[N8VEM: 16884] Zeta to ECB PCB

[Andrew Bingham]

Hello All,

After completing my Zeta SBC, I've decided to contribute back to the group
by having PCBs made and building/testing the Zeta-to-ECB connection board
that Sergey was working on earlier in the year, but hasn't been tested yet.
This will allow Zeta builders to extend their systems onto the ECB bus and
take advantage of all the other N8VEM cards.

My plan is to build the 8-slot ECB Backplane, a Bus Monitor card, and a
Color VDU card. This will allow me to test the following configurations:
-Zeta on its own with serial terminal (currently running)
-Zeta w/ParPortPortProp
-Zeta w/ColorVDU for display/keyboard support
-Zeta w/ColorVDU for display/keyboard and ParPortProp for the SD Storage

After that I'll probably add a DiskIO V3 board which would allow me to test:
-Zeta w/ColorVDU for display/keyboard and DiskIO V3

I'd appreciate if everyone could take a look at these schematics and board
layout from Sergey and give any comments over the next few days. I'm still
coming up to speed on a lot of the electronics design aspects of this (as a
mechanical engineer I know just enough about this stuff to make me
dangerous - although I am trying hard to understand this board and the ECB
bus, and I think I have a good handle on the Z80 itself and the design of
the Zeta) so I don't think my own review will be very useful right now.

I am planning on having about 5 prototype boards made, so if someone else
has both a Zeta and an ECB system and wants to participate in the testing,
I'll make those boards available to the group when they arrive.

Andrew

[Andrew Bingham]

Just an update for the group that I've ordered 5 prototype PCBs through
Seedstudio for the Zeta-to-ECB board, using the gerber files that Sergey
produced earlier in 2013.

If anyone is interested in building one and attaching a Zeta to a backplane
and other ECB cards, I expect to be able to make at least 3 of the 5
available to other builders.

Andrew B

Post by Andrew Bingham
Hello All,
After completing my Zeta SBC, I've decided to contribute back to the group
by having PCBs made and building/testing the Zeta-to-ECB connection board
that Sergey was working on earlier in the year, but hasn't been tested yet.
This will allow Zeta builders to extend their systems onto the ECB bus and
take advantage of all the other N8VEM cards.
My plan is to build the 8-slot ECB Backplane, a Bus Monitor card, and a
-Zeta on its own with serial terminal (currently running)
-Zeta w/ParPortPortProp
-Zeta w/ColorVDU for display/keyboard support
-Zeta w/ColorVDU for display/keyboard and ParPortProp for the SD Storage
-Zeta w/ColorVDU for display/keyboard and DiskIO V3
I'd appreciate if everyone could take a look at these schematics and board
layout from Sergey and give any comments over the next few days. I'm still
coming up to speed on a lot of the electronics design aspects of this (as a
mechanical engineer I know just enough about this stuff to make me
dangerous - although I am trying hard to understand this board and the ECB
bus, and I think I have a good handle on the Z80 itself and the design of
the Zeta) so I don't think my own review will be very useful right now.
I am planning on having about 5 prototype boards made, so if someone else
has both a Zeta and an ECB system and wants to participate in the testing,
I'll make those boards available to the group when they arrive.
Andrew

[Fabio Battaglia]

Post by Andrew Bingham
Just an update for the group that I've ordered 5 prototype PCBs
through Seedstudio for the Zeta-to-ECB board, using the gerber files
that Sergey produced earlier in 2013.
If anyone is interested in building one and attaching a Zeta to a
backplane and other ECB cards, I expect to be able to make at least 3
of the 5 available to other builders.
Andrew B

I ordered a Zeta from Sergey a few weeks ago and should be here soon:
I've also already got all the components to build it and would be
available for testing the Zeta-to-ECB board (I've also got a SBC V2 and
a DiskIO V3 on an ECB bus, with a few more boards to build already
here), if there is none with a better testing facility whom, of course,
would get the precedence.
I'd gladly pay for it, to at least contribute a little bit.

Fabio

[Andrew Bingham]

My intent was to have 1 board for myself, 1 to send to Sergey, and
distribute the other 3 among the group.

Because this board goes "sideways" across the Zeta (the ECB connector ends
up on one side) it is relatively small compared to a full ECB or S-100
board, and correspondingly less expensive.

I've requested access to the wiki so that I can upload documentation as
this moves along.

Andrew B

Post by Fabio Battaglia

Post by Andrew Bingham
Just an update for the group that I've ordered 5 prototype PCBs
through Seedstudio for the Zeta-to-ECB board, using the gerber files
that Sergey produced earlier in 2013.
If anyone is interested in building one and attaching a Zeta to a
backplane and other ECB cards, I expect to be able to make at least 3
of the 5 available to other builders.
Andrew B

I've also already got all the components to build it and would be
available for testing the Zeta-to-ECB board (I've also got a SBC V2 and
a DiskIO V3 on an ECB bus, with a few more boards to build already
here), if there is none with a better testing facility whom, of course,
would get the precedence.
I'd gladly pay for it, to at least contribute a little bit.
Fabio

[Andrew Bingham]

Just a note that the PCBs are en route to me now. I placed my order with
Seeedstudio on 1/8 and they shipped out via DHL on 1/15.

