Advanced Mk14 Enhancements - Page 3 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Phil__G · 19th Apr 2023, 9:57 am

*click*

Phil__G · 19th Apr 2023, 7:11 pm

Thanks Mark, that makes sense now. I'm pondering an SC/MP board for the RC2014 and was thinking if I hard wire 'down' & 'up' to ground then I can have a NIBL ROM in page zero enabled by carry-out, and a KitbugPlus ROM in page F enabled by borrow out. Maybe two separate roms, maybe one 8k rom split in two, not worked the addressing out yet.

From $1000-$EFFF would be NVRAM, or, maybe ditch the monitor rom and have the top 4k of nvram write-protected for the monitor by gating NWDS with borrow out.

Maybe even ditch the ROMs altogether and just have a 64k NVRAM with NIBL also write-protected in page zero again by gating NWDS with carry out. That might be the easiest.

The idea is that it would run NIBL, Karens PAGE2.SYS and KitbugPlus.
Hopefully

I wonder if anyone tried latching DB6, I'm thinking that would light an LED to indicate that we're in a delay?

Mark1960 · 23rd Apr 2023, 4:55 pm

I think an 8060 board for the RC2014 bus would be good to allow access to the various modules. I have a couple of unfinished boards for something similar, an MK14 compatible display and keyboard for RC2014 bus, and INS8060 board. I think the INS8060 board should try and support multiprocessing.

I like the idea of making it 64k ram, then copy from eprom on boot.

Another interesting option would be a PICL board compatible with RC2014 bus, which could be a bit cheaper to source parts.

Brian of Romsey · 27th Apr 2023, 4:58 pm

Hi,

Maybe consider RCBUS rather than RC2014. See https://smallcomputercentral.com/rcbus/ for details.

I'd agree with the idea of trying to support multi processor, but only as an engineering challenge. TBH, I'm not sure there's much practical advantage.

Cheers, Brian.

Brian of Romsey · 27th Apr 2023, 5:14 pm

Further info, you can find RCBUS discussion here: https://groups.google.com/g/retro-comp/c/XAmVsfJ-wPo

19th Apr 2023, 9:57 am	#41
Phil__G Octode Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: North Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,119	Re: Advanced Mk14 Enhancements click

19th Apr 2023, 7:11 pm	#42
Phil__G Octode Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: North Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,119	Re: Advanced Mk14 Enhancements Thanks Mark, that makes sense now. I'm pondering an SC/MP board for the RC2014 and was thinking if I hard wire 'down' & 'up' to ground then I can have a NIBL ROM in page zero enabled by carry-out, and a KitbugPlus ROM in page F enabled by borrow out. Maybe two separate roms, maybe one 8k rom split in two, not worked the addressing out yet. From $1000-$EFFF would be NVRAM, or, maybe ditch the monitor rom and have the top 4k of nvram write-protected for the monitor by gating NWDS with borrow out. Maybe even ditch the ROMs altogether and just have a 64k NVRAM with NIBL also write-protected in page zero again by gating NWDS with carry out. That might be the easiest. The idea is that it would run NIBL, Karens PAGE2.SYS and KitbugPlus. Hopefully I wonder if anyone tried latching DB6, I'm thinking that would light an LED to indicate that we're in a delay? Last edited by Phil__G; 19th Apr 2023 at 7:17 pm.

23rd Apr 2023, 4:55 pm	#43
Mark1960 Octode Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,297	Re: Advanced Mk14 Enhancements I think an 8060 board for the RC2014 bus would be good to allow access to the various modules. I have a couple of unfinished boards for something similar, an MK14 compatible display and keyboard for RC2014 bus, and INS8060 board. I think the INS8060 board should try and support multiprocessing. I like the idea of making it 64k ram, then copy from eprom on boot. Another interesting option would be a PICL board compatible with RC2014 bus, which could be a bit cheaper to source parts.

27th Apr 2023, 4:58 pm	#44
Brian of Romsey Triode Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Fairfield, Melbourne, Australia Posts: 48	Re: Advanced Mk14 Enhancements Hi, Maybe consider RCBUS rather than RC2014. See https://smallcomputercentral.com/rcbus/ for details. I'd agree with the idea of trying to support multi processor, but only as an engineering challenge. TBH, I'm not sure there's much practical advantage. Cheers, Brian.

27th Apr 2023, 5:14 pm	#45
Brian of Romsey Triode Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Fairfield, Melbourne, Australia Posts: 48	Re: Advanced Mk14 Enhancements Further info, you can find RCBUS discussion here: https://groups.google.com/g/retro-comp/c/XAmVsfJ-wPo