FPGA replacment for the ZX8301 ULA and more

[lliont]

Hi

Yes there are totally useless pins and one nc pin I think, so if one wishes he could use them, also the wires are not needed for issue 6 and 7 boards.
I like it protruding but maybe a bit less, I make pcb's fast because as you have noticed I change the specs and features constantly ( I hope for the best)
"The ever changing card"

[lliont]

But this I think it is the final version maybe with only minor changes.

[afx]

As Peter and one's complement suggested an expansion card board is ready and it solves many problems.
It also needs two wires and a small board over zx8301 socket but it is so much easier to install and no need for 3d printed plate for the ports.
I also changed fpga to the newer cyclone 10 LP that I finally found in stock.

Ilint, Brilliant!!

Now that the installation is simpler, will there be (at some point) a public batch available for enthusiasts?

[Peter]

But this I think it is the final version maybe with only minor changes.

Not bad! Almost Gold Card speed which has Q-Top Index 5.127.

[lliont]

Yes and this with an 8-bit bus vs 16 bit of Gold card but speed is not everything.

I'll try to make a batch after more testing to every QL I can find.

[ones' complement]

Brilliant work

[Peter]

Yes and this with an 8-bit bus vs 16 bit of Gold card but speed is not everything.

Yes, the specialty is that you are doing it with a 68008, which gives it a nice retro flavour.

[ones' complement]

Oh I hadn't noticed the 68HC001FN16, so in the 8 bit data bus mode it provides the all important A0 for the QL (IIRC Gold card ingot has to deal with that).

[lliont]

These are the final specs of my hobby project fpga ZX8301 replacement and QL upgrade Card.

There is a small board that replaces the zx8301 and connects to the card with a 2-wire cable.
It uses a relatively new and cheap Intel Cyclone 10 LP fpga.

CPU
For cpu it uses the MC68HC001 in the 68008 compatible 8-bit mode @16Mhz, together with the dedicated vram it performs about X4 the speed of standard QL.

Memory
2048K of RAM, 512K of flash memory where more than one combination of OS and support roms can be selected to boot from.
I use Minerva plus the QLSD driver plus the TK2 to boot with

Storage
QLSD card with the familiar driver that I converted for my hardware (not bit banging).

Display
The classic QL modes but with 16colors for mode 8 and a few palette options for both modes.
90 hardware sprites 16x16 pixels, 15+1 colors. This is what I always liked in home computers as we called them so I added it to the QL.
Hardware scrolling but only of the whole screen not part of it.
VGA output (up scaled to 1024x768).

Mouse
PS/2 Mouse with driver that works with the Pointer Environment.

Sound
I added 2 extra sound channels with volume control (using pwm at a high non acoustic frequency)

Communication
I implemented a fast serial port that I tested at 115200bps but can reach much higher speed, speed is programmable, TTL level output.

Various
RTC real time clock with battery
Fast programmable counter
Reading of the current display line and of Vertical Sync status
Reading of card identification byte

All other QL devices as the microdrives, serial ports, joysticks will work as they did before.

And here again the a bit outdated demo video : https://youtu.be/PXaGN5iNngw

I'm considering publishing the files needed for building this project (not the fpga sources) to the projects site.

[Chris_68]

Hi Leon,

Absolutely amazing work, you have a lot of interesting designs!

/Chris