toad.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Mastodon server operated by David Troy, a tech pioneer and investigative journalist addressing threats to democracy. Thoughtful participation and discussion welcome.

Administered by:

Server stats:

227
active users

#rc2014

2 posts2 participants0 posts today
Replied to RC2014

@rc2014 @electron_greg back in school we had a special, modular S-100 bus based #intel8085 system to teach us about computers and programming.

It also had a switch panel and I fondly remember looking up opcodes in a photocopied table so that I knew which value to "toggle" next on the switches before writing it to a memory address. Hands on computing, the real way.

It was called #MFA (microcomputer für ausbildung - microcomputer for training) and it also ran CP/M and featured a #Siemens #SPS module (god, I hate SPS).

It was this system I learned #intel8085 #assembler on.

P.S.: I guess this baby and the fond memory I have of it made me fall in love with #rc2014 decades later ...

It's 5 years since I released my first peripherals for the #RC2014 ecosystem, so have £5 off each of my first releases from June/July 2020!

🟢 SID Soundchip Interface
- Use the legendary Commodore 64 soundchip in your setup (or modern replacement SwinSID or ARMSID). Also incorporates 50/60/100Hz Interrupt Controller (useful too when using other soundchips for timing playback code.)

🟢 Graphic OLED Interface
- Add an easy to use 128x32 pixel graphic display to your setup.

All the info / order / see what else I've released: 2014.samcoupe.com

Other RC2014 peripherals...

- *New for June 2025* SAA1099P Soundchip Interface.
- ZX True Tone (ZXTT), add-on module for Ed Brindley's YM/AY soundcard so it's clocked at the exact same frequency of the 128K ZX Spectrum so speccy tunes are pitch perfect.
- ZX-RC Bus Interface, to use RC2014 I/O peripherals with the #zxspectrum
- SAM-RC Bus Interface, as above but on the #SAMCoupe

It lives!

The #rc2014 version of my FT245 based USB interface works exactly as intended with SCM, Basic and the 6850 version of CP/M

No more faffing with USB-Serial dongles and #UART settings for me, terminal software simply doesn’t care about baud rates and the like with this board,

Now that the news is out, I guess I will be using the #RC2014Assembly hashtag on here.

And if you haven't seen the news, this is a meetup of the #RC2014 community at Bletchley Park on September 20th. This looks like it is going to be an awesome day with people showing off their hardware, demonstrating their software, and talking about what interests them with the RC2014 (including similar platforms like the RCBus or Z50 bus machines, or kits that run RomWBW etc).

Tickets don't go on sale until tomorrow, and I will post a working link (sorry about the oopsie in the newsletter) when they're available.

I hope that as many of you as possible can make it along, especially if you don't normally attend general retro computer meetups.

Soak testing new SAA1099P cards for RC2014 via a SAM-RC Bus Interface on my SAM Coupe computer.

With four cards, plus the SAA built into the SAM, that gives a total of 30 SAA sound channels... Hmmm...! 🤪

2014.samcoupe.com
for all the hardware I've designed for use with the RC2014 ecosystem and compatibles (inc. ZX Spectrum via a ZX-RC Bus Interface!)
- SID Soundchip Interface
- Graphic OLED
- SAA1099P Soundchip Interface
- ZX True Tone (for YM/AY soundcard)
- Bus Interfaces to use RC2014 peripherals with several home computers.

🚨 Website Update!
I've just updated my dedicated website for the hardware I produce for the RC2014.

Now listed are the ZX-RC Bus Interfaces I released in 2022 for connecting RC peripherals to the ZX Spectrum. (Allows 2 RC peripherals to connect, with optional ZX Through Port).

Likewise, the SAM-RC Bus Interfaces (first released in 2019) to connect RC peripherals to the SAM Coupe are also added, available in 2 or 4 port versions.

For all the info, videos showing a selection of RC peripherals working with the two home computers, and to order please see the page at:
2014.samcoupe.com

Ok, I’ve got the FTDI FT245 working in place of the Dual SIO card on the #rc2014 Pro, for SCM and BASIC. It allows CP/M to start (it wouldn’t earlier today), but… the BIOS provided with the Pro kit is expecting a SIO, and not a 6850. Doh! In theory, it should work with the 6850 version of CP/M, but I don’t have that just yet.

I do like that I could connect without needing a separate USB-Serial adaptor, and might still get some boards made. And maybe try and get the 6850 version of CP/M

🟢 In Stock
ZX True Tone (ZXTT) [First released September 2021]

A freshly soldered up batch of ZXTT modules for use with Ed Brindley's YM/AY #RC2014 soundcard to generate the exact 1.7734MHz frequency as used by the AY-3-8910 in the 128K #ZXSpectrum so tones/envelopes are pitch perfect for whatever funky ZX Spectrum music you choose to play!

My main site for my peripherals for RC2014 and compatibles:
2014.samcoupe.com/

Also on Tindie at:
tindie.com/stores/quazar/