Kiwi - an 68k Homebrew Computer

[Bogogil]

Hi,

I have developed and built a homebrew computer around an MC68008 CPU. It
comes with Video, Audio, IDE mass storage, Floppy Disk Controller,
Real Time Clock, two Atari style joystick ports, RS-232 and Centronics
interfaces, two PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse and ethernet.

You can find more information at the following links:
Project-Website: http://www.ist-schlau.de/
Project-Forum: http://www.ist-schlau.de/phpBB3/
Youtube-Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Bogog75

Right now I am in the process of creating an "keyboard-computer" style
case. Maybe the computer can be bought as a kit in the future.

Bogo

[Dave McGuire]

This is fantastic work! It stands in stark contrast to what usually
passes for a "homebuilt computer" these days, where some clueless guy
buys a PC motherboard, sticks it in a chassis and calls it "homebuilt".

And kudos for using gEDA/PCB. I use it as well, both for personal use
and at work.

Are you planning to sell bare PCBs for Kiwi? Or give out the Gerber
files?

-Dave

--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA

[Bogogil]

Hi Dave!

Am 23.01.2013 23:33, schrieb Dave McGuire:
> On 11/19/2012 08:04 AM, Bogogil wrote:
>> I have developed and built a homebrew computer around an MC68008 CPU. It
>> comes with Video, Audio, IDE mass storage, Floppy Disk Controller,
>> Real Time Clock, two Atari style joystick ports, RS-232 and Centronics
>> interfaces, two PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse and ethernet.
>>
>> You can find more information at the following links:
>> Project-Website: http://www.ist-schlau.de/
>> Project-Forum: http://www.ist-schlau.de/phpBB3/
>> Youtube-Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Bogog75
>>
>> Right now I am in the process of creating an "keyboard-computer" style
>> case. Maybe the computer can be bought as a kit in the future.
>
> This is fantastic work! It stands in stark contrast to what usually
> passes for a "homebuilt computer" these days, where some clueless guy
> buys a PC motherboard, sticks it in a chassis and calls it "homebuilt".

Thank you! Yes, indeed. Like brewing a packet soup or heating up a can
is cooking for some people... :)

>
> And kudos for using gEDA/PCB. I use it as well, both for personal use
> and at work.

Really at work? Sometimes it is a bit cumbersome but all in all I have
time enough for a hobby-project and it is free... :)

>
> Are you planning to sell bare PCBs for Kiwi? Or give out the Gerber
> files?

Yes, I am thinking about these options. Currently I am working on a
revision 2 design. There are some issues and minor bug with my prototype
I want to get rid off first before releasing it to the public.
The Gerber files will be released in any case. If the market demand is
high enough I might organize a group buy.

Simon

[WoolyBully]

On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:09:15 -0500, Mike Huskey <no...@example.com>
wrote:

>On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:53:42 +0100, Bogogil <bo...@ist-schlau.de> wrote:
>
>
>>> Are you planning to sell bare PCBs for Kiwi? Or give out the Gerber
>>> files?
>>
>>Yes, I am thinking about these options. Currently I am working on a
>>revision 2 design. There are some issues and minor bug with my prototype
>>I want to get rid off first before releasing it to the public.
>>The Gerber files will be released in any case. If the market demand is
>>high enough I might organize a group buy.
>>
>>Simon
>

>If this can run Microware's OSK, I imagine that many of the Color Computer
>hobbiest would be interested. Me included.
>
>---
>The Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.


Probably run many of the old upright video games that used that
architecture too.

We all use the MAME emulator for ALL of those games now, however, and
they emulated it well.

Some of that source code might be useful to you.

http://mamedev.org/

There is a 68k.c IIRC

Of course it is all keyed toward an x86 platform, so said source code
may provide no more than the api.

Anyway.. cool thing-a-ma-bob ya got there.

[Bogogil]

Hi,

Am 31.01.2013 04:58, schrieb WoolyBully:
> On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:09:15 -0500, Mike Huskey <no...@example.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:53:42 +0100, Bogogil <bo...@ist-schlau.de> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> Are you planning to sell bare PCBs for Kiwi? Or give out the Gerber
>>>> files?
>>>
>>> Yes, I am thinking about these options. Currently I am working on a
>>> revision 2 design. There are some issues and minor bug with my prototype
>>> I want to get rid off first before releasing it to the public.
>>> The Gerber files will be released in any case. If the market demand is
>>> high enough I might organize a group buy.
>>>
>>> Simon
>>
>> If this can run Microware's OSK, I imagine that many of the Color Computer
>> hobbiest would be interested. Me included.

isn't this OS-9? Well, as far as I know, OS-9 is not free. Thus the
chances are bad that I every try to port that. :-(

> Probably run many of the old upright video games that used that
> architecture too.
>
> We all use the MAME emulator for ALL of those games now, however, and
> they emulated it well.
>
> Some of that source code might be useful to you.
>
> http://mamedev.org/
>
> There is a 68k.c IIRC
>
> Of course it is all keyed toward an x86 platform, so said source code
> may provide no more than the api.

