Hello all
I was born 1966 in Prague, Czech republic in Central Europe. I began with my fathers BBC Micro (6502) and it was the only one of kind in our country at that time. Over years it got Z80 coprocessor, CP/M and I wrote my first serious program iterpreter of Karel (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_(programming_language) ) - over 1.000 lines, with graphics, disc save/load/export/import and all
Then came Velvet Revolution (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution ) and I was in the centre too, getting each evening handfull of discettes with unknown structures, filesystems, probabelly containing files from unknown text editors with unknown encodings (there was plenty in use use and even more just somehow hacked together) from all sources to decypher this somehow so Civic Forum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Forum could act on it next day. Somehow I managed it every night with help of improvised programs and tools and then spend day sleeping to be ready for another night shift. We won and get from East to West. Not long after I successfully finished my studies on Charles University, was able to buy my first PC (mighty 286 on stunning 16MHz with unthinkable 20GB HDD) and start creating software, mainly database related (with my own engibne writen i Pascal, which was able to use DBase 3 datafiles, but had better indexes). Everything escalated fast - computers, programs, income, prices, availability... now I have an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (12/24 cores/threads), 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD + 8TB HDD amongth others computers.
I started on DOS and used it long after Windows introduction. I start using it around Win98, then changed to Win XP, but was not happy with it (mainly for the tendency to "know better than me" what I want a blocking my ways whenever possible). Then I met Linux and it was love at first sight - a system that did what I told (well, not everytime what I want, but it was mine mistakes, not its bad will) and had accessible source code. So I switched to it and never looked back. In this millennium I used it for everything - work, home, games, fun ... . Now I use Gentoo with Fluxbox and 12 virtual desktops, witch fits me best.
As for electronics, I started in school a little, but as there was not much to do (hunted any LEDs for few months, finally get 2 and was lucky, owned one MH111 (~7400), ...) so I didn't progress significantly. Much later Arduino was introduced here and I took another chance. Bought Starter Kit and played with it. I made lot of small gadgets, while swithing to more portable format, like Arduino Nano. I got from the historical "We bought a computer, but where on earth do we put it?" to the "I bought another computer, but where on earth did I put it?"
I found myself engrossed in Martin Malý's (Adent) series of retrocomputers
OMEN. Promptly, I acquired the
Alpha (8085) ,
Bravo (65C02), and
Kilo (6809/6309) models. I successfully assembled and brought the Kilo to life (soldering pre-made parts is easy), but then happened "things" in real-world.
Few years later (last year) I started again. I recognized the need for additional storage for programs. Considering the bulkiness of punch cards and the impracticality of tape recorders, I put my eyes on SD card. Also RTS would be nice to know, what was earlier and what later. And ... also ... oh boy, I so need some devices ... But the SBC had just one RX/TX connector and I did not know, how to start with whole thing ...
but I had lot of Arduinos around and anything can be connected to Arduino, so if I could somehow connect Arduino to the 6309 SBC, I would be able connect like everything
After lot of work I finished first version of
Expanduino - 4 addresses for 4 read and 4 write registers, like in 6855 ACIA - 74HC165 and 74HC195 provided 8bit paralel in/out for 6309 and SPI for Arduino. Each backed up with edge-triggered RS, which kept status, who should next use the chip, all RS collected in status register. Some glue logic and LEDs around, only two errors in positive/negative logic mismatch, but it was fixable. I2C connectors for RTC, SPI connectors for SD card and Arduino socket. Thera are schemas on the enod of the page, but only in default KiCad light green and yellow. But
here is KiCad source (for details and possibility of other color schemas, like black and white).
I then programmed my own EEPROM (now around 6.5kB, named
Castor) which can fully boot the 6309 and work with or without Expanduino. It can make new EEPROMS from IHEX, and with Expanduino preset, read its files, type them, or run IHEX and some more tricks. Accordingly I also programmed the Arduino, to support all of this.
Here it lays - Expanduino with both modules on the left, OMEN Kilo (6309) on the right
Attachment:
Expanduino_I_galerie_DSC_7885.s.jpg [ 542.39 KiB | Viewed 3991 times ]
It works, but it is slow (mainly because of the Arduino interface and its suboptimal code) and the original ACIA have no flow controll possible, so I start planning more razant improvements. Flow Controll, PS/2 keyboard, direct video output, paralel ports ... the name will be
Comp24. But it needed more knowledge, so I was searching internet and many times foud GARTHWILSONs and many others pages pointing to this forum, so after some time I registered here.
I know, that HD63C09 is not exactly 65C02, but the hardware around is not so different and I also plan to awake the Alpha (8085) and Bravo(65C02) kits and then integrate them to one versatible computer system. At least I hope now to do it someday
I am sorry for my English, but it is forth language I learned and I can read in it much better, than I can write. But I hope, that even if not fluent, it could be understood somehow
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Take it from me, you’re much better off sitting at an electronics bench playing with 6502 gadgets than you are teetering on a wobbly step-ladder doing “honey do” work, such as installing new light fixtures, painting the ceiling, etc.