Discussion:
[N8VEM: 18060] Where to start ?
Alan Cox
2014-05-12 23:17:18 UTC
Permalink
I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as
opposed to emulators and FPGA).

Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box
running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly that's
probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to build a
backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to get anywhere.

The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to run it
standalone and get it working before even thinking about backplanes and the
like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a timer interrupt or would
that be a task for an additional card ?

The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a breadboard
which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up and running as
well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting it wrong'
perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control lines
on the SIO).

Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK and if
so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know good
places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.

Any advice ?

Alan
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Edward Snider
2014-05-12 23:41:20 UTC
Permalink
Ebay, utsource...
Post by Alan Cox
...
Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK and if
so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid *but it would be nice to know
good places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc*.
Any advice ?
Alan
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John Coffman
2014-05-13 01:01:07 UTC
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The Z180 used on the SBC Mark IV has two timer interrupts.<br>
<br>
<br>
On 05/12/2014 04:17 PM, Alan Cox wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:d1570149-1e1b-4859-8a62-6b643238fefa-/***@public.gmane.org"
type="cite">The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably
reasonable to run it standalone and get it working before even
thinking about backplanes and the like. Does the SBC Mark IV have
any facility for a timer interrupt or would that be a task for an
additional card ?<br>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>

<p></p>

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William R Sowerbutts
2014-05-13 10:51:40 UTC
Permalink
Hi Alan

Welcome to N8VEM.

I built one of John's Mark IV boards last week. It's a really excellent board
and highly integrated with everything you need to get up and running. I have
mine running at 36.864MHz.

I sourced all of my components from Farnell with a few exceptios:
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.

I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to look
them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).

Best wishes

Will
Post by Alan Cox
I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as
opposed to emulators and FPGA).
Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box
running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly that's
probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to build a
backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to get anywhere.
The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to run it
standalone and get it working before even thinking about backplanes and the
like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a timer interrupt or would
that be a task for an additional card ?
The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a breadboard
which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up and running as
well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting it wrong'
perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control lines
on the SIO).
Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK and if
so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know good
places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.
Any advice ?
Alan
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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts will-***@public.gmane.org
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s=">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}
Alan Cox
2014-05-13 12:45:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by William R Sowerbutts
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.
I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to look
them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).
That would be really really helpful - thanks a lot.

I've not gotten your socz80 past the boot monitor yet as I've been busy
real work, and also had to make a case for it first. I do a lot of work
with small bits of metal so uncased objects risk being subjected to brass
and nickel silver shrapnel !

I hope to have all the disk images uploaded to play with tonight though.

Now to order a Mark IV board

Alan
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William R Sowerbutts
2014-05-13 13:21:53 UTC
Permalink
Please find attached list of components to order from Farnell (in both
OpenDocument and MS Excel formats)

I've added some notes in the rightmost column.

I think there are probably too many decoupling caps, I bought some spares for
assembly of future boards.

There are a few additional components you need. In particular;
- 4Mbit flash ROM is available from Digikey in the US (SST39SF040-70-4C-PHE-ND)
- 2x20 right-angle header for the IDE port. I bought a boxed version from
Farnell but the box was reversed (ie pin 1 is on the wrong side for my
needs). Damn you, chiral isomers! I bought unboxed part 7671173 from RS
Components and it is perfect but lacks keying of course. Farnell will
definitely have something suitable if you go hunting.
- 2x5 IDC to DB9 pigtail for the serial port. Make one up or just take apart
a reasonably old PC.
- Actual jumpers. I just stole some off a bunch of old IDE hard disks.

There are some components you could substitute:
- Superior RS422 driver is available from Digikey in the US (MAX3467CPA+-ND)
- 18.432MHz oscillator is available from RS Components (7960527) and is the
right frequency to generate the RS232 baud rate exactly.
- Order code 1056427 is a 36-way breakaway header. I got this intending to
use it for all the jumpers on the board. It would work but the pins are
longer than I would like so I used https://www.sparkfun.com/products/116
which I had lying around instead.
- The 68-pin PLCC socket I've listed is not an open-frame version. There is
a decoupling cap under the CPU and it needs an open-frame socket to fit.
I just very carefully drilled out the center of the socket. I've listed
two on the order so you have a spare! Would be better to find an
open-frame part.

It's entirely possible I've missed things off and forgotten since last week.
Please check my list against John's bill of materials before ordering.

Hope this proves useful to someone!

