DrJeff
03-31-2013, 11:56 PM
I had played with the idea of fitting a 7in tablet into the D just where the stock vents are, however it just didn't look right. While I've updated lots of other things in the car the touchscreen tablet was out of place. I figured that if I'm going to drive a 1981 car that I should fit a 1981 computer. Since I spent my teen years in N. Ireland I was fan of Clive Sinclair and his ZX81 computer. (I believe it was marketed in the USA as a Timex.) It has 1k (that's 1024 bytes) of RAM (random access memory for the kids) with a black and white output display of 24 lines and 32 characters wide.
The ZX81 computer takes 9v dc, so I had some work getting a transformer that would step down to 9v rather than the more common 5v. Since I removed my center vents I had plenty of space behind the computer to fit the transformer. I just stuck the transformer to the bottom of the center console metal bracket, which also acts as a heat sink.
I kept my ASI radio unit to act as the program loader. The ZX81 can connect directly to the audio out on the tape deck. I had some old program tapes and unbelievably these loaded first time onto the ZX81. You would think that after 30 years magnetic audio tape would give up, but I guess the baud rate was so low that there was still enough tone on the tapes for the computer to pick up the code. It still took a long time, probably 10 minutes to get my first program loaded. I can't save any programs/data from the ZX81 as the ASI radio doesn't have a record button. It's possible, but I'll have to save that option till next year.
I wrote more programs on the ZX81 than I can remember, so it was easy to pick the Sinclair Basic back up again. Of course I had to forget a whole bunch of modern programming things that I've learned from 1981 until 2005. The ZX81 was advertised as being able to run a nuclear reactor. I don't think anyone expected that someone would actually run a nuclear reactor with it (although in the UK - you never know). If it was good enough for a nuclear reactor it was certainly going to be good enough for the Delorean.
I couldn't hook of a 1981 monitor (or as we called them then 'TVs') for a display, so I mounted a small 24 line by 32 character LCD display on the upper side of the passenger's sunvisor. I thought about putting it on the driver's sunvisor, but that might be worse that texting and driving, so to be safe it's on the passenger's side. I've found that if my wife's driving and I'm using the ZX81, I really need to wear my reading glasses as the display is just a little too close. A bit of a compromise but another good reason to have the display in the passenger's sunvisor, as driving with my reading glasses on would be bad.
The project is not 100% finished yet, but I'm really pleased with the way it is turning out. The few folks that have seen it so far think it is really cool, and very retro.
I'll post full instructions only with photos on this retro carputer project.
17813
Have a fun day!
The ZX81 computer takes 9v dc, so I had some work getting a transformer that would step down to 9v rather than the more common 5v. Since I removed my center vents I had plenty of space behind the computer to fit the transformer. I just stuck the transformer to the bottom of the center console metal bracket, which also acts as a heat sink.
I kept my ASI radio unit to act as the program loader. The ZX81 can connect directly to the audio out on the tape deck. I had some old program tapes and unbelievably these loaded first time onto the ZX81. You would think that after 30 years magnetic audio tape would give up, but I guess the baud rate was so low that there was still enough tone on the tapes for the computer to pick up the code. It still took a long time, probably 10 minutes to get my first program loaded. I can't save any programs/data from the ZX81 as the ASI radio doesn't have a record button. It's possible, but I'll have to save that option till next year.
I wrote more programs on the ZX81 than I can remember, so it was easy to pick the Sinclair Basic back up again. Of course I had to forget a whole bunch of modern programming things that I've learned from 1981 until 2005. The ZX81 was advertised as being able to run a nuclear reactor. I don't think anyone expected that someone would actually run a nuclear reactor with it (although in the UK - you never know). If it was good enough for a nuclear reactor it was certainly going to be good enough for the Delorean.
I couldn't hook of a 1981 monitor (or as we called them then 'TVs') for a display, so I mounted a small 24 line by 32 character LCD display on the upper side of the passenger's sunvisor. I thought about putting it on the driver's sunvisor, but that might be worse that texting and driving, so to be safe it's on the passenger's side. I've found that if my wife's driving and I'm using the ZX81, I really need to wear my reading glasses as the display is just a little too close. A bit of a compromise but another good reason to have the display in the passenger's sunvisor, as driving with my reading glasses on would be bad.
The project is not 100% finished yet, but I'm really pleased with the way it is turning out. The few folks that have seen it so far think it is really cool, and very retro.
I'll post full instructions only with photos on this retro carputer project.
17813
Have a fun day!