Wow!!! I was first introduced to the KIM-1 back in 1978. I was an EE student only interested in transmitter and receiver design. Then I met the microprocessor. I was torn, thinking I had to chose either the analog of digital worlds. Once I became proficient at programming assembly code, I became aware of the infinite possibilities of microprocessor applications. The 6502 changed my life. Thanks the memories - 40 years. I hope you can do the same for the Bi Tran Six trainer. This was the first of all microprocessor trainers.
Thank you for these videos. When I was a kid, my dad (who had been working with computers for a long time, back to analog fire control stuff) was apparently intrigued by this device. He had the First Book of KIM, which I found and pestered him about. He never got a KIM: we later got an Atari 800. But the KIM has always, well, haunted me. I wondered why he would have been interested in it. I've been reading/watching videos about old computer systems (thanks CuriousMarc!), and after watching quite a few, I've started to get a feeling for what it would have been like to work on old batch-oriented mainframes. It is hard to comprehend what a huge sea change a microprocessor was, and I can see now why something like the KIM would have been so tempting to someone who primarily interacted with a mainframe through batch. I've tried to explain to my own kids how far things have come, and tried to show them how a $35 SBC today is so changed from where things started. It is even harder to get them to understand why, with the KIM being as primitive as it was, why it was interesting. Thanks again.
Perfect timing! I just finished a project with my MicroKim and now I have a video to link to. Looking forward to your future videos. By the way, to be super pedantic: The 6530 is a RRIOT, not RIOT: RRIOT stands for ROM RAM I/O Timer. The 6532 was the RIOT and came without the masked ROM; it was used in machines such as the Atari 2600 and therefore still fairly easy to get (unlike the many different versions of the 6530). The MicroKim was based on a web page by Ruud Baltissen on how to build your own KIM-1 clone using 6532s and an EPROM. MicroKim can get away with only having one RIOT instead of two because only one is needed for the keyboard and display and because a RIOT has twice as much RAM as an RRIOT (128 bytes instead of 64 bytes). But I'm sure we'll hear more about that in a future video :-)
Sad sign of the times - produce an excellent historically relevant video and get 6K hits in 3 years - stick a lit firecracker up yer butt, and get a million in a week - ah well, at the least those of us who leave comments here are more likely able to articulate in full sentences. Thanks for the vid - (and part 2 which I will be heading for posthaste). I "missed" the KIM by a few years, 32K PETs having hit reasonable surplus prices at the zenith of my young geekdom, but they've always held a fascination .. being something akin to scoring a date with a young Julienne Moore - and her pet unicorn. The internet of course has now allowed "us" to gaze upon their 8 bit lovliness down to the schematic level, but your awesome video is definitely next level. :)
Hey Jeff, I have a beautiful working REV A KIM-1 with all white ceramic CPU and ROM chips. I would just like to give a shout out to Chuck Peddle !!! He literally made the home computer affordable for so many !!!
I also have an original KIM-1 Rev. A., still in the original shipping box and post address sticker. All the chips are the ceramic ones. The CPU is pink ceramic. CPU marked with: MOS MCS6502 C 2776 The two other are marked: MOS MCS 6530 002 1776 and 003 1876 respectively.
Another excellent video as well as a great overview of the KIM-1. I agree strongly with a comment left 3-years ago about the lack of interest of the golden days of micros. Now day, everyone has a smart phone running at WARP 2 BILLION and no one has a clue how things happen inside. I guess the same was true in the 50's, 60's, 70's and on when millions had TV's and most of them had no idea what a resistor was. It's all appliances now ! ! ! BEAM ME UP SCOTTY ! ! ! ! !
Thank you! Nice vid. Well-explained. I was 17 when the TRS-80 came out in '77 and went in three ways with my brother and father to buy one and teach ourselves programming. I had heard of the Kim 1 at the time, but not seen one.
Excellent video! I love vintage computer history. Your video was well made and your explanation was very thorough. I plan on getting the KIM-1 uno model and this video is very useful and informative for me. Thanks again.
