Read all about the Cosmicos here.

H

This is the story of me and the KIM-1.

Philips educational kits.

As a young child, at age 12, I was introduced to electronics with the Philips electronic kits. First a Pionier crystal radio. Easy to build, good instruction manual. Lots of listening pleasure!.

Two years later I bought the Philips EE8 Electronic Engineer kit. Again nice builds (the 8 stands for 8 experiments), with a good manual. Since the manual covered the expansion to the EE20 for 20 experiments, I bought the parts myself one by one at Aurora Vijzelgracht, Amsterdam.
More on the Philips electronic kits.

Radio Bulletin

In 1978 I bought my first computer, a KIM-1. It turned out to be a Rockwell rebadged Rev F Mos Technology board.

The beginning of lots of fun, learning, member of the KIM gg Club and making and publishing in the Dutch electronics magazine Radio Bulletin and the KIM Kenner.

In 2014 the big KIM-1 machine was finally taken down in parts, the following photos showed the end result as in 1985 after many years of tinkering.

The KIM-1 system ended as a real production system in 1985, mainly to write articles, all Radio Bulletin and KIM Club Magazine related work was done with this system.

My KIM-1 workplace in 1979, no video terminal, no printer, hand assembly

My workplace setup in 1982: KIM-1, dual cassette, tv monitor, H14 printer, ASCII keyboard

1984, VT100 as videoterminal, what a progress!

Then a CP/M machine took over (a Spectravideo X’Press 738) with the same VT100 as terminal.

• KIM-1
• 8K RAM  in system case
• 32K RAM in expansion case
• Two ACIA 6850 serial
• A PIA/VIA card with two 6820 PIA’s
• Parallel ASCII keyboard with home made logic circuit
• Video Display 32×32 uppercase characters on an analog TV
• Dual cassette tape system with motor control
• MDCR digtal cassette system in second expansion case
• Radio Grafisch Display in second expansion case
• Heathkit H14 matrix pinter, serial with RTS handshake via bitbanging RIOT port
• VT100 Digital Equipment Video display unit VT100
• Boot tape to load device drivers and Micro Ade (extended to 8K)
• MICRO ADE assembler/editor, used for program development and article authoring
• Microsoft Basic KB9 (not used often, nice study material!)
• Pascal-M compiler and interpreter (mainly development and experiments, not for production)

First the KIM-1, I still have it, in working condition, in my private museum. Changes still visible, a red acryl cover over the LED displays, a capacitor moved to the back to make it flat enough to fit the case I made and some supports to have it lay stable and safe on a table.

Why a KIM-1?

In 1977 I was reading in the electronics magazines about the revolution taking place: 8 bit microprocessors!
During my study I encountered Digital Equipment machines, PDP-8 in the lab, PDP-11 in the Mathematic Computer Science department, a Minc in Medical Physics group, my major.
The electronics department where I was doing an intern not only introduced to digital electronics and I helped them to introduce the Z80 to the instruments designed for laboratory experiments.
I learned assembler quickly, PDP-11 was a dream come true, the Z80 a bit of a nightmare but you could do so much with effort.

At the same time I started to write for the magazine Radio Bulletin, simple analog and digital circuits and continued to be an editor until 1987. I met Dick de Boer who was writing his famous Microprocessor articles and introduced the KIM-1 to the Dutch electronic engineers. So a KIM-1 with the very attractive 6502 was the logical choice for my first microprocessor system.

First case: memory, connectors, power supply

A KIM-1 itself was fun to learn with, but it quickly needed more; a permanent power supply, protection, easy to access connectors and interfaces for  a bus to have  more memory.
So the case seen in the next figure was built:

Power hungry, so lots of lineair power supplies with large cooling.

The first case I built from alu profiles contained the KIM-1, a backplane for 6 memory boards, a lot of power supplies (lineair, so heat was a problem!), a patch panel to access the expansion connector, cassette I/O, serial interface and various switches.

PCBs handmade, double sided!

