{"id":6083,"date":"2026-05-08T09:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/?p=6083"},"modified":"2026-05-08T09:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:56:17","slug":"back-to-basics-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/?p=6083","title":{"rendered":"Back to BASIC’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

I used to be very active with small electronic computing devices produced by Parallax<\/a>. One was the \u201cBasic Stamp\u201d. A small microcomputer that was programmed with \u201cmicro-BASIC\u201d programming language.<\/p>\n

These computers are not what we now call \u201cpersonal computers\u201d but rather hardware control computers. I.E. Control system or embedded application computers. Their control application use is only limited by human imagination. But these computers are used to control hardware. Not send emails in social media. But maybe they could\u2026<\/p>\n

I have spent almost a lifetime creating device control systems. Also that same lifetime using them.<\/p>\n

It easy to buy controllers you need off the shelf as far as a control system. But I (use to) find it a very rewarding hobby to design and program my own control systems, just because I can. I lost that, or put it on hold, decades ago.<\/p>\n

Now nearing age 80, I am wondering if I still have the knack.<\/p>\n

I have a lot of the Parallax computer hardware. Several (+) Raspberry Pi<\/a> (Rpi) computers. Even an Arduino<\/a> or two. They are suitable for hardware control and I have an add-on board (somewhere) for doing that with the Rpi. Far more.<\/p>\n

So I could \u201cjump back\u201d into such activity if I get a real desire. For now it is just rambling around in my head as an interesting diversion to my present activities.<\/p>\n

The problem for me is I have much more \u201clike-to-dos\u201d than I have time and energy. Ha! Also I am perhaps a bit more lazy than I once was.<\/p>\n

Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and even years are flying past faster than EVER! Has time increased speed? Or am I just operating slower? Don\u2019t answer that!<\/p>\n

For now its a thought process. I remember writing \u201cmachine language\u201d CODE to make the 8 front panel LED\u2019s (output port) on my IMSAI 8080 blink in different sequence. I showed my mom what my new computer could do. She replied, \u201cThat\u2019s nice, but what else will a computer ever be good for\u2026\u201d Little did she know, or live to see.<\/p>\n

My little secret was, \u201cWhatever I can tell it to do\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Programmable control.<\/p>\n

The huge step from discrete digital hardware components (gates) to something called \u201csoftware\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now you know from where that \u201csoft\u201d name was derived.<\/p>\n

Excuse me as I continue to reminisce …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I used to be very active with small electronic computing devices produced by Parallax. One was the \u201cBasic Stamp\u201d. A small microcomputer that was programmed with \u201cmicro-BASIC\u201d programming language. These computers are not what we now call \u201cpersonal computers\u201d but rather hardware control computers. I.E. Control system or embedded application computers. Their control application use is only limited by human imagination. But these computers are used to control hardware. Not send emails in social media....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computersoftware","category-musing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6086,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6083\/revisions\/6086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}