Building a CP/M 68k computer from scratch

Computers & Mobile
Building a CP/M 68k computer from scratch
diy_68k_computer.jpg

João Silva’s latest project is to build his own computer from scratch, and it looks like he is off to a great start. Based around the Motorola 68000 processor, he is attempting to build a system that can run the CP/M-68k operating system. Besides just figuring out how to wire the chips up correctly, he is also working on getting a compiler set up so that he can write C programs for his system. It’s an ambitious project which harkens back to the good old days of building computers in one’s garage using discrete components. I look forward to seeing his progress!

12 thoughts on “Building a CP/M 68k computer from scratch

  1. Patrickiv says:

    In these situations, I usually destroy all evidence of the attempt.

    1. Patrickiv says:

      Woops, wrong topic.

  2. jpersonna says:

    Cool. I think I wrote a CP/M 68K bios once, but that was about 30 year ago, so I’m not sure. I’ve still got my 68K asm book behind me :-/, not sure if that’s good or bad.

    This made me look for an old “build your own z80 computer” book I kept for ages as well … but I must have purged that at some point.

    Build my own z80 CP/M computer with SD storage?

  3. Greg Nagy says:

    The “build your own z80 computer” book can be found on google books. http://books.google.com/books?id=mVQnFgWzX0AC&source=gbs_navlinks_s

    There is a homebrew/community developed SBC out there called N8VEM http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/ that has a disk IO card project going on. CF/SD I believe is supported. For scratchbuilding, take a look around the net for GIDE documents for putting together simple IDE interfaces. The sticky part as I see it, is making your bios speak FAT. It was too much of a PITA for me to figure out.

    1. jpersonna says:

      Thanks!

  4. Stonehamian says:

    Wow

    This breadboard reminds me of the old days, when building a microprocessor circuit was more than a single chip + crystal thing…

    It reminds me also of the cover page of “The 8088 Project Book” by Robert Grossblatt, which I still have in my bookshelf:

    The front cover featured a gigantic breadboard circuit with an Intel 8088 and many support chips like EPROM, SRAM, 8259 interrupt controller, 8253 timer, 8255 PIO, etc. And of course, there was a giant mess of wires covering the whole thing!

    http://www.amazon.com/8088-Project-Book-Robert-Grossblatt/dp/0830631712

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