When I was there, I was fortunate enough to speak to a very interesting man called Julian Skidmore, creature of the Fignition, a small DIY (as in build it yourself from components) 8-bit Computer.
At a cost of only £20 how could anyone resist an opportunity to go back to the roots of Computing? Back to the Old-School where Geeks and Hackers built computers out of Microchips. Back in the 70's the home brew computing scene was rife with people getting together and building Computers and I don't mean they were going to PC world to buy a hard drive and a new stick of ram! Apple I any one?
I'm not a Computer Genius and I am certainly not an Electronics expert, I wish I knew more, Im at the level where I like to dabble in things. Despite numerous attempts, I can't program and I certainly don't understand electronic components; Oscilloscopes, Resistors, Diodes and Capacitors mean literally zero to me and anytime I try and read up on them, I get bored and end up buying junk on eBay
In the past I have attempted to solder, I have never been able to solder well!! I just make a mess, I melt things and it all goes horribly wrong! I certainly have never had the courage to solder circuitboard!
Building the Fignition for me was an opportunity to develop my soldering skills and learn a bit about how a computer really works!
The Fignition is a full 8 bit computer it has 8kb of RAM, a whopping 384kb of storage and is ready to go out of the box! (kind of, once you have soldered it together)
I actually bought the Fignition before I bought Soldering Iron or Multimeter, however that was sorted thanks to a quick trip to Maplin!!
I picked up their Cheapest Multimeter Code: N20AX
And an Antex 30w Soldering Iron Code: N11BY
Tonight I assembled the Fignition in approximately 3 hours! I have never soldered circuit board before and the machine booted straight into life!
I followed the full and detailed instructions which are available on the Fignition Website. If you have ever assembed a flat pack chest of drawers or a Lego Technic set then i urge you to give this a go!
Instructions: https://sites.google.com/site/libby8dev/fignition/documentation (mine is the RevE)
I really enjoyed assembling this and seeing it boot and work first time has really given me the confidence to do take on some other electronic projects. Idealy you want a decent work area with a good light, maybe a stand and lots of space, that would be ideal. I however assembled this sat cross legged on the living room floor on a little wooden Ikea table! I used the light on my iPhone to see the colours on the Resistors and my iPad Mini to read the instructions.
These my first few solders!
As i soldered on ;) I felt the concept of Soldering emerge clear in my head, although the application was not as clear! The trick is (and please correct me if i am wrong) to heat the tip of the exposed wire and then introduce the Solder to it, so that it felt like the wire was sucking up the Solder
Rear of Completed Board
As you can see, I am no expert and people with even the smallest bit of experience will probably look at my joints and laugh but remember this is my first time soldering circuit board and I am really impressed with my self, it has given me the confidence to try Soldering again in the future and take on (even) more ambitious projects (once I get to grips with using the Fignition of course).
I suppose, just to teach myself how to solder, I could have bought one of those DIY solder-it-yourself flashing LED circuit boards in the shape of a heart or christmas tree like they sell in Maplin, however for a few extra ££ I have built myself a fully working computer!
The Website clearly details a thorough testing scheme for the circuitry to ensure continuity etc. I have to confess, I started reading it and it made no sense to me, none what so ever! Cheekily I had a good close look at all the joints and ensured nothing was touching and fired the computer up! This is done by a standard USB lead plugged into a mains adapter.
I had no idea if it would boot or even turn on! I decided to film it and this was the result
Fully working!
It does'nt show much, but in less then 3 hours I have built all by myself, from a load of components, a fully working real Computer!
The device features a very cool 8 button keyboard, as you can see in the video I had a bit of trouble getting to grips with it but im sure once I am up to speed I will be typing away like a FigPro!
Now, where do i go to learn about Forth
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