Walter Wijnhoven

At HCC!retro the emphasis is on cooperation between the different ‘blood groups’, while retaining their own identity. The activities are supported by fun gatherings where knowledge and skills are shown and shared. Members are involved with retro computers at all levels, including Grundy NewBrain, Amstrad/Schneider, Sinclair, Tandy, and Acorn. Both software and hardware are covered. There is also attention for robotics and everything that has to do with computer control. “We are not ignorant”, says board member Dré Jansen, “and we are also open to Raspberry, Arduino, game consoles, microcontroller boards, 3D printing and 3D drawing.”

Personal attention
In addition to secretary Dré Jansen, the board of HCC!retro consists of chairman Albert Stuurman and treasurer Maarten Floor. At least as important are the many voluntary employees who provide hands-on services. Dré Jansen: “Volunteers are not just ‘important’, they are very important! The more people, the merrier. And many hands still make light work. Here you can not only share your own ‘crafts’ and projects with like-minded people, but also motivate each other and yourself and exchange trips and tricks. If you want to know something, that’s what the internet is for these days, but it’s much more fun and pleasant to get that wisdom from real people. Personal attention is still the ‘wages’ of the hobbyist. By doing you learn more than you thought beforehand. Become a volunteer at HCC!retro? Sign In!”

Computer help for Angelo
As a volunteer with one of the many interest groups of the HCC you learn a lot yourself, but you also help others on their way. Angelo Houben, a collector of historic home, personal and game computers, also noticed this since he got his hands on a Commodore 64. However, the Commodore CBM 8050 that he later bought turned out not to work. An HCC club day, coincidentally in his hometown, offered a solution. Thanks to the help of an enthusiastic HCC volunteer, the retro device came back to life. Read more about Angelo’s passion on www.retrocomputercollector.nl

From Motorola 6800 to Bondwell
Dré Jansen, HCC member from the very beginning (with a short stopover), still remembers exactly how his own passion for computers started. “My first computer was a self-build project from Motorola, the 6800. I had to sell it because of financial troubles – the oil crisis. I even canceled my HCC membership. However, blood creeps where it cannot go. I bought a ZX81 and became an HCC member again in the 1980s. For those who could afford it, there were telephone modems, which made a beeping and grinding connection to the world. I wasn’t ready for that myself and I remained ‘offline’ for years. In the meantime I founded the Bondwell user group, later Bondwell/ELCI gg. Bondwell was a CP/M computer and my first ‘real’ PC. The ELCI came later, which was an MS-DOS PC. There were several similar groups, which merged under the name CP/M united and later merged with the 6500 gg, NewBrain gg and Amstrad gg to form the current HCC!retro. That’s how I happily walked through computer life all those years. ‘Dated groups’ are still very welcome.”

Exciting meetings
At HCC!retro Dré can also share his extensive experience and interests live with the many other members. There are several meetings a year, where everyone can meet. The Interest Group meets four times a year in Bilthoven. HCC!retro also presents itself every year (if possible) at the MegaCompUfair of HCC!CompUsers and of course at the HCC!knowledge day. The meetings in home base Bilthoven are always ‘old-fashioned fun’ and take place in a friendly atmosphere with an average of 10 to 30 visitors. Dré: “Bread doesn’t have to come along, you can eat along for a snack. Coffee and tea are free, so the thermos can also stay at home. We try to deliver as interesting a program as possible. Often there is someone who gives a fascinating presentation about a retro subject or about their own crafts.”

Dré Jansen won a trip to America with the beer pouring robot

Crafts in a broad sense
According to Dré, HCC!retro is tinkering in the broadest sense of the word. His own crafts can no longer be counted on the fingers of one hand. On request, he sums up: “A rain machine for horticulture, an elevator that can collect upwards and downwards, pneumatic post, the beer-serving robot with which I won a trip to America, a sumo wrestler (with the strength, not the excess weight), a recorder that independently plays songs and various robots. Initially with the ancient B+ board, the mother of all microcontroller boards. Later with the Arduino, which can now also be considered retro but is still current. Recently I built a relay calculator, no electronics but relays only, and limited to 4 bit additions. Because that’s all he can do.”

Automated dollhouse
Another fanatical ‘tinker’ is Abraham Vreugdenhil, a frequent supplier of projects on which he also gives presentations. For example, he recently gave a presentation about the 50-year-old Intel 4004 processor. He talked about the early days of Intel, how the Intel 4004 came about, where it came from, and what it took to bring the processor back to life. The summary of the presentation can be found on the website of HCC!retro: https://retro.hcc.nl/images/Retro/Retro/Overig/4004_a.pdf.

Abraham Vreugdenhil

Abraham has also used a Transputer to mine bitcoins, and built an interface to connect the Newbrain home computer to an SD card. The SD card contains all the games that were written for the Newbrain at the time.
Other members also build and tinker on it. For example, there is a dollhouse in which everything is automated and a revolving ‘barrel’ in which various techniques of locomotion/transport are shown.

Self-motivation
Self-motivation is important in retro computer land. Everyone tinkers: one with software and the other with hardware. Of course there are members who practice both branches of sport. It is important to show each other your own crafts and to discuss problems and especially solutions. Programming is also done at HCC!retro.
Some members are engaged in programming in Occam, a special language for parallel processing. Dré: “Programming is often done in Bascom, nowadays programming is done in C++. Assembler is also still used, as are QBasic and Visual Basic.”

Popular devices
Which device is Dré’s personal favourite? “The Bondwell 12, my first ‘real’ computer. Soon I will have another one. I also work with the ESP32 and the Arduino, an old laptop and a recently purchased desktop with Windows 11. I also do some work with the 3D printer.” The diversity is great, also among the retro machines of the other members. Abraham Vreugdenhil and Jan Blok work with the Transputer, Ronald Lokker has a relay computer, Robin Henneke does something beautiful with old controllers from Schiphol, Cees Nobel works with Fischer Techniek, Aloys Verstraeten and Joep Suijs build and design robots. A furry and colorful company!

Future
What are the Interest Group’s plans for the future? Dré does not hesitate for a moment: “The future is great! After all, all today’s modern equipment is future retro… We are therefore going to have a fantastic time. Since my retirement I have every day off, but I am very short of free time. I don’t understand where I used to find the time to go to work.” Does that sound contagious enough? Sign up as a member and join Dré. And with the many other enthusiastic members of HCC!retro. You are very welcome!