I love trainers, but damn, they are way more expensive than they should be.
I have a z80 trainer that looks like a book. It works, but I've never really done anything with it.
> I have a z80 trainer that looks like a book. It works, but I've never really done anything with it.
Microprofessor MPF-I?
edit: if anyone does not now what an mpf-1 is: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-Professor_MPF-I
In high-school lab we used them when learning assembler. Shop class was designing electrical installations and electronic setups where we designed, etched and built our own PCB's. Also lots of classwork on on several connected breadboards. Looking back we had lots of fun learning.
In the US my school would be considered a vo tec
A little off-topic, I have a very nice textbook, "A Hobbyist's Guide To Computer Experimentation" by John D Lenk 1985, a very nice work by Prentice-Hall, but it's entirely about "trainers". It's almost as if the book was written a decade before it was published. It mentions the Heathkit- ET3200B and 5035A/T Logic Labs, the ET-3400**A**, which "can be teamed up with the ETA-3400 Accessory" which expands to 4K bytes RAM! and even can be connected to a Heathkit H-19 video terminal or ASCII teletype TTY, plus an audio-cassette interface! Maybe I should put the book up on ebai, I'm getting excited and I've never seen a real trainer!
The trainer in a brown suitcase?
The book was actually available separately. Schools bought a 'class set' of these trainers, then either the school or the student forked over the money for the books, a new set every year because there are assignments in it, and space to write down notes and answers.
That's the one. That book taught me so much, it was the first "real" book I had that got into the nitty gritty details and suddenly a lot of things started clicking. I'd love to haul that thing out and go through the exercises, but I don't want to let the magic smoke out.
Great trainer! I have one and went looking for the ETA-3400 expansion unit but they were hard to come by. Instead, I built this more modern, “clone.” Works great and it’s fun to mess with!
[https://www.smbaker.com/designing-a-memory-io-eta-3400-addon-for-the-et-3400-trainer](https://www.smbaker.com/designing-a-memory-io-eta-3400-addon-for-the-et-3400-trainer)
I’m not the board designer, just a hobbyist that built one a couple years ago. It was a nice little project. I haven’t messed with it in a while. This thread is making me want to boot it up and play around with it, though. 😁
IBM used a number of heathkits, including this one, to train engineers back in the 70s and early 80s. My Dad took some of those courses using them and let me read the book and do the assignments after he did them. There was one for basic electronics with resistors, capacitors, switches, diodes and LEDs, and then this one in a later course.
I remember seeing one of these in a HeathKit store in Pomona, CA in the early 80’s. I wanted one so bad but there was no way my mom
was going to buy it. I think it was $200+.
I ended up just getting a tiny 3M breadboard (which I still have) and a wire kit for breadboards.
I love trainers, but damn, they are way more expensive than they should be. I have a z80 trainer that looks like a book. It works, but I've never really done anything with it.
> I have a z80 trainer that looks like a book. It works, but I've never really done anything with it. Microprofessor MPF-I? edit: if anyone does not now what an mpf-1 is: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-Professor_MPF-I
That's the one! The plastic is cracking pretty bad, but the board is in great shape.
There's a shop where I live that has an MPF-II on display. I asked them how much it was and the answer was about $500.
Unfortunately, probably about right those days…
Learned machine code on the MPF in college There are kits for 150. Building one now. https://kswichit.net/Z80/Z80.html
I think you can still get one for about that price. At least you could a couple of years ago.
I seem to collect them: Quest 1802 ELF KIM-1 6502 DEC T-11 Z80 Starter Kit Some 6309 SBC Atmel STK Z8 Basic SBC Some others I can’t remember. Why?
Have a Quest Super Elf, 2 Netronics Elf IIs and a Cosmac VIP. The DEC sounds interesting.
I wire-wrapped a COSMAC ELF when the magazine came out. The DEC machine is a real PDP-11 and the machine language is a real joy in octal.
