A 68000 based VME SBC with OS/9

Description

I've always thought the 68000 processor was a very elegant design and have had several computers in the past based on this processor. Recently, while reading through the 68000 projects here on Hackaday and throughout the Internet, I suddenly felt a slight pain in my wallet and a short time later this VME bus SBC board showed up in the mail. I have no idea how this project will go but I'm in it for the long run. My first steps are to try acquire any documentation I can on this board, put together a small VME chassis, and see if it boots.

Files

greenspring sbc1 front panel.svg

Pinouts for front panel ja and jb connectors. Shows serial port pins.

svg+xml - 28.23 kB - 10/03/2019 at 01:10

Preview

Components

1 × Greenspring SBC1 VMEbus CPU Module 3U VMEbus Single board computer with Motorola 68000 CPU and OS-9 Roms

1 × Valmet Automation VME-06 Backplane A 6 slot, VME backplane with power connector for slot-mounted PSU

1 × Power-One MAP80-4010 PSU Switch mode psu outputs +5V @ 14A, -5V @ 1A, +12v @ 4A, and -12v @ 3A

Project Logs

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VME Backplane Voltages
Jrsphoto • 10/07/2019 at 05:13 • 0 comments

   I picked up a VME backplane recently, not exactly necessary to power up the card but it will make things much easier. It will also allow me to add other cards, like a SCSI controller or VGA graphics controller. I'll likely make a cage around the backplane using 2020 extrusions and 3D print the card guides.

   The one issue with this backplane is the rather non-standard power supply connection. This backplane was designed for use with a 3U Eurocard sized power supply, which would have had a mating connector and supplied power to the entire VME bus. I think I've got the pins mapped out to the proper voltages but I need to try find the pinouts of this connector before I actually power things up.

   The power supply I will be using with this is a Power-One MAP80-4010. This switch mode psu outputs +5V @ 14A, -5V @ 1A, +12v @ 4A, and -12v @ 3A. Should be perfect for a small system with maybe 3 boards.
   As always, if your reading this page and have information about the CPU board or this backplane, please let me know.