This computer will be a learning experience for me. I will make many mistakes that you the reader will probably see long before I make them. With that said, input is greatly apprechiated. I am by no means an engineer (yet) but maybe this will help me get closer.
The main goal of this project, however, is to build myself a computer around the 8085 cpu using mainly of-the-time components. It will include a ton of chips, and I will probably try to find use for the many chips I have lying around.
As of right now, these are the planned features:
- Intel P8085A clocked at 3MHz
- Custom, propietary bus interface using .1" headers (mostly so I don't have to come up with a way to use card edge connectors without buying things or etching pcb's)
- 8k SRAM board, 12k DRAM board to begin with
- Bank switch for up to four memory banks (planning on switching the upper 16k of ram, but we'll see what happens)
- EPROM burner
- IDE interface (floppy seemed really difficult without a dedicated controller, and ATA can be done mostly in software with minimal hardware, from what I understand)
- PS/2 keyboard
- RS-232 port
- GPU of sorts. Output will be VGA. I won't spill the beans on my idea for this yet, but it will probably involve some sort of modern microcontroller, or a Z80.... Stay tuned
This is really cool. It's quite elegant. Keep up the good work and keep us posted! :D