Old Guy Here!

Hi Old Guy from another old guy, welcome to the forum!

My first real computer was also an Apple II with a cassette. Ended up with an original Apple II with a diskette drive plus two clones I soldered up myself from one of those kits with circuit boards and IC sockets and, of course, the ICs.

Also programmed in Basic and Assembler. Built a controller for a Diablo daisywheel printer using a 6502 and programming it in machine code with the Apple II and an EPROM burner.

I honestly think that the Apple II was one of the greatest computers ever made. It's instruction manual even had the source code and schematic (which is why it got cloned so much). It is what got me so immersed in computing, I'd played with a Tandy something or other and a Commodore Pet before but the ASpple II did it for me. I've been hooked since.

Again welcome to the forum!

?

Bill

It would interesting to know the demographics of this forum, as I also belong to the "Old Guy" brigade.

My guess, having read a lot of the introductions, that about 50% of forum members are retired or semi-retired.

But it is not that bad being in the "You kids get off my lawn" generation, I think we still have something to contribute - namely "Experience".

Bill never seems to be rushing to get things done. He picks a topic or an aspect of the DB1 project and takes the necessary time to explain it. I think that style lends itself to us olds.

Personally, I like the breadth of knowledge this forum brings to the table. I belong to a local woodworkers guild. It is awesome to listen to the retired machinist and the lifelong cabinet builder for high end remodels talk. They almost always come at the problem from different, yet complementary, angles.

This is especially true in robotics where so many different fields come together to make a working robot. 

I too was pleasantly surprised at the "Old Guy" presence as people joined the forum.  I'm 70 and when Bill started this forum I was afraid it would be young people that I might not even be able to identify with.  It's great to see so many other guys talking about the first computers they had before even disk drives and computer monitors came out.  For us a mouse is a recent addition. ? 

Whereas young people probably couldn't even imagine a computer without a mouse or touchscreen,  never mind not having a video monitor. 

So welcome to the forums Old Guy there's a ton us here already.

Thanks for the warm welcome and letting me know I'm not the only old one here.  It's been an amazing computer life over the years. My first programming done was on an IBM 360 with about 16k of core memory that took an entire room and nothing but tape drives. At that time I also got to work with some emulation software running Autocoder and 705 Actual and learned how to patch the software.

The Apple was a great machine and the one I got had integer basic that I upgraded to floating point basic by substituting the eproms, but had a board to run the integer basic if necessary. btw - That Tandy machine was the TRS-80 (aka trash 80 by the Apple afficiandos!).

Learned CYBOS, a derivative of FORTH on a mini-computer for a medical office support system and wrote an application in compiled basic on an IBM XT for a trucking support system for real money!

Now I'm lucky if I can flash LEDs or run a stepper motor using the great tools available on the RPi and Arduino.

@photo-bud

I'd love to see a photo of your HO layout.  I have a ton of train stuff in my attic  N, HO, O, and G scales.  At one point in my life I was big into model trains and now I have an attic full of old junk.

In response to Robo Pi, here are some pics and link to a video tour. Hope that is okay!

Cadrail rendering of current layout: Layout Schematic

Partial view of Layout: Partial View

Only partially scenicked area: Coal yard Under Development

Video of layout: Tour of current layout

That's a fantastic layout John.  I love the detail you did on the Coal Yard.  This deserves to be placed in a thread of its own.  If it's alright with you I can set up a thread for you in Technology and Other Things and embed all your photos and video right in the thread so people can see them directly without having to click on links. 

Let me know if that would be ok, and I'll set it up for you.   There may be other MRR buffs here too.  And since this MRR will be automated with Arduino etc, that qualifies it for the Technology and Other Things forum.

I too have a bunch of model railroad stuff,  including plans and partial starts on both HO and G scale.

Edited to Add:

I can just start a "Post your Model Railroads Here" thread.  And place your photos and video in the first post.  That way if anyone else has an automated model railroad they can post theirs in the same thread.   We can have a thread devoted to those members who  have MRRs.  I have a sneaky suspicion that you won't be the only one as the forum grows.  I can probably post some photos there myself.

@Robo Pi, that would be fine and much appreciated. I found out AFTER I posted this how to embed using the "Attach Files" at the bottom of this! I also have some sketches I'll post later with some initial thoughts on light sequencing in HO scale buildings. One of these days I might even get some installed!

@photo-bud

I started the thread.  Hopefully it worked out ok.

https://forum.dronebotworkshop.com/technology/post-your-model-railroads-here/

You might want to go and make the next post to explain it as I didn't included any text. ? 

Woah,I realised that my dad is also an retired engineer,but he was an mechanical engineer but he don't surf the web that often.