New S-100 Boards This section of this web site lists of many of the new S-100 boards
I and others have recently constructed. Still utilizing the basic IEEE-696
S100 bus format, we are incorporating modern designs into these new S100 bus boards.
The long term goal being to adapt most major microprocessor chips (and support
IC''s) to the S-100 bus. We
have for example S-100 boards
with master and slave CPU's like the 8086, 80286, 80386, 80486 family, the 68000/68030 Motorola family,
the PDP11, all the way up to more recent CPU's like
the Edison SoC. This has been, and will continue to
be, a multi-year project. A core of enthusiastic people have got together
to do this. Index Table Of New S-100 Boards
Described on this Web Site. As new additional prototype and final S-100 boards are
made they will be documented here:-a
Order Form for S100 Computers Boards. When a new board is announced at
https://groups.google.com/g/s100computers you can get one by filling in this
e-mail "order form" below.
New boards typicall take 3-4 weeks to arrive. Payment for boards is via
PayPal after you recieve your board(s).
The price will be announced in the
Google Groups posting
for each board.
This form is to be used only for new
boards. For old boards see below.
Please take care to enter your exact name and shipping
address.
The Following People are on the list for the (V0.5)
version of the
FPGA
VGA_LCD Display Board:-
The order process is now closed. All boards were shipped out today (6/7/2024)
to those below.
Mark Huffstutter
2 boards
Russell oliver 1 Board
Jacobus de Waal 2
boards
John Reeves
2 boards
Michael Wachur 1
board
Jay Cotton 1 board
Terry Fox
2 boards
Jerry Prusa 2 Boards
Bob Grabau
2 Boards
Michael Petry
2 Boards
Kevin Kozlowski
2 Boards
Thomas Von Der Haar
2 boards
Kenny Maytum
1 Board
Terry Fox
1 board
Rick Bromagem
4 boards
Mike Radwick
2 boards
Henry Broekhuyse 2 boards
+ 1 FPGA_80486 Board
Joe Meyer 2 Boards
Sjoerd van Leersum
1
board
The Following People are on the list for the (V2.1)
version of the
FPGA
80486 SBC Board:-
Henry Broekhuyse
2 boards
Aron Hoekstra
1 board Mark Huffstutter
2 boards
Steven Feinsmith 1
board
Sjoerd van Leersum 1 board
Paul Birkel
1 board
Steve Mastrianni 2
boards
Joe Meyer
2 boards
Terry Fox
2 boards
Thomas Von Der Haar 2 boards
Troy Sabean
1 board
John Reeves
2 boards
Dave London
1 board
Kevin Kozlowski
2 boards
Jefferey Lee Wilson 2 boards
Russell Oliver
1 board
Mark Darvill
2 boards
Michael DuFresne 2
Boards
Leonard Dauksza
1 Board
Al Schemmer
1 Board
The Following People has been shipped the (V0.3)
version of the
3P+2S IO board:-
This board order process is now closed.
Reorder Of Past S100Computers Boards
I must stress however this is a hobby based group of
people (spread actually around the world these days). There is no central
organization or person “in charge”. I and a few others design and
produce new S100 boards (at our own expense) and when done, typically do a
“group purchase” of a new board. These are bare boards which must then
be stocked with chips etc. Typically I provide basic build/testing
instructions and if needed, basic software. The
major ones are listed in the table above.
In many cases updated versions of the boards were/are being made.
It is unfortunately a bit difficult for new people to get started since many
by now already have their basic starting boards. However
from time to time a new “run” of an old board is done. This needs
somebody to organize and arrange a run. It is more trouble than you
might think to organize. The boards are usually made by a (Chinese)
company call PCBcart.com for us. The required board fabrication Gerber
files are available at the bottom of each board’s description on
this site. From time to time a "board run"
is proposed by a member. Later when you are more experienced, you
could start one yourself.
About every
6 months I announce a general "backorders" run of most
S100Computers
S100 boards. It will be announced here
I also stock a few extra boards when I do a "backorders" run. Here is a list
of current boards 'in stock".
Please use the above forum to ask/order
boards. Do not if at all possible, contact me directly by e-mail.
Note the 16 MB Static RAM boards (V5.0 & V4.0) will
not work with the 80486 board. They are OK with other S100Computers
CPU boards.
Board Cost and Payments. Boards will cost $18/board each
+ shipping. If required, $16 for the VGA Adaptor board, SMB mezzanine board,
Dazzler-II Joystick boards (a pair), and the CPLD mini-boards.
The Static 16MB/32MB RAM mezzanine boards are $16 for a set of 4. The Full size
80486 & 32MB OTT RAM (4 layer) boards are $32 each.
These are complicated boards, except for the Z80 SBC, most boards here will be
held for long term "regular/experienced" S100Computers users.
Ordering Older Boards
Also a few long term users maintain a stock of some of our most popular
boards. They are listed here (along with a number of other "ReteroBrew
Computer" boards).
