New hardware revision?

Talk about everything hardware related
simon
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Re: New hardware revision?

Postby simon » Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:28 pm

Not this time, but I still have one stencil from the first prototype. I guess the CS8900a is the only tricky part. Do you have soldering paste? This and hot air are very helpful.

Chris
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Re: New hardware revision?

Postby Chris » Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:09 pm

simon wrote:Not this time, but I still have one stencil from the first prototype. I guess the CS8900a is the only tricky part. Do you have soldering paste? This and hot air are very helpful.



Yes I have a rework station although I can also hand solder upto 208 pin if necessary.

legacy

Re: New hardware revision?

Postby legacy » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:40 pm

MC68020/030 could be forced to work as 8bit bus device, so … it should be nice to realize an accelerator for kiwi, just putting the 030 on the 68008 socket


guys, why don't to put a to of devices inside an fpga, and to use a real 68SEC000 @ 3.3V ?
the pcb will be smaller, faster, and with more fun about development

personally i'd like to use the papilo/pro, realizing an interface (a PCB) to 68SEC000 plus a NvRAM (of better, a FeRAM) block
something like 2/8Mbyte

simon
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Re: New hardware revision?

Postby simon » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:52 pm

Well, I can only speak for myself, but the fun isn't to write VHDL/Verilog code, but to tinker with real hardware. Even highest speed wasn't my initial goal when I started to design the Kiwi.

legacy

Re: New hardware revision?

Postby legacy » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:56 pm

yes but too expensive !!! more than 300 euro for a project like that is too much, definitively !!!
also the pcb will be too complex, so more expensive

simon
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Re: New hardware revision?

Postby simon » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:06 pm

It's always too expensive. Sorry to say that, but the PCB of my very first prototype was 300€. The bare PCB without any parts. People complained about the price when my system had a value of around 600€. They complain after I could cut down the costs to the half and they will still complain if it would cost another half. If I wanted cheap and small computing power I'd go with an Raspberry Pi.

legacy

Re: New hardware revision?

Postby legacy » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:27 pm

because you have designed a very big and couples board with too many things on it ! if you design a pretty an simple board with a spartan6 + 68SEC00, the PCB will be 50 euro (i have designed it, payed, and got 2 prototypes for 100 euro), also there is NO reason to use old ASIC chip which will complicate the PCB and the development, especially if you did an hw bugs and you have to rebuild things

btw, can i see the project file about the PCB ?

simon
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Re: New hardware revision?

Postby simon » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:56 pm

Sure there are reasons for everything I choose. If you read just the second sentence on the first page, you'll get it almost: "The intention was rather to start another FPGA based project, but to design a classic computer with dedicated controllers and a count of 74 TTL chips." I don't think there are too many things on the board. BTW, every ASIC gets old and obsolete one day. With todays chip brooker this isn't any problem at all. This doesn't complicate the PCB. Rather the opposite is the case as the old CPLD isn't in SMT packaging.

I appreciate every tinkering project, but what I don't like is if someone registers to these forum just to start telling us what we haven't done right and asks for design details in the same breath. The journey is the reward which makes the fun out of such projects. Thus every project has it's right to exist as it is. ;)

The gerber files for the rev 2 PCB can be found here.

Simon

legacy

Re: New hardware revision?

Postby legacy » Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:28 am

simon wrote:I appreciate every tinkering project, but what I don't like is if someone registers to these forum just to start telling us what we haven't done right and asks for design details in the same breath. The journey is the reward which makes the fun out of such projects.


i have registered here because i have a bit of interests about the CS8900 and a bit of other interest about the 68000, your project is too expensive for me, so i can only appreciate the software side.

about the PCB, i'd like to see Eagle/CAD OrCAD design file in order to use just a part of your project, i'd like to import things (like the CS8900) into my 68K-board, in this case i can contribute about the software side

simon
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Re: New hardware revision?

Postby simon » Tue Jan 06, 2015 7:37 am

I am sorry, but there are no Eagle Design files. You would have to create your own from the provided schematics. The ethernet part isn't very complex...


cron