electronics cosmac 1802 elf computer it works the same and it runs the same software but its been shrunken down to fit in an altoids tin. Youtubba had an altair, but always wanted a cute cosmac elf. Tinyelf is now built as a universal binary to support both powerpc and intel architectures. It was suggested that as an msdos program, it might run under a dos box application which runs msdos programs under os x.
Aug 24, 2010 i have a good amount of mac cosmetics, but its getting hard to spend so much money on the make up. I still use mac, but the monster corporation that apple has turned into is a complete turnoff for me. Communications software is a musthave program for pc or mac that allows programs to be downloaded to your cosmac flea using a serial or parallel port. This is nothing more than the blinky mem program running, with some interesting patterns loaded into the memory slots after the program. The chip can use any combination of standard ram and rom devices and can address up to 65,536 65 k bytes of memory. This remake of the 1976 cosmac elf uses the same cdp1802 processor top and a strippeddown version of the front panel found on. Founded by aresco, its early editors were terry laudereau, rick simpson, and tom swan. Dave also brought an elf to display, apparently it was built in the 1970s.
Its based on a 1970s hobbyist computer called the cosmac elf which is based on a rca cpu. Rca felt that a hobbyist computer should be low cost, easy to use, versatile, expandable, and, as soon as it is assembled, something the whole family could enjoy from the most serious hobbyist to the younger schoolaged members of the family. Download older version as a folder of files in a zip archive. Mastering the c programming language a classic code environment used to build software, apps, and whole operating systems is a great skill, and mac os x makes it easy to learn. After buying then i compared my new brushes to my mac brushes and did not see that much of a difference. Cosmac elf project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Scans through memory, displaying each byte with a delay for visibility.
This is my project to create a disk based operating system for elf class computers. Geological survey, openfile report 82167 onward with the cosmac elf. The earlycomputers collection is intended to foster education, encourage research and preserve items that are an integral part of computer history. Bmow 1 computer back in early 1980s, i lived and breathed the world of the apple ii, atari 800, commodore 64, and their brethren. In 1981, the newsletters publication was continued by the. At some point the original elf got dumped into a box and bounce from place to place and finally ended up in my storage. Viper was a hobbyist newsletter published between 1978 and 1984 focusing on rcas cosmac vip computer. Also, links to other peoples builds and software for the membership. I find this language has statements compatible with the propeller cosmac elf project and tiny basic, while retaining the features of the more advanced level ii basic in which many of my programs were written years ago. The larger part of the project was the software interface. This is a simple program running on one of lee harts 1802 membership cards.
Through the back pages of electronics magazines, both netronics and quest electronics offered lowpriced, enhanced kits that were based on this design. The following is a list of macintosh softwarenotable computer applications for current macos systems. Clearly remember buying the ic sockets exactly doubled the price of the project. But joe decided to compile the a18 c source, under his os x high sierra 10. Directory listing of files cosmac elf forum archive. I attended a computer show in boston, ma in the early 80s. The cosmac is an 8bit microprocessor family introduced by rca. The public opening reception for finding our way originally scheduled saturday, march 21, 69 is postponed. Nearly completed is the 8 disk controller board project. Tinyelf for mac os x brings emulation of 1802based microcomputers to the macintosh platform, and runs on os x 10. Joshs unit is a replica from the cosmac elf construction article from the aug 1976 and later issues of popular electronics magazine. With the rc6502project for making an apple 1 replica done i wanted to do something different, so i started designing a simple version of the rca 1802based cosmac elf instead. Both have a simple bytewide set of lights and switches, to load and run programs directly to and from memory like the elf. As you know, the propeller elf ii is a work in progress, com ing to shape with stolen moments of time from a really busy travel sc hedule.
Lee harts membership card also has a pc parallel port interface, to operate the ms card with that old pc standard. Some programs for the cosmac elf a few simple programs to exercise the cosmac elf. Elf ii elf programs elfos forth fred giant board html hi lo ian may ipso facto jvip john porubeks stuff jon. Originally i had only intended to support upload and download functionality. The original elf featured toggle switches and required binary input. It has flexible programmed io and program interrupt modes. Execution is halted at the negative edge of the tpa signal in each machine cycle. Two software packages support the cosmac cdp1800 microprocessor family. Both systems, the ralii levelii assembly language and the c mac macroassembler, are designed to cut development time.
