About
The NABU RetroNET Preservation Project is founded by:
- Leo Binkowski, an EX-NABU software engineer.
- DJ Sures, whose father and uncles were founding members of NABU.
Due to their personal relationships with the NABU Corporation, Leo and DJ have a strong passion for continuing the tradition.
RetroNET, also known as The NABU Preservation Group, started in December 2022 to preserve the NABU Corporation’s legacy that began in the 1980s.
The NABU Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 1986. Today, our effort is to document the NABU history and continue development toward the company’s dream of having NABU Personal Computers connected to a worldwide network.
Keep up the Great Work!
The NABU RetroNET Preservation Project has been the driving force by being the first to trial-blaze new software and features for the NABU. We’re thrilled to see how our efforts have influenced others to follow in our footsteps by creating their versions of our projects. We’re witnessing fantastic efforts by the community to develop their NABU-inspired websites, Internet Adapters, Software, and even alternate CPM BIOS options! If you’re starting a NABU-related project, let us know on the community forum so we can host a category to unite the community’s combined efforts.
Articles About NABU
A collection of articles on the internet about the NABU Corporation.
Joystick
The untold story of Ottawa’s coke-fueled 1980’s video game industry. While I don’t agree with the name, this click-bait article has interesting stuff.
NABU DC
A story about the NABU Corporation’s presence in the city of Washington D.C.
From Electronic to Video Gaming
Computing in Canada: Historical Assessment Update by Jean-Louis Trudel.
Ottawa Mourns Tech Pioneer John Kelly
He was just somebody who truly wanted to see everyone achieve.
Remember This?
Ottawa’s NABU Network predated the rise of the Internet and home computer, but ultimately failed. It took decades for it to be recognized as being “ahead of its time.”
NABU T-shirts
NABU Canada Internet 1980 Essential T-Shirt designed and sold by quark.
Disclaimer: this is not related to NABU RetroNET or Preservation Group. This is a project by someone else.
A Great Lesson, But Not About Openness
NABU failed because “The phone network was open whereas the cable networks were closed. End of story.”
The Computer Hobby Movement in Canada
The subject of this paper is the computer hobby movement in Canada and its role in the introduction and social acceptance of personal computing in this country.
Academic Article
Interesting old archive about NABU that actually contains a link to old NABU photos that DJ Sures used to host on his old old old website (atomic.speculation.org) in the early 2000’s.
Doug Article / Advertisement
Not many people know that Doug was the official spokesperson of Ottawa’s Nabu Network of home computers.
History of Cable Television
It was the middle of the 20th century when a fledgling new Canadian industry, cable television, had its small early beginnings.
GRUNT PRESS
PDF scans of the NABU internal newsletter provided by Ray Teske.
Vice Motherboard
2,200 Forgotten Vintage Computers Are Being Liberated From a Barn in Massachusetts.
Slashdot
For more than two decades, the biggest retro computing story in recent memory sat like a sleeper cell in a Massachusetts barn.
Gizmodo
Why 2,000 Ancient PCs Mysteriously Appeared on eBay.
NABU Communities
We recommend these supportive communities and resources with positive atmospheres surrounding the NABU Personal Computer.
RetroNET Chat
Chat with other NABU-ers on your NABU with the Internet Adapter.
DJ Sures’ YouTube
The NABU Playlist YouTube of DJ Sures. Witness the progress of hacking the NABU to crack the PAK that birthed the Internet Adapter.
Leo Binkowski’s YouTube
Ex-NABU Software Engineer who has a time-capsule of NABU hardware and software.
Vintage Computer Federation
A thread started by Santo, who has been the main influence to reproduce the floppy drive controllers.
z88dk Forum
The z88dk forum thread regarding adding the NABU target and CPM.
York University NABU Museum
The York University has built an operational NABU Network exhibit that you can visit.
The NABU Network
Preserving the legacy of the iconic NABU Computer.
Note: the name of this website is similar to the scammer and criminal from nabunetwork.com but they’re not associated, so please pay attention to what website you visit.
Other NABU Projects
Several other ongoing projects are using the NABU PC.
Note: Find all recent NABU-related projects on the community forum.
Electrogeek
Electrogeek was one of the original YouTube videos to begin diving into the ROM with DJ. He has been creating a custom ROM Monitor to make the NABU a standalone BASIC computer.
Lars The 18th
In the early days before the MAME NABU emulator, Lars was first to emulate a NABU using the Open MSX emulator to run NABU software.
Team Behind NABU RetroNET
DJ Sures
Original NABU hacker and author of The Internet Adapter, Cloud CP/M, and other tools & utilities.
DJ is the son of Ron Sures, who was an original NABU PC hardware designer. DJ’s uncles Howard Sures and John Bobak were executives at NABU.
Leo Binkowski
Ex-NABU Game Software Engineer and keeper of NABU hardware, software, disk images and stories.
Leo worked as a software games engineer at NABU during his late teenage years. He is best known for PAC-MAN, Miner 2049, and Dig Dug.
Damian V
Web Theme & RetroNET Logo.
Synthiam
Hosting and bandwidth sponsor.
Disclaimer
There is no legally registered entity behind The NABU Preservation Group. Enthusiasts, fans, and ex-NABU employees of the original NABU Corporation personally founded and maintained this group. The goal of the preservation group is to continue the development of the NABU Corporation’s pursuit of network-connected NABU Personal Computers. At a young age, during NABU’s hype on the Canadian public stock market, DJ Sures was told by his father and uncles, who had worked for NABU, that one day he would be able to talk to friends, order flowers, or pay bills with the NABU network from his sofa on the family TV. While this capability is mainstream today, it was science fiction in 1981 when the NABU Network development began, and stories like that are the backbone of our efforts.
Continuing with the original vision, the community and founders of the NABU Preservation Group are giving new life to an almost 50-year-old computer.
This website’s software, links, and documentation are provided with no warranty. This website provides educational, entertainment, and technical information for NABU hardware owners and interested parties. The information, software, documentation, and links posted on this website are known to be free of viruses, trojans, and malicious intent to the best of our knowledge. The founders and community of this website, the NABU Preservation Group, are not responsible for any hardware or software damage done to your devices by attempting hardware modifications or software found on this website.
At no point will the NABU Preservation Group members ask you for money in exchange for information, documentation, or software presented on the nabu.ca domain. Suppose you are approached by someone claiming to be part of the NABU Preservation Group community, and they request money or personal information; in that case, they are not a representation of the NABU Preservation Group and should be reported to the authorities for fraudulent activities.