Random note: There was actually never an ROR bug. The original silicon did not implement the ROR instruction because it was deemed to be unnecessary. Microscope analysis of the die has confirmed that while there is a spot in the instruction decoder for it to go, the decode line on the chip does not go to any destination circuit.
FWIW, back in the late 70s, there were two major chip-makers with "MOS" in their name; MOS Technology and MOSTEK. In my world at the time (electronics/computer engineering) everyone I knew or heard from (including the people at these companies who would answer phone calls) pronounced them as "em-oh-ess technology" and "mahss-tech". At least in my own experience, it has only been in more recent times, when a lot of people who were not in that industry at the time, or where simply too young to have been involved, have come up with different pronunciations. Kinda reminds me of electronic hobbyists these days who say "Jam-ee-co" for Jameco Electronics, because that's what it looks like and they were not around back when that company as called James Electronics and know to call it "Jame-co."
This is great and brought back many memories! I have my rev. A KIM-1, purchased for $245, back in April, 1976. My 6502 lacks the ROR op code. I powered up my KIM-1 earlier today and it runs fine! The 4k memory board I added later does not work properly anymore due to some now defective 2102 chips on it. I guess there is no way to link to a photograph of my KIM-1 that I took this morning. In any event, nice video and I liked, subscribed and will be watching more of your videos! Thanks!
In 1975-79, Loyola New Orleans taught us FORTRAN, COBOL, and Assembly language (machine unspecified). We couldn't realistically program the CDC 3300 in assembly language, so we eventually bought a Kim-1 and an Altair 8080. That is what we programmed in assembly language, though the programs were not extensive. I thought the Kim-1 was a nice little machine. Not quite as picturesque as entering a program into the Altair through the switches but fun. We just had the bare board and a power supply, no case or attachments.
Ty for this video, i'm learning different types of computer system to inspire in a fantasy one that i'm making as software. So i'm using an online emulator and this video is pretty helpful and makes me skip to read thousand of stuffs on the manual and documentation (for someone like me that just want to test things and not go too deep).
My KIM-1 does not have a date code stamped on the front. It does however have a white stamp on the back that may indicate that it was the 1255's KIM-1 produced. It has a 1576 date code on the 6502, an 1176 on one of the 6530's and a 1776 on the other. It is a beautiful machine.
Hi! Great video thanks. I don't have a KIM 1 and grew up around the other ubiquitous MPU the Z80 (I had a ZX81 then spectrums of various models. I recently got hold of an MPF-1 Microprofessor from my old University which I found needed a new Z80 chip. The Microprofessor is very similar to the KIM-1 but uses a Z80. The programming pronciple is the same with a keypad and 6 digit 7 segment display. Z80 opcodes are entered and the program run. Breakpoints are a little easier to implement as there is a breakpoint key and it is possible to load/save via cassette or from a PC. Its a great tool for learning very low level assembly. I'm going to watch the rest of your adventure with your Kim now. All the best, Steve.
I am so facinated about this old stuff. I was just an 11 year kid when this came out in 76. And I dreamt of it in the nights. However it should take some years before I got my own computer, an Sinclair ZX-81 in kit form. Some years later I also got the chance to get an original KIM-1 Rev. A., still in the original shipping box with post address sticker, warranty card and all the docs. All the chips are the ceramic ones. The CPU is pink ceramic. CPU marked with: MOS MCS6502 C 2776 The two other are marked: MOS MCS 6530 002 1776 and 003 1876 respectively. I dont think there are many Rev. A. left with the pink ceramic MCS 6502. Anyone? Pls. let me know.
Nice video. I cut my teeth on the Intel SDK 85 when I was in Tec. school. It is very similar to the Kim with the keypad and display and has a 8085 processor. I bought a Kim-1 at a Ham Fest many years ago but never had any info on how the memory was set up and where things were. Great job.
