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What's it all about?

Posted: 14 Aug 2012 17:09
by Dave
To get things started, for those of you who don't know, here's some information about REMEMOTECH........

Image

Quoting from Andy's site...

REMEMOTECH is a modern-day re-implementation of a Memotech MTX/FDX/SDX compatible computer :-

in VHDL
re-using existing VHDL definitions of major chips
writing VHDL definitions of missing chips
writing the glue logic in VHDL
synthesizing for a Cyclone II FPGA
targetting an Altera DE1 board
exploiting the hardware on the board, around the FPGA, such as clock, connectors, Flash, SRAM, VGA DACs, sound CODEC, SD Card, ...

It implements enough hardware to allow it to run MTX BASIC, various MTX games and CP/M. It supports :-

Z80 compatible CPU, at 4.166MHz and other speeds upto 25MHz
384KB RAM, 72KB ROM
PS/2 keyboard
VDP, outputting to 640x480 @ 50Hz (or 60Hz) VGA
Sound chip
80 column card support, with 80x24 and 80x48 modes, outputting to 640x480 @ 60Hz VGA
Whether VDP or 80 column output appears on main VGA output switchable
The other display can appear on another VGA, with an appropriate adapter
RAM Disc support (upto 320KB)
SD Card as a large and fast alterative to floppy disk
Modified SDX ROM using SD Card and RAM Disc instead of floppy disk
Virtual cassette support

The photo is from Andy's web page, but I have built one that looks just like it.

It is a great piece of engineering and really worth taking a look http://www.nyangau.org/rememotech/rememotech.htm
All the hard work has been done, you just need to load the pre-compiled image to the Altera DE1 and you're good to go! The download also includes a host of Memotech software, including some of Claus's Coleco game conversions.

regards
Dave