Motorola MEK 6800 D1 Kit evaluation sbc

[mountainking]

When are we going to get a SBC/trainer/development/evaluation/educational section up in this forum? Anyway....

I picked up this Motorola MEK 6800 D1 design evaluation board the other day and I'm super happy to have it in my collection. It's definitely the earliest SBC trainer I own and what's even cooler is that it's the first trainer that I ever even heard of as it was in the first book on microprocessors that I ever owned. The book is called A Microprocessor Course by Fohl from 1978, which seems to be the companion book for the trainer as well as the Motorola board and the 6800 cpu in general. I love that the board came with the original shipping box plus the other bits and pieces, including the aluminum foil

I need to pick up a couple chips that are missing but they are easy to find. One strange thing is all of the Motorola chips have 1975 date codes, but the rest of the chips have dates codes of 77 and 78. Do you think that maybe the board came with the Motorola chip set and that the rest of the chips were on the owner to pick up? I do like seeing those early date codes, for me when it comes to VC stuff the earlier the better.

Anyone cut their micro teeth on one of these?

 

[stanleyruppert]

The 6800D1 was one of the first Motorola dev kits I used. Followed by the 6800D2 then Exorciser Development systems. The D1 binder contained a card with the key Motorola chip set and bare PCB. Along with assembly instructions, mikbug listing, and schematic. Builders had to supply the other components. I still have an unbuilt kit along with several working boards. Fun to experiment with even today. I'll post a link to the manual scan PDF w/Schematic.

 

[stanleyruppert]

There was also a related (similar looking) board called the MES6800 Exorciser Evaluation Board which had mostly the same layout as the 6800D1/6800C PCB but included address/data bus buffers. The MES6800 is actually what is pictured in the thick M6800 Applications Manual and not the 6800D1 (no bus buffers). A bridge between the D1 and future Exorciser system boards. Without bus buffers, the D1 has problems driving multiple memory cards. I love the elegant hand drawn tracks on the D1 PCB.

 

[mark0x01]

I have a D2 version, but the keyboad and display module that goes with it has been "shortened" and modified a bit.

 

[daver2]

I cut my teeth on a D2. If I remember correctly that was a full kit of parts. I bought mine second hand already constructed. The original owner had added some digital to analogue converters so playing music was an option.

That was a very educational system, and started me off on a career that I am still working in.

Dave

 

[stanleyruppert]

I cut my teeth on a D2. If I remember correctly that was a full kit of parts. I bought mine second hand already constructed. The original owner had added some digital to analogue converters so playing music was an option.

That was a very educational system, and started me off on a career that I am still working in.

Dave

Good memory! The D2 kit was indeed more hobbyist friendly including all the necessary logic as well as discrete parts. Documentation was also more complete with app note encouraging modifications and “hacking”. Many hours of learning and fun. Here’s a photo of an unbuilt kit.

 

[epooch]

I picked up this Motorola MEK 6800 D1 design evaluation board the other day and I'm super happy to have it in my collection.

Nice score! Great price too, especially considering what trainers are fetching lately. That MEK 6800 D1 is so simple, no bus buffers or clock crystal?! It would be a fun SBC to build from scratch.

 

[stanleyruppert]

Here is the 6800D1 Assembly Manual with poster sized schematic
MEK6800D1 (PDF/30MB). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bY0RZvjkJOjg8CHOpDx6nQ9kWrqR2zwb/view?usp=sharing

 

[mountainking]

The 6800D1 was one of the first Motorola dev kits I used. Followed by the 6800D2 then Exorciser Development systems. The D1 binder contained a card with the key Motorola chip set and bare PCB. Along with assembly instructions, mikbug listing, and schematic. Builders had to supply the other components. I still have an unbuilt kit along with several working boards. Fun to experiment with even today. I'll post a link to the manual scan PDF w/Schematic.


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Wow, that's amazing that you still have one of the kits inbuilt!

 

[mountainking]

Nice score! Great price too, especially considering what trainers are fetching lately. That MEK 6800 D1 is so simple, no bus buffers or clock crystal?! It would be a fun SBC to build from scratch.

It was a bit more than I wanted to pay actually, but I figured I wouldn't get another chance to grab one within that price range so I pulled the trigger.

Yeah, it would be pretty easy to build one in a big piece of vero board.

 

[mountainking]

I cut my teeth on a D2. If I remember correctly that was a full kit of parts. I bought mine second hand already constructed. The original owner had added some digital to analogue converters so playing music was an option.

That was a very educational system, and started me off on a career that I am still working in.

Dave

I love how these simple boards spawned so many people's careers in the microprocessor technology field.

 

[epooch]

I definitely appreciate the variety of these EXORbus boards. From super simple, to :

 

[WGX]

Here is the 6800D1 Assembly Manual with poster sized schematic
MEK6800D1 (PDF/30MB). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bY0RZvjkJOjg8CHOpDx6nQ9kWrqR2zwb/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for sharing this !

 

[mountainking]

I managed to score a MC6850L and with a 1975 date code to boot and it didn't cost me a fortune . Now I just need to hunt down a MC6820L with a 1975 date code and we'll be in business! I did find a MC6820 from 1977 that's pretty cheap so I will probably grab that and then just keep my eyes open for a '75er down the road.