Projects

Alongside working with our colleagues in the Computer Science Department here at he University, we have lots of opportunities to help out.
Things we are working on are quite varied. The below is a suggestion on things we might have the ability to support.

If you're a current Comp Sci student, Alan Hayes and Ken Cameron have a number of projects we can try to support - these can be potentially hardware or software based, so suggestions along those lines would be welcomed.......

 

Hardware based:

1. Memory chip tester

    1. develop a tool to be able to test various memory types that fit to computers.

 

2. Keyboard tester

    1. develop a solution for functionally testing all types of historic computer keyboards.

 

3. Floppy Disk Drive Interface

    1. develop a solution for interfacing historical disc drives to a modern computer, and create an image of the contents of a disc.

 

4. Design and build an 8 bit computer using entirely new technologies.
The computer should present the user with a command line interface to a suitable OS, and have ports to interface the computer to other devices

5. Design and build an 8 bit computer using an FGPA architecture.
The computer should present the user with a command line interface to a suitable OS, and have ports to interface the computer to other devices.

6. Design and build a computer using a PIC-based architecture.
The computer should present the user with a command line interface to a suitable OS, and have ports to interface the computer to other devices.

 

Software Based:

1. Imaging software discs

    1. develop a mechanism to create images of operating systems for historic computers.

 

2. Create an emulator for a vintage 8-bit computer

  1. The Archive has a number of vintage computers, and the challenge is to write an emulator to allow for new software to be developed on new hardware. Once this is done, then the intention is to test it on the actual hardware.

 

3. Write a new game for a vintage 8-bit computer

  1. Develop a new game within the limited resources of a vintage computer.

 

 

 

Outside of these projects with Comp Sci - we have a mountain of old equipment we want to restore to fully functional - including a recently donated PDP11. We'd be very happy to have some support from staff and students to work on any of the Archive equipment.
We'd also be interested to hear ideas for new projects!

contact us on ETA@bath.ac.uk

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