Will
Post by Alan Cox
Post by William R Sowerbutts
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.
I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to look
them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).
That would be really really helpful - thanks a lot.
I've not gotten your socz80 past the boot monitor yet as I've been busy
real work, and also had to make a case for it first. I do a lot of work
with small bits of metal so uncased objects risk being subjected to brass
and nickel silver shrapnel !
I hope to have all the disk images uploaded to play with tonight though.
Now to order a Mark IV board
Alan
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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts will-***@public.gmane.org
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s=">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}
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William R Sowerbutts
2014-05-13 13:30:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by William R Sowerbutts
- The 68-pin PLCC socket I've listed is not an open-frame version. There is
a decoupling cap under the CPU and it needs an open-frame socket to fit. I
just very carefully drilled out the center of the socket. I've listed two
on the order so you have a spare! Would be better to find an open-frame
part.
One alternative would be to solder the decoupling cap for the CPU to the
underside of the board. I didn't like that idea but it should work.

Will

_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts will-***@public.gmane.org
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s=">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}
John Coffman
2014-05-13 14:14:53 UTC
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An alternative to mounting that CPU decoupling cap on the underside
of the board is to omit the cap entirely.&nbsp; If you think you have
noise problems, then the underside of the board is still
accessible.&nbsp; There is a lot of decoupling capacitance on the board,
so this cap is likely overkill; but, I'd rather have too much
decoupling than not enough.<br>
<br>
--John<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 05/13/2014 06:30 AM, William R Sowerbutts wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:20140513133025.GB5076-***@public.gmane.org"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 02:21:53PM +0100, William R Sowerbutts wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">- The 68-pin PLCC socket I've listed is not an open-frame version. There is
a decoupling cap under the CPU and it needs an open-frame socket to fit. I
just very carefully drilled out the center of the socket. I've listed two
on the order so you have a spare! Would be better to find an open-frame
part.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
One alternative would be to solder the decoupling cap for the CPU to the
underside of the board. I didn't like that idea but it should work.

Will

_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:will-***@public.gmane.org">will-***@public.gmane.org</a>
"Carpe post meridiem<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://sowerbutts.commain(){char*s=">" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s="</a>&gt;#=0&gt; ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c&lt;15;c++)for
(m=-1;m&lt;7;putchar(m++/6&amp;c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&amp;1&lt;&lt;m?42:32));}

</pre>
</blockquote>
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<p></p>

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Kip Koon
2015-01-18 20:43:36 UTC
Permalink
Hi Will,
I'm beginning my ECB Mark IV SBC Build along with the N8 and the Gryphon
simultaneously and I noticed you have offered your list of parts you used to
build your Mark IV. I'd like to have a copy of that list of parts from
Farnell when you have a chance. Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it.

Kip Koon
***@sc.rr.com
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
William R Sowerbutts
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 6:52 AM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 18066] Where to start ?

Hi Alan

Welcome to N8VEM.

I built one of John's Mark IV boards last week. It's a really excellent
board and highly integrated with everything you need to get up and running.
I have mine running at 36.864MHz.

I sourced all of my components from Farnell with a few exceptios:
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.

I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to look
them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).

Best wishes

Will
Post by Alan Cox
I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as
opposed to emulators and FPGA).
Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box
running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly
that's probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to
build a backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to get
anywhere.
Post by Alan Cox
The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to run
it standalone and get it working before even thinking about backplanes
and the like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a timer
interrupt or would that be a task for an additional card ?
The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a
breadboard which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up
and running as well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting it
wrong'
Post by Alan Cox
perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control
lines on the SIO).
Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK and
if so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know
good places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.
Any advice ?
Alan
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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts ***@sowerbutts.com
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s=">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}

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William R Sowerbutts
2015-01-18 22:54:03 UTC
Permalink
Kip

Copies attached (same spreadsheet in a couple of different formats)

The Mark IV is a great board -- have fun!

Best wishes

Will
Post by Kip Koon
Hi Will,
I'm beginning my ECB Mark IV SBC Build along with the N8 and the Gryphon
simultaneously and I noticed you have offered your list of parts you used to
build your Mark IV. I'd like to have a copy of that list of parts from
Farnell when you have a chance. Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it.
Kip Koon
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon
-----Original Message-----
William R Sowerbutts
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 6:52 AM
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 18066] Where to start ?
Hi Alan
Welcome to N8VEM.
I built one of John's Mark IV boards last week. It's a really excellent
board and highly integrated with everything you need to get up and running.
I have mine running at 36.864MHz.
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.
I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to look
them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).
Best wishes
Will
Post by Alan Cox
I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as
opposed to emulators and FPGA).
Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box
running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly
that's probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to
build a backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to get
anywhere.
Post by Alan Cox
The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to run
it standalone and get it working before even thinking about backplanes
and the like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a timer
interrupt or would that be a task for an additional card ?
The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a
breadboard which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up
and running as well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting it
wrong'
Post by Alan Cox
perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control
lines on the SIO).
Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK and
if so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know
good places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.
Any advice ?
Alan
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Post by Alan Cox
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_________________________________________________________________________
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}
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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts ***@sowerbutts.com
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s=">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}
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Kip Koon
2015-01-20 08:33:30 UTC
Permalink
Will,
Thanks a bunch for the BOM, I appreciate it. I need a copy of the pictures for your Mark IV again. I can't find the original email you sent them in and I need to check on some chips. Thanks a bunch.

