A friend recently introduced me to the world of Retrocomputing. Specifically the work of Sergey Kiselev. Sergey has evidently dedicated many years to the creation of completely open-source designs paying homage to early computers such as the IBM PC-XT.

One such system is Sergey’s Micro 8088 processor board paired with Sergey’s ISA 8-bit backplane. A friend of mine was interested in building a system around both of these boards. Being an open-source design, the PCBs must be ordered by engaging with a PCB fabrication house. The minimum PCB order was in units of five, so I was offered one of each board to maybe build a retro system of my own. Of course I said yes. But what would I do with a system of my own? Continue reading →