# RC 2026/10 Entry List
====CATEGORY: NO AI===============================
(HTM) Digitalrampage
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Platform: Macintosh / PC
Project:
To interview and collect stories and publish a book on peoples
introduction to computers in the 80s and 90s along with the classic
photos of kids using their first PC.
Status:
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(HTM) leaded solder
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Platform: Sega SG-1000
Project:
Finishing my CamelForth-80 port to the system by getting the keyboard
to work. I'm also going to try and write some SG-1000-specific
keywords for it.
Status:
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(HTM) Louis Paul
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Platform: VIC Dual hardware
Project:
Once again I'm a software guy, so the challenge for this year is to
make SameGame, with the objective of running it on the VIC Dual
hardware, taking advantage of the color display. My plan, as usual, is
to read the docs, write the Z80 assembly code with the new available
opcodes, assemble it and run the binary on MAME.
Status:
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(HTM) Mark Sokolovsky - Low End Mac
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Platform: Early Core 2 Duo Intel Macs - 2006
Project:
Turning a 2007 MacBook into a desktop 2007 Mac Studio from an
alternate universe, while also running a Mac OS version it was never
designed to boot. If possible, 3D print (or make) a proper-looking
case for it too.
Status:
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(HTM) James Ots
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Platform: Cifer 2684
Project:
I recently acquired two Cifer 2684s, a Cifer 2683, five dual 8" disk
drives, an Epson FX100 and a Houston HIPL0T DMP-5. I'm told the disk
drives and printer work, one of the Cifers worked until 6 months ago,
and the other items are all questionable.
I want to bring at least one of the Cifers back to life, get it
working with its peripherals, and if that's succesful, maybe see what
else I can do, such as adding an SD card, more memory, and some kind
of networking.
I don't really have enough time to do any of this, so this may be a
non-starter, but we'll see.
Status:
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(HTM) Jngleur
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Platform: Apple ][
Project:
Apple boot programme SHELLO to provide *nix commands to work with
programmes on the floppy diskette.
Status:
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(HTM) ep00ch
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Platform: MC6801/03 SBC
Project:
This small 8-bit microcomputer will take full advantage of the
MC6803's multiplexed bus, extending it to peripheral ICs and an
external bus. No address latches here - just pure multiplexed bus
architecture! This will be a newly designed SBC, but unlikely to
finish in a month.
Status:
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(HTM) vasi
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Platform: PowerPC Mac, Open Firmware
Project:
Write a small game that runs in Open Firmware, without requiring an
operating system. It should display graphics, load code from several
files, and maybe data files too. Maybe it'll be a Worldle variant, but
I need to explore this first.
Status:
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(HTM) Xav101
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Platform: IBM AS/400
Project:
A few years ago I picked up an early model AS/400, a 9404-B10. I want
to try and image the disks, try to get it to IPL, and see if we can't
get a ZuluSCSI working in it thanks to some recent support work. This
should be interesting seeing as this should be capable of running some
of the oldest OS releases, but is also the slowest machine of the
lineup.
Status:
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(HTM) Scott Finneran
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Platform: PDP-8
Project:
Modernise the PDP 8 with the hot new technology of RS 232. (Design and
build a serial interface for the ACMS Straight 8).
Status:
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(HTM) Mars
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Platform: 8080/Altair emulation
Project:
Emulating 8080s on a modern GPU
Status:
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(HTM) Robert Price
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Platform: RC2014
Project:
This year I want to explore using SPI to allow my RC2014 computer to
talk to various SPI supporting devices. The Z80 processor doesn't
support SPI natively, so I will have to build some hardware as well as
writing software to complete the challenge.
Status:
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(HTM) Potatomasher092 and Stossy11
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Platform: Macintosh and Windows systems pre-2006
Project:
Our project aims to create a smooth and easy to use modern video
streaming site that allows machines made before 2006 (mainly mid to
late 90s machines) to play videos hosted on Youtube.com.
Status:
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(HTM) jeremy_thorp
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Platform: BBC Micro and Acorn Risc PC
Project:
My plan for this year’s Retro Challenge is to tell the story, through
two ACMS computers I’m restoring, of a small British company called
Acorn Computers and how the ARM RISC processor they designed
subsequently took over the tech world!
Status:
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(HTM) andrei.xyz
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Platform: Apple System 7
Project:
I will try to daily drive a 1986 Macintosh Plus without it exploding.
Status:
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(HTM) Redace
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Platform: Macintosh 68k
Project:
Recap and bring back to life some key 68k mac machines I recently
inhereted. (44 of them!)
Status:
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(HTM) Mike
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Platform: Custom tube computer
Project:
The Vacuum Tube Computer. A general purpose 8 bit thermionic tube
computer I built using recycled 1950s 6N3P Vacuum Tubes I found in
Eastern Europe a few years ago.
Status:
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====CATEGORY: YES AI==============================
(HTM) urbancamo
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Platform: VAX, Amiga, CBM-64
Project:
I have a PSI PP404 line printer, a stack of wide-carriage fanfold
paper and two fresh printer ribbons. My goal is to see how far I can
push dot matrix printing, be it ascii art, interfacing it to old
computers or writing useful utilities. Probably a combination of all
three.
Status:
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(HTM) LambdaMikel
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Platform: Amstrad CPC
Project:
In 2018, LambdaSpeak 3 brought new dimensions in speech synthesis and
sound to the Amstrad CPC. It's MikroE S1V30120 text2speech module
offered DECtalk - for the first time, CPC users could enjoy natural
sounding speech synthesis on the CPC. It was also able to emulate the
vintage Amstrad SSA-1 and DK'tronic speech synthesizer, which used the
infamous GI SP0256-AL2 chip. Now, 8 years later, we have incredibly
powerful MCU, in particular, the RP2350. Harnessing the power of
OpenSource and AI, using Claude Code, we are realizing LambdaSpeak 4.
The device will need minimal hardware. The firmware was already
written by Claude - I will design the PCB and hopefully, by the end of
the month, we will have a fully working LambdaSpeak 4, at a third of
the LambdaSpeak 3 price, but with some amazing new features as well!
Status:
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(HTM) Giacomo Paganelli
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Platform: Apple IIe
Project:
Finalising my paper called "The Oregon Trail on the Apple II (1985):
An Analysis of Source, Data and Algorithms for Replication in Other
Languages". Also document its effectiveness through a Python rebuild
that runs the real Applesoft ROM routines under a 6502 emulator for
its arithmetic and random numbers. My october goals are: correct the
rebuild against the paper, record issues and test the rebuild against
them but also against the paper. The paper and code have been
supported by AI assistance (Claude and Gemini), which is disclosed in
the paper.
Status:
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(HTM) Johannes Wiig
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Platform: TeleGuide
Project:
Sweden’s videotex era ran from 1982 into the late 1990s - Teledata,
Datavision, Videotex, then TeleGuide, Televerket’s 2-billion-kronor
answer to Minitel. When TeleGuide died the terminals went to landfill
- except a few. The network retreated into government service as
Posten’s PostNet until around 1998. An original PostNet smart card
came with my terminal - a Loewe Multitel-D, the same silicon that ran
Germany’s Bildschirmtext on different firmware. One machine, two
national pre-internets.
This project puts a stock unit back on a telephone network by building
the network. I'll try really hard to adhere to one rule: no
modifications inside the terminal. Everything connects through what
the designers exposed in the 80'ies.
Status:
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