[N8VEM: 19765] Three questions

[Christopher Trumbour]

Hello, so, got some questions for my mostly-complete N8VEM build.

1) After following all the guides, information, and schematics available on
the wiki, I got my board assembled... except for one thing that was
mentioned NOWHERE in the anything: K13. Take a look, it's next to RR1:


<Loading Image...>

There's zero documentation about this jumper, and I didn't even order the
header for it since I didn't know it existed. What does it do? I asked Ed
Snider about this in an email, and didn't get a reply. (???)


2) If I am going to be able to do anything with this, I will either need to
get a working serial terminal or build a backplane and an I/O board. Since
I had so much fun making the N8VEM (despite all the cursing with socketing
the chips and some soldering flubs I had to fix) and that I don't have a
*working* serial terminal, I'm going to build a backplane and I/O board.
Now, the 8-slot backplane is currently on backorder, but there's a 12-slot
backplane listed as being in stock for $15 more. Should I get the 12-slot,
or wait for the 8-slot? I asked John Coffman about this in an email, and
didn't get a reply. (??????)


3) I want to buy the Prop I/O V2 board, as that seems like the best way to
get I/O going with this thing. I asked Wayne Warthen about buying one in an
email, and didn't get a reply. (?????????) Are you guys all alright?? I
hope nothing bad has happened to anyone!


Thanks guys, I can't wait to get this fully going!

-Christopher

[Sergey]

Christopher,

First of all keep in mind that it is a hobby project, and most of the
people here have day time job, family, summer vacations, and other things
that might prolong response time. So please be patient. Most of the people
are pretty responsive.

1. K13 appears to be a reset pin selection switch. The original N8VEM
design had reset input / output not wired correctly according to ECB
standard. Later on most of N8VEM implemented a switch to select what pin is
used for reset input. The switch setting will depend on similar switch
setting on your other boards, so that they will use the same pin for reset
signal.

Number of slots - your own choice... I think 8 slots is more than enough (I
think I have only 5 slots populated). But then if board size and additional
expense is not an issue for you and you don't want to wait - get a 12 slot
backplane.

2. The SBC can be used stand alone, without backplane and any additional
boards. I assume you do have a PC. You can use it as a terminal, just run a
terminal emulation software (putty, hyperterm, screen, minicom, etc.). If
you have a fairly modern computer without serial port, you might need to
purchase a USB to serial converter.

3. This depends on your I/O needs. Prop I/O V2 is an easy way to get
terminal and SD card for storage.

Post by Christopher Trumbour
Hello, so, got some questions for my mostly-complete N8VEM build.
1) After following all the guides, information, and schematics available
on the wiki, I got my board assembled... except for one thing that was
<http://i.imgur.com/DhxcSVU.jpg>
There's zero documentation about this jumper, and I didn't even order the
header for it since I didn't know it existed. What does it do? I asked Ed
Snider about this in an email, and didn't get a reply. (???)
2) If I am going to be able to do anything with this, I will either need
to get a working serial terminal or build a backplane and an I/O board.
Since I had so much fun making the N8VEM (despite all the cursing with
socketing the chips and some soldering flubs I had to fix) and that I don't
have a *working* serial terminal, I'm going to build a backplane and I/O
board. Now, the 8-slot backplane is currently on backorder, but there's a
12-slot backplane listed as being in stock for $15 more. Should I get the
12-slot, or wait for the 8-slot? I asked John Coffman about this in an
email, and didn't get a reply. (??????)
3) I want to buy the Prop I/O V2 board, as that seems like the best way to
get I/O going with this thing. I asked Wayne Warthen about buying one in an
email, and didn't get a reply. (?????????) Are you guys all alright?? I
hope nothing bad has happened to anyone!
Thanks guys, I can't wait to get this fully going!
-Christopher

[Christopher Trumbour]

hello Christopher,
E336755
GC-1 94V-0
I order it in 06/2011 to Andrew Linch
but K13 not exist on my board, sorry I cannot help you
I own also the backplane 12 slot, but only 4 boards to put into !!!
the SBC Z80, a PROP_I/O, a bus monitor and a disk_I/O
at his time, only the SBC Z80 works
to test it, you need only a +5V and Hyper Terminal (or TeraTerm...)
excuse my bad english, but I am french
Pierre Roussiere from Nîmes, south of France

Hello Pierre,

I know about the on-board serial on the SBC, but I do not have a serial
*port* on my desktop computer. They stopped including those a long time
ago! Also, my serial terminal is broken (the PCBs for the CRT are
physically broken) so I need to make an I/O solution.