Please see here:-
https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=board inventory
for a list of boards available.
Note to
Beginners.
Please note that building an S100 Bus computer system using these
boards is not for beginners in electronics. While
the build instructions for each board may look simple, getting them to run
correctly is an S100 Bus computer setup is difficult for anybody with little electronics experience. Because of the time required to build and test
new boards I will have no time to help you debug your board/setup. Please
keep this in mind if you order a board. For beginners I highly recommend
they start with something like a Arduino, Propeller or Raspberry computer
system. Also, please keep in mind many of the S100Computers boards require a
ROM/GAL programmer.
Most of the newer more complex boards also require a
CPLD programmer or
a
FPGA programmer as
well.
Remember this is a true hobby/non-profit operation! Support is limited.
MY OWN S-100 SYSTEM By way of showing the evolution of these boards, I will
describe my own S-100 IEEE-969 system. This is a completely "homebrew
system". Originally built in the early 1980's utilizing many of the S-100 boards
of that era. As I add new S-100 boards, I will go into some detail in
an effort to help others build similar systems or allow them revive S-100 systems
they may have stored away or have recently acquired.
While none of this is rocket science, it does require some degree of
electronic knowledge, familiarity with the S-100 bus and for the software, a
working knowledge of CP/M, CP/M86 and MS-DOS (Programs, BIOS & Drivers) .
If you wish to become more informed about the S-100 bus itself try and get your
hands of the book "Interfacing to the S-100/IEEE696 Microprocessors"
by Sol Libes & Mark Garetz. This book is commonly regarded as the "bible"
for this field.
This will be a long term "work in progress" report. The index table above will
direct you to new S-100 boards built or being tested. See each boards
section for more details.
Here was my starting point for a S-100 system built with boards from the 80's.
With this as a basis over time, we will swap out many of these boards into new
more exciting and efficient boards using more modern IC's.
MY SYSTEM IN 2009
MY SYSTEM 2011
MY SYSTEM 2013
MY SYSTEM 2014
My S-100 System (As of April 2014)
MY SYSTEM
2016
Getting Started in KiCAD. All our boards are designed using
KiCAD.
This is an open-source software tool for the creation of electronic
schematic diagrams and PCB artwork. This is a fairly complex program to
learn and will typically need weeks of practice to build up a board. After
the board circuit is generated with KiCAD it must then have all the
chips arranged on the board and connected with 100's if not over a 1000
traces and vias. This is done with another program called
Freerouter.
Finally the resulting Freerouter files must be converted to
Gerber files
for the factory to actually fabricated the board.
For most of our boards I provide the most recent Gerber & Drill files to
have a board fabricated. You may use these files -- at your own risk -- to
have any board on this site made for non-commercial use.
KiCAD.
KiCAD is an open-source software tool for the creation of electronic
schematic diagrams and PCB
artwork. Beneath its singular surface, KiCAD incorporates an elegant
ensemble of the following standalone
software tools:-
KiCAD can be considered mature enough to be used for
the successful development
and maintenance of complex electronic boards. KiCAD does not present any
board-size limitation and it
can easily handle up to 16 copper layers and up to 12 technical layers.
KiCAD can create all the files
necessary for building printed boards, Gerber files for photo-plotters,
drilling files, component location
files and a lot more.
Despite its similarities with other PCB software tools, KiCAD is
characterized by an interesting work-flow in which schematic components and
footprints are actually two separate entities. This is often the subject of
discussion on Internet forums.
The KiCAD work-flow is comprised of two main tasks: making the schematic and
laying out the board. Both a components library and a footprints library are
necessary for these two tasks. KiCAD has plenty of both. Just in case that
is not enough, KiCAD also has the tools necessary to make new ones.
The main KiCAD web site can be seen
here. From there you can obtain excellent instructions, videos and
examples as to how to lay out printed circuit boards.
However be aware
to layout complex printed circuit boards like we have here needs
many
hours of experience and should not be taken on lightly.
Please note, in Dec 2015 a newer version of
KiCAD has been placed in the public domain. Unfortunately some of the
files for the previous version of KiCAD (the above 2013 version) are no
longer compatible with this newer version. They can be converted, but for now I
will stick with the 2013 format. All our current files should work with
that version. The 2013 KiCAD version is way more than adequate for all our needs.
Initially you use the eeschema button to draw your
schematic. This is by far the most time consuming and hardest part of
the program. As I said above it takes many long hours to master this
part. You then need to convert this schematic to an actual board
layout with all the IC's etc. physically in place.
From your schematic you make a .net
file
You then call in the second program cvpcb
that uses the .net file to assign each IC in your schematic an actual board
"footprint". Most common footprints are already available as .mod
files that come with the many KICAD "libraries". Cvpcb
generates a .cmp with all the
boards components footprints.
You then use the program pcbnew to do the actual board layout.
