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S-100 IDE project

NobodyIsHere

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Dec 21, 2006
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Hi! My good friend John and I are working on a joint www.S100Computers.com & N8VEM S-100 IDE project. It is based on the following design by Peter Faasse.

http://www.pjrc.com/tech/8051/ide/wesley.html

John built a working prototype and some software and I am making a PCB. The PCB is in trace route optimizing phase now. I can't say exactly when a PCB will be available but if you think you might be interested please let me know. PCBs will probably cost *about* $22 give or take some plus shipping. If you do want a PCB it is important you tell me beforehand so I can include it in the manufacturing order.

The board will connect to regular IDE devices and includes mounting areas and interfaces for laptop (2.5" with the high density 44 pin connector) and CF adapters. John has his prototype working with a CF adapter mounted on the PCB and it seems to work fine.

There are a couple reasons why I'm posting this information early; I think there may be some useful features on the S-100 IDE board which *may* be applicable to the XT-IDE project (and vice versa) and I would appreciate any reviews of the PCB and schematic for flaws and/or improvements.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
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S100- IDE Board

S100- IDE Board

HI:

I'd be interestd in purchasing one S-100 IDE interface board

Ken Harty
 
Hi Ken! Thanks! Just send me an email and I'll add you to the list. Thanks and have a nice day!

I see John posted a similar notice on comp.os.cpm so I believe there will probably be a few others joining the order. Hopefully it will be enough to get the PCB unit cost down to a reasonable level.

There are current schematics and PCB layout on the N8VEM wiki in the S-100 folder. John also posted some information on his website www.s100computers.com. He also noted although this board will come with schematics and software, its integration into any given CP/M S-100 system will still be non-trivial so it is probably best for experienced builders.

Andrew Lynch
 
Hi! Here is a quick update on the S-100 IDE project. We've received the PCBs and distributed them to our initial builders. During testing we found some minor issues and improvements so we are doing another revision of the PCB. The changes are the usual things like fix cuts and jumpers, improved CF card access, nicer layout, more and better diagnostic LEDs, etc. IMO the changes are cosmetic in nature.

I've built one of the boards and have tested it in my VG clone system. It works fine with the MYIDE software and it is looking good. John has his boards up and running on a variety of S-100 machines running CP/M 3.0 etc. John has prepared instructions on how to get the S-100 IDE board built, tested, and working. I followed them and had no troubles at all.

I have the new improved PCB in trace route optimizing at the moment and it will be a few days before it is ready for PCB manufacturing order. I am not sure when exactly that will happen but it will probably be soon in next week or two. The main benefit of the new PCB is it is an improvement on an already proven the design. The initial boards have shown design is solid and the risk of a totally non-working board is dramatically reduced.

At the moment we have requests for 10 PCBs. Based on the previous experience the cost of the PCB to $27 each plus shipping. If anyone else is interested in joining us please let me know. Adding additional orders will lower the unit cost for everyone so the more the better.

One note of caution: as John said earlier in this post on comp.os.cpm:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.cpm/msg/1e08b49928596615

"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. "

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch

PS, If you are interested, I recommend you act and do not wait for another PCB order. As with all the S-100 PCB projects, IMO the builder demand is very thin. I do not keep the S-100 PCBs on hand like the N8VEM ECB Eurocard boards. If there is another S-100 IDE PCB order it will not be for quite some time.
 
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Hi Flash! Please send me an email and I'll put you on the list for the next S-100 IDE PCB order. It should be soon since it finished trace routing last night. I need to do some clean up, final checks, and send it off for "design for manufacturing" review before placing the order but that should happen in the next couple of days.

After placing the PCB manufacturing order, it typically takes three weeks for the PCBs to arrive. When they do arrive, I'll send out an email to everyone on the list to pay for their boards and when they do, I'll ship them out. I do not accept payments in advance or pre-orders due to the inherent hazards of amateur homebrew projects. Assuming the same numbers as last time the PCBs were $27 each plus shipping typically $3 in the US. However, the quantities appear to be higher this time so the individual PCB costs probably will likely be lower. I need to put together the order and get final estimates.

Since the S-100 IDE PCB manufacturing order is going out fairly soon, if anyone else is interested in getting involved they need to contact me soonest. I have no idea if or when there will be another PCB order as that depends on many factors.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
Hi! Quick update on the S-100 IDE. The board has made it through all the final checks. John had a minor change to a power trace so I'll fix that tonight and send the PCB off for manufacturing probably later tonight. This is your last chance for this round so contact me soonest if you want to participate.

