Refurbing an old Sanyo “Triple Five” MBC-555 #VintageComputers #Retrocomputers @LeadedSolder
The Leaded Solder blog looks to tackle restoration of a Sanyo MBC-555 MS-DOS machine from 1982:
Sanyo made a bunch of interesting computers over the years, and the MBC-555 is no exception. It will run MS-DOS, but the 6845-related video chipset is completely incompatible with CGA – the Sanyo’s high-res mode is 8-colour bitplaned 640×200, like a PC-8801mkII! Reportedly, it is also slower than a 5150, and has a smorgasbord of weird hardware bugs that render it even more incompatible with common PC software.
The keyboard is a little unusual for an IBM PC incompatible – it emits ASCII codes into a Mitsubishi M5L8251 USART.
Check out all the features of this vintage machine and how it was brought to life in the post here.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.