Retro Computing on [BETA] NCoT Tech

Your CPU Can't Tell Code From Data Inside the Von Neumann Architecture

Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:11:41 +0100

This video explains the Von Neumann architecture and demonstrates, with real BBC BASIC and C code, how computers fundamentally cannot tell the difference between data and executable instructions. #BBCMicro #AssemblyLanguage #CProgramming #BASICProgramming

Retro Gamedev Is Hard

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:36:56 +0000

Welcome to the next edition of Gamedev The Hard Way, my attempt at writing a game from scratch for the Agon Light, using nothing but C. This time I create a tilemap system. #AgonLight #Sprites #RetroComputing #GameDev

Game Engine to Functional First Game the Hello World of Gamedev

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:36:10 +0000

Welcome to the next edition of Gamedev The Hard Way, my attempt at writing a game from scratch for the Agon Light, using nothing but C. This time I actually make a game! For once I actually finish something. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #GameDev

Agon Light Joystick Interface - How Not to Program Hardware

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:28:30 +0000

Welcome to the next edition of Gamedev The Hard Way, my attempt at writing a game from scratch for the Agon Light, using nothing but C. This time I make a joystick work by building a joystick interface for the Agon Light. Then I program it to add it to my game. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #GameDev

Agon Light Joystick Interface

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 09:30:06 +0000

I’ve built a joystick interface for my Agon Light, using a PCB I found online. This is an improvement on the last time I did this and just stuck wires in the GPIO ports. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #Electronics

Axis Aligned Bounding Boxes - Collision Detection Without Physics

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 21:19:21 +0000

Welcome to the next edition of Gamedev The Hard Way, my attempt at writing a game from scratch for the Agon Light, using nothing but C. This time I get thoroughly distracted and accidentally make a Pong style game idea while figuring out how to add collision detection to my game engine. I implement the AABB Axis Aligned Bounding Box algorithm. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #GameDev

Creating an Entity Component System for My Retro Video Game Engine

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 09:43:51 +0100

Welcome to the next edition of Gamedev The Hard Way, my attempt at programming a game from scratch for the Agon Light, using nothing but C. This time I throw away a ton of code and replace it with a shiny new Entity Component System. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #GameDev

Agon Light Debug Printing

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 14:19:27 +0100

Here’s how to send text out the Agon Light’s USB port to an attached serial monitor, so it can be used for debug logging. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #Programming

Agon Light C Development

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 23:02:43 +0000

How to write code for the Agon Light (and Console8) using C instead of BASIC, under Linux. It might work with WSL2 in Windows, and it might work on a Mac. #AgonLight #CProgramming #CPlusPlus #RetroComputing

State Machines - How to Engineer Better Software

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 20:19:23 +0100

Welcome to the next edition of Gamedev The Hard Way, my attempt at writing a game from scratch for the Agon Light, using nothing but C. This time I attempt to put the “engineering” back in “software engineer”. Instead of blindly hacking away at my code and hoping for the best, I am now more thoughtfully designing a system. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #GameDev

The Dark Art of DOS Audio: PC Speaker Tricks and PWM Madness

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 22:25:30 +0100

Think the old PC speaker was only good for making awful beeps? Yeah, me too—until I started digging into how it actually works. #MSDOS #RetroComputing

Writing a Roguelike in C Part 1

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 22:24:29 +0100

Let’s try to write a Roguelike game in C for the Agon Light. This is the first video. I explore how the original Rogue and similar games like Nethack generate their own dungeons, then adapt code that draws mazes so my dungeons are a bit more interesting to explore. #AgonLight #RetroComputing

Digital Graffiti - Programming 1990s PC Demoscene Effects

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 22:22:33 +0100

Step back into the golden age of the demoscene as I dive into some of the most iconic visual effects from 1990s PC demos, all recreated under MS-DOS using Borland C++. #MSDOS #CPlusPlus #RetroComputing #Programming

A Retro Game Made With 21st Century Thinking Gamedev the Hard Way

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 22:05:03 +0100

In this abridged video, I walk you through the process of building a text adventure game from scratch on the Agon Light. Rather than a deep dive into every line of code, this video focuses on explaining the overall structure and design choices behind the project. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #GameDev

MS DOS Programming the Mode X Deviation

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 23:14:27 +0000

After learning about Mode 13h last time, I’ve been digging about in the ancient tomes of wisdom and discovered Mode-X. Let’s make a PC’s VGA card do odd things it was never designed for. #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics

Mode X Madness

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 14:35:37 +0000

Can I Program VGA Graphics in MS DOS? (Watch Me Struggle!)