Once the S-100 IDE PCB is ordered, my next goal is to get the N8VEM PropIO PCB or the S-100 KBD PCB manufacturing order placed. Which one depends on which finishes routing next but followed quickly by the other. I really want to get the N8VEM PropIO and S-100 KBD both launched so John and I can focus on the S-100 SRAM/EPROM board prototyping.

Some N8VEM builders are working on a color graphics and sound board and I would like to build a prototype. It is the long awaited TMS9918/AY-3-8910 or whatever audio chip (maybe SID or YM2203 or SN76489A -- I am not fussy about sound and just want something from the era that works). There are partial prototypes of the TMS9918 and AY-3-8910 working already although not a full prototype yet.

That's the plan. We'll see how it works out. Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
Hi! The S-100 IDE board PCBs arrived last night and I sent the first batch out. John did an incredibly great design on this board and I think it is going to be popular once word gets out.

The good news is there appears there is enough interest in it to account for all of PCBs. We have enough PCBs for testing the new design so I think we are going to be OK. IMO, the changes from the initial board were minimal corrections and tweaks.

The plan is to let this project soak for a while and see how these boards do with their new owners. If everything checks out and works I'll consider another round of PCBs depending on the interest. It is a good looking board and easy to build. The prototype works well for me and hopefully this one will work even better.

One of the side benefits of the S-100 IDE project is its design can serve as a reusable template for simple "IO port only" IEEE-696/S-100 board projects. All that is required is to strip out the IDE circuitry, connectors, and prototyping area. Make some minor adjustments to the IO port decoding and add the desired circuitry. There is already one builder using this method to make their own 8 UART S-100 board (Mike at PikeAero).

IMO, it should be fairly easy for a hobbyist to rip out the IDE "guts" and "transplant" their own design. This would include the N8VEM existing ECB designs and the previously mentioned PropIO or color graphics and sound board currently in development. Note that "IO port only" S-100 boards are only a subset of the designs which exist and not a general solution. However, since the N8VEM SBC ECB also relies "IO port only" approach for its peripheral expansion bus all the existing N8VEM boards (except the SBC, AFAIK) are natural "donor" candidates.

The "transplant" approach wouldn't work for projects requiring DMA, shared memory (SRAM, EPROM, or some CRTCs), or CPU/Bus Master. Still it is a step in the right direction for long term S-100 homebrew hobbyist boards. If anyone is interested in pursuing this please let me know and I'll set you up.

I would like to say a huge "THANK YOU" to John Monahan from S100Computers.com who IMO has done an enormous service for the S-100 homebrew hobbyists. Great job John!

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
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Thanks for the kind comments Andrew and for your amazing work in actually getting the design lay out and the boards made.
There is a long (growing list) of boards in the works…
An IBM PC Z80 driven keyboard adaptor board, a 4MG Static RAM/EPROM board, a front panel type board with HEX displays, breakpoints, single step etc, a superfast Z80 board, and 8086, 80286 and 80386 boards are all in the works. More later. If we can get a hard core of 5-10 people we can whip these bare boards out for $20-$30 each. They will however get more complex. I will try and give step by step building and diagnostic help as we go along at www.S100Computers.com
What I would love to see is somebody work on the software for this IDE board so that a CPM3 bios can be assembled on an PC/DOS/Windows CPM simulator (e.g. Peter Schorn's Altair 8080 SIMH simulator (http://www.schorn.ch/cpm/intro.php)) and in some way the CPM loader is written (under windows) to a CF memory card starting at the first sector of the card.
That way anybody can write their own consol BIOS, load it on the card and instantly have a working S-100 CPM3 system. Currently you have to modem/network/disk copy it across to an already functioning CPM system
I unfortunately am too occupied with hardware to do that now. Any volunteers?
 
Hi! The S-100 IDE rev 1 PCBs have arrived and I've sent them all to their new owners. I still have two remaining PCBs that *might* be available depending if the remaining builder comes through. Please contact me if you are interested. It may be a few days for build and test results so stand by for news.

The S-100 Keyboard interface PCBs have also arrived and sent out to their owners. I have only one remaining PCB which is the one I am going to build so if you'd like to get one you'll have to wait for the next PCB order. I don't know if or when that will be but let me know and I'll put you on the list. It may be a few days for build and test results so stand by for news.

