[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [N8VEM-S100:957] An 80386 S-100 Board.



 Found the NSC application notes for DP8421AV-20 and 386 and attached it.
original link:
http://server.elektro.dtu.dk/ftp/database/Data_CDs/Component_data/National_1999/htm/nsc05295.htm#Application%20Notes
------------
So I also did a little more look at SRAM and the price tag is steep for amount of memory.
Given the 12 mm x 20 mm size you should get 10 x 2 in same space as the 8 chips on the 4m board. Layout would be the usual fun at 2 layers using SMT.
These are 1M x 16 so 20 chips works out to 40MBytes. Ouch $342.00

There is something call cellularRAM that may work -- problem is BGA package. Cypress, Infineon, and Micron make them.
MT45W8MW16BGX-701 IT you will need to sign up to get data sheet. 8M x 16. Don't know pricing.

Cypress has some larger SRAM, again BGA. Price matches -- ~$72-74 each.  14 mm x 22mm
CY62187EV30LL-55BAXI    4M x 16      (8 MBytes) --- 128Mbyte RAM 8 x 2 = 16 x $72 = $1152
http://www.cypress.com/?docID=29629

CY7C1062DV33-10BGXI     512K x 32       (2MBytes)
http://www.cypress.com/?docID=31944

SRAM is Pricy stuff.


On 7/15/2012 7:22 PM, John Monahan wrote:
Thanks Mike would not have a hope of getting that 82443BX  working!  Way too
complex for me.
I think the BGA socket ones would be too hard for most people to use. Have
not done the toaster oven approach yet!
The DP8421 however does look interesting. Also it’s a PLCC chip.  One chip
per 16M is not great. There is a later DP8430 as well. Not clear what the
difference is. 
I think we are on the right track however. Know of other simple DRAM
controllers  that could service even more RAM.  The later Intel Bridge
things are just too complicated/overkill.

John


John Monahan Ph.D
e-mail: mon...@vitasoft.org
Text:    mon...@txt.att.net


-----Original Message-----
From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of mike
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2012 3:59 PM
To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [N8VEM-S100:956] An 80386 S-100 Board.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Okay, now I have it all sorted out.

Here is the datasgheet for the 82443BX that contains among other things, a
DRAM controller that supports up to 512MB or 1GB with registered DIMMs).

These seem to still have an okay availability for an obsolete part.

Mike


On 07/15/2012 06:36 PM, mike wrote:
There are also a few FW82443BX which support 512MB of DRAM so if I'm 
not mistaken, two of these gets you to 1GB.

It's designed for the i960 processor but I don't see right up front, 
why it should be adaptable to the 386.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FW82443BX-SL2VH-Manu-INTEL-Encapsulation-BGA-C
ontroller-Miscellaneous-/110887357440?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1
9d166cc00#ht_2311wt_819

 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-FW82443BX-440BX-AGPset-Host-Bridge-Contr
oller-BGA-/160629103858?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25663d9cf2#ht_5
20wt_819

 Datasheet attached.

Mike


On 07/15/2012 06:17 PM, mike wrote:

I see there's at least a couple DP8421AV-20 up on ebay:

        
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DP8421AV-20-Manu-NS-Encapsulation-PLCC-68-mic
roCMOS-Programmable-256k-1M-4M-/120921409478?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&ha
sh=item1c277a47c6#ht_2311wt_819

        

        

        
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DP8421AV-Integrated-Circuit-x-1-pieces-/40030
8222341?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item5d343ab9
85#ht_4722wt_1202

        

        

        
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DP8421AV-20-Integrated-Circuit-x-1-pieces-/16
0838807571?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item2572b
d7013#ht_4722wt_1202

        
 Looks like you would need one of those for each 16MB of DRAM if I'm 
not mistaken.

        
It's a PLCC backage, so that's kind of nice.

        
Even though they are obsolete, they seem to be still available here 
and there.

        
There is also the DP8422A that can drive 64MB apparently, but it 
seems to be a little more hard to find.

        
Datasheet attached.

        
--Mike

        
On 07/15/2012 05:00 PM, John Monahan wrote:
That's a bummer Terry!  The problem with static RAM chips like the 
2MX16 is that they take up a lot of board space. With say
8 on an S-100 board we are still only at 16MG.  What I liked about 
the Cypress SIMMs is you could fit a lot on a board.  I wonder if 
there are other Static SIMMs out there still available.


As to the S-100 access, here is my thinking currently..

