Dennis Bernardo D'Annunzio
My main current project is a S-100/IEEE696 replica computer. The initial version has all new-built boards, a modern power supply, a new card cage and enclosure. I am currently building and testing the board set (including the baseboard). Below are some outlines of my current project and thoughts. I hope to contribute more in the future as things progress and time permits (images, text docs, eda docs, etc.)
- Board Set Build and Test (in progress)
- S100 Z80 SBC
- S100 Propeller based I/O (rear panel)
- S100 V4 Baseboard
- S100 Monitor (front panel)
- Enclosure Design (SW or PRO/E) (in progress)
- Card Cage
- PS Cage
- Main Case/Chassis
- Front Panel
- Rear Panel
- Designed within the constraints of available machining tools
- Software Setup/Work (from S100)
- Monitor ROM (from S100)
- CP/M BIOS and setup (CF on SBC)
Once the computer is completed, I am interested in using the computer for a few projects. The enclosure work will take the longest, but I can start using the computer once the board set is completed and tested. I have a lot of experience with Atmel ATMEGA uC and hope to put some of these devices inside an S100.
- MIDI interface - leverage the realtime capability of the S100 system (without interrupts) to create a tight MIDI sequencer
- Features and UI similar to Roland MC50 and/or MC80
- both of those have 2 line LCD interface that works well (no piano roll)
- hardware UI with buttons and scroll wheel
- Workstation and Live type functions
- record/overdub
- Looping
- rhythm track
- Multiple MIDI ports, programmatically assigned (in/out/merge/filter/etc.)
- FPGA Personality Driver for CPU (Master/Slave) Board
- Emulate one (or multiple) CPU boards, new or vintage
- Emulate disk images
- Use FPGA/Atmel ATMEGA combo core
- Use Atmel for A/D (and D/A)
- Use Atmel for user main loops after setup of FPGA, utilize RS232 interface or other between them.
- Also possibly use Atmel chip for bootloader interface to S-100 bus (using SIO interface)
- Direct bus to FPGA - FPGA for interface logic
- i8080
- i8085
- i8086 (x86): i80186, i80286, i80386,i80486
- z80
- m6805
- m68000?, etc.
- specific mfg boards, from Cromemco, IMSAI, Ithaca?, etc.
- GPS RTC board
- Always correct, based on GPS time and GPS location
- Possible DMA/memory mapped interfaces?
- Vacuum Tube System Monitor (front panel or external)
- programmable display
- steampunk
- References
- Touch screen System Monitor (front panel) (modern)
- Power supply telemetry (voltage, current, temps)
- It's about time RFU was used, eh? How about an i2c bus?
- (bluesky) Baseboard upgrade with per-slot power supply telemetry (voltage, current)
- (bluesky) Baseboard upgrade with programmable per-slot power supply voltages and telemetry
- It's about time RFU was used, eh? Ethernet/twisted pair - wist traces on PCB as necessary, slot interconnect interleave