S-100 board PCB planning - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

6 Nov 2010

Hi!  Over the last couple of years several of us at N8VEM,
S100computers.com, and others have been building S-100 boards.  This summer
we did a major update/respin cycle to the boards and made manufactured PCBs
for many builders.  For a while it seemed to satisfy the demand for DIY
hobbyist S-100 PCBs but now the interest is starting to pick up again so I
thought I would send an update to any S-100 enthusiasts on CCTALK.

I will reorder/respin S-100 PCBs once the interest level gets to an
economically viable level for a group purchase.  Normally that is around
25-30 PCBs I know builders want which makes a cost at $20 plus shipping per
PCB affordable for most builders.  This compromise balance seems to work
well and we've produced several S-100 boards this way.  Here are the boards
we've made so far:  

	S-100 regular prototyping board (some remaining)

	S-100 buffered prototyping board (some remaining)

	S-100 backplane (8 slot plus utility circuitry - one left)

	S-100 IDE (hard drive, CD-ROM, CF, ATAPI, etc)

	S-100 parallel ASCII keyboard (just received a new batch of respin
PCBs)

	S-100 4MB SRAM (Flash, etc)

	S-100 system monitor (similar to Jade Bus Probe but two PCB set -
one or two remain)

	S-100 bus extender (with logic probe, indicator LEDs, etc)

	S-100 EPROM (SRAM, EEPROM, Flash, etc)

	S-100 IO (dual serial, USB, voice synthesis, etc)

	S-100 PIC/RTC

All of these have gone through at least one or two internal prototype
iterations plus one or more manufactured PCB orders.  Since we respin the
boards based on builder feedback obviously the later generations of boards
tend to be "cleaner" than the earlier ones.  This is an all volunteer
amateur project so the builders *are* the developers, QA, testers, etc in
addition to using the boards.

There are four boards in active development and/or approaching manufactured
PCB stage

	S-100 Z80 CPU (just ordered first batch of manufactured PCBs after
two rounds of prototype build and test)

	S-100 Console IO (dual Propeller VGA, PS/2 keyboard, microSD,
Ethernet, etc - first iteration prototype boards ordered)

	S-100 ZFDC intelligent floppy drive controller (Z80/WD2793 second
iteration prototype board imminent)

	S-100 68K CPU (first iteration prototype boards ordered)

Please note the above boards no longer *planned* they are actual boards in
some form or another.  There are several more in the planning stages but I
won't waste your time with those since those plans change often.  All of the
schematics, PCB layouts, bill of materials, etc are available on either the
N8VEM wiki or S100Computers.com website including build instructions for the
most part.  

These are noncommercial Do It Yourself (DIY) hobbyist PCBs.  They are not
perfect nor is this a business.  John's apt description from comp.os.cpm
captures it well "Andrew Lynch (at N8VEM) see
(http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/) and I, are in the process of having a few
commercial quality S-100 cards made for ourselves. If others are interested
in obtaining a bare card, let Andrew or I know. Please note these would be
bare cards, a schematic and that's it. Building the board and implementing
CPM etc., you are on your own. This is not a project for first timers."

In other words, if you want to play along that's great but this is purely
"CAVEAT EMPTOR" and there are no assurances, guarantees, or warrantees on
any aspect of the boards.

Please this is offered as an information post to interested vintage/classic
computer hobbyists not an invitation for flames and pointless criticisms.
Please be courteous and keep those to yourself.  As always, questions,
comments and *constructive* criticism welcome.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch