**Note**: This project is no longer under active development. The Classic version of the https://hackaday.io/project/164305-roscom68k project now has versions for all CPUs up to and including 68030.
Currently in the prototype hardware stage (Now ready to send out for a third respin of the prototype PCB after successful bring-up of the second prototype with a few manual fixes).
I'll be posting logs and updates here as things progress!
It's been pretty quiet around here lately, as I've been kind of focused on the Classic Version 2 of the original rosco_m68k , and have also been super busy with my new day job, but things have continued quietly progressing behind the scenes.
The Pro has been through a couple of revisions now. The free-running board I posted about in the last log had some pretty silly mistakes so needed a respin pretty much right away. However, with those fixed the board finally ran some code, and I made a start on the pro-specific firmware, including spinning up the onboard SD card and other things (all made much easier by the fact that a lot of the code can be reused from the Classic).
It's worth noting that it's actually running at 20MHz here, and not 0.0MHz - the speed calculation code wasn't ported to 68030 at this point! Once that was done, we got some sensible speed readouts, and I did a quick Dhrystone run, just to get a feel of it:
Once code was running, I turned my attention to getting the onboard peripherals working, starting with the awesome Xosera video adapter. That led me to discover a few more errors (some silly, some slightly less-so) in the design, which meant some bodge wires and a whole bodge PCB to turn one logic chip into two were needed:
(Notice the bodge PCB daughterboard in the lower left. Also, it's not super-visible in this picture, but the 74245 I'm using for Xosera level shifting in the upper right - the one with the wires - is actually stacked on three sockets to rewire the pins with those bodges).
Closer view of the "bodge daughterboard":
With those hacks in place, we had VGA output!
There's still some issues to work out, notably a (suspected) bus timing issue with the Xosera accesses that's causing some interesting issues when writing to the video RAM quickly (like, when software-scrolling a text screen):
The prototype board I logged about recently came back from the fab, and as a first test (just to sanity check the components really) I got it free-running. Happy to say the CPU and reset / power circuitry seem to be just fine :)
I'm now working on getting it running some actual code. So far I've identified a few issues in the GALs (which I coded blind) and some bodge wires needed on the board, but that's what a prototype is for, after all :D
As soon as I've something to show, I'll update here!
Things are moving pretty fast here, and I recently sent the first prototype rosco_m68k_pro board out for production!
The aim with this is only really to prove out some of the basics of the architecture, and it's missing a lot of stuff that will go on the final boards (such as interchangeable CPU/FPU modules, expansion slots, IDE and lots more), but it will at least prove that the basic 68030 bus architecture works with the programmable logic and that the fundamental design is sound. It'll also prove out the on-board Xosera video adapter (for now on an UPduino, in future boards the FPGA will be on-board too).
That's all for now, I'll update further when I have them back from the fab!
I have been pursuing a 68000 / 68010 S-100 / S100 CPU Board and also a 68030 S-100 / S100 CPU Board as found on S100computers.Com as hosted by John Monahan. These 2 68k boards are by John Monahan. After that / those, there really isn't much to follow on. The available S100 cards are those listed in the "board inventory" here: https://retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boardinventory -- in the S-100 section. But S100 bus is an 8-bit or 16-bit data bus and anything "wider", like a 32-bit data transfer, read or write, has to use an OTP "Over-The-Top" "Bus" Ribbon-Cables. So CPU Card in one slot and the 32-bit RAM Card in the next slot, Side-By-Side, REQUIRED to make this "hack" work. I have put a LOT of money into this approach but IF I see that the ROSCO progress is going to continue, I am seriously thinking about buying YOUR $210 Full Kit for the "Basic Board Version 2. HSS
I've been waiting for this board. I'd love to see you use the Retrobrew computer backplane for this build! I've got a a bare Mini-M68K pcb that I need to build, and a 8-slot backplane
I have been pursuing a 68000 / 68010 S-100 / S100 CPU Board and also a 68030 S-100 / S100 CPU Board as found on S100computers.Com as hosted by John Monahan. These 2 68k boards are by John Monahan. After that / those, there really isn't much to follow on. The available S100 cards are those listed in the "board inventory" here: https://retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boardinventory -- in the S-100 section. But S100 bus is an 8-bit or 16-bit data bus and anything "wider", like a 32-bit data transfer, read or write, has to use an OTP "Over-The-Top" "Bus" Ribbon-Cables. So CPU Card in one slot and the 32-bit RAM Card in the next slot, Side-By-Side, REQUIRED to make this "hack" work. I have put a LOT of money into this approach but IF I see that the ROSCO progress is going to continue, I am seriously thinking about buying YOUR $210 Full Kit for the "Basic Board Version 2. HSS