Memory 2K RAM Card, BEM Bus Brutech Variant made by Hans Otten
Memory boards were made myself by drawing with Edding ink on the blank PCB, etching and drilling. Filled with 2102 RAM IC’s for 1K per board, it filled lower RAM of the KIM-1 $0400 – $13FF. The bus is a 31 pin DIN connector, based upon the BEM (Brutech) bus.

I bought two of this deck from Radio Service Twenthe, Den Haag, fascinating electroncis dump store!

The next thing I built was a video display unit. All TTL 74XX logic IC’s, a 2513 character generator, a AY-5-1013 character generator, an ASCII keyboard, display on TV 32×32 characters uppercase. RS232 input/output to the KIM-1.
On top of the VDU a dual cassette deck is shown. From the famous Dutch dump shop Radio Service Twente two audio cassette decks were bought, some audio amplifiers and power supply added, and a remote control circuit via a 6532 GPIO line (standard as in Micro Ade). Served me well for many years, in 2014 the decks strings were dried out and crumbled after many years of not being used.

Next was a real expansion cabinet with a long backplane for 32K memory with 8x 4K RAM card, 2114 based, Designed by me, published in Radio Bulletin and sold by Visser Assembling Electronics. BEM bus compatible.

4K SRAM card

4K SRAM card, Radio Bulletin September 1979 part 1  part 2

Production 4K RAM card

Prototype 4K RAM card, also hand drawn on the PCB!

In the expansion cabinet three slots were added for I/O. Two cards were designed by me and published in Radio Bulletin: an ACIA card for two 6850 Motorola ICs, and a PIA card for two PIAs, 6522 or 6520 or 6820 or 6821. I never used more than one ACIA and one PIA card. Shown are the prototype cards, in the article production quality PCBs were used.

PIA and VIA card design by Hans Otten June 1984 Radio Bulletin

ACIA Motorola 6850 by Hans Otten, 1983 Radio Bulletin

On one of the ACIAs a VT100 Digital Equipment terminal was connected, taking over from the bit banged serial interface and the homebuilt video display. ON the other ACIA a Heathkit H14 matrix printer was added, a mediocre but adequate printer.

Together with Micro Ade as assembler and editor, the dual cassette deck, 40K RAM In total, this was a nice machine! Until 1987, when I bought the Spectravideo X’Press 738 MSX and CP/M system, used for all my publishing activities.

A third expansion cabinet was built around 1983. It was driven by the PIA’s, the Radio Bulletin Grafisch Display was inside the cabinet, along with two MDCR Philips Digital cassette recorders, alo published in Radio Bulletin. The speed difference between Hypertape audio cassettes and 2400 baud MDCR speed was not that impressive.

Dirk Dral

EPROM card (Dirk Dral)

In 1984 my RB article on the COMX-35 computer was also published in Elektronica ABC.

COMX-35 getest

The magazine was part of the publishing company Uitgeverij de Muiderkring, De uitgeverij de Muiderking was part of the electronics wholesale company Amroh.

I lived in Weesp, close to the Amroh headquarters (Muiden) and the Muiderkring Publishing company was located in Bussum. All Amroh companies moved in the eighties to one location: in Weesp.
In 2002 it all ended in bankruptcy and the rights on Radio Bulletin and Muiderkring went to Bureau Belper in Bussum.

Amroh in Muiden

De Muiderkring in Bussum

Amroh en De Muiderkring in Weesp

	Radio Bulletin 25 jaar, 1956, J. Corver
	50 jaar RB, Januari 1981
	RB Historie 1 September 1987

Radio Bulletin was a dutch magazine, so the rest of this page and material is in dutch!

Van 1977 tot 1987 ben ik redacteur geweest van het elektronica tijdschrift Radio Bulletin. Op freelance basis, naast studie en werk.

Radio Bulletin is het oudste tijdschrift in Nederland dat zich richtte op elektronica. Uitgegeven door Uitgeverij de Muiderkring, een zuster bedrijf van het handelsbedrijf in elektronica Amroh. Zowel de Uitgeverij de Muiderkring als Amroh zijn in de economische depressie na 2000 tenonder gegaan. Al eerder was het tijdschrift Radio Bulletin, nu met de naam RB Elektronica, losgeweekt van de Uitgeverij de Muiderkring. Vanaf 1985 is het bergafwaarts gegaan, na 2004 is RB Elektronica ophouden te bestaan als papieren uitgave.
Daarmee is een einde gekomen aan een roemrijk bestaan. Van de zelfbouw van radio, de vele aandacht aan hifi audio, diverse zelfbouw van elektronica tot microprocessoren, Radio Bulletin was altijd voorloper en trendsetter.

