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IBM sorta compatible DIY 8088 machine: The beginnings

MarsMan2020 said:
As far as keyboard controllers, the VIA VT82C42 is a dedicated replacement for the 8042-based controllers. I found a whole tube of 10 on eBay, VT82C42N.

Some more resources on 8088 homebrew:
John Monahan has designs on his website (http://www.s100computers.com/) for 8088/8086/80286/80386 CPU boards and an S-100 "MS-DOS Support board" that provides the required support chips to boot MS-DOS up to 4.xx without modification.

John Coffman designed an 80C188 SBC called the SBC-188, which can boot MS-DOS from a floppy can also interface with other homebrew cards on the ECB bus (also not 100% PC compatible though). This was formerly part of the "N8VEM" project, which is in the process of migrating to a new website at http://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php (I will try to port over the SBC-188 pages sometime in the next few days and report back to this thread with a direct link). I know John mentioned a possible new revision of that board to V3 in the near future (http://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/n8vem-gg-archive/html-2015/Oct/msg00087.html)

In July/August, James Crass had a thread going on the old N8VEM boards about an 8088 breadboard build - see http://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/n8vem-gg-archive/html-2015/Jul/threads.html#00063 and http://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/n8vem-gg-archive/html-2015/Aug/threads.html#00044

Hope this is useful.

Andrew B.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a lot of info! Thanks! I'll have to read through that! The DOS support s100 especially sounds groovy.
-And you're right, there's plenty of VT82C42N's available. Even one on Amazon.co.uk! http://www.amazon.co.uk/VT82C42N-82...=UTF8&qid=1448972660&sr=8-1&keywords=VT82C42N

I've actually found that a lot of IC's can be found on amazon, at very reasonable prices- Also found some huge SRAM, the AS6C4008 512 kbyte ones.
Still have problems finding the 8288 bus controller, though.. Could you use the 82188?

Spidersweb: Sounds like an interesting project with a lot of possibilities, though personally, I really loose interest when things are condensed down to FPGA's, I must admit.

Tipc: You're absolutely right, and the 80186 is a more interesting (and powerful) part, along with it being a bit poorer documented (atleast in hobbyist projects), but I'm not completely certain I'm at a point where I could do anything usable with it. Again, with these larger projects, I usually base them in existing projects and work from there -giving rise to some trouble with the 80186..
Also: I have a 1981 vintage ceramic i8088 that I'm dying to use!

--Christoffer
 
there's a whole textbook devoted to the 80188, or actually the 80c188eb:

http://www.amazon.com/Embedded-Microprocessor-Systems-Design-Introduction/dp/0132494671

Radio Electronics also had a simpler home brew project based on the 8088 (I think). It was a controller for home control, lights, etc. Can't recall the issues or years, but it was maybe a couple years before the RE Robot articles. It was a pretty small board, ideal for a first shot.

This is not what I was referring to but there's also this: http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/re/REACTS Microcontroller.pdf

RE also had an earlier project (...looking...). Ah April 1984: https://archive.org/details/radio_electronics_1984-04
 
there's a whole textbook devoted to the 80188, or actually the 80c188eb:

http://www.amazon.com/Embedded-Microprocessor-Systems-Design-Introduction/dp/0132494671

Radio Electronics also had a simpler home brew project based on the 8088 (I think). It was a controller for home control, lights, etc. Can't recall the issues or years, but it was maybe a couple years before the RE Robot articles. It was a pretty small board, ideal for a first shot.

This is not what I was referring to but there's also this: http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/re/REACTS Microcontroller.pdf

RE also had an earlier project (...looking...). Ah April 1984: https://archive.org/details/radio_electronics_1984-04 (edit:this was the first item I talked about above).
 
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Nice! I'll be sure to check those out!
--Christoffer
Nice! I'll be sure to check those out! ;)
--Christoffer
 
No doubt the 80188/186 can do more, but the question is can I do more. I think I'll stick with the 8088 for now, atleast till i get acquainted with the Intel way of doing things, with coding, and support chips and whatnot.
- Well there came my interrupt controllers and clock generators!
I think I'll start soldering and breadboarding up a experimental 8088 system, seeing if I can get the 8259 interrupt controller working. Maybe the 8253 timer (BEEP!!) as well.
Then the IBM PC compatibility, and higher functions will come in round 2.
-Speaking of 80188 and peripherals, does anybody know if you can use an 82188 bus controller instead of the 8288??
Thanks for the support!


--Christoffer
 
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