Want to learn more about the ELF and other 1802-based micros? I've found a few places you might enjoy visiting. If you happen to come across a site that might fit in here, please email me the URL and I'll have a look. Thanks!
- ELF in Javascript
You can run an original ELF right in your web browser with this brilliant piece of work by Maciej Szyc, featuring photo-real graphics. It's the next best thing to firing up your soldering iron and building your own.
- RCA CDP1802 COSMAC Computer Community
This MSN Community website features photos of an ELF II and Studio II game console, and has also begun posting copies of the Questdata newsletter. Find the newsletters under the ELF II link. Check it out!
- ELF-Emulation.com
Mike Riley's site with a focus on ELF emulation. If you're looking for an emulator or assembler that runs on Linux, Unix, or Windows, take a look at Mike's site. His emulator can take on the personality of a homebrew ELF, a Netronics ELF II, a Quest Super ELF, a Studio II, and more. And if you're into soldering, Mike's created a kit you should look at. Great work!
- TinyELF for OS X
OS X users can emulate a Netronics ELF II with TinyELF, a native Cocoa program that takes advantage of the Mac's GUI goodness. New to the 1802? Tom Pittman's Short Course is embedded in the help system. FYI, cosmacelf.com is run by the guy who wrote TinyELF, so this is a shameless plug...
- COSMAC Elf 2000 Kit
Spare Time Gizmos makes building a modern ELF easy. Okay, so the data is input with toggle switches; that's part of the charm, and you wouldn't want to miss out on that. But this board also allows for I/O and memory expansion, battery-backed RAM, program loading from a PC, and more. Nice.
- Robert Courtenay's ELF
Like so many others in the discussion group, Robert's first computer had an 1802 for a brain. According to Robert, who was a big Lost in Space fan back in 1979, a gadget of Will Robinson's inspired him.
- Kustaa Nyholm's Spare Time Labs
A pumped-up Finnish cousin of the ELF, the Telmac, gave Kustaa Nyholm a start in computing. Check out Down Memory Lane in his site's navigation bar for more on the Telmac and why in an alternate universe Kusti might have been in the position of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Be sure to check out his CHIP-8 page, too, for a Nokia phone version and one that'll run right in your web browser. Java is nifty!
- Ken's 1802 World
Ken Rother put together a nice site detailing some of his 1802-based projects. Besides the usual ELF-like computer, Ken assembled a music box, a telephone dialer, an add-on for the Commodore 64, and a really tricked-out homebrew micro.
- Dan Veeneman's COSMAC Page
Dan has an interest in collecting and preserving all things 1802. Here he shares information and photos of the RCA Microtutor II, RCA's VIP, the Quest Super Elf, and a handheld gadget from Infocel (if you have more information on this unit, please send it Dan's way!). If you're wondering what those suffixes on the 1802 part number were all about, this page has a nice summary.
- The Antique Chip Collector's Page
Antique? Who are you calling an antique? Oh... Well, I guess the 1802 has been around a few years, and people collect all sorts of crazy things.
- COMX 35 Information
There's little information on the web about the COMX 35, but this page will give you a peek at this machine. One of the comments suggests that the machine had a 75% failure rate! Yikes! Don't blame the 1802, though, they can run for decades even in deep space.
- Jim Kearney's ELF
Jim's page features one of the best photos of a classic ELF you'll find on the web, and a second photo showing off its wirewrap construction. Jim says it ran on the first try.
- Quest Super Elf Manuals and Code
These pages have a ton of information on the Quest Super Elf, including the assembly manual, data sheets, dumps of Super BASIC, a CHIP-8 manual and more. Definitely worth your time!
- Herman Rober's 1806 Info and Disassembler
Good information here on the 1805/1806 microprocessors, which are a superset of the 1802. Herman also has C source and a Win32 build of a disassembler, and links to a UNIX-based, hobby-quality 1805 assembler.
- Sandy Robson's 1802 Handheld
Eat your heart out, Palm; take a number, Windows CE. Sandy Robson was building a handheld computer back in 1980, complete with a QWERTY keyboard and LCD display. 1802-based, naturally. The project is well documented on Sandy's website. We like!
- Ted Rossin's Computers
Ted Rossin built a few 1802-based projects, including a logic analyzer that won an Ohio State University design contest back in 1985. From one of the pictures, it looks like he had a machine running an 1861-based menu. A Pixie GUI?
- Mark Bitting's 1802
Page
Mark has recently placed his code for an 1802-based Morse code
transmitter identifier on the web, and plans to put up the schematics for
the device as well.
- Tom
Pittman's Home Page
Tom Pittman contributed a great deal to the modest popularity
enjoyed by 1802-based computers. Tom wrote Tiny BASIC for the 1802, wrote
the ELF II tutorial "A Short Course In Programming", and edited the newsletter
put out by Netronics, amongst other things.
- Bill
Richman's Site
This one you've got to see. Together with Chris Radek, Bill created a beautiful ELF emulator for Windows with a ray-traced user interface. There is a small bug in that the 1802's STXD instruction doesn't decrement, but it's still fun to play with. Bill also has the original Popular Electronics articles online, complete with schematics... if you can find an 1802 somewhere you can still enjoy building one of these simple computers!
- Article
from 1978 Electronic Experimenter's Handbook
This article by Martin Meyer seems as though it may have been the basis for the Netronics ELF II and possibly the Quest Electronics ELF as well, though I don't know that for certain. In any case, it outlines the ELF II fairly well.
- Aaron's
Virtual Computer Museum
This is the best resource I've seen on the web for pictures and documentation of the RCA VIP 3300 series terminals, 1802-based TVTs that featured a membrane ASCII keyboard. The site also has a few high-res pictures of a Netronics ELF II worth checking out.
- The RCA Studio 2 Emulator Home Page
From games to disassembled ROMs to emulators of this old 1802-based video game machine, this site fairly bulges with information.
- Jeff
Duntemann Built an ELF!
I like Jeff Duntemann. Years ago, I read an editorial he wrote (in PC Techniques, I think) suggesting that a good life might be had by living simply and marrying your best friend. He was right; it worked for me! This author, editor, ham radio enthusiast and programmer also built an ELF, as revealed in this book foreword. Look in the bibliography on his website and you'll see he also wrote several articles on the ELF.
- The DOS Chip-8 and VChip-8 Home Page
Another page for CHIP-8 fans. Apparently the page hasn't been updated in a while, but hey, how much do you suppose CHIP-8 technology has advanced in the last few years?
- The Computer Museum of America
Call it modern art. There's not much for information, but there is a nice picture of a Netronics ELF II with the optional cabinet and some expansion cards. The caption ("RCA COSMAC ELF") is somewhat misleading; some of the chips were manufactured by RCA, but that's definitely a Netronics machine.
- Yet Another Computer
Museum
Not a lot here, but the site has the best picture of a Comx 35 I was able to find on the web.
- Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present
You'll find information about the 1802 listed under the topic "Forgotten / Innovative Designs before the Great Dark Cloud." Hmmm.
- Vintage Computer Festival
While this site doesn't offer much specific to the ELF or its cousins, this is an outfit that ELF enthusiasts may very well be interested in.
- Classic Computer Mailing List
Questions about the ELF or its relatives? Odds are good that someone on this large, very active mailing list can answer you! Collectors of all types of mini- and microcomputer equipment gather here.
