[geeks] I'm in a retro state of mind...

[Lionel Peterson]

Regarding Kim-Uno PCBs I offered earlier:

Well, I've reconsidered this effort, and I just advised the lone list member that expressed interest that I will not be going forward as I previously planned.

Realizing I needed to buy *everything* in this build, I had nothing suitable in my junk drawer, it turned out ordering and shipping the kit from Sweden is price-competitive.

Assuming you choose to not order parts from random Chinese suppliers, that leaves you with Digikey, Mouser, or a couple other parts houses, but it always looks like this:

Arduino Mini Pro - $10
Misc Discrete components - $8-10
Shipping discrete parts - $8-10
PCBs - unknown, assume $2-3/ea when ordered as a  set of 10

Compare that with ordering Oscar's kit:

Complete kit - $17.50
Shipping from Sweden - $15

So figure $32 to source the parts locally, $32.50 to import from Sweden.

Oscar indicates the $15 s/h charge is good for 1 or 2 kits, add $8 for 3rd and 4th kits in same order, $50/for 2 kits, $93/for 4 kits.

I'll order two kits for $50, or $25/each - it may take longer to get the parts, but I'll get everything at the same time snd I'll know it all works together.

I just wanted to update the group regarding my change of plans, in case anyone reads this and wants to get a board or two.

Ken

> On Sep 11, 2022, at 23:18, Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> "Back in the Day" I had a Sym-1 development board that I, regretfully, did very little with - it was just a bit too complex for me to really do anything with (and it was quite limited)...
> 
> Fast-forward to the present, and on a recent trip to my local used book store I scored a copy of "The First Book of Kim" and it's got me thinking about those early, early computers, before the IBM PC hit the market.
> 
> (A PDF of "The First Book of Kim" is available here: http://archive.6502.org/books/first_book_of_kim.pdf )
> 
> Oscar in Sweden has an open-source project to build an emulated Kim-1 based on an Arduino, a handful of switched and a few other discrete components, and I'm thinking of building his project locally.
> 
> According to his website ( https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/kim-uno-get-or-build-one ) the PCBs are cheap, and the required components look easy to source. It's not something I'm familiar with, but Oscar says the PCB can be ordered in a small quantity for just a few dollars, and the rest of the components are cheap/easy to source (no Raspberry Pi hardware!).
> 
> Given all that, would anyone else be interested in a PCB if I place an order? According to the linked-to page, for $10 I can get 5 boards made up, and since I have no idea what I'd do with 5 Kim-1 clones, I thought folks here might want to throw one together too. I'm *not* assembling kits of all the parts, but I expect to have a BOM suitable for a simple order from Mouser or Digi-Key (and Amazon/eBay) of all the needed parts so you can easily get your own bits to build this.
> 
> If anyone is interested, drop me a note off-list at lionel4287 at gmail.com and I'll see what I can do. I'd only ask for actual cost per PCB requested + postage ($3ish figuring 5x for $10).
> 
> I think it could be fun, it looks simple enough, and it will inspire me to finally put my 3D printer together so I can print a case for it!
> 
> If no one is interested, apologies for the off-topic post, but I figured this might be something a few folks here might be interested in.
> 
> PS - The unit can be powered by, and accessed over, a USB cable and terminal emulation program from a PC/Mac/Linux box, so once the novelty of punching the buttons on the PCB wears off...
> 
> Come on, you know you want to fire up your soldering iron and roll up your sleeves and rediscover 6502 assembler coding!
> 
> Ken
> lionel4287 at gmail.com
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