Reviving an Obsolete Intel Prompt 80 Microcomputer Educational Device
In the world of vintage computing, Scott Baker has made a significant mark with his restoration and upgrade of a Prompt 80, an 8-bit Intel 8080 CPU development system.
Baker's journey began with the acquisition of a broken Prompt 80 trainer on eBay. After some tinkering, he was able to restore the system to its former glory.
One of the most notable aspects of Baker's work is the Cylon LED program, which he wrote and ran on the restored Prompt 80. This program made artistic use of the LEDs attached to the parallel port of the Prompt 80, creating a captivating visual display. A video of the results can be seen in the embedded video below.
Baker didn't stop at just restoring the system. He upgraded to an 80/10B board, which increased the RAM and added a multimodule slot. He also attached his SP0256A-AL2 speech multimodule to the multimodule socket on the 80/10B board, allowing him to run speech programs.
In an effort to further utilise the system's capabilities, Baker reduced a version of Forth to 8KB, fitting it into four 2716 chips on the 80/10B board. This allowed for more complex programming and development on the Prompt 80.
Baker also wrote two assembly language programs, one of which says "Scott Was Here" and the other "This is an Intel Prompt 80 Computer". The results of these speech programs can be heard in the embedded video.
It's worth noting that Baker announced a person named BrendaEM on his YouTube channel, but no further publicly known detailed information is available about her identity. BrendaEM wrote in to share information about Scott's YouTube channel.
In addition to the Cylon LED program, Baker's work on the Prompt 80 has included fixing the failed power supply by recapping some of the smaller electrolytic capacitors and installing a newer 80/10A board to replace the original CPU board.
The Prompt 80 trainer provides I/O for programming, probing, and debugging an attached CPU, making it a valuable tool for those interested in vintage computing. Baker's work on the system serves as a testament to the enduring appeal and potential of these vintage machines.