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 21:24:25 +0000

Let’s move into the 1990s and draw some graphics! I’ve got a whole 320x200 pixel screen, 256 colours and direct access to the video card. No APIs, no helper functions. Just me and the video RAM. #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics

Retro MS DOS Coding - Recreating the Iconic Award BIOS Screen

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:13:13 +0000

Because why not, it looks simpler than it really is and we’ll get to fall down a rabbit hole trying to draw the Energy Star logo. #MSDOS #RetroComputing #PCHardware #Programming

Borland C Dos Programming

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 15:15:09 +0000

I ditched DJGPP for now and am using Borland C++ 3.1 that I found on some abandonware website. I even sent the user manual to an online document printer to get it bound into a real book. #DJGPP #MSDOS #CPlusPlus #RetroComputing

Fixing the PC BIOS Boot Screen Recreation

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:48:31 +0000

Thanks to @hobbified on YouTube, making the EPA logo look correct was quite straight forward… #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics

Nostalgic DOS Development Part 2 - Writing our first programs

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 21:00:34 +0000

This is part two, go read part 1 first. #MSDOS #DJGPP #Keyboards #RetroComputing

Nostalgic DOS Development - Setting up the machine

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 20:35:13 +0000

The modern world is far too complex. Software has become piles of APIs stacked on top of each other, running on virtual machines inside browsers. Even the CPUs themselves are too complex for anyone to understand. #MSDOS #DJGPP #RetroComputing #Programming

Forcing DOS onto an unwilling ThinkPad R60e

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 11:54:04 +0000

I decide that doing DOS development means I need a real computer, rather than an emulator. I have an old laptop, surely making it run DOS can’t be that hard, right? #MSDOS #RetroComputing

Dodgy DOS Development

Sun, 29 Sep 2024 11:28:22 +0000

From the mind that brought you “let’s try to write games using just pure C” I have a new idea for making my life difficult. Let’s write DOS software using period correct tools… #MSDOS #RetroComputing

Writing a game the hard way - from scratch using C - Part 2

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 18:54:09 +0000

Join me on a journey as I attempt to write a game for my Agon Light using nothing but raw C programming. In this second episode I figure out how to make a very basic 2D rigid body physics system work. #AgonLight #CProgramming #RetroComputing #GameDev

Gamedev the hard way - doing it all myself

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 09:39:40 +0000

Writing games is hard enough by itself, requiring a lot of different skills. So how can I make this even harder? How about I do literally everything myself, starting with nothing but a blank source file and write all the code by hand. No game engines or libraries. If I need something, I need to write it myself. And since we’re doing this the hard way, let’s write games for an… #AgonLight #Z80 #RetroComputing #GameDev

Programming Bitmap Graphics - Agon Light using C

Sun, 12 May 2024 08:22:13 +0000

The end result is a fairly pretty scrolling text routine that demonstrates how to draw multiple bitmaps to the Agon Light’s display using VDP commands. This builds on my previous Agon Light C Programming video where I explained how the Agon Light’s screen works, and how to draw lines and shapes. #AgonLight #CProgramming #RetroComputing #Graphics

Programming Windows Screensavers - Agon Light Graphics Programming

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 22:30:02 +0000

My aim is not to simply program the Agon Light by cloning the Windows 3.11 screensavers, but to learn how to program the Agon Light at all. Ultimately I want to learn how to program games for the Agon Light. #AgonLight #BBCMicro #RetroComputing #Graphics

Agon Light Graphics Tests

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:30:06 +0000

It’s the Easter holidays and I’ve got two weeks off work. Amongst highly exciting things like weeding the garden and waiting for a new washing machine to be delivered, I’m doing some programming. #AgonLight #RetroComputing #Graphics

Learning how to draw things on the Agon Light

Sat, 02 Mar 2024 15:21:29 +0000

I’ve been having a bit of a play around with my Agon Light, trying to come up with some ideas for a future video. I’ve discovered it has quite a nice 320×240 64 colour video mode that has just enough pixels to be interesting. #AgonLight #Python #RetroComputing #AI

Exploring Hardware Hacks: Joystick Integration, Keyboard Inputs, and Debugging with the Agon Light

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 15:13:25 +0000

Dive into the exciting world of DIY hardware hacking. Join in as I explore joystick integration, keyboard inputs, and serial debugging using the versatile Agon Light platform. Delve into the technical intricacies of GPIO pins, assembly language programming, and C compiler usage for low-level development. Discover… #AgonLight #AssemblyLanguage #CProgramming #Keyboards

Agon Light Joystick Test 1

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 20:54:18 +0000

I’m working on getting a joystick port working on my Agon Light. They don’t come with joystick ports, but there is a set of GPIO pins that can be read through assembly. #AgonLight #RetroComputing

Agon Light C Programming - An Introduction

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 21:15:42 +0000

Instead of bashing away in BASIC, it’s possible to do some coding in C on the Agon Light. Let’s find out how in this introduction to an ongoing series where I figure out the Agon hardware and work on a game. I have no idea what game I want to make, and I’m not entirely sure how to achieve some of the necessary functions, but it’ll be fun figuring it out and I hope… #AgonLight #CProgramming #BASICProgramming #RetroComputing

FORTH - Better than BASIC?

