Welcome to e‑basteln.de!

A collection of hobby projects, playing with mostly obsolete technology: Classic arcade games in smaller packages, vintage computing (think 1950s and 60s), and an incomplete-but-not-abandoned attempt to build a scanning tunneling microscope with atomic resolution.

New – a preview of the Tiny ACE, a functional model of the Pilot ACE computer designed by Alan Turing and team in 1946.

Arcade Games

I like old arcade games from the 70s and 80s (although I’m not good at playing them). Some of these early games generate their video display in unusual ways – by drawing vectors via X/Y control of the CRT’s electron beam, or by generating their video signal from hard-wired TTL logic.

Two projects in this section feature original circuit boards in new, smaller enclosures which showcase the boards. Also, a small MAME cabinet specializing in vertical-format arcade games from the “Golden Age”, based on a Raspberry Pi and a customized mechanical joystick.

Vintage Computing

… where vintage is defined as anything from “older than me” to “my first computer”. Pocket-sized replicas of 1950’s magnetic drum computers, a mouse from 1968, and the 6502 microprocessor from 1975 re-implemented to run at 100 MHz.

New – a preview of the Tiny ACE, a functional model of the Pilot ACE computer designed by Alan Turing and team in 1946.

Other Projects

A catch-all for projects that don’t fit the categories above. At the moment, this comprises my – fairly comprehensive but unfinished – Scanning Tunneling Microscope project, a wristwatch for nerds, and modification instructions for an echo effect pedal for musicians.

About

Contact information, copyright, trademarks and such. Also, a few comments about Hugo, the website generator tool used to produce this site.