        
Of the two board 80386 set (CPU & RAM), the CPU board would be made 
first and would be self-contained  and be able to boot from a 
ROM/RAM combination on the S-100 bus. Using cascade counters there 
would be a lot of wait states put on the 80386
for both I/O and RAM access to the S-100 bus.   This should not
bother the CPU. The 80386 BS16* line would always be low telling the 
CPU to expect 16 bit data, something we already have well working 
with our 8086 & 80286 CPU's.

        
Up to 16MG of RAM could be used in this way (4 of our 4MG static RAM 
boards).


When the above is working the second board would be done.
Using a single 74LS682 we can select what part of the 80386 address 
range goes "over the top" via a ribbon cable to a second high 
density RAM board. The lower cut off could be 0 to 16MG.  Such a 
board would run the RAM at a maximum data rate and 32 bits wide. 
Only data, address, ALE and R/W lines would
be involved.   The challenge is to get as high a density as
possible on that board. If I could find a DRAM controller that would 
refresh GB's of RAM independently of the 80386 (putting down wait 
states when busy), that would be best. No luck so far. That's why I 
resorted to the SRAM SIMMs.


As to voltage levels there are a few ways to handle the 3.3V/5V  
differences. There are specialized chips for this or you could  
perhaps use a resistor/Zener diode as we did on the Lava-10 VGA 
board.


Thanks for the suggestion, please keep the discussions going


John






John Monahan Ph.D

        
e-mail:  <mailto:mon...@vitasoft.org> mon...@vitasoft.org

        
Text:     <mailto:mon...@txt.att.net> mon...@txt.att.net




From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Terry Sare
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2012 10:35 AM To: 
n8vem...@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [N8VEM-S100:951] An
80386 S-100 Board.


Looks like Cypress doesn't make those anymore.

        
Searching some distributors best I found in stock was 1M x16 
(10ns) in TSOP1 (12mm x 20mm) package. Rest were BGA (shudder
-- not at home). http://www.issi.com/pdf/61WV102416ALL.pdf Nu 
Horizons -- IS61WV102416BLL-10TLI -- INTEGRATED SILICON
SOLUTION -- Memory RoHs  $17.1429 Available in Stock     Region
Order Qty 4031 North America

        
So I am curious -- why do you want to share the memory on the 
S100 bus? A 386DX would be seriously throttled running memory 
through back plane and the SRAM is ~3.3V (or VDD + 0.2) so you 
would have to make sure 5V never gets to any pin. Same thing
for 386DX, most are 5V. Maybe it would be better to consider
I/O only version -- only thing you would not be able to do is
DMA from drive controller. That way the board can run DMA/RAS
only refresh and use standard 100 Pin SODIMM and maybe fit all
on one board. This board is going to be SMT anyway just to get
everything to fit and at least 4 layers IMHO. Fortunately SMT
rework stations have come down in price and you can use a
toaster oven to do the reflow work. There are profiles floating
around on the web for that -- I was doing it on much simpler
boards at home a few years back. They just look kinda toasty if
you mess up but they still work:-).

        
If you want some way of transferring large blocks of 
information, you can implement a dual port memory (or FIFO)
that the s100 bus can see and create a driver on 386 side that
treats it like a communication controller. BTW, You are putting
a NIC on this thing, right? Ah, armchair design is so much
easier than doing the real work:-)

        
You can still run MDOS as you get to write the BIOS and Linux 
may require some driver modifications.

        
ts

        
PS: you go to work and see terabyte memory configs, 24+ cores 
using 2 procs, 24 plus HDD in single chassis all day and your 
kinda forget how far we have come in such a short time till
you revisit the past.

On 7/14/2012 8:21 PM, John Monahan wrote:

        
Guys I've been looking at the newer Static RAM chips.  Some now
 come in standard 72 pin SIMMs.

        
The 1MX32 and 2MX32 chips from Cypress look like they would go 
good with a 80386. See the attached data sheets.  There are 
separate lines for each 8 bit word so ideal for lines BHE0 - 
BHE3. Decent access times too, 12ns.


Next problem finding where I can get them in low numbers!


I have had no look finding a simple DRAM controller that we 
could easily use in the Megabyte range.


John


John Monahan Ph.D

        
e-mail: mon...@vitasoft.org

        
Text:     <mailto:mon...@txt.att.net> mon...@txt.att.net




From: John Monahan [mailto:mon...@vitasoft.org] Sent:
Thursday, July 12, 2012 7:30 PM To:
'n8vem...@googlegroups.com' Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:939] An
80386 S-100 Board.


So if we used a 16 bit PIC, how would it be setup. Shared RAM 
between the 80386 and PIC, sounds even more complicated.  Am I
 missing something here.

        
John




From:  John Monahan Ph.D

        
Chief Scientific Officer

        
Synthetic Biologics, Inc.