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 19:33:40 +0000

Let’s look at FORTH, the obscure stack based programming language that nobody seems to use. Or do they? #AgonLight #BBCMicro #Z80 #BASICProgramming

Sinclair BASIC vs BBC BASIC - How to fit an entire devkit inside 64K

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 19:19:12 +0000

Just how did 8 bit computers like the ZX Spectrum or BBC Micro manage to cram an entire programming language into their tiny systems, and still have space for the user’s programs? #BBCMicro #ZXSpectrum #AssemblyLanguage #BASICProgramming

How a CPU really works

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 14:54:15 +0000

Let’s go right inside a CPU and watch it execute code at the transistor level! #Z80 #RetroComputing

Chat GPT pretending to be a BBC Micro

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 14:41:00 +0000

There’s a few of these types of video floating around YouTube at the moment. I figured I’d join in and have a play. Can I tell ChatGPT to pretend to be a BBC Micro? #BBCMicro #RetroComputing #AI

BBC BASIC in RiscOS on a Raspberry Pi is really cool

Sun, 12 Feb 2023 16:27:10 +0000

Picture the modern world, but without Windows, PCs or Apple. What would be on your desk? #BBCMicro #RaspberryPi #BASICProgramming #RetroComputing

2022 Review

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 11:16:11 +0000

Let’s briefly look back at last year and see what things were like, then look forward to the coming year and what I want to achieve. I did this last year too, and I’ve just been reading that. #SpectrumNext #RetroComputing #VideoProduction

Document Your Internal Projects

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 13:09:37 +0000

I have aspirations of actually making a game for my Spectrum Next. It’d be nice to turn the learning I’ve done into something more than a bunch of videos. This is not a blog post about making a game, this is a blog post about keeping notes. A few months ago I created a pretty nice template for a Spectrum Next game. It had a little state machine for different screens, an input handler and some… #SpectrumNext #RetroComputing #GameDev

Clever engineering on a budget - ZX Spectrum Interrupts

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000

How clever engineers made a cheap computer powerful #ZXSpectrum #Z80 #Interrupts #RetroComputing

Breaking the 64k barrier - Spectrum Memory Banking

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

How do you get more than 64K of RAM in an 8 bit computer? Let’s look at how memory banking works! #Z80 #RetroComputing

Memory Banking, DMA and Interrupts - How 8bit computers work

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 22:39:38 +0000

Let’s explore how 8bit computers worked, looking at their memory, interrupts and DMA. #SpectrumNext #ZXSpectrum #Interrupts #RetroComputing

Copper

Sun, 30 Jan 2022 20:54:14 +0000

How to make Amiga like effects on an 8 bit Spectrum #SpectrumNext #RetroComputing

2021 Review

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 20:33:58 +0000

How was 2021 for you? I mean, compared to 2020 it was a big improvement, but that’s a pretty low bar to aim for. Let’s focus more on the projects that I completed and what I learned from them. #SpectrumNext #RetroComputing #VideoProduction

Devlog 04 - Keyboard and Joystick Inputs

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 19:37:23 +0000

How to program keyboards and joysticks on the Spectrum Next #SpectrumNext #z88dk #CProgramming #Keyboards

25 Year Old Coding Project Review

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 22:39:38 +0000

I found my 25 year old A-Level programming project, is it any good? #MSDOS #Python #RetroComputing #Programming

Atari ST Mouse - How’s it work anyway?

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 22:29:11 +0000

Meet the world’s worse mouse design ever. The Atari ST mouse. Amiga owners liked their tank mice, we ST owners didn’t like ours. It was square, uncomfortable and prone to breaking quite easily. #AtariST #RetroComputing

ZX Spectrum Next Hardware Sprites Overview

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 12:37:23 +0000

An overview of the Spectrum Next’s hardware sprites #SpectrumNext #ZXSpectrum #Sprites #RetroComputing

Logo and Mindstorms - Learning How to Program

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 09:07:33 +0000

So how exactly do you learn programming? There’s more to it than just typing in code listings after all. Let’s find out using LOGO on my BBC! #BBCMicro #RetroComputing #Programming

Upgrading My Atari ST to 4MB

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 15:50:46 +0000

I upgrade my Atari STFM to 4MB of RAM using a Marpet XTra RAM Deluxe board #AtariST #Soldering #RetroComputing #Electronics

SMT Soldering and Atari ST Repairs

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 20:52:48 +0000

Yesterday I recapped my ST’s PSU which went well, nothing exploded. However when trying to boot the machine it kept crashing, especially when it went to the desktop. #AtariST #Soldering #RetroComputing #Repair

