A few months into my graphics class in high school, a couple of brand new Mac SE computers showed up, along with a LaserWriter printer. I had a great time discovering what they could do, and I felt right at home since the Apple IIgs I had been using at home for the previous year had a very Mac-like OS. Most of the files I created I made sure to keep on a couple of floppy disks. Since it was a graphics class, the things I created were generally drawings, although there were a few...

This is part 3 in a series. Check out Part 1: Creating a circuit and Part 2: Using KiCAD . My CNC setup Some time ago I bought a small CNC with the intended purpose of using it to make PCBs. While I have used the CNC for lots of things, I have never tried to make a PCB. The amount of work involved in trying to figure out all the different software programs needed, as well as how they work, has made me constantly put it off. Most of the time I’ve found a way to work around making a...

This is part 2 in a series. Check out  Part 1: Creating a circuit  and  Part 3: Milling the PCB . Prototype on breadboard In order to make my own PCB for the CGA to analog converter project , the first step is to do what is called schematic capture, and get the schematic drawn in the computer. While it’s certainly possible to draw a schematic in a program like Paint, or using something more sophisticated like Illustrator, using a specialized program is a better choice...

This is part 1 in a series. Check out  Part 2: Using KiCAD  and  Part 3: Milling the PCB . When I got my Commodore 128 I was expecting I would just connect the RGBI TTL output to the GBS-8200 knockoff that I have been using with the BBC Micro’s RGB TTL output. Of course the moment I went to do that I realized that I had an extra pin for Intensity with no place to connect it. I found several circuits online that were supposed to convert the 4 bit TTL output to an analog...

After getting the Mac SE upgraded to 4 megs of RAM and a working internal HD, the next thing to do was to see if I could get a working web browser on it. The SE doesn't have an ethernet card, but it does have built-in AppleTalk networking. I have plenty of PhoneNet adapters. I ended up using another Mac ( the one that I fought to put Linux on ) running MacOS 9 and LocalTalk Bridge to move traffic from LocalTalk to Ethernet and back. It worked well and I was able to mount a share from a...