Andrew

Post by Andrew Bingham
My intent was to have 1 board for myself, 1 to send to Sergey, and
distribute the other 3 among the group.
Because this board goes "sideways" across the Zeta (the ECB connector ends
up on one side) it is relatively small compared to a full ECB or S-100
board, and correspondingly less expensive.
I've requested access to the wiki so that I can upload documentation as
this moves along.
Andrew B

Post by Fabio Battaglia

Post by Andrew Bingham
Just an update for the group that I've ordered 5 prototype PCBs
through Seedstudio for the Zeta-to-ECB board, using the gerber files
that Sergey produced earlier in 2013.
If anyone is interested in building one and attaching a Zeta to a
backplane and other ECB cards, I expect to be able to make at least 3
of the 5 available to other builders.
Andrew B

I've also already got all the components to build it and would be
available for testing the Zeta-to-ECB board (I've also got a SBC V2 and
a DiskIO V3 on an ECB bus, with a few more boards to build already
here), if there is none with a better testing facility whom, of course,
would get the precedence.
I'd gladly pay for it, to at least contribute a little bit.
Fabio

[Andrew Bingham]

DHL delivered the PCBs to my house today. A a datapoint for people
thinking of using Seeedstudio, I ordered on 01/08 and received my boards
from Hong Kong on 01/16, using the $15 DHL Express shipping.

I'll post some pictures when I get home.

Andrew

Post by Andrew Bingham
Just a note that the PCBs are en route to me now. I placed my order with
Seeedstudio on 1/8 and they shipped out via DHL on 1/15.
Andrew

Post by Andrew Bingham
My intent was to have 1 board for myself, 1 to send to Sergey, and
distribute the other 3 among the group.
Because this board goes "sideways" across the Zeta (the ECB connector
ends up on one side) it is relatively small compared to a full ECB or S-100
board, and correspondingly less expensive.
I've requested access to the wiki so that I can upload documentation as
this moves along.
Andrew B

Post by Fabio Battaglia

Post by Andrew Bingham
Just an update for the group that I've ordered 5 prototype PCBs
through Seedstudio for the Zeta-to-ECB board, using the gerber files
that Sergey produced earlier in 2013.
If anyone is interested in building one and attaching a Zeta to a
backplane and other ECB cards, I expect to be able to make at least 3
of the 5 available to other builders.
Andrew B

I've also already got all the components to build it and would be
available for testing the Zeta-to-ECB board (I've also got a SBC V2 and
a DiskIO V3 on an ECB bus, with a few more boards to build already
here), if there is none with a better testing facility whom, of course,
would get the precedence.
I'd gladly pay for it, to at least contribute a little bit.
Fabio

['Andrew Lynch' via N8VEM]

Hi Andrew



How did the prototype build and test go with the Zeta to ECB project?



Would you please post the EDA files on the wiki.



I think it might be more convenient for builders if these PCBs were available alongside the Zeta PCBs.



Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch



From: n8vem-/***@public.gmane.org [mailto:n8vem-/***@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Bingham
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 6:19 PM
To: n8vem-/***@public.gmane.org
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 17167] Re: Zeta to ECB PCB



DHL delivered the PCBs to my house today. A a datapoint for people thinking of using Seeedstudio, I ordered on 01/08 and received my boards from Hong Kong on 01/16, using the $15 DHL Express shipping.



I'll post some pictures when I get home.



Andrew


On Wednesday, January 15, 2014 10:19:25 AM UTC-8, Andrew Bingham wrote:

Just a note that the PCBs are en route to me now. I placed my order with Seeedstudio on 1/8 and they shipped out via DHL on 1/15.



Andrew

On Thursday, January 9, 2014 2:23:45 PM UTC-8, Andrew Bingham wrote:

My intent was to have 1 board for myself, 1 to send to Sergey, and distribute the other 3 among the group.



Because this board goes "sideways" across the Zeta (the ECB connector ends up on one side) it is relatively small compared to a full ECB or S-100 board, and correspondingly less expensive.



I've requested access to the wiki so that I can upload documentation as this moves along.



Andrew B

Post by Andrew Bingham
Just an update for the group that I've ordered 5 prototype PCBs
through Seedstudio for the Zeta-to-ECB board, using the gerber files
that Sergey produced earlier in 2013.
If anyone is interested in building one and attaching a Zeta to a
backplane and other ECB cards, I expect to be able to make at least 3
of the 5 available to other builders.
Andrew B

I ordered a Zeta from Sergey a few weeks ago and should be here soon:
I've also already got all the components to build it and would be
available for testing the Zeta-to-ECB board (I've also got a SBC V2 and
a DiskIO V3 on an ECB bus, with a few more boards to build already
here), if there is none with a better testing facility whom, of course,
would get the precedence.
I'd gladly pay for it, to at least contribute a little bit.

Fabio
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to n8vem+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/***@public.gmane.org
To post to this group, send email to n8vem-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/***@public.gmane.org
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/n8vem.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.