Altaid 8800 (2024)

Saw a z80 version of the tin computer the other day

https://sunrise-ev.com/z80.htm

Being familiar with the hijinks that Steve Wozniak pulled with the switched mode power supply in the Apple II (1977), I was curious about how the author solved for this piece:

> It also needed three supply voltages; +5v, +12v, and -5v. That made it tough to power it from a single-voltage power supply or battery.

According to https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/mc34063-the-switching-..., the solution - the MC34063 - isn't _exactly_ a design that's contemporary with the Altair or other 1970s micros, but was introduced in the early 1980s. That would put it closer in age to the Commodore 64 which, in spite of its much smaller size, still indeed does not fit in an Altoids tin.

Very cool project nonetheless!

This goes back to at least 2017 per archive.org