You Make Robots Blog

Keeping Retro Computers Alive!

We developed an Arduino Board Tester. We quality test Arduino boards before sale, and the old test rig was a bit boring so we developed something with a little bit more fun. We figured clients might want this too so we sell them through the store. Watch the video below. If you want to purchase one click >HERE< if you want to download the software click >HERE<

Below is a short video showing how to set up an LCD displaying using an IC2 serial module to an Arduino. Mentioned in the video is a sketch for using the LCD panel which is displayed below this text and a sketch to find the address of the IC2 adapter you can find by click here.

#include <Wire.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h>

#define I2C_ADDR 0x3F

LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(I2C_ADDR, 2, 1, 0, 4, 5, 6, 7);

int led = 13;

void setup () {
  lcd.begin(16, 2);//16 columns 2 rows for 1602A

  lcd.setBacklightPin(3, POSITIVE);
  //lcd.setBacklight(HIGH); // NOTE: You can turn the backlight off by setting it to LOW instead of HIGH
  lcd.setBacklight(LOW);
  lcd.clear(); // clean screen and sets cursor to (0,0)
  // initialize the digital pin as an output.
  // will not blink without it
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
  lcd.print("YouMakeRobots");
  digitalWrite(led, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  lcd.setBacklight(LOW);   //turn off backlight
  delay(1000);             // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(led, LOW);  // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  lcd.setBacklight(HIGH);  //turn on backlight
  delay(1000);    
}

You can find all the components needed by clicking here.

We’ve been busy bees and developed an alternative solution for those wanting to keep Retro Computers alive by playing games and apps digitally through the audio ports originally designed for a tape deck.

DigiWavuino is an Arduino wav player designed for playing back Retro Computers games and app files that come in wav file format. It differs from other similar projects like ArduiTape or CASDuino in that it was developed with Arduino boards that have a DAC port like Arduino DUE or Arduino Zero. This is a must for those Retro Computers that are sensitive about audio quality. The previous projects played audio through a PWM port instead of a DAC. Retro Computers like the Sharp MZ700 will not load games that have been played through a PWM port.. So enter DigiWavuino.

Here is the parts list for the DUE version:
https://tinyurl.com/y9jv5b7h
https://tinyurl.com/ybw7ovo2
https://tinyurl.com/y7gllja5 this one doesn’t have the IC2 jacket but best get one with