SMS2 and STELLA

[RalfR]

Sandy has written that the board is 215x225mm, that is contrary to the PCB Urs has and what Dave said.

I had to photocopy a board for part placement testing, and it would just not quite fit on an A4 piece of paper. I do not recall if it was the short or long edge. I am recalling things from my quite fussy memory that happened in the mid-80s, so contemporaneous documentation should always be given higher standing than my sometimes flawed recollections.

it would be a pity if all this is forgotten and no one has more of it.

[Dave]

I think so too. If the data still exists, I would happily drop $10K+ to get it all finished and a few boards produced.

[RalfR]

I think so too. If the data still exists, I would happily drop $10K+ to get it all finished and a few boards produced.

I will wait for answers from TT and Urs. Unfortunately, I haven't got anything from TT since two years. Meanwhile he's 72 years old.

I would like to have an Futura, it would also be interesting, what TT had planned for his "QLT".

[RalfR]

I think so too. If the data still exists, I would happily drop $10K+ to get it all finished and a few boards produced.

Do you have anymore information, specifics, software or anything about that?

[Dave]

Do you have anymore information, specifics, software or anything about that?

All I took with me was my work on SQB v3, the keyboard controller from the desktop and some of the best memories of my life, including helping build the very first prototype Sam Coupe.

[Tinyfpga]

Postby RalfR » Mon Feb 21, 2022 6:13 pm
Does anyone know how far the OS for Futura had progressed?

Postby RalfR » Tue Feb 22, 2022 5:48 pm
I would like to have an Futura, it would also be interesting, what TT had planned for his "QLT".

The SMS2 project began just after the Futura project ended. The OS for Futura became SMS2 which then became SMSQE.
Could one not consider the Q68, with SMSQE, a "go-faster" Futura.
Once Peter has finished his QL replacement motherboard which (I am certain) will run SMSQE, won't one have something superior to a recreated Futura?

I am looking forward to Peter Graf's even more powerful "SuperZero" running Stella.
Peter wrote 16 Feb 2022
Thanks for the flowers. I would admit the Qzero size/cost effectiveness was a bit ahead of comparable tiny FPGA boards at design time. But the Qzero has aged for three years already, and it's potential will probably never be used, because I only work under hobbyist conditions. An OS like Stella would better be based on a different FPGA platform, maybe one without external SDRAMs so it can take full advantage of small code size.

As a matter of interest, are there any low cost FPGAs containing significant amount of SRAM?

[mk79]

As a matter of interest, are there any low cost FPGAs containing significant amount of SRAM?

Generally no (even expensive chips have maybe 300kb, generally it's more like <64kb). But with the current chip crisis you can already say "no" to the question "are there any low cost FPGAs" (FPGA of QL-VGA now 10-20 times more expensive, if one can get one at all).

[XorA]

As a matter of interest, are there any low cost FPGAs containing significant amount of SRAM?

Generally no (even expensive chips have maybe 300kb, generally it's more like <64kb). But with the current chip crisis you can already say "no" to the question "are there any low cost FPGAs" (FPGA of QL-VGA now 10-20 times more expensive, if one can get one at all).

It’s causing chaos at work and we order by the thousands. So hobbyist is really going to have trouble.

[Dave]

I normally order 100 to 250 at a time. It's.... Brutal. Sometimes, we see stock of the wrong part but the LUTs are right so we just order them and do a variant PCB with a different footprint. One line we have now has four lines of PCB. So far, the additional costs have been ~$18,000...

[mk79]

It’s causing chaos at work and we order by the thousands. So hobbyist is really going to have trouble.

Yeah, I'm on the lookout for alternatives but fear that whatever I choose (based on current price and Mouser availability) will be sold out once I'm finished. It's a pity, the Spartan 6 was a powerful and inexpensive chip in manageable packages, but apparently won't ever come back... at least Xilinx told that to the Spectrum Next guys who need 5000 of those and are royally screwed now as well.