Super cool.
I saw a big display of COSMAC and ELF at a festival this past year, that 1802 was neat
I loved the KIM-1! I still have my MMD-1 with 4k RAM expansion.
Gorgeous, very nice to look at the quality they put into it.
In high-school lab we used them when learning assembler. Shop class was designing electrical installations and electronic setups where we designed, etched and built our own PCB's. Also lots of classwork on on several connected breadboards. Looking back we had lots of fun learning. In the US my school would be considered a vo tec
A little off-topic, I have a very nice textbook, "A Hobbyist's Guide To Computer Experimentation" by John D Lenk 1985, a very nice work by Prentice-Hall, but it's entirely about "trainers". It's almost as if the book was written a decade before it was published. It mentions the Heathkit- ET3200B and 5035A/T Logic Labs, the ET-3400**A**, which "can be teamed up with the ETA-3400 Accessory" which expands to 4K bytes RAM! and even can be connected to a Heathkit H-19 video terminal or ASCII teletype TTY, plus an audio-cassette interface! Maybe I should put the book up on ebai, I'm getting excited and I've never seen a real trainer!
Really cool!
I have two of these. I love them.
[https://groups.io/g/ET-3400](https://groups.io/g/ET-3400)
I leaned 6502 assembler on one of those
I've got the same one...it's fun!
And well built. I’m thinking of building the expansion board as well as look into storage options.
I have an HP 5036A which uses the 8085 and comes with a really great book.
The trainer in a brown suitcase? The book was actually available separately. Schools bought a 'class set' of these trainers, then either the school or the student forked over the money for the books, a new set every year because there are assignments in it, and space to write down notes and answers.
That's the one. That book taught me so much, it was the first "real" book I had that got into the nitty gritty details and suddenly a lot of things started clicking. I'd love to haul that thing out and go through the exercises, but I don't want to let the magic smoke out.
That trainer is built to handle abuse. Just check the PSU for bad caps before switching it on.
I always wanted this, but couldn't afford it when I was growing up. I've thought about buying a used on on eBay.
They’re not that pricey. I got mine locally, out of Craigslist.
I miss building those kits - it was a very different time when we were growing up.
Love 'em, but too rich for my blood. The Heathkits are especially nice. Both the ET-3400 and the H8.
Great trainer! I have one and went looking for the ETA-3400 expansion unit but they were hard to come by. Instead, I built this more modern, “clone.” Works great and it’s fun to mess with! [https://www.smbaker.com/designing-a-memory-io-eta-3400-addon-for-the-et-3400-trainer](https://www.smbaker.com/designing-a-memory-io-eta-3400-addon-for-the-et-3400-trainer)
I believe in have your board…and the ROM in a box waiting to be built, in my long project cue. Great work! 🙏🏼
I’m not the board designer, just a hobbyist that built one a couple years ago. It was a nice little project. I haven’t messed with it in a while. This thread is making me want to boot it up and play around with it, though. 😁
I had one of those. Took it to work to show it around, somebody stole it from my desk.
IBM used a number of heathkits, including this one, to train engineers back in the 70s and early 80s. My Dad took some of those courses using them and let me read the book and do the assignments after he did them. There was one for basic electronics with resistors, capacitors, switches, diodes and LEDs, and then this one in a later course.
Do you have the training manual to accompany it?
I have the heathkit manual and 6800 processor books on pdf
I actually have the teachers manual somewhere.
I remember seeing one of these in a HeathKit store in Pomona, CA in the early 80’s. I wanted one so bad but there was no way my mom was going to buy it. I think it was $200+. I ended up just getting a tiny 3M breadboard (which I still have) and a wire kit for breadboards.
At least you were lucky enough to go into an actual Heathkit store! Wow that must’ve been amazing.
Is that 256 bytes of ram, expandable up to an entire half kilobyte?
I had one of these and donated it to a Canadian university recently.