*So that was the predecessor to the apple 1 and basically a reference design board from MOS? So the apple 1 was historically mainly a hybrid of that and "the tv typewriter"? Thanks in advance for confirming!*
awesome video. i was so hoping you would make a blink program and attach a led to one of the outputs on a breadboard, which i guess would have value in terms of relating it to the arduino community because i think everyone starts with that example on arduino nowadays :-) i hope you would do that example sometime.
something that, I would gues, is not popularrly known.... the Kim was also sold a a build-it-yourself kit... which many of us did, as a business, in order to cover the price of having our own.
Intel made a similar development board for the 8085. It had a large patch of plated through holes on a 0.1" grid. So, I made a RAM board tester for a satellite control processor out of it. Place the RAM board on a bed of nails and hit GO.
I think back then I would have loved one of these, but it was just too expensive for my pocket. So my route to the 6502 was the Tangerine Microtan, and then Commodore 64. The Kim though is a thing of beauty.
I have a kim-1, but my U2 and U3 ICs are bad. The person that had it before me accidentally destroyed them. I don't think there is any way to replace them, as they included mask ROMS. Do you have any ideas on how I might go about repairing this computer?
The MOS Technology 6530 had a custom ROM, but there are some solutions using a 6532 and some external parts. Have a look at these links: www.corshamtech.com/product/kim-1-6502-replacement/ www.corshamtech.com/tech-tips/kim-6530-replacement/ retro.hansotten.nl/6502-sbc/6530-6532/6530-replacement/ retro.hansotten.nl/6502-sbc/kim-1-manuals-and-software/kim-1-6530-replacement/
Cool. It's like a calculator. Interesting history. Without the early practical and affordable computers, we won't have the internet, smartphones, Macs and internet now- no Tesla and SpaceX too or the open world games. The Apple I, launched on the same year, is more advanced and more practical. Happy Easter, bestfriend Jesus is risen!!! God bless, Rev. 21:4
Last summer I met a guy who just sold his KIM-1 Computer a few weeks before. I was there to buy another approximately forty years old computer from him, an Elektor Junior Computer. I asked him politely for how much money he sold it and his answer was € 600,- (the comma is the decimal sign). On e-Bay the prices for a KIM-1 go up to 1200 Dollars. And last week I saw only the MOS 6530 RIOT Chip for 1300 Dollars. And we all know that this chip could NEVER work in a KIM-1 because all chips were programmed in the factory. Collecting computers has become expensive.
Are those hand-drawn traces? Wow, hasn't seen those in a while, not even on hobbyist stuff. //edit: By hobbyist stuff, I of course meant someone making a custom board for their own private use or a limited run, not mass-produced stuff that can be used by hobbyists such as RaspPi or Arduino.
I have no idea why I'm watching this but I enjoyed learning something new.
Best thanks for this video.
I started in 1976 with a KIM-1, then with the PET 2001 ...
this was a very interesting time.
Wow!!! I was first introduced to the KIM-1 back in 1978. I was an EE student only interested in transmitter and receiver design. Then I met the microprocessor. I was torn, thinking I had to chose either the analog of digital worlds. Once I became proficient at programming assembly code, I became aware of the infinite possibilities of microprocessor applications. The 6502 changed my life. Thanks the memories - 40 years.
I hope you can do the same for the Bi Tran Six trainer. This was the first of all microprocessor trainers.
Thank you for taking the time to make this, i enjoyed learning about the KIM-1 through your detailed description.
i love you calm voice and very good and easy explanation, thank you
Thank you for these videos. When I was a kid, my dad (who had been working with computers for a long time, back to analog fire control stuff) was apparently intrigued by this device. He had the First Book of KIM, which I found and pestered him about. He never got a KIM: we later got an Atari 800. But the KIM has always, well, haunted me. I wondered why he would have been interested in it. I've been reading/watching videos about old computer systems (thanks CuriousMarc!), and after watching quite a few, I've started to get a feeling for what it would have been like to work on old batch-oriented mainframes. It is hard to comprehend what a huge sea change a microprocessor was, and I can see now why something like the KIM would have been so tempting to someone who primarily interacted with a mainframe through batch.
I've tried to explain to my own kids how far things have come, and tried to show them how a $35 SBC today is so changed from where things started. It is even harder to get them to understand why, with the KIM being as primitive as it was, why it was interesting.
