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Hey, that's awesome! ?Amazing to talk to someone who was there for all that. ?Even more amazing that you are still doing it on period pieces, with period software!

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I hadn't heard of the tools you mention, but I did hear of "Aztec C" -- maybe because they open sourced it a few years back.

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Interesting that you and Mark mentioned the Z180 -- my first contract job was for the Hitachi variant that preceded it. ?Came about by accident; I was a young EE and the company I worked out made EPROM programmers. ?A client needed a 'personality module' for the 647180. ?While I was present for that site visit, I served no useful function. ?The client mentioned offhandedly about having some difficulty getting the LCD working. ?While my boss and the client were working on the personality module, I asked if I might try my hand at the LCD since I knew Z80 from earlier in 80's (when I worked on TRS-80s). ?So I wrote a driver for the LCD presenting a kind of puts()-esque interface, and tricked it out with some control characters to clear the screen and do cursor stuff. ?So the client asked if I would like a job. ?And for $10 whole bucks an hour! ?My boss got jealous and shortly thereafter raised me to $10 from the $7.50 I was then making. ?I thought I was so rich.

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I learned a lot on that job. ?First, I didn't know people got paid to do software. ?I thought software was just something you made to make the hardware run -- who pays for that? ?Second, I was surprised to find out you don't need a CS degree to do software. ?All the other folks had degrees in chemistry, physics, etc. ?And the work environment was nicer and I didn't have to wear a tie. ?Five years later I switched to software full time. ?I expected to do it for 5 years and move on to something else, but I never did.

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Anyway, keep the stories coming, they're interesting to hear (read). ?It was interesting also to read Lee's (actual) story about his days at Polaroid. ?Coincidentally, I interviewed with them in the 90's but didn't take that job. ?(Jobs were so plentiful then and folks would fight over you. ?It was surreal.)

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Your mention of "Usi UNIX" is interesting -- I'll have to check that out. ?I also contemplated porting Lynx for fun, which I'm pretty sure will require all the extra pages I can throw at it.

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Cheers!
-dave