Presentatie van Rob Hooft:

	Grote prijsvraag, het begin van mijn redactionele bijdragen aan Radio Bulletin
	Jaarinhoud 1977 1
	Jaarinhoud 1977 2
	De Microprocessor, mei juli 1977, Dick de Boer
	Digitale dokatimer, oktober 1977, Hans Otten
	Geheugenuitbreiding voor de KIM, November 1977, Dick de Boer
	De KIM-1 aanschaf via Radio Bulletin
	De KIM-1, Augustus 1977, D.M. de Boer
	Mastermind op de KIM-1, December 1977, J.M. van der Peijl en D.M. de Boer
	Melodiant, Augustus 1977, D.M. de Boer
	Microgebeuren Augustus 1977, a.o. KIM gg club
	Microgebeuren November 1977, BEM Brutech, Visser Assembling Electronics
	De Videoscoop, December 1977, Hans Otten
	Zelf programmas maken, September 1977, D.M. de Boer
	Jaarinhoud 1978 1
	Jaarinhoud 1978 2
	Automatische register uitlezing, Februari 1978, D.M. de Boer
	De VIM getest, November 1978
	Digitale Voltmeter IC’s, Augustus 1978, Hans Otten
	Press Communication Award Dick de Boer
	Eprom programmeer apparaat, Juni Juli 1978, J.M. van der Peijl
	Grafisch TV-display 1978 1979, D.M. de Boer
	Microgebeuren,HCC, Ing Bureau Koopmand nieuws TVT-6, Memory+, First Book of KIM, Mei 1978
	Programmeren stap voor stap, 1978, 1979 (zie ook RB CB Special voor laatste deel, D.M. de Boer
	Televisiespelletjes, October 1978, Hans Otten
	Zelf een print maken, October 1978, Hans Otten
	Cosmicos computer voor zelfbouw, H.B. Stuurman, boek en serie
	Jaarinhoud 1979 1
	Jaarinhoud 1979 1
	De 8088, November 1979, Hans Otten
	De MCS Alpha 1 getest, Augustus 1979, Hans Otten
	De Challenger Ohio 1P getest, Juli 1979, Hans Otten
	De Compucolor II goed getest, Juni 1979, Hans Otten
	De Heathkit H14 printer, Oktober 1979, D.M. de Boer
	De PET getest, April 1979, Hans Otten
	De TRS 80 getest, November 1979, Hans Otten
	Geheugenuitbreiding voor de KIM, September October 1979, Hans Otten
	Het Heathkit 8 systeem getest, Juli 1979, Hans Otten
	Letters op het grafisch display, Mei Juni Juli 1979, D.M. de Boer
	Memory plus getest, Mei 1979, Hans Otten
	Morse decodering met de KIM, juli Augustus 1979, M.B. Immerzeel
	Professioneel toetsenbord voor de PET, November 1979, Hans Otten
	Zelf voedingen ontwerpen en bouwen, Januari 1979 – Januari 1980, Hans Otten
	Zero Page shifter, Augustus 1979, D.M. de Boer
	Jaarinhoud 1980
	Amicos systeem getest, September 1980, Hans Otten
	Overdruk Amicos systeem getest, Hans Otten
	Basic versus Pascal, December 1980, Hans Otten
	BEM Impact 1000, Januari 1980, Hans Otten
	De Apple II getest, Januari 1980, Hans Otten
	De KTM2 getest, April 1980, Hans Otten
	De PC100 getest (AIM 65), Augustus 1980, Hans Otten
