Good luck with this project, it sounds very interesting and welcome. A fairly low cost SMSQ/E compatible of this sort would eb a welcome addition to the family of QL-type machines, especially if it could be a portable with VGA LCD screen.
-- Dilwyn Jones ----- Original Message ----- From: ZN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 12:28 PM Subject: [ql-users] 68SZ328 > Hi, > > Well, by the graces and capabilities of my employer I have managed to get a > hold of 10 samples of the 68SZ328. The prise is about 17EUR plus VAT and > carriage but I won't know for sure untill I get the info from the > accountant as he ordered other things with them. > As we discussed, he wants to build a small machine that would drive a CRT > or LCD monitor, could be easily programmed, and would run some games. The > idea of running it under SMSQ/E was discussed and he seems very interested > in this as it's small and relaively easy to program. I've also roped in > another 68k programmer that used to program Atari STs etc, and he is very > impressed by the docs I gave him on SMSQ/E - he also downloaded the source. > I plan to drag him by his heels if needed, to QL2004 later this year... > he's the kind of guy that is capable of doing anything if only he finds it > interesting ;-) > > I also have a small 640x480 TFT LCD, unfortunately only one but I think it > would be sufficient for experimenting - a VGA output will be provided for > sure, it's one fo the design goals to have it. The idea is to make a board > about the size of the LCD that the LCD would bolt onto, and that would be > the whole computer. Since I will have to design this board for work, I have > discussed the possibility to make a number of them available to the QL > community in return for work done on porting SMSQ/E, which I think would be > beneficieal for all. > > The board itself is going to implement most if not all of the SZ functions > - Most probably the largest possible RAM size would be used (that would be > 2 banks of 32M, but depends on what chips I can get as the SZ uses a 16 bit > bus), a decent size Flash ROM for booting from (2M at least, probably more > depending on part prices), a MMC or SD memory card socket and probably USB > will be included, ditto serial ports, VGA out, some sort of matrix keyboard > (probably 8x8 like the original QLs, makes things easy), sound (most > probably mono due to the limitations of the SZ), and anything else of use > that comes to mind. The SZ literally has tons of functions... > > Not an easy board to make as the SZ has 196 pins on a small square chip, a > 14x14 grid of ball contacts on a .8mm pitch. It is truly very small. The > board will be 4 layers for sure, possibly 6. Graphics could be very easily > made to be compatible with Aurora 256 color, and 16 color - the slight > problem is that there is no capability to faithfully emulate old QL > graphics but I think a screen emulation scheme could work, though it would > only be for initial developement. > > Things to decide: > * There is also a 16 bit color mode but it uses up a lot of the memory > bandwidth for usable resolutions, which would slow down the CPU, so > resolutins might be limited. This however remains to be tested > experimentally. I'm leaning towards not using this mode as the CPU is after > all only a 68000, even if clocked at 66MHz - it's alot of data to move > around. > * I'm not sure yet about implementing a QL compatible (or semi-compatible > with some extensions) expansion port, but it might be usefull for > developement purposes. If nothing else, one could put an old floppy > controler on it to transfer files. Problems with this include accurately > emulating QL timing (I think this could be done), and power considerations > - the SZ is a 3.3V CPU. Additional buffer chips are a given for this, but > they can be omitted together with the connector for apps where no expansion > port is needed. An additional consideration is routing of the signal lines. > * Use of one of the serial ports as IRDA - depends on the availability, > price and power consumption of IRDA RX/TX modules. > * Use of the SPI interface for, eg. a PS2 mouse port. Questions: software, > power consumption... > * USB - the SZ implements a USB slave device, which should not be terribly > difficult to program a driver for, but as usual, doing a driver is a > problem... > * CF or IDE interface - very easy to do but again requires routing wires > and extra buffer chips (fortunately, not many of them). Depends on PCB > realestate, the SZ has so many functions that just providing connectors for > all of them uses up masses of board space. Also, would require some changes > in the drivers (either native SMSQ/E or Qubide). > * Touch screen support - the SZ has it built in, and I will leave > connectors for it, but supporting it will depend on wether I can get a > touch screen panel of the right size without paying for it through the > nose. > > The SZ also has some quite nice features for debugging, it can be > boot-loaded from the serial port - a toolkit to do this could be easily > written in Sbasic. The added advantage of using SMSQ/E is that my employer > will certainly need a number of QPC licences as well as other QL software > ;-) > > Oh, yes - another thing: my current email address will stop working > sometime in September as the ISP has changed it's domain name, so instead > of zeljkoDOTnastasicATzgDOTtelDOThr it will be > zeljkoDOTnastasicATzgDOThinetDOThr. The latter already works, I just need > to set up my mailer for it, and remember how to unsubscribe and resubscribe > to the QL users list ;-) > > Best, > > Nasta > > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.quanta.org.uk/mailing.htm _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.quanta.org.uk/mailing.htm
