From: Eric Chomko on
On Feb 5, 2:13 pm, Michael Schwingen
<news-1235297...(a)discworld.dascon.de> wrote:
> ["Followup-To:" set to comp.arch.fpga.]
>
> Eric Chomko <pne.cho...(a)comcast.net> wrote:
> > Has anyone created a copy machine of an old system using an FPGA? I
> > was wondering if it would be possible to take an entire SWTPC 6800 and
> > compile the schematics and have it run on an FPGA board.? Wouldn't
> > even have to be the latest Xylinx product, I suspect.
>
> There are several such projects, eg. this Atari ST clone:http://www.experiment-s.de/en/
>
> so most systems from the 8-bit era should be no problem at all.
>

Sehr kewl!

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

Eric
From: Eric Chomko on
On Feb 5, 3:10 pm, james <bu...(a)bud.u> wrote:
> On Fri, 5 Feb 2010 10:19:25 -0800 (PST), Eric Chomko
>
> <pne.cho...(a)comcast.net> wrote:
>
> |Has anyone created a copy machine of an old system using an FPGA? I
> |was wondering if it would be possible to take an entire SWTPC 6800 and
> |compile the schematics and have it run on an FPGA board.? Wouldn't
> |even have to be the latest Xylinx product, I suspect.
>
> John Kent has done a lot of work using Xilinx chips and synthesizing a
> 6809 version of the SWTPC onto a chip.
>
> See his webpage here
>
> http://members.optusnet.com.au/jekent/system09/
>
> There is also a yahoo group that is centered around the Tandy CoCO3 on
> a Digilent Spartan 3 starter board with the XC3S1000 chip option. The
> yahoo group is known as CoCo3fpga I think.
>


I have a SWTPC 6809. I will look into John Kent's project. Looks like
lots of fun.

Eric
From: Eric Chomko on
On Feb 5, 4:57 pm, glen herrmannsfeldt <g...(a)ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:
> In comp.arch.fpga Eric Chomko <pne.cho...(a)comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > Has anyone created a copy machine of an old system using an FPGA? I
> > was wondering if it would be possible to take an entire SWTPC 6800 and
> > compile the schematics and have it run on an FPGA board.? Wouldn't
> > even have to be the latest Xylinx product, I suspect.
>
> I haven't done it yet, but I am interested.  I have a Digilent
> Spartan3E board for that purpose.  I think it is big enough for
> the whole system for many of those machines.
>

Yep, that is the idea. I run a small Vintage Computer Club near
Greenbelt/College Park, MD and one of the gusy suggested we do such a
thing, so we are trying to get ideas. This thread is really good stuff
for that purpose.

Eric
From: Eric Chomko on
On Feb 6, 5:23 am, "HT-Lab" <han...(a)ht-lab.com> wrote:
> "Mike Treseler" <mtrese...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:7t3rmlFhriU1(a)mid.individual.net...
>
> > Eric Chomko wrote:
> >> Has anyone created a copy machine of an old system using an FPGA? I
> >> was wondering if it would be possible to take an entire SWTPC 6800 and
> >> compile the schematics and have it run on an FPGA board.? Wouldn't
> >> even have to be the latest Xylinx product, I suspect.
>
> > No fpga, but same idea:
> >http://www.grc.com/pdp-8/pdp-8.htm
>
> Looking at the PDP8 picture brings back bad memories of me helping to clear out
> the computer lab at my old University which was full of PDP8 and PDP11, it all
> went into the skip......;-(
>

Ouch! Heck even the govt. facility's excess warehouse where I work
saved back the remaining PDP-11s knowing they had collector value. I
believe that they have all been sold off as of about 5 years ago.
From: Eric Chomko on
On Feb 5, 7:57 pm, Alex Freed <alex_n...(a)mirrow.com> wrote:
> Eric Chomko wrote:
> > Has anyone created a copy machine of an old system using an FPGA? I
> > was wondering if it would be possible to take an entire SWTPC 6800 and
> > compile the schematics and have it run on an FPGA board.? Wouldn't
> > even have to be the latest Xylinx product, I suspect.
>
> I did. Some 8 years ago.
>
> http://alexfreed.com/FPGApple/
>
> And then a few other vintage computers.
>

Very cool.

Eric