Superboard /// Enclosure

The original Superboard II was sold as a populated circuit board with no case or power supply. I owned one, and made a case out of wood and some plastic that I had handy that worked as a cover. The Challenger 1P was essentially a Superboard II in a metal case.

Case for the OSI Challenger 1P

For my Superboard ///, I wanted something better than just the board. A sheet metal case could be made, given suitable tools like a bending brake, but I don't have one.

As a simple solution, I made a plastic cover to protect the non-keyboard area of the board from dust and dropping things on it that might damage or short circuit it.

I cut a piece of 3 mm Lexan to 11 by 3-15/16 inches, and mounted it with 3/4 inch nylon standoffs using the holes in the circuit board.

I was fortunate to find suitable Lexan in an 11 x 14 inch sheet so I only had to make one cut. Less expensive Plexiglas could be used too, though not be quite as durable.

Inexpensive sets of nylon standoffs and screws of various sizes are offered by sellers on eBay. I got mine from one of these sources.

Earlier I had attached some adhesive rubber feet to the bottom of the board so it is stable on a table or bench.

While not as nice as a full case, this is at least an improvement over just the circuit board.

KIM-1 MIcrocomputer

I recently acquired an original KIM-1 microcomputer. This is quite an interesting and historically important machine, being one of the first affordable microcomputers.

This particular machine also has an interesting history. I've covered it in a YouTube video, and intend to create some more videos in the series.

For the last couple of weeks I have been entering a and running the programs from The First Book of KIM-1. I've put buildable source code as well as binary download files on my github account.