Kip Koon
***@sc.rr.com
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of William R Sowerbutts
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 5:54 PM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 19214] Where to start ?

Kip

Copies attached (same spreadsheet in a couple of different formats)

The Mark IV is a great board -- have fun!

Best wishes

Will
Post by Kip Koon
Hi Will,
I'm beginning my ECB Mark IV SBC Build along with the N8 and the
Gryphon simultaneously and I noticed you have offered your list of
parts you used to build your Mark IV. I'd like to have a copy of that
list of parts from Farnell when you have a chance. Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it.
Kip Koon
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon
-----Original Message-----
Of William R Sowerbutts
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 6:52 AM
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 18066] Where to start ?
Hi Alan
Welcome to N8VEM.
I built one of John's Mark IV boards last week. It's a really excellent
board and highly integrated with everything you need to get up and running.
I have mine running at 36.864MHz.
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.
I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to
look them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).
Best wishes
Will
Post by Alan Cox
I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as
opposed to emulators and FPGA).
Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box
running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly
that's probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to
build a backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to get
anywhere.
Post by Alan Cox
The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to
run it standalone and get it working before even thinking about
backplanes and the like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a
timer interrupt or would that be a task for an additional card ?
The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a
breadboard which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up
and running as well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting it
wrong'
Post by Alan Cox
perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control
lines on the SIO).
Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK
and if so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know
good places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.
Any advice ?
Alan
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Post by Alan Cox
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_________________________________________________________________________
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}
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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts ***@sowerbutts.com
"Carpe post meridiem" http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s=">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}

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John Coffman
2015-01-20 16:00:38 UTC
Permalink
Kip Koon
2015-01-21 02:10:41 UTC
Permalink
Hi John,

Thanks a bunch for sending me this picture. Thanks for the warnings about the proper processors to use on the Mark IV. I don’t think I’m building this version as I bought the PCBs a few months ago, but I do appreciate your efforts to help me. If you can think of anything else, I would welcome your help and advice. You are truly a digital electronics engineer guru! I’m so glad you among others are on the N8VEM team. Thank you again.



Kip Koon

***@sc.rr.com

http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon





From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of John Coffman
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 11:01 AM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 19225] Where to start ?



Kip,

Here is an early photo of the first Mark IV -- note that the first processor it was tested with is the Z180 that you need to avoid: the brain-damaged "SL1960" rev. Zilog does not document that this chip lacks many of the features of the later Z8S180 chips. The UNA BIOS detects this chip and avoids its pitfalls.

The VSC and VEG suffixes on the part number are both okay: Z8S18033 chips (fastest) were not issued AFAIK in the SL1960 version.

BTW: the rev. 2 parts list contains the above caution about SL1960 processors.

--John





On 01/20/2015 12:33 AM, Kip Koon wrote:

Will,
Thanks a bunch for the BOM, I appreciate it. I need a copy of the pictures for your Mark IV again. I can't find the original email you sent them in and I need to check on some chips. Thanks a bunch.

Kip Koon
***@sc.rr.com
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of William R Sowerbutts
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 5:54 PM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 19214] Where to start ?

Kip

Copies attached (same spreadsheet in a couple of different formats)

The Mark IV is a great board -- have fun!

Best wishes

Will

On Sun, Jan 18, 2015 at 03:43:36PM -0500, Kip Koon wrote:

Hi Will,
I'm beginning my ECB Mark IV SBC Build along with the N8 and the
Gryphon simultaneously and I noticed you have offered your list of
parts you used to build your Mark IV. I'd like to have a copy of that
list of parts from Farnell when you have a chance. Thanks a bunch. I appreciate it.

Kip Koon
***@sc.rr.com
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
Of William R Sowerbutts
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 6:52 AM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 18066] Where to start ?

Hi Alan

Welcome to N8VEM.

