Use Telnet over WiFi

Chris DavisSetup

You may have noticed the footprint for the ESP-01 on the circuit board, and several people have asked why it’s there. When I made my first Altair-Duino in 2017, I had just finished a project with the ESP-01 (a Wi-Fi module that allows microcontrollers access to a Wi-Fi network). I knew I wanted to add WiFi capability to my new … Read More

Want to put your Altair-Duino Standard in a blue bamboo box?

Chris DavisSetup

NOTE: These instructions are for the original Altair-Duino Standard kit which is no longer available.  You could probably make this work with the Altair-Duino Experimenter, but you would lose the expansion bus. My kit used to be sold with a bamboo case, and a few guys painted them “Altair Blue” which made for a really nice effect. The Standard kit … Read More

Reset to defaults

Chris DavisSetup

Sometimes you play with settings enough on your Altairduino that you forget what you’ve done and you can’t connect! You may need to simply return to the default settings. It’s very easy. Requirements:Terminal software (Putty is highly recommended.) On your laptop or computer, launch your terminal software. Before you connect your Altairduino to the computer, hold up the RESET toggle. … Read More

Save & Load Multiple Configurations (and Easily Switch Between Serial Devices)

Chris DavisSetup

Did you know you can save different configurations and access them at power-up? It’s true, and it’s much easier than always going into the configuration menu.Requirements:Terminal software (Putty is highly recommended.) First, you do need to go into the configuration menu, so connect through your favorite teminal software, then raise the Stop and AUX1 switches. You will see the configuration … Read More

I/O Expansion Settings (Version 1.5.2 Altair-Duino Pro and earlier)

Chris DavisSetup

You no doubt noticed that there are jumpers on the I/O Expansion board. What do they do? Read on! Location P10 is the color selector for the VGA output. I’d suggest selecting only one color. You can jumper more than one (eg. jumper Red, Green, and Blue for white) but this may result in a dim display, depending on your … Read More

How to use VT100 emulator (video)

Chris DavisSetup

You might set up your newly built (or newly upgraded) Altair-Duino with a VGA monitor and keyboard, switch on the power, see the copyright statement on the screen, and then be confused as to why the keyboard is not responding! Well, computers from the mid-70s we quite a bit different than computers today (or even a few years later.) When … Read More