The S-100 SRAM/EPROM board is in prototyping phase. I ordered a small batch of prototype PCBs on Friday for build and test. They should arrive later this week for build and test. Once that's done we'll incorporate any corrections and respin the PCB. Hopefully it won't be too drastic so the existing layout and trace routing is preserved.

Started on S-100 Front Panel schematic capture and PCB layout. We are a long ways from done on this design. The next task is to get the PCB to trace route and then optimize. I am hoping to finish the trace routing tonight and get it in trace optimization.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
Hi! I have one of the S-100 IDE boards left if anyone would like to get one. John published up to date build and test information on S100computers.com. The initial testing is all good so far. We did find one minor problem, a dropped trace, that requires one jumper.

The S-100 SRAM/EPROM prototype PCBs are in and I started assembly of one of the units. There is a photo at the N8VEM wiki in the S100 folder (photo with most recent date).

Due to the rapidly increasing complexity our S-100 board projects we are moving to a limited "internal prototype PCBs" build and test rather than widely offering initial release manufactured PCBs. Having initial prototype PCBs should reduce the chances for boards produced with errors. The S-100 SRAM/EPROM and S-100 Front Panel will be the first boards developed under the new method with hopefully more to follow.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
If no one else has claimed it already I would be interested in toying around with it.
Let me know.

/Pontus
 
If no one else has claimed it already I would be interested in toying around with it.
Let me know.

/Pontus

Hi Pontus! Thanks! Sorry the last S-100 IDE board sold just prior to my reading your post. If you want I can add you to the list for the next PCB manufacturing order. John has built his board and updated the S100Computers.com S-100 IDE page. The board seems to work fine. It needs one jumper (argh!) due to a missed trace. Apparently I lost a label during the last round of fixes.

John is also building and testing the S-100 keyboard as we speak. Not a big surprise but we've got a couple of issues with it as well. The good news is the board seems to work although probably it will need some adjustments.

Designing and building S-100 boards has proven to be more complicated than I think either John and I expected. As a result we are seeing errors creeping into the designs even after many detailed reviews. "Cuts and Jumpers" are nothing new to anyone familiar with PCB design especially S-100 legacy systems, home brew, and/or vintage computers. However, I really dislike modifying boards after manufacture if it is at all preventable.

We are going to be making very small "barebones" prototype PCB runs for future designs to build and test locally before offering any more manufactured PCBs. I think it is a lot of fun building the initial boards and getting them working but it is not for everyone. I think a lot of S-100 hobbyists would like to order new boards that "just work" without a lot of tweaking. After we do the barebones prototyping PCB build and test then we'll do a PCB manufacturing run with hopefully fully debugged and reliable boards.

However, if you or any of the other S-100 hardware hackers would like to join the very limited "barebones" prototype PCB build and test projects you are welcome. These prototypes are really intended for the "soldering iron and oscilloscopes" crowd and I know you've done a lot of home brew S-100 work so it may be interesting to you.

Here is an example of the S-100 SRAM/EPROM prototype PCB in build and test. This is some real hardcore PCB building involving a hacksaw and pretty brutal methods. These PCBs have no soldermask, silkscreen, beveled edges, gold fingers, cut outs, or anything even remotely convenient. Solder bridges are a major hazard! I think you'd enjoy it a lot!

http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/f/IMG_1846.JPG

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
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Hi All! Well, since I've sent almost all of the S-100 4MB SRAM boards off to their new owners I've decided to finally do another PCB manufacturing order of the S-100 IDE boards.

If you recall, this will be the third iteration of the design and resolves the two remaining issues of the board; a dropped trace and the interrupt LED is on when it should be off.

There are many people on the waiting list so I've ordered enough of the PCBs to cover all of them and then some. Hopefully it is enough for everyone who wants one.

I can't promise it will be perfect but I can say we should finally have all the kinks worked out by now. If you were waiting to get your own S-100 IDE board your chance has arrived!

John has a great webpage up on S100Computers.com documenting all the great stuff the S-100 IDE board can do with build instructions, software, etc.

http://s100computers.com/My System Pages/IDE Board/My IDE Card.htm

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
Hi! The batch of S-100 IDE boards have arrived and I am sending them off to their builders. I am about half way through the stack and anticipate these will all be gone fairly soon. There was a backlog of people waiting for them that had built up quite a bit and so now those should be good to go.

