I’ve done a few speech synthesizer posts already using the SP0256A-AL2 chip by general instruments. We’re at a relatively fortunate time in that there are some authentic functional chips available on eBay. As always, make sure you do your research and make sure you’re buying from a reputable seller, or at least someone with a …
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Diagnosing Xi 8088 Stability Issues
Although it seemed to work fine when I first built it, lately I’ve been experiencing some problems with my Xi 8088. The computer is fairly stable with 5 expansion cards installed (compactflash, CPU, OPL 2 (Adlib), Floppy, and VGA. However, it becomes significantly less stable as a sixth and seventh expansion card is installed. This …
Read MoreZ80 Retrocomputing 18 – Z180 CPU Board for RC2014
In this video, I design and build a Z180 CPU Board for the RC2014 Motivation I wanted to try a CPU that runs at faster clock speeds and has more built-in peripherals than the Z80. More built in peripherals means less external boards needed for mundane features, and more room in the backplane for “interesting …
Read MoreZ80 Retrocomputing 17: Enhanced Z80 CPU Board for RC2014
I set out to build a fancier CPU board: Design I wanted the CPU board to have the following features: on-board oscillator, so that a separate clock board is not necessary power-on reset circuit reset header for external reset switch status LEDs for common signals such as RD, WR, MREQ, IOREQ, M1, and HALT Below …
Read MoreBuilding an Xi 8088 PC
In this video, I construct an Xi 8088 PC, based on the design by Sergey Kiselev: Overview This was a long, involved project. I started out by ordering a set of boards from Todd over at the retrobrew forums: These boards included: 8-slot backplane with BIOS POST code display Xi 8088 CPU board (CPU, RAM, …
Read MoreZ80 Retrocomputing 16 – Unix on RC2014
I this video, I install a Unix variant called Fuzix on the RC2014: No new hardware is introduced in this video, I use the same Flash-ROM/RAM board that I used for RomWBW. Thanks to William Sowerbutts for pointing me to the distribution and helping me along with a few issues. There were a couple of …
Read MoreZ80 Retrocomputing 15 – CP/M on RC2014 Revisted, Using RomWBW
In this video, I build a new Flash ROM / RAM board and use it to install the RomWBW CP/M distribution on the RC2014: I’ve already done one video on CP/M on the RC2014, but when I built the Zeta 2 Single Board Computer, I liked Sergey Kiselev’s design so much that I thought I’d …
Read MoreQume 842 8″ floppy drive with a RC2014 Z80 retrocomputer
In this video, I try out a pair of Qume 8″ floppy disk drives with the RC2014: Most people who have read my retrocomputing series probably have some familiarity with 3 1/2″ drives or with 5 1/4″ drives. The 8″ drive preceded the 5 1/4″. I never had the experience, having entered the computer scene …
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