> I found a dozen or so Xilinx protoboards, size of a punch card
half of it
> open, 2 digit display, couple buttons, some kind of serial looking
> connection, runs off a 9v battery, big socket in the middle
> with a square chip in it of the same name.
It's an XC4003A demo board and it came with tools, demo projects and a cable
to hook it to your PC to program it.
The idea was you could see how easy FPGA use was and then you'd buy 1000s of
them for your next project.
I have the chip datasheet, it's available from freetradezone.com
> Who wants one for $5 and shipping, on the condition they figure
out what it
> is and report back?
Do I qualify for the $5 card? 8^)=
Lee.
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From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com>
>There's been so much unwarranted (IMHO) skepticism about the ability to
transfer
>a solid DEC CPU design into CPLD/FPGA that I'd really like to see
someone try
>it. The DEC folks didn't often do the wierd things that make circuits
act
There are several PDP-8s outther on FPGAs and there is nothing to say
others would
not be doable save for maybe enough gates (CPLDs) to do the job.
>fix the older designs so they'd work fine in current technology, and
probably
>MUCH faster. I'm not interested in DEC stuff myself, but the fact that
there
Potential for speed is definately there using newer technology.
>are several manufacturers making logical equivalents of the DEC CPU's
today
Well most of them are doing it from DEC mask sets under license. I
presume
you mean Alpha and PDP-11 (11/93 class).
>yield 150), you'll get it done. Once the design is entered, simulated,
>synthesized, simulated and tested as implemented, there's room for
fixes. The
If you dont simulate and test the sim you will likely fail.
Allison
From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com>
>tools are *free*. You do have to take the time to learn VHDL but so far
the
>payoff has been worth it for me. I'm having a blast with this thing. My
VHDL.... that was the cost I refer to. Most of me design experience
is pre VHDL availbility. I already have the Lattice Synario and that
bends my mind greatly. I havent used the small 2064 and 3030 FPGAs
I have a good handful of yet. Time is costly for me these days.
>"final" is a PDP-8 w/ Serial terminal (think DECMate in a single chip)
with
>full lights and switches. This chip can do that easily. I don't think it
Major cool. My personal "I'd like to do" is a 32 bit wide '8 by grafting
another 20 bits to the right side of the word and running it fast. Same
instrcution set and the left 5 bits would remain the same. I'd use all
32 bits for OPR instructions to eliminate decoding (one per bit) and
simplify the IOT interface some. Obviously the page (formerly 128
words) would be much bigger but direct addressing of 256MW
out of a 4gb address space wouldn't be a significant shortcomming.
I doubt I'd need to do the EMA. ;)
Allison
>I've never heard of mos-multi-emitter-transistors
Just etch multiple mos structures and have a common gate. Tie drains and
sources as required.
Lee.
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Here's an email I received this morning that I thought I"d
pass on. If interested, please reply to the original sender.
Jeff
>Status: U
>From: "gen" <gen(a)webline.plus.com>
>To: <jhellige(a)earthlink.net>
>Subject: Classic Computer Collection
>Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 15:44:58 +0100
>X-Priority: 3
>
>Hi there
>
>I got your email address from the internet.
>
>I have a substantial collection of 'antique' computers, mostly 'first
>editions' of systems such as Apple, IBM, Sirius, Apricot, Macintosh, Epson,
>etc. These are not old and used, they are in pristine condition in their
>original boxes with manuals, software & literature. In particular I have an
>original Mac (128), 512K, MacPlus, 1st Mac II, Apple //e, //c, software,
>collectables, etc.
>Would you know of anyone interested in buying any of these items? I am
>based in the UK.
>
>Regards
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
I have a PDP-11/23 in a BA-23 enclosure (for example see:
http://www.telnet.hu/hamster/pdp-11/kepek/updp1123.jpg). I rescued this
>from a recycler. Anyone interested in this, I don't collect full
systems -- yet! I am willing to part this out if you need something
specific. Unfortunately the case is cracked and the front and back
bezels and the processor and coprocessor chips are gone. Everything
else is there. I have no idea what components are functional. It would
be great if someone has some use for this, otherwise its going back to
the recycler. Any trades for oldprocessor chips would be appreciated.
Also, I frequently see old minicomputers, such as the PDP-11 at the
scrapyard. I have no idea what is common and what is on everyones most
wanted list. Anyone have any pointers to such a "most wanted list"?
Thanks Norm
From: Richard Erlacher <edick(a)idcomm.com>
>3000A and 3100 series. My old XACT tools unfortunately don't support it
either,
>however, as the tools I bought only went through the 2K series. I've
been
>unable to find the dongle for that, however, though I don't miss it.
The copy of XACT and earlier tools I can use for the 2064s runs fine on
dos
wothout a dongle.
>The OS under which the XILINX tools seem to run best, at least according
to
>their tech support folks, is Win98, though they claim it runs just as
well under
>NT4. I see essentially no difference, myself. There are new tools for
LINUX,
I've run Synario under W95 and WinNT4 without problems.
>by the way, though I don't know how well they work or are supported at
XILINX.
>They are VERY generous with support, however, once you've bought into
their
>tools, even though I only bought the cheapest set.
Yes, they are good but not so cheap.
>I'd not be afraid to give the SPARTAN series a try for building an
experimental
>version of a '70's-'80's generation CPU. They are relatively (choke)
>inexpensive and available in versions with sufficient on-board RAM that
you
>might not need the higher pin counts required to interface external
memory.
>Unfortunately, the high-pin-count parts are hard to prototype.
The real problem is making/buying a protobaord for the high pin count,
that and time to actually do it. I know there are plenty of parts out
ther that
can and many different tools.
Allison
From: Brian Chase <bdc(a)world.std.com>
>Nice, now if I could only get enough info to implement one in TTL. :-)
>Silly, yes, but it would be a fun project.
Well you know the timing, instruction set, internal organization
and register set... what else do you need? Granted VHDL would
be nice but the internal circuit schmatics as built are anything
but TTL.
The biggest difference from the mos version going ttl would
likely result in is a static register cells instead of dynamic
making the result fully stopable.
Allison
From: Heinz Wolter <h.wolter(a)sympatico.ca>
>AMD did have an Ap note on the 2901's that described
>a then fast (I think about 4mhz) version of the 8080.
At 4mhz that was 2x standard 8080 speed. Hitting 8mhz
with (the 1981 parts) with 2901s as Z80 was hard and that
was only 2x. Within a year (1982) there would be 6mhz
z80s and by 1984ish 8mhz z80s.
>IDT later made much faster versions of the 2901 and 2910-
>in CMOS and they were I recall about twice as fast. 2901's
Foo, the 2910 was only soso. Would have liked a faster 2902
or 2911.
>a nice Virtex or Spartan fpga will fit a whole processor
>with up to 1mbit or sram on chip.
Far more interesting, out of my range of tools to do.
Allison