The biggest challenge would be to port the graphics parts. To benefit
from the VDP's capabilities one has to re-program routines to use the
blitter instead of "poking" the framebuffer directly.
I've done some tests though: Take a simple game, extract the game-logic
and program a new gfx-backend. This works but is more work...

>
> Anyway.. cool thing-a-ma-bob ya got there.
>

Thank you! The thing-a-ma-bob is called "Kiwi". :)

Bogo

[Dave McGuire]

On 01/30/2013 09:53 AM, Bogogil wrote:
>> This is fantastic work! It stands in stark contrast to what usually
>> passes for a "homebuilt computer" these days, where some clueless guy
>> buys a PC motherboard, sticks it in a chassis and calls it "homebuilt".
>
> Thank you! Yes, indeed. Like brewing a packet soup or heating up a can
> is cooking for some people... :)

Yes. That's "cooking" for me! ;) Fortunately the woman I am about to
marry is a chef. She does all the cooking here. I consider myself very
lucky.

>> And kudos for using gEDA/PCB. I use it as well, both for personal use
>> and at work.
>
> Really at work? Sometimes it is a bit cumbersome but all in all I have
> time enough for a hobby-project and it is free... :)

Both packages have a very steep learning curve, but they are extremely
powerful. The basic idea is that it's ok to put the user through pain
at the beginning...to give him lots of power later.

But yes, I do lots of personal projects with gEDA and PCB, involving
microcontrollers and experimental stuff. At work, I design industrial
controllers, sensor systems, machine-to-machine communications systems,
and cellular communications hardware. I do it all with gEDA and PCB.

>> Are you planning to sell bare PCBs for Kiwi? Or give out the Gerber
>> files?
>
> Yes, I am thinking about these options. Currently I am working on a
> revision 2 design. There are some issues and minor bug with my prototype
> I want to get rid off first before releasing it to the public.
> The Gerber files will be released in any case. If the market demand is
> high enough I might organize a group buy.

If you do this, I am interested in participating!

[Andrew Smallshaw]

On 2013-02-04, Dave McGuire <mcg...@neurotica.com> wrote:
> On 01/30/2013 09:53 AM, Bogogil wrote:
>
>> Really at work? Sometimes it is a bit cumbersome but all in all I have
>> time enough for a hobby-project and it is free... :)
>
> Both packages have a very steep learning curve, but they are extremely
> powerful. The basic idea is that it's ok to put the user through pain
> at the beginning...to give him lots of power later.

Personally I've always found gEDA to be cumbersome too. It isn't
the complexity - all EDA packages are complex, many much more so
that gEDA - the problem is frankly attrocious user interface.
gschem in particular is way too mouse-dependant - dropping a single
component into a schematic and setting even a minimal set of
attributes can take upwards of forty mouse clicks and regular to-ing
and fro-ing between mouse and keyboard. Command lines are far
easier for a lot of that stuff, but I've still seen much better
designed mouse-driven UIs.

That's before you even consider the inter-component linkages - you
have to add yet more red tape for SPICE simulation and the less
said about gsch2pcb the better.

--
Andrew Smallshaw
and...@sdf.lonestar.org

[Dave McGuire]

On 02/04/2013 10:39 AM, Andrew Smallshaw wrote:
>>> Really at work? Sometimes it is a bit cumbersome but all in all I have
>>> time enough for a hobby-project and it is free... :)
>>
>> Both packages have a very steep learning curve, but they are extremely
>> powerful. The basic idea is that it's ok to put the user through pain
>> at the beginning...to give him lots of power later.
>
> Personally I've always found gEDA to be cumbersome too. It isn't
> the complexity - all EDA packages are complex, many much more so
> that gEDA - the problem is frankly attrocious user interface.
> gschem in particular is way too mouse-dependant - dropping a single
> component into a schematic and setting even a minimal set of
> attributes can take upwards of forty mouse clicks and regular to-ing
> and fro-ing between mouse and keyboard. Command lines are far
> easier for a lot of that stuff, but I've still seen much better
> designed mouse-driven UIs.
>
> That's before you even consider the inter-component linkages - you
> have to add yet more red tape for SPICE simulation and the less
> said about gsch2pcb the better.

Well that's the great thing about freedom...you don't have to use it.
;) I like it just fine, and more importantly, I haven't seen anything
better that doesn't cost as much as a Porsche and runs on a grownup
platform.