        
Office: (301) 658-6854

        
jmon...@syntheticbiologics.com

        
www.syntheticbiologics.com

        
NYSE Amex: SYN


From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tom Lafleur 
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2012 6:24 PM To: 
n8vem...@googlegroups.com; John Monahan Subject: Re: 
[N8VEM-S100:939] An 80386 S-100 Board.


John...

        
here is a tech note on dram controllers... also, today one can 
get 70mips, 16bit PIC processor, that might be able to do the
job with very little coding??? cost is $6


tom...

        
On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 5:50 PM, John Monahan 
<mo...@vitasoft.org> wrote:

        
Actually thought of something like that a while back Douglas. I
 don't think one could get it to work with the few address
lines of the Z80, besides if we go DRAM may as well go the full
hog and get massive amounts of RAM on the board and high
speed.


Was even thinking of some kind of primitive cascade counter,
but I suspect that it would not be that simple, else why are
there DRAM controllers!


John






From:  John Monahan Ph.D

        
Chief Scientific Officer

        
Synthetic Biologics, Inc.

        
Office: (301) 658-6854 <tel:%28301%29%20658-6854>

        
jmon...@syntheticbiologics.com

        
www.syntheticbiologics.com

        
NYSE Amex: SYN


From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Douglas
Goodall Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2012 5:14 PM To: 
n8vem...@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [N8VEM-S100:936] An 
80386 S-100 Board.


John,


I know it's a silly idea, but the Z-80 has a built in dynamic 
ram refresh.


But you would probably want to run the 80386 faster than
20MHz.


Just an idea.....




Douglas






On Jul 12, 2012, at 11:06 AM, John Monahan wrote:


Thanks for excellent suggestions Andrew.  I have been reading 
the Intel manuals a few times now. I do a lot of plane travel
and often bring it along!  Their manuals are excellent. There
is a corresponding software and operating system writers manual
as well. BTW, as well, I found the "The Intel Microprocessors"
book by Barry B. Brey to be outstanding.  There are numerous
editions. The best I have is the 7th edition.  Easily obtained
from Amazon. Recommend it for anybody using hardware with these
chips. Goes all the way up to Pentium BTW.  My only criticism
was the 80286 was lightly done. 80386/80486 <tel:80386%2F80486>
much better.


OK back to S-100 board.  This is a major undertaking (at least 
for me).  I have been oscillating between the 80386 or jumping 
over right to the 80486. The latter has one big advantage in
the it can accommodate an 8,16 or 32 bit bus dynamically.  This
for example means you need only one boot PROM and even old
S-100 boards (in theory) could be used, not that you would
normally use the latter much!  However the step from 80286 to
80386 is a bit bigger in terms of hammering signals into S-100
shape.


There is now doubt we will need two boards. In fact with two 
boards there is no reason why the CPU cannot run at its normal 
max clock speed with its local memory . Only when we go to the 
tiny amount or RAM (relatively speaking) on the S-100 bus
would we insert 20-30, whatever, wait states or slow the CPU
clock down dramatically.  The S-100 bus could even be
configured possibly as a kind of reverse/slow RAM cash!


However I'm still stuck with how to dynamically refresh the
DRAM Simms. The problem is that unlike the typical Intel single
CPU examples in our case we have potentially a multiprocessor
bus setup.  At times the CPU would be in a dormant/reset state.
The good news is the only shared RAM would other CPU's (a 68K
for example),  would be the S-100 Static RAM.


What I would like to find is a circuit that has self-contained 
DRAM refresh for 1GB or DRAM (or pseudo-static RAM) circuit.


While on RAM, what is the most dense (commonly available) SMT 
static RAM chips people have seen.  The best I have seen so
far is 2MX8 IS61WV20488ALL (Jameco #1862446), a long way from
1GB!


Suggestions welcome

        
John








From:  John Monahan Ph.D

        
e-mail: mon...@vitasoft.org

        
Text:     <mailto:mon...@txt.att.net> mon...@txt.att.net


From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Andrew Lynch
 Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2012 7:16 AM To: 
n8vem...@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:927] An 
80386 S-100 Board.


Hi!  Please take a look at this documentation for an S-100 
80386DX board that's capable of running a "sophisticated" 
operating system like Linux or NetBSD:



          
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/_dataBooks/1987_80386_Hardware_Reference_Manu

        


        
al.pdf


I agree the "over the top" daughter board may be necessary for 
all the components.  I suggest we place all the CPU and bus 
control logic on the main CPU board and use a pair of the
newer 40 pin (80 wire) IDE connectors to export all the memory
and its interface logic to another board.


