Retro computing and projects
I have, as many of you probably know, a bit of a thing for retro computing. This doesn’t help with my ongoing stack of projects. But it is what it is.
Lately I’ve dived deep into the world of Transputers. I also have a PC104 form factor PC (Celeron).
Now I kinda like the PC104 form factor, it’s cute and PCBs are cheap (being under 100mm by 100mm), but it’s not without it’s challenges.
The Transputer connects to a host via a Link controller (C012 or C011), this turns 8 bit data into 32bit streams which in turn gets passed to the first Transputer.
The Transputer Module (called a TRAM) is a few mm longer than the PC104, but that’s fine for me.
Sadly I’ve been unable to get this to work at all. My suspicion is that this is down to the speed of my PC104 processor (a 1GHz Celeron). Transputers existing back when PCs were barely scraping 30MHz even up to 100MHz.
So for the moment I’m paused on this whilst I think of a solution.
I figured it was time list my projects and their current state, along with some comments/notes. These are in no particular order
| Project | % complete | Comments | % motivation / thoughts |
| Quadrowave | 85% | It’s making sound, is playable, needs a bit more work on the code. | 90%, I want to get this finished ASAP |
| Caladan OPL3 | 95% | It’s making sound, all the filter modes work, fully playable. Just needs some bits from Isla Instruments to complete | 90%, again, I really want to finish this and get it out the door. |
| Delta | 80% | It’s making sound and is playable, it needs some work on the code and a lot of work on the user interface. | 20%, it’s been a long project and in all honesty I’ve poured thousands of pounds into it and even more hours. |
| TinySynth | 15% | It’s making sound, the DACs are all working and MIDI works, but there is a LONG way to go. | 40% it’s a fun thing I can pick up as/when I have the beans or interest. |
| PJ5 CPU | 95% | The sticking point is the display, it’s proving difficult to get working. I also need to build some more PCBs so I have one (the original is with Jon) | 40% I really want to complete it, but right now I’m a bit fed up with trying to get the display to work. |
| PJ32 CPU | 0% | This is just an idea, a 32bit Risc-V based TTL CPU that can play doom | 10%, feels like a mammoth task that will take years. |
| PDP11 Hack+ | 95% | It’s all done, I just want to write some more code for it (Game of life), but getting a compiler that works is just so hard | 10%, if I could find a compiler it would be higher, but so far nothing seems to work. |
| Epsilon | 20% | This is a two VCO polysynth, using the SSI2130 VCO chip and NJM2069 VCF/VCA chips. I’ve got the PCBs, heck I’ve even got a box! | 10%, so much code to write, so much testing to do, it feels daunting |
| Xnn UI | 10% | This is not much more than an idea. A box with a display, some knobs and switches that I can put the guts for an XVA or XFM2 synth in. I do have the 5″ touch screen, and rouch panel layout. | 25% I like the idea of having a synth I can swap engines in. But much time and code needed. |
| Transputer boards | 80% | I have the boards, the chips, they’re assembled but I can’t seem to get reliable comms between the PC and the transputer | 80% This really interests me, but is proving difficult, especially without a “known good” board to compare against. It’s getting quite demoralising. |
| 68030 VME | 15% | The idea here is build a 68030 VME card so that I can try talking to transputers in a VME chassis | 40% I’ve found a suitable starter PCB which needs some work, I even have a 68030 50MHz chip, but is kind of blocked by the transputer link problem. |
| Eurorack NJM2069 module | 50% | PCBs are designed and routed. | 10%, Is anyone going to want to buy them? I made 15 of MU format ones as people said they were interested and sold only 6. So is it worth the effort? |
| MUseq | 90% | PCBs done, code pretty much done | 10%, Chippageddon kind of killed my passion for this project. There are 4 fully built units, two with people for testing and two with me. |
All in all, there’s a lot there.. and there’s a bunch of other random stuff bouncing around in my head (ideas/concepts/etc).
My Mental health is a bit poor at the moment, I’m constantly exhausted and tired and just don’t feel like doing anything.
