I received and assembled the Memory boards.  Now i just need some software to put on it!

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been working on the software platform.  

Many modern MSX solutions (kits/emulators) use ROM images extracted from one of the original computers.  These ROM images are easy to find and download.

I could follow this approach for my build, but I prefer a more open-source and legitimate approach. 

Having access to the source code, will allow me to debug and verify the hardware, and be a good starting point to add additional features, such as support for RC2014's serial and IDE boards.

There are 2 key projects that I have been exploring:

1. CBIOS- An open source compatible MSX BIOS.  It does not include a Basic Interpreter.  It's distributed with many of the MSX emulators with a primary focus to enable the loading of various ROM images (typically games).  My fork of this project is at: https://github.com/vipoo/cbios/tree/dean/spike

2. Nextor- This is a fascinating project.  It is based on the original MSX-DOS 2 source code - and now officially opened source and apparently ok to distribute.  MSX-DOS is a CP/M compatible OS,  that is kind of half way between CPM and MS-DOS.  An interesting story within the history of the early home computer OS development.  My fork of this project is at: https://github.com/vipoo/Nextor/tree/dean/spike

These two projects can be used as a foundation for the boot ROM.  They do require a bit of work to meet my needs.  The key enhancements needed were:

1. Create a makefile build system for building nextor in linux.

2. Tweaks/fixes to get nextor and cbios working together.

3. Add an embedded virtual disk image within the nextor rom image - so that the key utilities are available on boot - much like how RomWBW cp/m boots up with a ROM and RAM disk. (Nextor already has support for RAM Disk.)

4. Other fixes/enhancements required to boot up on the rc2014 hardware. 

I have been able to get this all working within an emulator - so the next step is to flash a ROM and power up!