Prototype MX-4 Adapter board/Case Design to pimp the CPC like no other.

[rpalmer]

AMSTRAD people,
As part of my progress to develop a new case for my spare 6128 motherboard, I have prototyped a version of the MX-4 slots which will allow for a seriously expanded the CPC. The prototype allows for 10 MX-4 cards to be attached to the CPC making it capable of handling almost all of the currently available cards connectable to the CPC. The pictures showing the prototype have a central board (in blue) which also have the ability to connect an external power supply to lessen the burden on the CPC to power expansion devices as well as a reset switch.

The case design is very much in the initial phases of sketches only, but is slowly looking more like a final version. I am using FreeCAD to design the case and still have lots of learning to do get the job done.

The attached photos are just for a prototype, but on going development of the case may see minor changes to get it to fit into the case. However the attached photos may also ignite the imagination of many.
The first attached picture shows many expansions. The expansions in development are:

   
• An Audio interface (AKA Amstrad CPC Audio Interface - A.C.A.I) using a AtMega chip and a secondary MP3 decoder (VS1011ES). This adapter will not only enable the replication of the AY-3-8912, but also (to a limited degree) a SID chips from the C64. The schematic is in the initial design phase.
• An Memory Expansion Interface with 64 MegaBytes (YES THAT'S RIGHT 64 MEGA BYTES). I have already been testing a 4 MB module and have schematics for a 8/16/32/64 MB modules.
• An External Video Adapter (AKA E.V.A) to provide a method to connect a Standard VGA to the CPC and display the screen on it at the 640 x 480 VGA standard (Note only 400 of the 480 scan lines are used). EVA will be capable of displaying up to 65536 colours and have other display enhancements (like double pixel mode and 400 scan lines). The schematic is nearing completion.
• An IDE/CF interface for high capacity storage media. I Have already have ordered and received the board to build and test.
• An SPI interface allowing for a Real time clock, SD cards, Ethernet Card (Using the ENC28J60 chip or similar). All 3 of the mentioned attachments are also in development with the Real Time Clock in a schematic and the SD board PCB ready to be built.
• A 64 ROM Slot card (includes a slot for replacement ROM0 [Lower/Upper], a single 32K Slot for ROMs 1 and 2, Single ROM 32K slot for ROM 7 with Upper/Lower selection and 1MB RAM for the remaining ROMs). The schematic is nearing completion (with checks to make sure I don't waste time/money).

The first picture also shows there is a Floppy adapter board. This board is nearing final completion and enables users of the CPC 6128 to simply plug this in and then connect and use PC floppy drives (with no changes). The board has the additional circuits to supply the required ready signal, ABBA selection, Side A/B select handling. This card will of course not allow the internal drive to work since it uses the power cable from the internal drive.

The motherboard will also be modded to include a FPGA DMA/CPU accelerator board (Z80 running at 20 MHz) and a PS2 Keyboard/mouse interface (using a PIC18F4550) sitting on top of the 8255 (this interface also has a unused USB port).

rpalmer

[radu14m]

looks great !!! 

[XeNoMoRPH]

64 MegaBytes 

[GUNHED]

64 MegaBytes 

How long would it take to erase them? Ok, wait... 67108864 * 2 us / 1000000 = 134,217728 or lets say:
2 Minutes and 15 seconds. Just to mention it here...


So, 64 MB is nice for sure, but IMHO should be battery packed.

[LambdaMikel]

   
• An Audio interface (AKA Amstrad CPC Audio Interface - A.C.A.I) using a AtMega chip and a secondary MP3 decoder (VS1011ES). This adapter will not only enable the replication of the AY-3-8912, but also (to a limited degree) a SID chips from the C64. The schematic is in the initial design phase.

Are you using SwinSID? I guess you could adjust the firmware from

http://www.swinkels.tvtom.pl/swinsid/
I was actually thinking about doing a breakout for SwinSID CPC as well... SwinSID is available for 20 $ @ Ebay.

[LambdaMikel]

   
• An Memory Expansion Interface with 64 MegaBytes (YES THAT'S RIGHT 64 MEGA BYTES). I have already been testing a 4 MB module and have schematics for a 8/16/32/64 MB modules.

Why not 64 GB 

[TotO]

Why not 64 GB 

Yes, why not. They are no real limitation to address huge RAM or ROM capacities to the CPC. Next, what is the usage when you have to fill them with data stored on a flash mass storage, while its access time is as close as the memory itself (around 150KB/s).

[Gryzor]

Won't this be a beast of a machine in terms of real estate?

[rpalmer]

Gryzor,
Yes it will be like a PC box in size which means you could sit a monitor/LCD on top, which in an overall sense is not really all that large given that the CPC monitor/keyboard combination has a large foot print.My eventual CPC case would be something akin to the Amiga 1000 or more recently the Checkmate A1500 by Stephen Jones.

rpalmer

[MikeSDK]

You sir, are insane and I love it!
Please make drawings and schematics available once you have it all together so we can join in your madness
- mike

[Lazy Dude]

You can tell how old the Amstrad is, I spotted a CPC bus pass in the diagram.   

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Nice, I hope it all works out.

I hope there's space for a gotek + OLED display in the case design