It utilizes all the .net and .cmp file data to layout your board. All the traces are shown initially as lines connecting IC pins to IC pins.
Pcbnew generates a board layout file with a
.kicad_brd extension. (Note older version of
KiCAD used a .brd file extension. This is no longer
supported).
Also included (see bottom of this page) is a collection of S100
footprint files specific for our S100 boards. Make sure when you
setup KiCAD that these files are on the default file search paths for these
programs. (Set Preferences, Library, User defined search path....
for eeschema, cvpcb and pcbnew).
For small simple boards you can move/edit etc. these lines by hand. For
complex S100 boards like we have here however, it is really
necessary to use a trace layout program called
Freerouter. The windows
.exe program can be downloaded
from here.
It is completely self contained and should run in any folder on your system.
You feed it a .dsn file (generated with pcbnew using the
file menu "Export" command). It
returns a .ses file which is reaccepted by pcbnew.
See the above diagram. Rout optimization for complex S100 boards like these
is a slow process. Complex boards can takes days. You can watch the number of
"vias" decrease, and the overall length of all the boards
traces decrease over time. When you see no further improvement its
time to stop. The critical file we want in the end is the pcbnew
generated .kicad_brd file with the optimized board traces
supplied by freerouter. That file is then used by the pcbnew "Plot" command
to generate the boards "Gerber files". These files are
required by board
manufactures to fabricate your board.
This site (at the bottom of each boards description page) has the required .kicad_brd
file you need to generate the Gerber and drill hole files for the manufacturing
of all S100Computers boards.
Using S100Computer KiCAD files
All S100computers S100 boards now have a Gerber .zip file at the bottom of
each boards page. If you wish to use these files for your own run its
easiest if you use only
this .zip file. If you do your own layout, I suggest the
following approach:-
When you “Plot” the files in KiCAD place them in an empty/new sub-folder
(Gerber). Then go to that folder and combine them all into one .zip
file. This is the file you send to the board manufacture. In
that folder the should be a total of 12 files including the zip file.
Always, no exception. If less, go back to the “plot” dialog and find
out what file is missing. (This assumes you will not have a silkscreen
on the back of the board).
One quirk of freerouter is that sometimes it places vias between the
gold edge connectors. I largely mitigate this by placing a
protected/keep-out area on the bottom ¼ of the connectors. See
this picture:-
It must be less than half the height of the connector pads. Even then,
after the board is resolved, occasionally you will have to hand tweak some
vias by moving them upwards. I also like to when possible, avoid traces
running near the tops of the gold pads by pushing them up.
While on this, in general before I send a board to freerouter I hand lay
down some wide major power lines.
When a board is done I tweak things like moving around an Vcc traces that
are on 3 sides of a pad/via away slightly. Highlighting the Vcc traces and
running extra traces (if possible) to the power pins of the major power
hungry chips like a 1508 CPLD. This often requires shifting freerouter
traces and using multiple vias. So in many case the final Gerber file
will NOT be the same as the original Freerouter/KiCAD "Plot" files.
Finally before you save the Gerber plot files be sure to do a “design check”.
On a few occasions, (~3 times for probably 1000 runs), freerouter had a via
too close to a trace.
So if you wish to use these S100Computers files for your own run, use only
the .zip Gerber file at the bottom of each boards page. If you “roll
your own” you need to go through the above steps. The .zip files
are all you need to send to most board fabricators. A summary of the
major KiCAD commands can be obtained
here.
Lastly one trick, before you import the freerouter .ses file back
into KiCAD save the .kicad_pcb file with another name such as xxx(no
traces).kicad_pcb. That way if you wish to modify the board you will
not have to remove all the freerouter traces (KiCAD removes your own hand
drawn traces as well).
S100 Board Manufactures.
Almost any printed circuit board manufacture can fabricate these
relatively simple two sided printed circuit boards. Issues are cost, time
and what their setup/minimum order is. Highly recommended for production
boards (with gold plated fingers etc.) is
JLCPCB Circuits Prototype Boards
site. They are very cost effective and have an amazing fast turn around
time and quality considering they are in Hong Kong (a few days). In
the US
Advanced Circuits for prototype boards (no gold etc) is an option. They are
more expensive but reliable with good quality work. In the past I also
used PCBCart in China also with good
results but slower delivary.
Here is a interesting video showing how PC boards like ours are made.
(From YouTube
link).
Parts Lists.
Most of the boards on this site use common 74LSxx style chips. If you are
going to build a number of S100 boards (or repair them), you really should
build up a stash of these chips. I get most of my components from Jameco,
Mouser, Anchor-Electronics, Unicorn Electronics or for discontinued chips
UTSource, and in that order. I use Jameco for all the support stuff,
sockets, jumpers etc. I wish I had time to write-up a detailed BOM for
each board, fortunately Richard Chin and Rick Bingham have done so for some
boards - thanks Richard & Rick. If you want to contribute please send one on to me.