Hello all,
In a recent thread I mentioned how I was perusing an 80 column card for my COLECO ADAM so I'd be able to run CP/M on it... for no good reason. Said upgrades are basically unobtainable so how to do my own..?
Moving on I came up with a serial to PS/2 and Video board (aka: hardware serial terminal emulator with knobs on) to test the concept as that's how the ADAM does it - if I ever find sufficient info on how the ADAMnet interface works.
As I often do this lead me down the rabbit-hole "How do I test the board I've got, assuming I ever get it built?" Make my own CP/M / BASIC computer with a serial interface based on the Z80 of course! So here they are:
Serial IO Board
Z80 CP/M and BASIC Single Board Computer
Both designs will happily run independently of each-other, so if you want a PS/2 and Video interface board for any computer than can handle a serial terminal this should do the job with fast scrolling and graphics support. Equally the Z80 computer will interface quite happily over a serial link to terminal software, but the two are designed such that the IO board will plug directly in to the computer board.
That was all rather more work than I intended but now the designs are done it would be unfair not to share. If anyone is interested in the designs / schematics, or indeed might like a board when (at some point) I get round to getting the boards fabricated for testing, feel free to let me know. Also suggestions welcome. The designs have lots of scope so applications beyond a CP/M based toy should be possible.
IO Board:
-PS/2 keyboard connection
-PAL or NTSC composite out (B/W)
-ANSI subset to allow support for serial terminal commands
-Much expanded instruction set to allow for full screen scrolling and graphics
-Fast as it does all it's own processing and doesn't eat any system memory
CP/M Computer:
-Nine IC's for a full 64k CP/M and BASIC Z80 computer!
-Two independent serial ports
-Support for CF storage up to 128mb as storage in multiple partitions
-File transfer facilitated by serial terminal and transfer software
Together:
-Both boards will result in a very small and quite fast stand-alone computer with either PAL or NTSC composite out and a keyboard connector
PS
The board designs are mine but I'm not knowledgeable enough to come up with my own CP/M computer and then write all the support software to make it work. This is heavily based on Grant Searle's excellent work and really all credit should go to him. I just adapted his design in to practicable schematics that could then be used as a basis for PCB layout and manufacture.
PPS
I'd swear there's an Arduino-based GFX board with a serial interface for adding sprites and colour to 8-bit computers. That project might be fun to incorporate, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called.
- - - Updated - - -
Ahh, Gameduino was the puppy, I think.
http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/
In a recent thread I mentioned how I was perusing an 80 column card for my COLECO ADAM so I'd be able to run CP/M on it... for no good reason. Said upgrades are basically unobtainable so how to do my own..?
Moving on I came up with a serial to PS/2 and Video board (aka: hardware serial terminal emulator with knobs on) to test the concept as that's how the ADAM does it - if I ever find sufficient info on how the ADAMnet interface works.
As I often do this lead me down the rabbit-hole "How do I test the board I've got, assuming I ever get it built?" Make my own CP/M / BASIC computer with a serial interface based on the Z80 of course! So here they are:
Serial IO Board
Z80 CP/M and BASIC Single Board Computer
Both designs will happily run independently of each-other, so if you want a PS/2 and Video interface board for any computer than can handle a serial terminal this should do the job with fast scrolling and graphics support. Equally the Z80 computer will interface quite happily over a serial link to terminal software, but the two are designed such that the IO board will plug directly in to the computer board.
That was all rather more work than I intended but now the designs are done it would be unfair not to share. If anyone is interested in the designs / schematics, or indeed might like a board when (at some point) I get round to getting the boards fabricated for testing, feel free to let me know. Also suggestions welcome. The designs have lots of scope so applications beyond a CP/M based toy should be possible.
IO Board:
-PS/2 keyboard connection
-PAL or NTSC composite out (B/W)
-ANSI subset to allow support for serial terminal commands
-Much expanded instruction set to allow for full screen scrolling and graphics
-Fast as it does all it's own processing and doesn't eat any system memory
CP/M Computer:
-Nine IC's for a full 64k CP/M and BASIC Z80 computer!
-Two independent serial ports
-Support for CF storage up to 128mb as storage in multiple partitions
-File transfer facilitated by serial terminal and transfer software
Together:
-Both boards will result in a very small and quite fast stand-alone computer with either PAL or NTSC composite out and a keyboard connector
PS
The board designs are mine but I'm not knowledgeable enough to come up with my own CP/M computer and then write all the support software to make it work. This is heavily based on Grant Searle's excellent work and really all credit should go to him. I just adapted his design in to practicable schematics that could then be used as a basis for PCB layout and manufacture.
PPS
I'd swear there's an Arduino-based GFX board with a serial interface for adding sprites and colour to 8-bit computers. That project might be fun to incorporate, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called.
- - - Updated - - -
Ahh, Gameduino was the puppy, I think.
http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/
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