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Retrocomputing

Proposed Q&A site for enthusiasts of personal computer hardware and software from the 1970s and 1980s, including Apple II, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum, Atari, Commodore, Amiga and BBC Micro.
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How about posting history questions to the proposed "History of Computers and Computing" site (area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/9912/…) and how-to questions to StackOverflow? For instance, a StackOverflow user recently got the perfect answer to a question about Turbo Pascal 3 on CP/M: stackoverflow.com/questions/2683631/… – Vebjorn Ljosa Aug 23 '10 at 15:57

4
votes
0
answers

Why just personal computers and not gaming consoles?

mar 28 at 3:15 Petruza 339
9
votes
2
answers

Is computing history a subset of Programmers.SE?

jul 22 at 22:06 CrazyJugglerDrummer 9,794
33
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1
answer

Merging Retrocomputing and History of Computers

jun 6 '11 at 0:44 Dori 723

create new discussion

53 Example Questions (4 closed)

active oldest votes
up vote 15 down vote
How did the Z80 instruction set differ from the Intel 8080 instruction set?
added by James Tauber Aug 23 '10 at 2:12
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up vote 12 down vote
What are the known undocumented 6502 opcodes and how can you use them?
added by Gamecat, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:08
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If we will talk about the 6502, we could add as well the Atari 2600, the NES and other gaming consoles. – Petruza Mar 28 at 3:17
And the 6510 in the C64 – JBRWilkinson Apr 12 at 6:24
up vote 12 down vote
What is the pin-out of the user port on the Commodore 64?
added by PaulRein, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:10
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You mean the port for the joystick(s) or the cartridge slot? – JBRWilkinson Apr 12 at 6:24
up vote 11 down vote
How do I get the timing accurate in the 6502 emulator I'm building?
added by James Tauber Aug 23 '10 at 2:20
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I assume this is for a purely software emulator? (I've added a similar question for a programmable logic emulation.) – finnw Sep 21 '11 at 20:03
up vote 11 down vote
I have a bunch of old [Commodore 64, Amiga, CP/M, etc.] floppy disks. Can I read them on my [Windows, Mac, or Linux] machine?
added by gordoco, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:11
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Also, how to get a modern machine to create floppies from images – Gaius Feb 21 at 12:54
up vote 10 down vote
What was the format of the Apple DOS VTOC?
added by James Tauber Aug 23 '10 at 2:11
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up vote 10 down vote
Where could I get the 8-bit CP/M source code?
added by James Tauber Aug 23 '10 at 2:17
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up vote 10 down vote
Is there a PC emulator for <game name> available anywhere?
added by Sniffer Aug 23 '10 at 21:23
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1  
Might be appropriate if it was a personal-computer game that had compatibility problems with certain kinds of hardware. But if this were just another request for an arcade or console game emulator, then I don't think it would fit here. – L2G Nov 21 '11 at 7:54
up vote 10 down vote
How can I create an image of an Apple ][+ floppy disk for archival purposes?
added by HDave Jan 8 '11 at 1:22
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up vote 10 down vote
How to clean an Apple II floppy disk drive?
added by HDave, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:09
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up vote 9 down vote
What was the final version of Visicalc?
added by HDave Jan 8 '11 at 1:24
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up vote 8 down vote
How can I play [ZX Spectrum] games on my PC?
added by Wikis Aug 26 '10 at 11:23
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1  
Borderline question test: do you want to include emulators? Yes => on-topic; No => off-topic. – Wikis Aug 26 '10 at 11:23
8  
I think emulators are on-topic (especially development of emulators), but I'm hoping questions will more be about internals and OSes than just how to play games – James Tauber Aug 29 '10 at 3:39
I think emulators must be on-topic, because filtering out emulator questions would be an impossible task. – finnw Sep 20 '11 at 16:59
I would say that emulators are the very reason retro computing exists. I'm pretty sure there are very few that still have their original 80's computers, mainly because some of course died and no new computers were produced, so retro computing would cease to exist as time passes if it weren't for emulators. The stated purpose of MAME is exactly that, preservation of old hardware from oblivion. – Petruza Mar 28 at 3:38
up vote 6 down vote
How to make a software copy of a hardware ROM for an Apple II+?
added by HDave Jan 8 '11 at 1:25
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up vote 6 down vote
Does a USB 5 1/4" floppy drive exist?
added by Zoot, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:13
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up vote 5 down vote
Is there a way to recover data from a 25-year-old floppy disk?
added by L2G Nov 21 '11 at 7:36
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up vote 4 down vote
What was the reason for the colour attribute problem on the ZX Spectrum?
added by Wikis Aug 26 '10 at 11:22
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up vote 4 down vote
What computer languages were available for the Z80-based TRS-80s (not running CP/M?)
added by David Thornley Dec 12 '10 at 3:20
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up vote 4 down vote
Are there standard techniques to use the CPU in the 1541 drive as an ancillary processor, i.e. to offload computations to it, like to an NPU?
added by PaulRein Feb 13 '11 at 7:12
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up vote 3 down vote
Is there a community for <old technology X> in <country/city Y>?
added by JCCyC Sep 24 '11 at 7:18
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up vote 3 down vote
What's a good introductory text on how to write an emulator?
added by JCCyC Sep 24 '11 at 7:56
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up vote 3 down vote
How would you go about restoring a PDP-11/45, partially disassembled, that hasn't been powered up in a decade?
added by Jan Gray, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:13
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up vote 2 down vote
Where can I find a new original style rubber-key keyboard for my ZX Spectrum?
added by Sniffer Aug 23 '10 at 21:25
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up vote 2 down vote
What is the best Linux based emulator for Apple II+?
added by HDave, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:09
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up vote 2 down vote
Where can I find MIPS-based SGI hardware?
added by chuzzum Feb 13 '11 at 9:03
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up vote 2 down vote
What were those weird 5 1/4" floppies in the original Lisa? Did any other computers use them?
added by L2G Nov 21 '11 at 7:44
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up vote 2 down vote
What was the PET/CBM "Poke of Death"?
added by JustJeff, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:16
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up vote 2 down vote
If the TI 99/4 had such an advanced processor (for the time), why did its BASIC run so slowly?
added by JustJeff Mar 26 at 16:50
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up vote 2 down vote
Can I get an Ethernet connection on my Commodore 64?
added by Kyle Macey, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:18
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up vote 2 down vote
I have a working Macintosh Classic. How can I get/create an AppleTalk to Ethernet translator?
added by lu1s Apr 24 at 15:21
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up vote 1 down vote
What secrets lie within Jet Set Willy? [closed]
added by Sniffer Aug 23 '10 at 21:27
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closed as off topic by dthorpe, Cody Gray, chuzzum, Lohoris, finnw Sep 20 '11 at 12:51