I built one of John's Mark IV boards last week. It's a really excellent
board and highly integrated with everything you need to get up and running.
I have mine running at 36.864MHz.

I sourced all of my components from Farnell with a few exceptios:
- the 4Mbit flash ROM chip and the RS422 driver I sourced from Digikey
- 18.432MHz clock crystal sourced from RS Components.

I'm happy to share my list of Farnell order codes to save you having to
look them all up (took me a fair while to find all the right bits).

Best wishes

Will



On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 04:17:18PM -0700, Alan Cox wrote:

I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as
opposed to emulators and FPGA).

Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box
running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly
that's probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to
build a backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to
get

anywhere.


The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to
run it standalone and get it working before even thinking about
backplanes and the like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a
timer interrupt or would that be a task for an additional card ?

The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a
breadboard which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up
and running as well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting
it

wrong'

perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control
lines on the SIO).

Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK
and if so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits.
Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know
good places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.

Any advice ?

Alan

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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts ***@sowerbutts.com
"Carpe post meridiem <http://sowerbutts.commain()%7bchar*s=> " http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s= <http://sowerbutts.commain()%7bchar*s=> ">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}

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_________________________________________________________________________
William R Sowerbutts ***@sowerbutts.com
"Carpe post meridiem <http://sowerbutts.commain()%7bchar*s=> " http://sowerbutts.com
main(){char*s= <http://sowerbutts.commain()%7bchar*s=> ">#=0> ^#X@#@^7=",c=0,m;for(;c<15;c++)for
(m=-1;m<7;putchar(m++/6&c%3/2?10:s[c]-31&1<<m?42:32));}

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Kip Koon
2015-01-20 09:09:22 UTC
Permalink
Hi Alan,

Welcome to N8VEM!

I’ve just started building a Mark IV SBC myself. I’m interested in seeing it function, but that is a bit off in the future at this point.

I did build three final versions of James Moxham’s Multicomp PCB recently that implements Grant Searle’s Multicomp design perfectly. The Multicomp PCB itself is a simple build to do. The real hard part is setting up all the Altera software to make it all work! That was an interesting experience for sure. I have a full CP/M and MP/M system running on one of them.

I plan to have a 6809 Multicomp running and hopefully get Flex9 running on it. I had to make a minor modification to get the 512KB sram working and was greeted with about 56KB of free ram in Basic! That is more free ram than the Coco ever had available.

I wanted to include the memory banking scheme that the Z80 Multicomp has into the 6809, but I’m having a bit of difficulty getting the VHDL code correct. Initially, maybe I’ll just stick with 64KB of sram and start playing with Flex9 and see how far I get. I’ve never tried Flex9 before so it will definitely be an interesting experience for sure.

I’ve been so busy lately repairing some laptops and building the Gryphon 030 and the N8 too that I have not had a chance to revisit the 6809 Multicomp. I had been building a 6x0x SBC ATX PCB, but when the Multicomp surfaced on the N8VEM list, I had to dive in! I had seen Grant Searle’s Web site a short time before that, but I did not know exactly how to proceed with building it and James’ Multicomp PCB didn’t exist yet. His PCB sure did make things a LOT easier. Maybe I need to get back to my 6x0x SBC ATX PCB build and finish it up so I can program it to run Flex9!

That’s me in a nut shell at this point. I hope you enjoy building the N8VEM single board computers! Take care my friend.



Kip Koon

***@sc.rr.com

http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Kip_Koon





From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Alan Cox
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2014 7:17 PM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: [N8VEM: 18060] Where to start ?



I'm trying to work out where to start in the actual hardware world (as opposed to emulators and FPGA).

Now ultimately I'd rather like to end up with a dual Z80/M68K S100 box running a mix of OS's including ucLinux on the 68000, but clearly that's probably not the right place to begin as presumably I'd have to build a backplane, cpu board, memory board and PSU and debug it all to get anywhere.

The ECB looks a better option as it's then presumably reasonable to run it standalone and get it working before even thinking about backplanes and the like. Does the SBC Mark IV have any facility for a timer interrupt or would that be a task for an additional card ?

The other ones I was looking at was Grant Searle's Z80 CP/M on a breadboard which looks like it might also be a fun way of getting up and running as well as a bit more hackable from a 'learning by getting it wrong' perspective (eg adding memory banking using the spare modem control lines on the SIO).

Other question I had was whether anyone is building these in the UK and if so who they are using for component supply - especially the odder bits. Most of it appears available from Rapid but it would be nice to know good places for the odder parts, and the CPUs etc.

Any advice ?

Alan
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