IISSSUUEE 338855 |COMPUTER SHOPPER|MMAARRCCHH (^22002200111111115555)
DYINGPASSION
In 2012, following the economic downturn,
Abraham fell behind with the rent on a
warehouse he had been using for three
years, which led tothe landlord forcing him
to leave.Since he showed up latetothe
eviction court hearing, adefault judgment
was made and, in the ensuing set oflegal
battles, he only managed toretrieve around
20% ofhis collection.
Thherest enddeddup in thhehhanddsoffarivall
electronics recycler and, despiteattempts to
prevent the company from disposing ofhis
items, theyended up being auctioned on
eBay. Today,Abraham is in the process of
selling the items he rescued eight years ago,
his love ofcollecting now gone.
“It had been apassion tohave these things
anddI’’ddinventeddapurposeffor thhem,bbut it
ended up gathering dust and Ifelt Ineeded to
get rid ofitall,”hesays.
He is keeping his Apple II and Mattel
Aquarius items (including four Apple II
prototypes and avery rare MattelAquarius II,
which reached the market in very smallnumbers) because both computers remain
cllose tohhishheart,bbut everythhing ellse is
slowly being sold, with the remaining iteeeems
documented in aspreadsheet attinyurl.
com/385retro1.When these have been
placed in new hands, he’ll then turn his
attentiontothe thousands ofbooksandddd
magazines he possesses.MAKEAMECHANICAL
60s COMPUTER
From 1963, acompany called
ESR began manufacturing a
mechanical digital computer
using polystyrene parts.
Digi-Comp Iwas sold in kit form
for$4.99 (the equivalent of
around $40, or £30, today),
and it was possible to play
rudimentary games and perform
sums using its three connectable
flip-flops, athin vertical wire and
alever,making it anice
introduction to computing.
The originals are rare,but
digital preservationist Mike Gardi
has created his own tribute,
mashing it up with aDigi-Comp II,
aMinivac 601 and aGeniac
Redux. He has also detailed how
you can make your own using
printed parts and an arrayof
different components, which
you can see by visitingtinyurl.
com/385retro5.
Gardi, who was
given aDigi-Comp as
achild, has also
provided aPDF of
the original manual
alongside the STL
files. He said he
used it to get to
grips with Boolean
logic, binary
arithmetic and some
basic coding, so if
you’re not already
familiar with the
concepts, you mayfindcreating this device is
educational as well as nostalgic.RETRO GAMINGBOOK
RELEASED FOR PI
The Raspberry Pi computer has
become afirm favouriteamong
retrocomputer enthusiasts
since,thanks to free software
packages such as RetroPie,you
can easily emulatelots of vintage
systems, from the Commodore
Amiga and Dragon 32 to the Oric
and ZX Spectrum.
Anew book from the
Raspberry Pi Foundation
explains how you can set up
aretro games console using
Lakka. Over the course of its
164 pages, it also delves into
the world of emulation,
explains how you can create
your own arcade cabinet, and
has lots of other projects,
including the making of a
portable Pi-based console.
There is also alarge section
on making your own games, andyou can even learn how abroken
computer can be revitalised by
popping aRaspberry Pi inside.
RetroGamingWithRaspberry
Picosts £10 but you can
download it forfree as aPDF,
too. Go totinyurl.com/385retro6
forboth options.⬆This joystick –model JS-1 –was made bythe Mountain View computer company,Cromenco⬆Specialistwebsites such as Sell My Retro are
dedicated tovintage computers