Thanks again.
Perfect timing! I just finished a project with my MicroKim and now I have a video to link to. Looking forward to your future videos.
By the way, to be super pedantic: The 6530 is a RRIOT, not RIOT: RRIOT stands for ROM RAM I/O Timer. The 6532 was the RIOT and came without the masked ROM; it was used in machines such as the Atari 2600 and therefore still fairly easy to get (unlike the many different versions of the 6530). The MicroKim was based on a web page by Ruud Baltissen on how to build your own KIM-1 clone using 6532s and an EPROM. MicroKim can get away with only having one RIOT instead of two because only one is needed for the keyboard and display and because a RIOT has twice as much RAM as an RRIOT (128 bytes instead of 64 bytes). But I'm sure we'll hear more about that in a future video :-)
Sad sign of the times - produce an excellent historically relevant video and get 6K hits in 3 years - stick a lit firecracker up yer butt, and get a million in a week - ah well, at the least those of us who leave comments here are more likely able to articulate in full sentences.
Thanks for the vid - (and part 2 which I will be heading for posthaste). I "missed" the KIM by a few years, 32K PETs having hit reasonable surplus prices at the zenith of my young geekdom, but they've always held a fascination .. being something akin to scoring a date with a young Julienne Moore - and her pet unicorn.
The internet of course has now allowed "us" to gaze upon their 8 bit lovliness down to the schematic level, but your awesome video is definitely next level. :)
Hey Jeff, I have a beautiful working REV A KIM-1 with all white ceramic CPU and ROM chips.
I would just like to give a shout out to Chuck Peddle !!! He literally made the home computer affordable for so many !!!
I also have an original KIM-1 Rev. A., still in the original shipping box and post address sticker. All the chips are the ceramic ones. The CPU is pink ceramic. CPU marked with: MOS MCS6502 C 2776 The two other are marked: MOS MCS 6530 002 1776 and 003 1876 respectively.
@@steinrkolnes2 I would love to see some pics. Do you have documentation as well?
Another excellent video as well as a great overview of the KIM-1.
I agree strongly with a comment left 3-years ago about the lack of interest of the golden days of micros.
Now day, everyone has a smart phone running at WARP 2 BILLION and no one has a clue how things happen inside.
I guess the same was true in the 50's, 60's, 70's and on when millions had TV's and most of them had no idea what a resistor was. It's all appliances now ! ! ! BEAM ME UP SCOTTY ! ! ! ! !
Thank you! Nice vid. Well-explained. I was 17 when the TRS-80 came out in '77 and went in three ways with my brother and father to buy one and teach ourselves programming. I had heard of the Kim 1 at the time, but not seen one.
Excellent video! I love vintage computer history. Your video was well made and your explanation was very thorough. I plan on getting the KIM-1 uno model and this video is very useful and informative for me. Thanks again.
Great video! Wanted to know more about this computer.
This is very beautiful. You are very lucky to have it. Thanks so much for making this video.
Random note: There was actually never an ROR bug. The original silicon did not implement the ROR instruction because it was deemed to be unnecessary. Microscope analysis of the die has confirmed that while there is a spot in the instruction decoder for it to go, the decode line on the chip does not go to any destination circuit.
FWIW, back in the late 70s, there were two major chip-makers with "MOS" in their name; MOS Technology and MOSTEK. In my world at the time (electronics/computer engineering) everyone I knew or heard from (including the people at these companies who would answer phone calls) pronounced them as "em-oh-ess technology" and "mahss-tech". At least in my own experience, it has only been in more recent times, when a lot of people who were not in that industry at the time, or where simply too young to have been involved, have come up with different pronunciations.
Kinda reminds me of electronic hobbyists these days who say "Jam-ee-co" for Jameco Electronics, because that's what it looks like and they were not around back when that company as called James Electronics and know to call it "Jame-co."
