Hardware / RC2014 // retrocmp / retro computing

Building and using my own Z80 Computer

I've had the computer kits lying around for a year now. Now the time has come. Weekend. The weather is getting worse outside and there isn't much left to do in garden. Building the Z80 starts on 27.09.2019 and ends on ... see below ...

Assembling the modules 1 to 7 I finally needed one week (after work), whereby I did nothing for two days.

I don't know what to say. The system is simply ingenious and relatively easy to assemble/solder. Congratulation to Spencer Owen!

The Modules of my RC2014 Pro

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Backplane Pro ............... (27.09.2019, 28.09.2019)
z80 CPU Module .............. (29.09.2019)
512k ROM 512k RAM Module .... (29.09.2019)
Dual Serial SIO/2 Module .... (29.09.2019)
Dual Clock Module ........... (29.09.2019)
Compact Flash Module ........ (02.10.2019)
DS1302 Real Time Clock ...... (04.10.2019, designed by Ed Brindley)

If the RTC is not plugged in, then the boot process takes about 72 seconds. The RC2014 queries the RTC for the time. If it doesn’t get a reply, it waits for a timeout, and then boots up.

Digital I/O Module .......... (10.10.2019)
Pi Zero Serial Terminal ..... (not yet assembled)
IDE Hard Disc Module ........ (06.10.2019, designed by Ed Brindley)
ESP8266 Wi-Fi Module ......... (19.10.2019)

Wi-Fi is working, but Telnet and the serial link not; maybe a problem with the terminal setting! To be continued ...

YM2149 Sound Card Module .... (10.11.2019, designed by Ed Brindley)
Universal Micro Keyboard .... (not yet assembled)
Floppy disk controller ...... (08.11.2019, designed by Dr. Scott M. Baker)

Effort and costs (32 EUR per unit)

PCBs (OSH Park): 9 EUR
Material (Mouser): 16 EUR
WDC 37C65B (eBay): 7 EUR
Soldering: 1 hour

VGA Serial Terminal Board .. (06.01.2020, designed by Marco Maccaferri, not yet assembled

See my images of my RC2014 modules.

ROM Releases (used by me)

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29.08.2018: RomWBW v2.9.1-pre.5
19.10.2019: RomWBW v2.9.2-pre.15
26.07.2020: RomWBW v3.0.1

RC2014 booting — RC2014 with CF, FDD and HDD

One of my hardware configurations: I use the Mitsubishi M4854-342M (5.25") floppy drive as a direct replacement for a 8" drive; works flawlessly!

First Steps

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READ THE README FILES
„User's Guide“ (TXT - pure text) / „User's Guide“ (PDF - with my personal colour highlighting)
You will find everything important in here. All your questions will be answered.

Booting

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As terminal I use the program "Tera Term" (v4.105) under „macOS Catalina / Parallels Desktop / Windows 10“. A clearly readable font for Tera Term is "COURIER NEW, STANDARD, 16“.

Of course you can also work directly under macOS with the program "Serial". Here I use the version 1.4.5 (MAS).

Booting from hard disk — Booting from (another) hard disk (unit 6, slice 0)

All you can drive

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MD: RAM, ROM Disk

A:=MD1 / RAM disk
B:=MD0 / ROM disk / CP/M 2.2

FD: Floppy Disk

C:=FD0 / TEAC FD35HFN-30-U / 1,44M or 720K
D:=FD1 / not available

IDE0: CompactFlash

E:=IDE0 / CP/M 2.2 ...... bootable
F:=IDE0 / Office ........ Wordstar
G:=IDE0 / Development ... Turbo Pascal, BASIC
H:=IDE0 / Multimedia .... Sounds and games

PPIDE: Hard Disk

I:=PPIDE0 / not used yet
J:=PPIDE0 / not used yet
K:=PPIDE0 / not used yet
L:=PPIDE0 / not used yet

Terminal and Data Exchange

FTDI connection on the Serial I/O Module:

115.200 bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit
flow control: RTS/CTS (necessary for XMODEM)

XMODEM (XM): Use XM with the „RC“ option when receiving files.

A few impressions

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I loaded the example program CMDLIN.PAS, compiled it to the CF card and started it. Everything is fine.

I loaded the text file SAMPLE.TXT. Everything is fine. You are looking for a good text editor? Try Wordstar in non document mode. Simply good! Only the vi under UNIX is better :-)