Making Poly-88 S-100 computer replica PCB boards #VintageComputing #S100 #History
Evan obtained a plethora of vintage hardware, discovering two Poly-88 S-100 computers in the batch.
The Poly-88 was the first complete computer from PolyMorphic Systems. It was housed in a five-slot S-100 chassis, with additional (optional) side-mounted connectors for the purpose of joining chassis together. This unit earned the nickname “orange toaster” due to its orange metal cover, and the fact that the S-100 cards generated noticeable heat.
The Poly-88 was available in kit form, or assembled. The keyboard and monitor were sold separately, and used a cassette recorder for program storage.
After studying each machine (of course each had a different revision mainboard), he’s decided to recreate them in:
Since I have these machines, I’ve decided to do my best to not just document them but to recreate them in CAD so anyone who wants one can just make it. They’re not that big and with manufacturing these days being so easy I see no reason to pine over an old sheet metal box, just make a new one.
See the details in the blog post here and files in GitHub.
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.