Just a quick update to about the SD Bootloader I designed a few posts ago. Well, the PCBs have arrived and last week I took a soldering iron to one of them and gave it a quick test
One side of the board is effectively an Arduino, so without plugging it in to the RC2014, I connected up an FTDI lead and uploaded the Arduino Blink sketch. A quick check with a multimeter and one of the pins was altenating between 5v and 0v. So far, all good! (more…)
Wow! What an awesome month July has been. The whole Retro Challenge thing has been great, and despite moments of stress or despair, I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part and seeing what everyone else has been up to. Before I sum up my project, I should make a few honourable mentions.
Retro Challenge – A huge thanks to Mark and Wgoodf do a great job in hosting this twice a year. Keeping everyone updated via Twitter has worked really well. Cheers guys!
Grant Searle is responsible for the general Z80 design I used and also converted MS BASIC from the Nascom to run on this. Really, this project is a test of my understanding of Grants work and seeing how far I can take things.
Nottingham Hackspace has an amazing “parts bin” that included the LEDs, Veroboard, case, some of the logic chips and the RAM I used.
OSHPark did a great job (for a very good price!) on the PCBs – even if the postal system did keep me on the edge of my seat for a bit!
Chris Gammell introductions to KiCad PCB design videos were critical in guiding me through the various stages of board design.
Rodney Zaks book Programming the Z80 has been like a bible for me. Combined with a few dozen other resources of Z80 info on line I’ve been able to at least get the basics assembly language programming.
CLRHome is a great online Z80 IDE that can compile assembly language in a variety of output formats including for the ZX Spectrum. I doubt I could have managed this in notepad!
All of the other Retro Challenge entrants deserve a mention too, but there’s a few that really caught my eye and taught me stuff about their particular approach to RC2014, such as Wgoodf – Turtles all the way down, Ians restoration of Northstar Horizon, Tezzas restoration and programming of Challenger 4P, John finishing work on Fahrfall
