I have translated (with some liberties) my 1987 short novel Star Tramp. It features a simple-minded, action-packed plot and a pretty unlikable main character. Most people who read it did not enjoy it (but some did).
I may or may not (re)publish it this year.

New paint job on the RC2014.
#z80 #retrocomputing #painting

The Z80 version of my tiny BASIC interpreter can now be downloaded from my homepage:
http://t3x.org/nmhbasic/index.html#v3
It is about three times faster than the version written in T3X/0 and needs only 14K bytes of free memory -- and I have not even started to squeeze out bytes.
On an 7.4MHz RC2014 you can now play mine sweeper at a decent speed.
There may be minor bugs in this version, but it seems to run all example programs without trouble.
#CPM #Z80 #BASIC #retrocomputing

Still making slow progress on the CP/M port of version 3 of my tiny BASIC interpreter. Writing Z80 assembly languages definitely takes its time. 3500 lines so far and the first small programs are running, like the primes sieve in the screenshot. No FOR-NEXT so far, but it is far up on the to-do list.
The final CP/M version will implement the same language as this prototype in T3X: http://t3x.org/nmhbasic/index.html#v3
#BASIC #programming #CPM #Z80 #retrocomputing

Almost forgot to bring out the #Christmas bunny! *meow*

First test of my paper tape punch. I had expected it to punch the feed holes only when depressing the "feed" button, but it punched a long sequence of all-ones and then a few alternating sequences of 21 all-ones and 21 all-zeroes.
At least the mechanical part of the device seems to work. Next step: somehow connect the RS-530/RS-422 interface of the punch to the RS-232 port of a computer.

Some of the books I have written in the past 30 years. Some are not in the stack, some are not even on my homepage (http://t3x.org), some are out of print. I have lost track over the years. It has been quite a journey, though.
#books #writing #LISP #compilers #yoga #buddhism #sciencefiction

I have a device here that is called a "ComVerter" by a company named Frontline. It is supposed to convert between RS-232 and RS-422/RS-530, but unfortunately my (used) unit came without any documentation and there does not seem to be much info about it on the internet.
Before I take this thing to a friend with an oscilloscope, I thought I'd ask if someone know this device. :)
#rs232 #rs422 #rs530 #communications #electronics

Here is what my tiny BASIC interpreter would write to a five-channel paper tape. There are no characters like < = > or even + or * in the CCITT-2 encoding, so they are replaced with two-character keywords or alternative characters. For example, + is & and * is !. When reading back baudot-encoded programs, these keywords and characters are translated back to their original form.
#retrocomputing #papertape #BASIC #baudot

My Tetris clone with a fair shape picker now also runs on CP/M (with an 8MHz CPU and a fast terminal connection).
#CPM #retrocomputing #games
http://t3x.org/t3x/0/programs.html#relax