Also why did you directly email me instead of post to the thread on the
group? I'm going to quote your email in the thread.

-Christopher

[oscarv]

Christopher,

Post by Christopher Trumbour
1) After following all the guides, information, and schematics available
on the wiki, I got my board assembled... except for one thing that was

Here's an old thread about K13:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/n8vem/K13/n8vem/xax575CELBs/XN8lRCNRdqQJ

Post by Christopher Trumbour

Post by Christopher Trumbour
2) If I am going to be able to do anything with this, I will either need

to get a working serial terminal or build a backplane and an I/O board.


I'd recommend a RS232 to USB cable and good old puTTY. USB-RS-232 cables
cost very little these days, and before you proceed with other boards it
helps to ensure the SBC itself works.

Post by Christopher Trumbour

Post by Christopher Trumbour
Are you guys all alright?? I hope nothing bad has happened to anyone!

It is getting a bit quiet here, indeed. That the repository is now behind a
password wall does not help, probably. Hope that gets solved. I still
massively like the N8VEM SBC v2. Although there's newer and bigger boards,
the simplicity of the original SBCv2 makes it attractive still. You don't
really need more to enjoy "serious" Z80 computing.


Regards,


Oscar.

[Christopher Trumbour]

Okay, thank you all for the information!
So now I know what that jumper is for. I'll have to get the header for it,
though. And I assume the correct position is the default (nearest to RR1)?

As for the on-board serial, okay I could use a Serial-to-USB adapter, but
now I have to make the cable to go to the N8VEM... and I don't know how to
do that. It looks kind of terrifying! I've done cable work before, but not
where soldering was needed!

And the only reason I brought up the lack of a response from 3 separate
people is because it's been nearly a week since I asked them all and
haven't gotten any sort of reply. That got me a bit worried about their
wellbeing, like how the guy that made Enhanced BASIC suddenly just *died*
one day...
<Loading Image...>

[Wayne Warthen]

Hi Christopher,

Very sorry, but never saw your email. Not sure what happened. I have
PropIO boards in stock, but strongly suggest you get serial I/O working
first (using USB connector as suggested previously). It is very hard to
track down problems with 3 boards (SBC + backplane + PropIO) compared to
just the one board.

My correct email address is ***@gmail.com. Contact me there when you
are ready to order a PropIO. If you don't get a response in 24 hours, post
here again.

Thanks,

Wayne

Post by Christopher Trumbour
Okay, thank you all for the information!
So now I know what that jumper is for. I'll have to get the header for it,
though. And I assume the correct position is the default (nearest to RR1)?
As for the on-board serial, okay I could use a Serial-to-USB adapter, but
now I have to make the cable to go to the N8VEM... and I don't know how to
do that. It looks kind of terrifying! I've done cable work before, but not
where soldering was needed!
And the only reason I brought up the lack of a response from 3 separate
people is because it's been nearly a week since I asked them all and
haven't gotten any sort of reply. That got me a bit worried about their
wellbeing, like how the guy that made Enhanced BASIC suddenly just *died*
one day...
<http://junks.holenet.info/SA_emotes/emot-ohdear.png>

[John Coffman]

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Christopher,<br>
<br>
Like Wayne, I never received any e-mail from you.&nbsp; I checked my
Gmail spam folder, and it did not end up there.&nbsp; So where the e-mail
got lost is a mystery. <br>
<br>
<br>
On 07/06/2015 01:49 PM, Christopher Trumbour wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:47b20c01-8135-4042-9a8a-***@googlegroups.com"
type="cite">2) If I am going to be able to do anything with this,
I will either need to get a working serial terminal or build a
backplane and an I/O board. Since I had so much fun making the
N8VEM (despite all the cursing with socketing the chips and some
soldering flubs I had to fix) and that I don't have a <i>working</i>
serial terminal, I'm going to build a backplane and I/O board.
Now, the 8-slot backplane is currently on backorder, but there's a
12-slot backplane listed as being in stock for $15 more. Should I
get the 12-slot, or wait for the 8-slot? I asked John Coffman
about this in an email, and didn't get a reply. (??????)</blockquote>
<br>
There is plenty of documentation on the Wiki regarding the 2
backplanes.&nbsp; The line of 8-slot backplanes have the distinction of
being double thickness (1/8"), and are a much smaller size that the
only 12-slot backplane that is in anyone's inventory.<br>
<br>
The Extended (12-slot) backplane was intended for a specific chassis
which is often on eBay, the Siemens/Simatic 505-6508, photos of
which are posted.&nbsp; This board is single thickness (1/16"), since a
thicker board will not fit into the slots in that chassis.<br>
<br>
The revised 8-slot backplane, documentation for which is already
on-line, should be available by the end of the month.<br>
<br>
--John<br> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:***@gmail.com">&lt;***@gmail.com&gt;</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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[Christopher Trumbour]

Post by Sergey
Christopher,
Like Wayne, I never received any e-mail from you. I checked my Gmail spam
folder, and it did not end up there. So where the e-mail got lost is a
mystery.