In the Intel 80386 Hardware Reference Manual there are circuits
 for interfacing EPROM and DRAM chips.  I recommend using the
72 pin DRAM SIMMs since they are "regular" DRAM chips packed on
to mini circuit boards and use the same interface as a regular
DRAM chip. The key for exporting a memory board will be to have
many solid ground connections between the processor and the
memory board so we'll need to keep them close or just make a
double thick S-100 board using a mezzanine connector like we
did on the S-100 System Monitor Board.  If we maximize the full
space available it would give us approximately 100 square
inches of PCB space minus the usual ~10 square inches of S-100
overhead for voltage regulators, filter capacitors, mezzanine
connectors, brackets, mounting holes, clearance margins, etc.


The main benefit of using the 80386DX is that it meets the 
minimum criteria for a "sophisticated" operating system like 
NetBSD or Linux which are both essentially SysV/BSD Un*x 
derivatives/mutants. AFAIK the minimum requirement is a 32 bit 
ISA and an MMU with enough address space to hold a rather
large kernel and associated components.


The memory 16MB addressing limit of the S-100 bus would be 
possible in theory to hold Linux or NetBSD but would be
extremely limiting in my opinion unless we were seeking a mini
Linux like Freesco.  We should strive for as large a memory
space as possible and I believe 256MB (28 address lines) is a
realistic goal using a pair of 128MB DRAM SIMMs.  However, this
would require at least 24 true address lines being multiplexed
to DRAM A0-A11 and 8 individual separate CASx/RASx pairs.  To
get the density we will need, I think DRAM is the only
realistic option without resorting to hobbyist unfriendly large
SMT devices.  Also we can add a pair of 27C1024 16-bit EPROMs
for a full 32 bit data path to the boot ROMs.


This is an enormous project and I recommend starting with a 
relatively low CPU speed like 4 MHz as a starting point.  Once 
the basic hardware is working identify the bottlenecks one at
a time and gradually increase the clock speed.  John is well 
familiar with this technique since all the CPU boards to date 
have gone down that path.


Thanks and have a nice day!

        
Andrew Lynch


From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of John Monahan
 Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 1:12 AM To: 
n8vem...@googlegroups.com Subject: [N8VEM-S100:914] An 80386
 S-100 Board.


Hi guys. Having just finished our 80286 S-100 master/slave
S-100 board, see here:-



          
http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/80286%20Board/80286%20CPU%20Boa

        


        
rd.htm


I am thinking how to do the 80386 S-100 board.    In a sense 
it's easier from a hardware perspective  since the jump from
8086 to 80286 in more than 80286 to 80386.    As we know the
80286 is really just a fast 8086 (and was used as such).


The 80386 really was a new breed and could run some decent 
software.  That is why I would like to make a new S-100 board.
 Since the 80386 has a 16 bit access pin it's easy to have it 
address the low RAM on the S-100 bus. It would behave like the
 80286.  However to take advantage of the 32 bit data bus and 
address lines I'm thinking of having a daughter board with an 
over the top connecting cable for all that extra RAM capacity.


The question is; should I use static RAM or DRAM.   Static RAM 
is easy to interface, but even with SMT chips lower capacity. 
With DRAM SIMMS we could have a decent Linux going.

        
My question to this group is does anybody have a suggestion
for a good refresh controller chip/circuit.  It's particularly 
tricky because sometimes the CPU will not have access to the
bus and will be held in its reset state,  (Another CPU is
running the S-100 Bus).   Alternatively anybody know about
"Pseudo Static RAM" chips. Apparently these are self-contained
with their own internal refresh. Don't know how they are
accessed.


Any suggestions/directions...

        
John


---

        
Douglas Goodall

        
Santa Maria, CA

        
www.goodall.com


"Even a blind pig finds a truffle now and then" oink oink!!


















-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJQA0stAAoJEA7EcEr0emgf228IALBjG+RJy3ShgYwkjo6OYDB2
wgAQykIGSRm+DAWIWfnnlYuwL5eoCg6poApBhTz2/7Ygu4INOI9k35FoSV0Wtr/X
1Eh843z2QXyoFoc/09j3RiT0XI6Ir0LNTtHDvmirmee45Lvf1CTRhMCKPTnZWyfh
v3qd9uejmg48lvjgk4C1TVGLX3GpKQmbv9Y+63wuZ+SSTdy5PZ0LUbuSsE/R9+tN
a2E6ELCqCNGFYTWgO25DvMDNQfCQvLH6v0KW87013YQsCv0EeM1s1CMxui5qoXBE
1A0ZiJl15j2BrZh1HpXCUxg82CWLt6LXJCV1mogUQWfNBSvO8eZ4O8FoRRbarwU=
=z/zk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----





Attachment: nsc07328.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

Attachment: nsc07385.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document