So, I started this blog to share my homebrew computer project. Initially it was a small project just to learn some stuff, but as usual, especially as working in the IT business, the fanged, ugly head of “scope creep” turned up.
This post is to summarize my project goals:
- A base computer using a Motorola 68010
- Loads of memory….yeah right, 16MB is supported unless going down a banking, performance and wait state rabbit hole…
- Input/output to serial (RS232), PS/2 keyboard
- Ethernet
- Storage interface
- Boot loader/monitor and operating system (what about Erlang or Python as core OS….?) supervisor/user mode
- Base code in assembler, rest of it in C
- Maybe Linux Compatible (MMU complexity)
- DMA capable (very ambitious)
- FPU co-processor (very ambitious)
- VGA graphics (text mode primarily)
- …..
- Sound? Really…?
- SMP (multi processor….?)
All bold words above would need some deeper explanation, but wise is to start small and and expand from there. However, some topics down the list, especially DMA and SMP needs to be accounted for early in the design. If going down that rabbit hole.
But for now, the stages looks like this:
- A free running MC68010
- ROM and 1MB of ram with ROM code doing free run
- Serial communication (RS232)
- An low level machine monitor in assembler