This is great and brought back many memories! I have my rev. A KIM-1, purchased for $245, back in April, 1976. My 6502 lacks the ROR op code. I powered up my KIM-1 earlier today and it runs fine! The 4k memory board I added later does not work properly anymore due to some now defective 2102 chips on it. I guess there is no way to link to a photograph of my KIM-1 that I took this morning. In any event, nice video and I liked, subscribed and will be watching more of your videos! Thanks!
In 1975-79, Loyola New Orleans taught us FORTRAN, COBOL, and Assembly language (machine unspecified). We couldn't realistically program the CDC 3300 in assembly language, so we eventually bought a Kim-1 and an Altair 8080. That is what we programmed in assembly language, though the programs were not extensive. I thought the Kim-1 was a nice little machine. Not quite as picturesque as entering a program into the Altair through the switches but fun. We just had the bare board and a power supply, no case or attachments.
Ty for this video, i'm learning different types of computer system to inspire in a fantasy one that i'm making as software. So i'm using an online emulator and this video is pretty helpful and makes me skip to read thousand of stuffs on the manual and documentation (for someone like me that just want to test things and not go too deep).
My KIM-1 does not have a date code stamped on the front. It does however have a white stamp on the back that may indicate that it was the 1255's KIM-1 produced. It has a 1576 date code on the 6502, an 1176 on one of the 6530's and a 1776 on the other. It is a beautiful machine.
Thanks, really enjoyed your clean and detailed explanation
My KIM-1 is actually a Rev G board. It was manufactured in January 1978.
Hi! Great video thanks. I don't have a KIM 1 and grew up around the other ubiquitous MPU the Z80 (I had a ZX81 then spectrums of various models. I recently got hold of an MPF-1 Microprofessor from my old University which I found needed a new Z80 chip. The Microprofessor is very similar to the KIM-1 but uses a Z80. The programming pronciple is the same with a keypad and 6 digit 7 segment display. Z80 opcodes are entered and the program run. Breakpoints are a little easier to implement as there is a breakpoint key and it is possible to load/save via cassette or from a PC. Its a great tool for learning very low level assembly. I'm going to watch the rest of your adventure with your Kim now. All the best, Steve.
8-Bit Guy's video brought me here.
Same.
Which one
Dave’s garage brought me here.
I am so facinated about this old stuff. I was just an 11 year kid when this came out in 76. And I dreamt of it in the nights. However it should take some years before I got my own computer, an Sinclair ZX-81 in kit form.
Some years later I also got the chance to get an original KIM-1 Rev. A., still in the original shipping box with post address sticker, warranty card and all the docs. All the chips are the ceramic ones. The CPU is pink ceramic. CPU marked with: MOS MCS6502 C 2776 The two other are marked: MOS MCS 6530 002 1776 and 003 1876 respectively.
I dont think there are many Rev. A. left with the pink ceramic MCS 6502.
Anyone?
Pls. let me know.
I never had a KIM-1. I had a SYM-1 which was more advanced but not as popular. But so many similarities. Had so much fun coding in machine code.
I had a SYM-1 too, and did a loooot of tinkering and programming with it when I was a kid. I loaned it to somebody and never got it back :-(
Nice video. I cut my teeth on the Intel SDK 85 when I was in Tec. school. It is very similar to the Kim with the keypad and display and has a 8085 processor. I bought a Kim-1 at a Ham Fest many years ago but never had any info on how the memory was set up and where things were. Great job.
*So that was the predecessor to the apple 1 and basically a reference design board from MOS? So the apple 1 was historically mainly a hybrid of that and "the tv typewriter"? Thanks in advance for confirming!*
Great video, thanks for taking the time to make it!
awesome video. i was so hoping you would make a blink program and attach a led to one of the outputs on a breadboard, which i guess would have value in terms of relating it to the arduino community because i think everyone starts with that example on arduino nowadays :-) i hope you would do that example sometime.
something that, I would gues, is not popularrly known.... the Kim was also sold a a build-it-yourself kit... which many of us did, as a business, in order to cover the price of having our own.
Intel made a similar development board for the 8085. It had a large patch of plated through holes on a 0.1" grid. So, I made a RAM board tester for a satellite control processor out of it. Place the RAM board on a bed of nails and hit GO.
