The EDUC-8 micro-computer was first published in the well known Electronics Australia magazine way back in August 1974. It was designed by Jim Rowe and was to be presented as the first do it yourself home build computer.
Sadly though just before publication, the EDUC-8’s entry into the world was pipped at the post by the Mark-8 minicomputer design which was just published in the US. It was based on a new Intel 8008 microprocessor and had used the 1101 type RAM ICs.
EDUC-8 stands for EDucational Micro(u) Computer – 8 bit, although it’s not hard to see the word “Educate” there as well.
By todays standards it severely lacked the features that you would expect from a modern day computer. It had barely enough RAM to store an average name and address, no fancy compiler, and no keyboard or video screen. It had manual program entry via the front panel switches and a series of LEDs for visual feedback for the contents of various 8 bit internal registers.
But hey, we’re talking way back in 1974 when this machine was a milestone on the Australian home digital electronics scene.
All details for building your own EDUC-8 that supports Normal and WIF modes are available in the download, including Gerber files for the PCBs and HEX code to program the microcontroller used in the project. (PIC18F47K40 for EDUC-8, and PIC16F18345 for IO boards)