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote 1 down vote
Is there an open-source [VHDL,Verilog] implementation of [platform] for [FPGAArcade,AlteraDE1]?
added by billt Sep 28 '11 at 15:09
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up vote 1 down vote
How can I emulate the old 34 pin floppy disk interface with a microcontroller, to make my <machine-x> think it has a disk attached?
added by JustJeff, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:18
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up vote 1 down vote
What kind of memory is needed for the game slot of an Atari 2600?
added by Guy Coder Mar 27 at 20:19
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up vote 0 down vote
How can I crack this old Apple IIe [software]?
added by ogerard, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:10
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up vote 0 down vote
What were the main differences between Apple DOS and MS-DOS?
added by Justin E. Morgan May 25 '11 at 15:56
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up vote 0 down vote
Has the code of Street Fighter II (coin-op or console) been reverse-engineered?
added by finnw, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:12
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Coin-operated arcade games and game consoles aren't really "personal computer hardware" (except maybe for the Intellivision?). – L2G Nov 21 '11 at 7:50
That's why I think gaming platforms (including arcades and consoles) should be included as the topic of this stack. I don't see how are they different from home computers in relation to what's discussed here. Actually the only difference is maybe that home computers had a keyboard and some sort of OS or command line or whatever, but for everything else they are exactly the same, even using the same processors and having very similar or almost identical ports of the same games. Because, let's not fool ourselves, the main interest of retro computing is games. – Petruza Mar 28 at 3:29
up vote 0 down vote
I am building a 6502 clone using a CPLD. How can I emulate the original memory timing behavior when using modern SRAM chips?
added by finnw Sep 20 '11 at 17:04
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up vote 0 down vote
Why did Microsoft make Windows 3.1, instead of jumping to Windows 4? Is there a reason to the numbers?
added by Simon Sheehan Sep 20 '11 at 23:04
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up vote 0 down vote
What software and how to configure an ISA MFM controller to access the content of a PDP 11/53 190 MB hard disk?
added by Seki, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:14
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up vote 0 down vote
Why were the first models of commercially successful computers like PDPs built in so many different architectures: 12, 16, 18, 24, 36 bits?
added by Seki, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 8 at 19:15
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