	Hexadecimaal toetsenbord 6502 systemen, September 1980, D. Hul
	Kim timer en klok, Mei 1980, Herman Perk
	Knutselen met cassettedeck, Maart 1980, Hans Otten
	Logitester, Augustus 1980, Hans Otten
	Microgebeuren April 1980, BEM Brutech
	Microgebeuren April 1980, BEM Brutech
	Persprijs H.B. Stuurman , eervolle vermelding Hans Otten, November 1980
	Samson en Satellite getest, November 1980, Hans Otten
	Sinclair ZX80 getest, Januari 1980, Hans Otten
	U/ART schakeling, Juni 1980, Hans Otten
	Video modulatoren getest, Maart 1980, Hans Otten
	WH89 getest, Juni 1980, Hans Otten
	Baudrate generator, Augustus 1980, Hans Otten
	Apple Z80 Softcard, Mei 1981, Hans Otten
	Jaarinhoud 1981
	Leeftimer , 1 april 1981, Paul de Beer
	50 jaar RB, Januari 1981
	4 Kbytes EPROM-kaart, September 1981, Paul de Beer
	Baudrate generator, Augustus 1980, Hans Otten
	CBM8032 getest, Oktober 1981, Hans Otten
	Challenger 8P getest, Maart 1981, Hans Otten
	De Apple speelt muziek, Januari 1981, Hans Otten
	Frequentiemeter, Januari 1981, Dohmen en Koekoek
	Grafisch display monitor voor de KIM, 1979 1981, Dohmen en Koekoek
	Gregoriaanse klok, Mei 1981, Dohmen en Koekoek
	Logische variabelen in Basic, April 1981, Hans Otten
	Mini assembler, Maart April 1981, Dohmen en Koekoek
	Moederprint, Juli 1981, Paul de Beer
	Ombouw van een Philips TX televisie, Juli 1981, Hans Otten
	Ozz Programma CBM8032, Oktober 1981, Hans Otten
	P2000 getest, Augustus 1981, Hans Otten
	Tekentabletten voor de Apple, September 1981, Hans Otten
	Telex monitor programma april juni 1981, M. B. Immerzeel
	TRS 80 grafische uitbreiding, Maart 1981, Hans Otten
	UCSD Pascal op de Apple, Februari 1981, Hans Otten
	VIC-20, Mei 1981, Hans Otten
	Jaarinhoud 1982
	Uitslag van de RB-Programmeerwedstrijd, Oktober 1982, Hans Otten
	Alarm 1982, april 1982, P. Sanders
	Andere cursor voor de Apple II, Februari 1982, Hans Otten
	Apple III getest, Juni 1982, Hans Otten
	Assembly Language Development System, December 1982, Hans Otten
	Beeldbewerking, Mei Juni 1982, Paul de Beer
	Color Computer TRS80, September 1982, Hans Otten
	IBM Personal Computer, Maart 1982, Hans Otten
	ITT3030 microcomputer, November 1982, Hans Otten
	Lijnen op het grafisch display, Februari 1982, R. Koekoek
	Lilith Personal Computer, April 1982, Hans Otten
	Osborne 1 December 1982, Hans Otten
	Omegasoft Pascal compiler voor de 6809, Augustus 1982, Hans Otten
	PC8000 getest Augustus 1982.pdf
	Printer software in Pascal, April 1982, Hans Otten
	VIC-20 getest, Juli 1982, Hans Otten
	WH89 software, Januari 1982, Hans Otten
	YD-8100 8110 getest, Mei 1982, Hans Otten
