31 Jul
2007
31 Jul
'07
5:10 a.m.
Thanks for your advice, Tony. To address question #1,
I'm honestly not too
sure. I figure ha wih the early micros, there is documentation, where as
something completely homebrew, there is little, if any. What I need to find
is a good resource for electronic circuit design. I have a book called "How
to Build Your Own Working Microcomputer" that I bought for under a dollar at
a thrift store. I still need to finish it, but it doesn't seem to be much
help in that respect.
I guess now is a good time to put in a plug for the CUBIX system.
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/d6809/index.htm
This is a completely home-grown hardware/software computer I designed in the 80s
which is fairly powerful. The OS includes over 100 system calls, applications
include many utilities, several text editors, Assembler, BASIC, Micro-APL, a C
compiler, an 8080 simulator and more. I've released source code to everything
execpt the C compiler (which I still sell in another form).
The system is based on a Motorola 6809 processor. The one shown on the page above
is the first one I built, which is fairly complex because it is a portable with
integrated video, keyboard, and has a few other "goodies" grafted on, however
you
can build up a functional CUBIX system with fairly minimal hardware (iirc about
20 ICs). The software is designed to be VERY portable - in fact, you can port CUBIX
to new hardware from just the ROM image - you don't even need the source code (unless
it's a major port to vastly different hardware).
If you look in the "documentation" section, you will find complete
documentation
for the operating system and applications, as well as a porting guide which will
help you get it up and running on new hardware. If you look in "My minimal hardware
notes" you will find a three page schematic for a basic CUBIX system.
[At one time I sold CUBIX as a product... I believe you will find the
documentation is much better that you would expect for a home-grown system]
I've also posted a simulator which will let you boot up and check out CUBIX on a
PC - so you can "try before you buy" and decide if this is a system you would
want
to invest time in building.
Over the years, I've built probably a dozen of these systems, and I know a number of
others who have built them from my posted material. I've built up systems in under a
day... As a newbie, you should plan to take a little longer than that :-) ... but
it's not a huge project.
Any questions - drop me a line.
Regards,
Dave
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html