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A project log for rosco_m68k

A full-featured Motorola 68k retro computer, starring a 68010 running at 10MHz

ross-bamfordRoss Bamford 03/29/2020 at 19:010 Comments

The revision 1 PCBs I mentioned previously took about a week to arrive from JLCPCB, and I'm just as happy with them quality-wise as I was with the revision zero boards. They also represent the first boards that were designed (well, updated) in KiCad and exported for manufacture from there, and I'm pleased to say there were no unforeseen issues. I'm really liking KiCad now I've gotten used to it, and don't miss EAGLE at all. 

With this milestone passed, I'm looking to start offering the computer in kit form on Tindie! The first iteration will be a sort-of "dev kit", in that it will be most suitable for hackers and devs, and I've been hard at work getting the software tidied up in preparation for that. The kits will come pre-loaded with the serial boot loader firmware and I've put together a "starter project" to easily spin-up an assembly or C project that's compatible with that so it'll be really easy to get started with the board.

That said, it's not all work and no play - I've also spent a bit of time porting some recreational software. Here's a screenshot of Jeff Tranter's 'Adventure' running on the r1 board, loaded via Kermit:

With lots of new development in the firmware and software, as well as the hacker-friendly improvements in the revision 1 board (GPIOs, timers, external interrupt capabilities and compatibility with "legacy" MC6800 peripherals included!) there's a lot of fun to be had with this board. I hope to be shipping kits in the next couple of weeks, and will update here as soon as I can.

Oh, and before I go, here's how the revision 1 looks when populated and working:

With this revision of the main board done, I'm turning my attention to peripherals. I already have a couple of graphics chips to play with and have ordered a few bits for experimenting with mass storage too, so watch this space for lots more development to come! 

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