I wrote a few dozen programs for the 1802 and can make things. One of the neatest little programs for the vip, and. Apr 05, 20 propeller cosmac elf propeller cosmac elf ii control panel project lets examine the front panels from the original popular electronics article run in the august 1976 issue. I am a collector of all things cosmac so when i saw this netronics elf ii system appear on ebay, i decided to give it a shot and try to win it. Usb to serial and parallel converters can be found. Secondly, what is path where software are actually installed in mac. Another huge advantage over the original cosmac elf is that this version features hexadecimal input. The group has been around since spring of 2001, moved to yahoo at the end of 2001, and moved to groups. I tried to download and install programs in mac os x, but i do not see them in launchpad. Connect your altairduino via usb to your computer if your arduino is not currently installed in your altairduino, make sure you connect to the programming port. Very interesting design that let you choose any register pair as the program. Its help book includes a full tutorial on computer fundamentals and programming.
Using single stepslow step the super elf has the ability to step through programs one machine cycle at a time. In light of the recent addition of the rca cdp1802 into the ieees chip hall of fame, this weeks blog post is dedicated to the cosmac elf, a handy little buildityourself computer that utilized the 1802 portable wasnt exactly a word that one could use to describe computers in the late 1960s. Tolkien an 1802 cosmac elfish retroretro emulator version 0. Tinyelf features pixie graphics, singlestep debugging, a cpu state viewer, program execution trace, breakpoints and more. The program blinks the led connected to the q output. This video is a slide show of all the steps of making my elf, and i have a brief video segment at the end that shows how the elf s controls work, and i enter and demonstrate a simple program. Led hacks, lifehacks, linux hacks, lockpicking hacks, mac hacks, machine. More software is coming soon, as general programs, games and programming languages. Cosmac elf acorn atom apple plus clone atari st various macintosh plus some windows pcs then back to macs. We have now surpassed 1,000 subscriptions for our online virtual cosmac flea, including individuals in over two dozen countries, and school systems spread across over 500 schools in 7 countries. In 1978, the netronics elf ii was released a cheaper and improved version with all the parts required to build your own worlds most. The 1802 membership card is a direct descendant of the cosmac elf. At this point the cpu is in the process of executing the current instruction cycle. The programs described here have been thoroughly tested on a number of versions of the cosmac elf as described in popular electronics articles and are believed to be reliable but there is, of course, still the possibility that they contain unexpected errors.
I found that only the 68 members below have contributed articles in the last 2. Will xcode install and be manageable through the new app store. Also, you can save programs and enter bytes manually into memory thus bypassing the loader. As photographed, this unit was completed by josh bensadon in august 2014. I build approximately two projects a month that are illustrated in your magazineplus some from other sources.
For suitably random memory contents, displays some suitably random blinking lights. The cosmac elf was a microprocessor trainer based on the rca 1802 cmos microprocessor. I am new to mac os x and till the time i was using windows 78. Learn to code using the c programming language on your mac. In consideration of the wellbeing of our community, the mac will be open by appointment until further notice. Do you guys think the higher end brands are still worth buying even. I can in fact think of a couple of tenuous cosmac relations here. Initially this can be used to initialize other io devices or other system specific devices. My hello world program simply blinked the led which of course had to be.
We are running windows xp on his new mac in a parallels virtual machine. I could peek and poke those machines like nobodys business, and i spent countless hours writing programs, playing games, or just fiddling around. Mar 06, 2017 vintage cosmac elf is pretty close to original. A18 is a crossassembler for the rca 1802, 1804, 1805, 1806 cosmac microprocessors.
This programs reads the il codes created by tbc into memory, in preparation to be run by ilrun forth forth language interpreter this is the elf os version of my rcforth interpreter lisp lisp language interpreter this is the elf os version of my rclisp interpreter rcbasic l1 this is the elf os version of the rcbasic level i interpreter. Rca began development of the cmos version of the processor design in. Microcomputer retrokits that fit in altoids candy cans. Your comments concerning article submissions encouraged me to go through back issues for more information. Mar 14, 2017 we have now surpassed 1,000 subscriptions for our online virtual cosmac flea, including individuals in over two dozen countries, and school systems spread across over 500 schools in 7 countries. This can be any elfos executable program, but must return properly to elfos at conclusion. This offline program should work on most windows dos systems, and will eventually work for mac and nix. It is historically notable as the first cmos microprocessor. The person listing it had no way to test it, so it was a gamble whether it was complete and working or not.
The ralii assembler, provided with the rcas floppydisk system, allows the assembly of cosmac levelii assembly language. Elf ii with tinyelf, a free, native cocoa program that takes advantage of the macs. Cosmac elf users manual page 3 overview the cosmac elf was a microcomputer design by joseph weisbecker that was featured and announced in the pages of the august 1976 edition of popular electronics magazine. I am just beginning this project so there is currently not too much here. Any of these registers can be used as a program counter or an accumulator.
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