I think back then I would have loved one of these, but it was just too expensive for my pocket. So my route to the 6502 was the Tangerine Microtan, and then Commodore 64. The Kim though is a thing of beauty.
Wow! This is the first I heard of Jim Butterfield prior to the Commodore 64!
I have been combing the net from time to time looking for plans to make a as close as possible kim 1 replica.
Very nice coverage!
Awesome video
Thanks so much for this video.
We used this video on our Commodore KIM-1 page: www.commodore.ca/commodore-products/productscsg-mos-commodore-kim-1-history-pictures/
great video series. 10/10 :)
Very nice video thanks!
I have a kim-1, but my U2 and U3 ICs are bad. The person that had it before me accidentally destroyed them.
I don't think there is any way to replace them, as they included mask ROMS. Do you have any ideas on how I might go about repairing this computer?
The MOS Technology 6530 had a custom ROM, but there are some solutions using a 6532 and some external parts. Have a look at these links:
www.corshamtech.com/product/kim-1-6502-replacement/
www.corshamtech.com/tech-tips/kim-6530-replacement/
retro.hansotten.nl/6502-sbc/6530-6532/6530-replacement/
retro.hansotten.nl/6502-sbc/kim-1-manuals-and-software/kim-1-6530-replacement/
8:09 I question the value of having a nop at the start - it will only slow down execution. Wouldn't it be better to just jmp directly to the LDA?
This was just an example and was not meant to be efficient or meaningful code.
Great Video!!! Just the fact’s ma’am!
Jeff where did you get that nice little 6502 cheat sheet you show at the end?
I bought it new in the 1980s, but I have a scan of it here: github.com/jefftranter/6502/blob/master/docs/6502refcard.pdf
@@jefftranter many thanks
fascinating, thanks for posting. I may have missed the description of where your github page is: can you provide again?
+stupossibleify See github.com/jefftranter/6502
Thank you, I have downloaded and printed your reference guide from GitHub. Perfect cheat sheet for someone like myself relearning 6502/KIM-1
but can it run DooM?
Great video, thank you! Any idea how much this boards cost back in the day?
It sold for US$245 in 1976, which is equivalent to about $1,000 today.
Thanks! Great piece of history you have there.
Cool. It's like a calculator. Interesting history. Without the early practical and affordable computers, we won't have the internet, smartphones, Macs and internet now- no Tesla and SpaceX too or the open world games.
The Apple I, launched on the same year, is more advanced and more practical.
Happy Easter, bestfriend Jesus is risen!!!
God bless, Rev. 21:4
Can you provide a link to your gethub site?
github.com/jefftranter/6502
@@jefftranter Thank you !!! There is a wealth of knowledge there !!! You should add the link to your video description. Thank you again !!!
Last summer I met a guy who just sold his KIM-1 Computer a few weeks before. I was there to buy another approximately forty years old computer from him, an Elektor Junior Computer. I asked him politely for how much money he sold it and his answer was € 600,- (the comma is the decimal sign). On e-Bay the prices for a KIM-1 go up to 1200 Dollars. And last week I saw only the MOS 6530 RIOT Chip for 1300 Dollars. And we all know that this chip could NEVER work in a KIM-1 because all chips were programmed in the factory. Collecting computers has become expensive.
Are those hand-drawn traces? Wow, hasn't seen those in a while, not even on hobbyist stuff.
//edit: By hobbyist stuff, I of course meant someone making a custom board for their own private use or a limited run, not mass-produced stuff that can be used by hobbyists such as RaspPi or Arduino.
Yes, I believe t was hand drawn or manually taped out, which would not have been uncommon circa 1976.
Wheres the case, keyboard, mouse and monitor? lol
Sinclair made another version called the MK1 I believe. Really I envy not being alive at the dawn of the computer age. Crude but simple.
Chuck Peddle doesn't get near enough credit as he should.
Its crazy to me that the same cpu used in this thing is also found in things like the nes and turbo grafx 16