	Z-8-ontwikkelsysteem, Oktober 1982, Hans Otten
	Jaarinhoud 1983
	48K ram kaart voor de 6502, September 1983, Paul de Beer zie ook de Cosmicos pagina voor 48 kaart ontwerp
	ACIA6850, seriële in- en uitvoer September – November 1983, Hans Otten
	Apple als terminal, April 1982, Hans OttenAssembler source
	Apple IIe Lisa, Mei 1983, Hans Otten
	Atari Computers, Februari 1983, Hans Otten
	Basis108, Januari 1983, Hans Otten
	BBC Microcomputer, December 1983, Hans Otten
	Commodore 64, Mei 1983, Hans Otten
	Digiscope voor 6502-systemen, April 1983, Hans Otten
	Microprofessor 1, April 1983, Hans Otten
	RB en de Teleac-cursus Pascal, Oktober 1983, Hans Otten
	TRS-80 model 100, November 1983, Hans Otten
	Uitbreidingskaart voor de VIC-20, Februari 1983, Hans Otten
	Zenith 100 computers, Juni 1983, Hans Otten
	Jaarinhoud 1984
	Computer terminal voor zelfbouw, December 1984 Februari 1985, Hans Otten
	Computers en analoge schakelaars, Juli 1984, Hans Otten
	COMX35 Hobbycomputer, September 1984, Hans Otten
	FM Meetzender, Juli 1984, Hans Otten
	Centronics Standaard Augustus 1984, Hans Otten
	Kaypro II Personal Computer, Maart 1984, Hans Otten
	MDCR voor de 6502, April 1984, Hans Otten MDCR elementaire routines, Hans Otten MDCR datasheet
	Microcomputers en Pascal, Januari 1984, Hans Otten
	Micro-professor MPF-1 Plus Mei 1984, Hans Otten
	Parallele in- en uitvoer VIA en PIA, Mei 1984, Hans Otten
	Teach robot November 1984, Hans Otten
	Zin en onzin van benchmark testen, September 1984, Hans Otten
	ZX-Spectrum, Januari 1984, Hans Otten
/td>	Alles over EPROMs, October November 1985, Hans Otten
/td>	Bondwell-12, April 1985, Hans Otten
/td>	Centronics Parallel Interface, September 1985, Hans Otten
/td>	Elektronica bouwdozen van Philips April 1985, R.J.Majoor
	Opvolgers van de 6502, Augustus 1985, Hans Otten
	Rechtstreekse netvoeding 1985, De M.
	Stabilisatoren-toepassingen April 1985.pdf, R. ten Mijtelen
	Voor U gelezen, Hans Otten
	82S123 PROM programmeren
	Alles over de seriele RS-232-C interface, Januari 1986, Hans Otten
	Armeluis datacommunicatie, Maart 1986, Hans Otten
	Centronics printer voor RS-232-C interface, April 1986, Hans Otten
	Delta vertrager, December 1986 Mei 1987, Hans Otten
	Gassensor, Oktober 1986, Hans Otten
	Luchtvochtigheidsmeter, November 1986, Hans Otten
	Magneetsensor, Oktober 1986, Hans Otten
	Motor sturen uit de computer, December 1986, Wildevang
	RS-232-C Interface voor de Commodore 64, Februari 1986, Hans Otten
	Digitale in- en uitgangen via RS-232-C, April 1987, Hans Otten
	RB Historie 1 September 1987
	RB Historie 2 September 1987

