Ole #1 Computer
Backing up, this is "Ole #1" as Wally Daniels calls it-- my first effort at
making a computer, in 1985. The 6" LMB cube box held several Radio Shack
4.5" square boards with 44-contact edge connectors, and here you can see the
"backplane". In spite of the incredible amount of time I put into it and
the fact that it did work, this computer wasn't much good for anything. In
the experience I did however learn what would be useful. Future efforts made
much better use of space too. Bench-1 has a lot more of everything, all on
a single board.
Here's the other side of "Ole #1". The board at the top handled the
8-character 7-segment (plus decimal points) LED display and the remote
keypad of 16 buttons and four toggle switches. The 3/4" square by 6" piece
of wood has slots to brace the boards.