I ran across a blog by Brad Robinson about his efforts to build the 1980's Microbee home computer using FPGAs. One implementation uses a XuLA2 board and a custom PCB to fit the Microbee into a small case that attaches to a keyboard and monitor. All the steps in developing the circuitry and FPGA code are clearly documented in a series of blog posts.
Should you care about a rebuild of a 30-year-old home computer? Maybe, maybe not. But that's beside the point: with FPGAs, the stuff that Brad put into his project can be re-used by you, and there's a lot of good stuff in his project! Want a Z80 soft-core processor for your own design? He's got one. Want to know how to connect it to SDRAM? He's done that. Display graphics on a monitor, generate sound effects, access programs from an SD card? Done, done, done! So use Brad's particular fascination with the Microbee to jumpstart your own design.
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Hi Dave,
Link / ReplyThanks for the nice write up, but more so thanks for your help with some of the VHDL issues I encountered along the way. Just to clarify, the Z80 soft-core is not my design - it's the OpenCores T80.
Finally thank's for the awesome Xula2 board - it's nice to have such a capable FPGA in such a tiny package.
Brad
Hi ,
Link / ReplyI like this project :)
Is there a compiled project i can directly load into my Xula2.
In the bitbucket release its hard to know what to take for download into the fpga ;)
Regards.
Darth.
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