Scanned full older Radio Bulletin magazines

• Radio Bulletin Articles
• 1802 Cosmicos
• RB Specials
• Elektronica ABC
• Radio Bulletin en Muiderkring historie

The dutch magazine Radio Bulletin (RB, RB Electronics) has a long history, going way back to the early years of electronics. The name was derived from what electronics meant for amateurs in these days: building radios yourself.
It was published by Uitgeverij de Muiderkring, a publishing company in the Amroh group of companies.

The magazine was published in large volumes in the years 1970-1985, due to the popularity of do-it-yourself electronics and audio. Also the beginning of the microprocessor revolution was adequately covered and the great years of the hobbycomputers 1980-1990 were contributing to the success. Besides the magazine Uitgeverij de Muiderkring published many books on electronics. After 1990 the success faded and the magazine left the mass market and stopped in 2003. The publishing company Uitgeverij de Muiderkring, together with Amroh, went bankrupt in 2002 (I lived closely to the last location and saw the empty offices when passing by).

In 1977 Dick de Boer joined the staff of RB and introduced the readers to microprocessors and in particular the 6502 and the KIM-1. Also the KIM Gebruikers Club and the HCC were founded that year and RB started to write articles about all this exciting new developments!
I was then already a freelance writer about electronics but Dick made me study the microcomputer such as the KIM-1 and made me join the KIM
Gebruikers Club and the HCC (member 760 member). Dick de Boer, his successor Paul de Beer and me (Hans Otten) and others wrote many articles about the KIM-1 and related 6502 based systems for Radio Bulletin. Especially Dick wrote good introduction articles and developed sophisticated hardware and software like a graphical display. After leaving the magazine he became a software engineer and helped me also to my first job as software engineer in 1980. Me and Paul de Beer concentrated more on expanding 6502 systems like the KIM-1 with memory (RAM, ROM) and I/O cards like PIA, VIA and ACIA and mass-storage such as the Mini Digital Cassette Recorder. The bus of this expansion system was the so called BEM-bus.

I did translate a book Computer Interfaces by Owen Bishop for de Muiderkring to dutch. A scanned version is presented here.

All these articles are downloadable here, as they describe my publishing history and my KIM-1 system, designs by us of which the prints sold quite well. As you can see in the long list of articles the KIM and the 6502 played a major role in the microprocessor revolution starting in 1977 and lasting until 1987 for me.

What you see about Amroh, Uitgeverij de Muiderkring and Radio Bulletin is:

– Selection of my and others articles 1977 – 1987 in Radio Bulletin
– the RB Specials
– the Cosmicos 1802 CPU based system by H.B. Stuurman, book and articles
– some bits about the long history of Radio Bulletin
– Elektronica ABC, the diy magazine

See also:

– Dr Blan articles on Step-by-Step radios
– Step by Step radio by Amroh

Cosmicos is the name for a SBC around the RCA 1802 CPU. Cosmicos stands for COSMAC MINI COMPUTERSYSTEM.
Published in the dutch magazine Radio Bulletin, developed by the editor (later editor in chief) Bob Stuurman.
The system is loosely based on the Cosmac ELF design. Compatibility with the ELF was later improved in the cassette routine loader, Tom Pitmann’s Tiny Basic and such.

Have a look at the Spare Time Gizmo Cosmac ELF 2000 for a kit to build an ELF board now!

The goal of the development of the Cosmicos system was a simple microcomputer, selfbuilt and fit for expansion and experiments.
In the picture above you see the Cosmicos with many expansions developed by Bob, like a hex keyboard and 8 LED displays, cassette interface, RAM and ROM cards. The basic system is the board itself, without software in ROM, simple digits and two seven segment LED displays.

The design and well written articles and the availability of the PCB’s made the Cosmicos a succes, many were built and a user club became active around the system.

On this page:

• The Cosmicos book
• A Cosmicos build
• Cosmicos articles
• A Cosmicos donated by Henk Stap

Articles on the Cosmicos appeared from september 1979 to april 1984. The series ended with the design of a floppy disk interface, combined with 48K RAM and a videodisplay. From simple microprocessor to complete computer system, truly a story worth to be told.

The book

Cosmicos book part 1
Cosmicos book part 2
Cosmicos book part 3
Cosmicos book part 4

This is a dutch book!
(thanks to Rob Uiterlinden)
Het boek bevat alle artikelen verschenen in Radio Bulletin, van september 1979 tot en met April 1981.

Bob Stuurman, 1984	First version Cosmicos april 1979

A Cosmicos build

My Cosmicos was acquired by me in 2008. It was a badly abused and poorly constructed board, and it took a lot of effort to restore it to the original state.
All additions not original were removed, bad soldering repaired, cleaned, damaged components such as the led display replaced, new legends on the buttons added.On the next pictures you see the board as it is now. Still missing is the battery holder, the one on the board was heavily corroded (the careless owner had forgotten to remove leaking batteries).
The Cosmicos shown here has two 4K RAM cards, total of 8K RAM and one 4K EPROM card with the ASCII monitor in a 2716 EPROM.

Radio Bulletin artikelen Cosmicos

All Radio Bulletin articles about the Cosmicos as published are listedbelow.

This is the list of scanned articles , since they appeared after the book was published or were
not included in the book. All articles are in dutch!

Publicatie artikelen en boek met toestemming van Uitgever en rechthebbende.

All articles as they appeared in Radio Bulletin, about the 1802.

The COSMICOS system given to me by Henk Stap