I had the same thing!!! Infact I had three of them.... I removed mine from the plastic and made it look more like a home made computer.... Yeh had a big chip in it, I remember the two posts it had to hold up the display.... When I was thirteen living in etobicoke, I had a summer job working at radio shack at yonge and bloor....working under the table.... I got electronic stuff and a couple of these computers we are discussing.... They had broken plastic supports for the display, but other than that they worked.... I had the book, the cards for the displays.... I think I got hooked on it.... Then after that came my elf.... ( I just finished soldering the main board parts on, sockets etc....) Today, I went to this site that had vintage radio shack complete catalogs... I checked 1978 all the way to 1984 and could not find this computer thingy..... Brings back memories!!! :) ________________________________ From: torontocbm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <torontocbm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thu Jan 21 22:46:04 2010 Subject: [torontocbm] Re: Just wondering, has anyone in the group... It was more of a game, but it programmed with hex codes. It had a base unit with the keypad and 2-digit hex display and a small hood-like box held up by two posts with the speaker and 4x4 led matrix. Ontop of the matrix you could mount small cards to help play each game. I remember the keypad being made of very cheap plastic and not working very well. I'm pretty sure there was only one main chip to the entire thing. I think I threw out the main section, but I manage to find the top hood thing and the cards. I think I still have the manual somewhere. I did a web search and for the life of me can't find a single picture of the thing... Steve From: "Miraglia, Walter" <Walter.Miraglia@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: "torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 4:52:33 PM Subject: [torontocbm] Re: Just wondering, has anyone in the group... Did this trainer play music and have goofy games on it? And it looked kinda like et? If I recall correctly? Played yankee doddle or oh suzanna if I recall or Was it a serious computer? From: torontocbm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:torontocbm-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of STEVE GRAY Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 4:46 PM To: torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [torontocbm] Re: Just wondering, has anyone in the group... I have heard of the ELF but never used one. My first "computer" was a Radio Shack "trainer" with hex keypad, two-digit LED and a 4x4 matrix LED "screen"... My first REAL computer was an Ohio Scientific (OSI) C4P..... 6502 @ 1MHz, 8K ram, BASIC in ROM, cassette storage and 16-colour 64x32 character text-only video... Bought in 1981. It was closely based on the earlier OSI "SuperBoard II" single-board-computer. That held me for a while, while I learned 6502 assembly language. We used PET 4032's at school and a Wang system with card-reader. Steve From: "Miraglia, Walter" <Walter.Miraglia@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: "torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <torontocbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 1:20:19 PM Subject: [torontocbm] Just wondering, has anyone in the group..... Ever messed around with COSMAC ELF? RCA 1802 based micro computer chip. I’m in the process of building an ELF 2000 From www.sparetimegizmos.com<http://www.sparetimegizmos.com/> and wondered If anyone shared my passion for these old so called “Single Board Computers…” I built an ELF II with pixie chip and 2K of ram when I was in Grade 10. In keeping with my interest in Early home computers, I was wondering what everyone’s first computer was… Mine was the above mentioned Elf that I built from scratch… ( Incidentally, I will have with me the circuit board and manual for the ELF 2000 tonight at the meeting if anyone is interested in seeing it… I just got it today so it’s totally bare….. )