Unopened Decade My Atari 520STFM

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 21:32:37 +0000

Come with me for a nostalgic trip around my Atari ST that I had has a child that has been sat unopened for the past 10 years. In this video I go through the hardware, what I used to do with the Atari ST and make a list of future improvements and fixes to make. #AtariST #Keyboards #RetroComputing #PCHardware

Devlog 02 - Layer 2 Graphics

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 12:37:23 +0000

An overview of the Spectrum Next’s Layer 2 bitmap display #SpectrumNext #ZXSpectrum #RetroComputing #Graphics

Devlog 01 - Spectrum Next Programming Languages

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 12:37:23 +0000

How to get started programming the ZX Spectrum Next #SpectrumNext #ZXSpectrum #z88dk #Z80

Quazar Graphic OLED Display - Real Pixels for your RC2014

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

I found a real bitmap display for the RC2014 and here’s how I made it work. #RC2014 #Z80 #RetroComputing #Graphics

Raspberry Pi 400 Devkit for RC2014

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 22:14:17 +0000

I turned a Raspberry Pi 400 into a C devkit for the RC2014. #RC2014 #CProgramming #RaspberryPi #RetroComputing

Optimised Z80 - Conway's Life Improved

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 14:33:07 +0000

Writing more optimised assembly to improve the speed of the Conway’s Life algorithm #CellularAutomata #AssemblyLanguage #Z80 #RetroComputing

Bbc Micro Mega Upgrade

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 20:19:41 +0000

Upgrading my BBC Micro to use a Gotek floppy emulator, 1770 disk controller and a Raspberry Pi co-processor. #BBCMicro #MSDOS #RaspberryPi #RetroComputing

BBC Micro - Computer Literacy 1980s

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 13:27:38 +0000

Now I’ve gained an understanding of assembly programming, let’s look at how they tried to teach us computer science in the 1980s… #BBCMicro #Z80 #RetroComputing

Conways Life in Z80 Assembly

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 12:48:03 +0000

Programming the popular cellular automaton using Z80 Assembler #CellularAutomata #AssemblyLanguage #Z80 #RetroComputing

Switch Joycon Drift Repair

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 18:59:40 +0000

Here is how I fixed the drift on my Nintendo Switch Joy-Con. It is properly fixed, not just putting cleaner into the thumbstick. I will also be showing how to swap the shell of the joy-con for a different style. You don’t have to do this if all you want is to do is repair your joy-con. #Nintendo #Batteries #RetroComputing #Repair

Zombies! - A Game Written in Z80 Assembly

Thu, 02 Jul 2020 21:04:21 +0000

Converting a 1980s BASIC type-in game into Z80 Assembly. #AssemblyLanguage #Z80 #RetroComputing #Programming

The Joy of Sticks - RC2014 Z80 Joystick Kit

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 21:54:24 +0000

Building and programming a joystick interface for the RC2014 Z80 computer. #RC2014 #Z80 #RetroComputing

Clueless Chillout Coding

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 22:03:02 +0000

Get comfy and watch as I try to figure out how to write a really simple program the hard way. #Z80 #RetroComputing #Programming

Debugging Z80 With Arduino

Sun, 24 May 2020 22:36:04 +0000

Let’s hook an Arduino up to a 1980s CPU and see what happens! #Z80 #RetroComputing #Programming

Pascal programming on a Z80

Wed, 20 May 2020 08:14:26 +0000

Writing fractals on a 7MHz computer with 64K of RAM #Z80 #RetroComputing #Programming

Building Z80 Computer RC2014

Mon, 11 May 2020 10:45:18 +0000

I build a Z80 based computer from scratch, and it works! #RC2014 #Z80 #RetroComputing

Reading Mice and Joysticks on the Spectrum Next using C

Sat, 18 Apr 2020 21:22:32 +0000

Today’s lesson in curing headaches by banging your head on the wall until they stop involves joysticks and mice. This is a bit technical, so ensure your seat back and tray table are in the upright and locked position. Please keep all arms inside the ride at all times. #SpectrumNext #CProgramming #Sprites #RetroComputing

Hardware Sprites on the ZX Spectrum Next in C

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:10:29 +0000

Drawing sprites on the Spectrum Next, using C. Or – how to learn the dark art of figuring out things you don’t understand. Learning to program is an endurance game full of random side quests, dead ends and frustration. Rather than learning “how to do X”, which is specific, it’s much more useful learning “how to figure out how to do anything at all”. Go look on… #SpectrumNext #ZXSpectrum #CProgramming #Sprites

Z80 vs C

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 13:02:33 +0000

A short comparison between low level Z80 assembler and high level C #ZXSpectrum #AssemblyLanguage #Z80 #RetroComputing