Bizzare! I'll wait for the 8-slot then, I guess?

Also, I DID get your reply this morning, Wayne, and sent a payment for the
Prop I/O V2 PCB. I'll get the missing jumper pins for my SBC with the parts
order for it.

But first... gonna need an EPROM eraser, a USB-to-Serial adapter, and the
materials to make the serial cable...

[Kip Koon]

Hi All,

Wouldn’t old Intel based PC serial cables from older computers work on the 10 pin serial ports of the N8VEM PCBs? That is what I was using when I was testing my Mark IV with the TEST.bin file in the flash rom chip



Kip Koon

***@sc.rr.com

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





From: ***@googlegroups.com [mailto:***@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Trumbour
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 12:55 PM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Cc: ***@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM: 19784] Three questions



On Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 1:06:32 AM UTC-4, John Coffman wrote:

Christopher,

Like Wayne, I never received any e-mail from you. I checked my Gmail spam folder, and it did not end up there. So where the e-mail got lost is a mystery.


Bizzare! I'll wait for the 8-slot then, I guess?

Also, I DID get your reply this morning, Wayne, and sent a payment for the Prop I/O V2 PCB. I'll get the missing jumper pins for my SBC with the parts order for it.

But first... gonna need an EPROM eraser, a USB-to-Serial adapter, and the materials to make the serial cable...
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[John Coffman]

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<br>
On 07/06/2015 01:49 PM, Christopher Trumbour wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:47b20c01-8135-4042-9a8a-***@googlegroups.com"
type="cite">1) After following all the guides, information, and
schematics available on the wiki, I got my board assembled...
except for one thing that was mentioned NOWHERE in the anything:
K13. Take a look, it's next to RR1:<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
I believe the K13 issue came up less than a month ago.&nbsp; The missing
documentation is within the Kicad zip file:<br>
<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/file/76598165/ECB%20SBC%20V2-003.zip">http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/file/76598165/ECB%20SBC%20V2-003.zip</a><br>
<br>
which is the file most recently uploaded to the Wiki.&nbsp; The PCB and
Schematic Kicad files have never been converted to .PDF format.<br>
<br>
I just updated the Jumper-Settings page on the Wiki.<br>
<br>
--John<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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[F1FCO]

hello Christopher,
I own an “old” SBC Z80 board from N8VEM with the marks :
E336755
GC-1 94V-0
I order it in 06/2011 to Andrew Linch

but K13 not exist on my board, sorry I cannot help you

I own also the backplane 12 slot, but only 4 boards to put into !!!
the SBC Z80, a PROP_I/O, a bus monitor and a disk_I/O
at his time, only the SBC Z80 works
you have a terminal output on the Z80 board :
to test it, you need only a +5V and Hyper Terminal (or TeraTerm...)

excuse my bad english, but I am french

Pierre Roussiere from Nîmes, south of France


From: Christopher Trumbour
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2015 10:49 PM
To: ***@googlegroups.com
Subject: [N8VEM: 19765] Three questions

Hello, so, got some questions for my mostly-complete N8VEM build.

1) After following all the guides, information, and schematics available on the wiki, I got my board assembled... except for one thing that was mentioned NOWHERE in the anything: K13. Take a look, it's next to RR1:




There's zero documentation about this jumper, and I didn't even order the header for it since I didn't know it existed. What does it do? I asked Ed Snider about this in an email, and didn't get a reply. (???)



2) If I am going to be able to do anything with this, I will either need to get a working serial terminal or build a backplane and an I/O board. Since I had so much fun making the N8VEM (despite all the cursing with socketing the chips and some soldering flubs I had to fix) and that I don't have a working serial terminal, I'm going to build a backplane and I/O board. Now, the 8-slot backplane is currently on backorder, but there's a 12-slot backplane listed as being in stock for $15 more. Should I get the 12-slot, or wait for the 8-slot? I asked John Coffman about this in an email, and didn't get a reply. (??????)