The next board I'll order is the S-100 buffered prototyping board since there are many builders waiting for it. I had intended to order some sooner but based on feedback from the last run decided to make some changes which required a respin. That's done now and ready to be ordered once the S-100 IDE boards clear out.

The plan is to cycle through the list of boards one order at a time mixing newly designed boards with the ones already done. Its not terribly efficient but it's what I can do assuming each batch pays for itself as it goes. At $500-$600 per batch I really cannot afford to order several at a time and hope they go out. So we'll just plod our way through the list and cycle them out one at a time. The limiting factors are time and money so I don't see a lot of options for accelerating the process.

The good news is there are now several boards basically done and 3 or 4 rapidly maturing and should be "available" before too long. Even better the next round of prototypes will include the S-100 Z80 CPU and S-100 IO boards. Once those are available builders will be able *in theory* to build a completely stand alone S-100 system from PCBs. Start with an S-100 backplane, add a S-100 Z80 CPU board, S-100 IO board, S-100 4MB SRAM board, and S-100 IDE board and you've got a complete system capable of booting CP/M. Add in some of the other boards done already and hopefully those in the queue and things get really interesting.

Our plan is to invest this year in building infrastructure boards. Those are the 8 bit and basic boards like the backplane, prototyping board, system monitor, 4MB SRAM, IO, IDE, parallel ASCII keyboard, etc. There are many of those that need to be completely to establish a solid foundation for further development. Once those are done the hope is next year to start on the really "interesting" designs like the 16 bit and 32 bit boards. That ought to be really exciting stuff and quite a challenge to pull off.

John is going great work and documenting the designs on S100Computers.com. This is a really fun hobby and a wonderful project. It is amazing and encouraging to see the list of interested S-100 hobbyist builders steadily growing. The hope is these boards will allow for repair/restoration of many of the legacy S-100 systems out there and even start the development of new systems. What I'd really like to see is a growing home brew S-100 hobbyist community start to thrive and more boards being developed somewhat like we are seeing on the N8VEM ECB side. Actually I think now there are more boards in development by the builders for ECB than what I am doing. It is very exciting to watch.

Although John and I have a general plan for boards I will gladly help any other builders design their own as best I can. I have already supplied the S-100 EDA template and parts library to several builders. All the information is free and there have been some interesting developments so far but no new boards yet. If you've got an idea for an awesome S-100 board you've been itching to have but could never find this *may* be your opportunity to have it built. I definitely am not promising anything and there are no assurances on timelines or it even working. The key to success though is "skin in the game" as they say meaning personal involvement and investment. There are no guarrantees but some hard work usually results in a working or at least fixable board.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
Hi! The S-100 IDE boards have been really popular. John and I did a respin of the board to clean it up a bit and I am planning on ordering some more PCBs soon. Please contact me if you would like to be on the waiting list for the S-100 IDE boards.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
The main addition to the V3 board is now there is an LED HEX display that shows the current track/sector, (in LBA mode) being accessed.
See bottom of this page:-
http://s100computers.com/My System Pages/IDE Board/My IDE Card.htm

Very neat! I think the time has come for me to finally purchase one of these...I've been thinking about it for a while, but with a CompuPro 8/16 coming soon, I'll actually be able to make use of an IDE drive!

Question: would someone with an assembled S-100 IDE board be willing to give it a go with one of my industrial Flash modules? I'd be willing to send a 64 MB and/or 128 MB unit out free-of-charge. Also, is +5V provided on pin 20 of the IDE header? This probably won't affect my decision to buy a board, but it'd be neat to know!
 
Don't quite understand the 64Mb issue. Anyway CPM maxes out at 8MG. The software allows different partitions/backup on CF card. Yes, +5 is available on the CF card socket (but not the top IDE cable connector). Download the schematic/software from the site for more info.
John
 
Very neat! I think the time has come for me to finally purchase one of these...I've been thinking about it for a while, but with a CompuPro 8/16 coming soon, I'll actually be able to make use of an IDE drive!

Hi Glitch! Thanks! I'll make the PCB reorder once the number of boards on the waiting list gets up to 20 or so. Please send me an email at LYNCHAJ@YAHOO.COM if you or anyone else would like to be on the waiting list. Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
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