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Single Board Computers - need their own forum?

SBC's ARE a category of computer sold mostly from 75-85 not a vague way to categorize computers that happen to have one main board. Back then there was no debate as to the definition of which computers were and were not the SBC's.

I posted a specific example of a magazine dedicated specifically to the SBC market. There is no mention of Apples or Tandy model 1's or any other computers that happen to be of one board, or computers that were kits, etc. There are other mags that had regular SBC columns/features. This was a very narrow and specific genre. From the posts associated with this thread clearly the "classic SBC computer" as it was known at the turn of the 80's has been partially forgotten.

Whether this board needs an SBC forum is another matter, but if this is ever implemented, the forum title, as I envision it would therefore be:

Single Board Computers (KIM, AIM, SYM, OSI, Elf, and other 6502/1801 SBC's)
 
Ok - to the best of my knowledge the term SBC wasn't used until the late 90's, and then it was used to describe 'development boards' that were later used to become full systems (or dedicated systems - the Motorola dev-boards became printer controllers for PostScript enabled printers for example). If you can point me at documentation indicating otherwise I'm more than happy to be proven wrong.

As for the magazine you reference - in your own words 'I should add - the separate magazine only lasted for three issues' - they seemed to have the same problem defining what an 'SBC' was as we do now. Magazines for electronic hobbyists seem to last a lot longer - 'Talking Electronics' in AU after publishing the single board Z80 based machine 'TEC-1' managed to publish a new add on for the device on an average of one every two months - this was in the late 80's. Another magazine 'Electronics Australia' managed to do the same thing for a CHIP-8 based system they published the kit for over a number of years (at least 3 in my memory).

Limiting the 'SBC' forum to 'other 6502/1801' based devices (as well as the long list of mostly 6502 based systems you mention) is effectively saying 'anything based on the 6502 or its predecessors and ancestors'. To me that would fit into the '6502' category our forum host spoke about.

What exactly is it that you are missing out on? What subtopic do you want that is not here? I would like to see some forums that are more hardware related (and I think I've made that pretty clear from previous posts) - what is it that you would like to see ?
 
Let's just get on with it, one way or another; I'm tired of these discussions of what's on topic and what's not (especially on other lists) that take up way more bandwidth than the occasional off-topic post would.

Although the most popular ones were 6502 based, that's irrelevant; since they were usually "development" systems, they were available with pretty well all CPUs.

Whether it was available as a bare board (no case or PS) is probably the best criterion FWIW.

Love that printer controller -> TNC hack BTW ;-)

So, whaddya got?

m
(AIM65 & misc 6502)
 
There really is no valid argument against whether or not this market segment existed, just do the research. The sales figures will speak for themselves.

Limiting the SBC's to KIM, AIM, SYM, OSI, Elf, and other 6502/1801 SBC's is exactly what I am calling for. Computer users, publishers, and advertisers of the time knew of and used the term single board computer like we use "linux/windows/mac" today. It was that clear and distinct.

If you want another examples, try "6502 Journal" or "Micro". For that matter Byte, Kilobaud, and all mags from the 70's.
 
Terry Yager said:
Such a forum would probably degenerate into an endless religious war over what is or is not an sbc, and therefore what is on/off topic. My own notion of an sbc is very flexible, and includes examples such as Kaypro, Xerox 820, etc. I think for now the 'Other' category has it pretty well covered.

--T
Click to expand...

Damn! I must be psychic...

--T
 
OK no further discussion, I'm just going with what materials I have on hand.

I have a KIM, SYM, VIM, AIM 65, MEK 6800, TI 9900 101.

I am working on the VIM, trying to attach a keyboard and video. I should be done sometime in December.

We're all in this together.
 
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billdeg said:
OK no further discussion, I'm just going with what materials I have on hand.

I have a KIM, SYM, VIM, AIM 65, MEK 6800, TI 9900 101.

I am working on the VIM, trying to attach a keyboard and video. I should be done sometime in December.

We're all in this together.
Click to expand...

I'm good with this definition. I didn't even think of the Motorola boards (which I have -- an MECB, which is 68k-based), but maybe a general description of the purpose of the board with a general list of CPUs and an age would suffice, but maybe with an exclusion or two. I don't think the intention is to include 386 stuff in Eurocard or PC/104 format for example, but an Ampro LittleBoard/186 might be OK to include. The Apple II could technically be a self-contained single-board computer (if you remove the case), but it wasn't sold that way. Maybe that's the element missing from the description.

Bill, from experience with the ClassicCmp list, it's too hard to get an exact definition that's going to work for everyone. Rather, some general description, examples and parameters should be good to wrap in 80% of the boards of interest out there.
 
what was that quote from Lord of the Rings (and repeated on Babylon 5 by a technomage), something about "that's the trouble with wizards, they're subtle and quick to anger" ... We here, classiccmp, and the like love to haggle and get caught up in the finer details of what we believe to be "the way it is" - I'm just glad there is such a place to debate these kinds of issues. Here's to Erik and vintage-computer.com!
 
billdeg said:
what was that quote from Lord of the Rings (and repeated on Babylon 5 by a technomage), something about "that's the trouble with wizards, they're subtle and quick to anger" ... We here, classiccmp, and the like love to haggle and get caught up in the finer details of what we believe to be "the way it is" - I'm just glad there is such a place to debate these kinds of issues. Here's to Erik and vintage-computer.com!
Click to expand...

Here, here!
 
Well, I'll certainly echo the kudos to Erik and the moderators and this list in general.

But as to the haggling over "the finer details" which rarely if ever accomplish anything other than giving folks a place to opine, keep in mind that there are people who only want to contribute or find some hard information and don't have time for that sort of chitchat. I've watched a few people unsub from the cctalk list and/or start their own list (which is usually a loss to the general community), and in fact I seem to recall that this very forum was started at least in part for that reason.

But since this thread is about starting a new category I guess it's OK to have to wade through 29 posts "haggling" over the definition of an SBC while in fact most of us probably have a very clear idea of what it is and essentially agree. At least here one can pick & choose the areas of interest.

Back under my rock...

m
 
Hi
When I get around to it, I expect to connect up
My SYM1 with a KTM2 and a perSYMone FDC-1.
I expect to play with the original disk OS for
it but also I might use the DOS that Dallas has on
his sight.
Dwight
 
billdeg said:
perSYMone FDC-1 ? I never saw one of those.
Click to expand...

It was made especially for the SYM-1 but could have been used
by any of the KIM/SYM/AIM group. It was created by one of the
early SYM groups( I forget the name ). The DOS that came with
it was difficult to use but later DOSes were created.
Dallas has one on his web pages for download.
A later DOS that used other hardware was the CODOS. I've not
seen any of this hardware but I've read about it.
Dwight
 
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