3) I want to buy the Prop I/O V2 board, as that seems like the best way to get I/O going with this thing. I asked Wayne Warthen about buying one in an email, and didn't get a reply. (?????????) Are you guys all alright?? I hope nothing bad has happened to anyone!



Thanks guys, I can't wait to get this fully going!

-Christopher

[John Coffman]

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Pierre,<br>
<br>
Your board would be SBC v1 (likely) or SBC v2 (early revision).&nbsp;
These would be considered "N8VEM legacy" reset; namely,<br>
peripheral Reset comes out on pin C-31, with pin C-26 not used.&nbsp;
This represented a misinterpretation of the original Kontron
pin-out.<br>
<br>
The Kontron connection is interpreted as pin C-26 used for
peripheral Reset, sent out by the CPU board to all peripherals on
the bus.&nbsp; Pin C-31 is interpreted as Reset_In to the CPU board from
a SPST momentary switch, likely a "RESET" pushbutton.<br>
<br>
The purpose of the K13 jumper, which may have different designations
on various newer boards, allows for the board to interpret the
C-26/C-31 pin combination in either "N8VEM legacy" or "Kontron
compatible" mode.<br>
<br>
ALL BOARDS IN A SYSTEM SHOULD BE JUMPERED THE SAME WAY.&nbsp; If some
boards do not have the equivalent of the K13 jumper, then all boards
that do should be jumpered for "N8VEM legacy".<br>
<br>
--John<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 07/06/2015 02:20 PM, F1FCO wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:***@PCi5"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Calibri'; color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<div>hello Christopher,</div>
<div>I own an &acirc;&#8364;&#339;old&acirc;&#8364;&#157; SBC Z80 board from N8VEM with the
marks :</div>
<div>E336755</div>
<div>GC-1 94V-0</div>
<div>I order it in 06/2011 to Andrew Linch</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>but K13 not exist on my board, sorry&nbsp; I cannot help you</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>I own also the backplane 12 slot, but only 4 boards to
put into !!!</div>
<div>the SBC Z80, a PROP_I/O, a bus monitor and a disk_I/O</div>
<div>at his time, only the SBC Z80 works</div>
<div>you have a terminal output on the Z80 board :</div>
<div>to test it, you need only a +5V and Hyper Terminal (or
TeraTerm...)</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>excuse my bad english, but I am french</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Pierre Roussiere from N&Atilde;&reg;mes, south of France</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<div style="font: 10pt tahoma;">
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(245,
245, 245);">
<div style=""><b>From:</b> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
title="***@gmail.com"
href="mailto:***@gmail.com">Christopher
Trumbour</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Monday, July 06, 2015 10:49 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
title="***@googlegroups.com"
href="mailto:***@googlegroups.com">***@googlegroups.com</a>
</div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> [N8VEM: 19765] Three questions</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: small; text-decoration: none;
font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;; font-weight: normal;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; display: inline;">
<div dir="ltr">Hello, so, got some questions for my
mostly-complete N8VEM build.<br>
<br>
1) After following all the guides, information, and
schematics available on the wiki, I got my board
assembled... except for one thing that was mentioned
NOWHERE in the anything: K13. Take a look, it's next to
RR1:<br>
&nbsp;<br>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: center; clear:
both;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">There's zero documentation about this jumper, and
I didn't even order the header for it since I didn't
know it existed. What does it do? I asked Ed Snider
about this in an email, and didn't get a reply. (???)</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">2) If I am going to be able to do anything with
this, I will either need to get a working serial
terminal or build a backplane and an I/O board. Since I
had so much fun making the N8VEM (despite all the
cursing with socketing the chips and some soldering
flubs I had to fix) and that I don't have a <i>working</i>
serial terminal, I'm going to build a backplane and I/O
board. Now, the 8-slot backplane is currently on
backorder, but there's a 12-slot backplane listed as
being in stock for $15 more. Should I get the 12-slot,
or wait for the 8-slot? I asked John Coffman about this
in an email, and didn't get a reply. (??????)</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">3) I want to buy the Prop I/O V2 board, as that
seems like the best way to get I/O going with this
thing. I asked Wayne Warthen about buying one in an
email, and didn't get a reply. (?????????) Are you guys
all alright?? I hope nothing bad has happened to anyone!</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">Thanks guys, I can't wait to get this fully
going!</p>
<p class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear:
both;">-Christopher<br>
</p>
</div>
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