Rosco-m68k Revision 1

Name: Rosco-m68k Revision 1
SKU: 19726
Price: 30.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.50 (9 reviews)

(9 Reviews)

The powerful, flexible, hacker-friendly 16/32-bit Retro Computer!

Designed by The Really Old-School Company Ltd in United Kingdom

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2020-04-08T09:22:49.544Z-pcb-r1-populated-promo.png

The powerful, flexible, hacker-friendly 16/32-bit Retro Computer!

Please note This product has been replaced by the new and improved revision 1.2 main board: https://www.tindie.com/products/rosco/rosco-m68k-revision-12/ What is this? Note that the base model incl…

What is this?

Note that the base model includes the bare PCB only, select the optional components you'd like included when purchasing the product.

The rosco_m68k is a self-build Motorola 68k computer designed for experimentation, education and hacking.

Featuring a 68010 16/32-bit processor running at 8MHz, 1MB RAM, 16KB ROM and advanced IO capabilities thanks to the on-board MC68901 Multi-Function Peripheral, the rosco_m68k is easy to build and lots of fun to hack on.

And with our open-source serial firmware, Easy68K-compatible IO and simple starter projects for your own code, the rosco_m68k is ready to run your programs just as soon as you've soldered it up!

Features

MC68010 16/32-bit CPU
1MB RAM
16KB ROM
On-board UART (9600 BPS as standard)
5 easily-accessible interrupt-capable GPIOs
Two on-board, interrupt-capable programmable timers
Expansion connector with support for both new and legacy (MC6800) peripherals
Serial bootloader firmware loads programs via Kermit protocol
Easy68K IO Compatibility Layer in the firmware
Various example programs and quick-start code for your own!

Order the parts, grab your soldering iron, and join in the fun of putting your own computer together!

Who can build this?

The rosco_m68k is designed to be easy to solder, and no special skills or equipment are needed! Simply grab a regular (ideally temperature-controlled) soldering iron, some solder (we like lead-free 1mm diameter) and have at it!

All-through-hole design, only basic soldering skills required
4-layer PCB so there's plenty of space around components, no fiddly bits
High-quality solder mask and tented vias reduce the risk of hard-to-spot bridges
Fully-socketed option at checkout to eliminate the risk of heat-damage to the ICs

Where supplied, all new components are the very highest-quality we can get our hands on. Some components are (by virtue of their not being produced any more!) pre-owned, surplus or new-old-stock, but we carefully recondition and test every component before it leaves our workshop to ensure that you won't be disappointed by non-functional parts.

What else do I need?

In addition to the base PCB and components and soldering gear, we recommend the following:

Serial to USB (FTDI) converter to connect your rosco_m68k to your PC (Can be supplied with the kit)
USB to Dupont power lead (can be easily made at home from any USB cable)
Multimeter for debugging
EEPROM programmer (Required if pre-programmed ROMs and glue logic options are not selected)

When working with the rosco_m68k, we find the following useful:

Logic analyser for testing and development
Solderless breadboards and jumper wires
Arduino, or other MCU

What about software?

Just like the hardware, the firmware and software for the rosco_m68k are open source, and we're constantly improving and adding new features to it. You'll find everything you need at https://github.com/rosco-m68k including the standard firmware, example projects in both assembly and C, and a bunch of standard libraries you can use in your own projects to do things like serial output and GPIOs.

Getting started with writing your own code is easy thanks to our comprehensive instructions on building a GCC toolchain for m68k, and if you use Home-brew (https://brew.sh) you can simply install the toolchain with a couple of commands! (Note that Mac or Linux is recommended for development. A VM can be used when working under Windows).

Programs are loaded to the board via serial link using the Kermit protocol, and all support code is provided by the firmware and standard libraries to make writing these programs as easy as writing programs for your PC.

The standard firmware additionally provides an Easy68K-compatible IO layer, meaning that your existing Easy68k simulator code can probably be run on the real hardware with minimal changes (if any). (See http://www.easy68k.com for more about Easy68K).

And of course, if you're so inclined, you can completely replace the standard firmware with your own code, giving you total control :)

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.78)

Documentation: (4.11)

Shipping: (4.56)

Communication: (4.56)

Theo | July 25, 2020

Nice kit, fun to build

I bought the Rosco-m68k as a full kit to make sure I had everything I would need. It was not difficult to build and worked first time. The green and red LED's are reassuring indicators even before a serial terminal is connected. I used Kermit for Windows to upload and test the examples. The board is well-designed, and the large 68010 chip looks great on it. Recommended for old school microprocessor enthusiasts.

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | July 26, 2020

Hi Theo,

Thanks for your review and feedback, really glad everything arrived safe and you're happy with it :)

Thanks again, and happy hacking!
Ross

John | July 20, 2020

Great kit, good documentation, packing and shipping issues.

Bought this kit because I wanted to work with the 68000 again. I first started playing with this chip in the mid-80's when I build a Godabout Compupro system, first with a z80 and then upgraded it to the 68K with CPM68k. At which point I built a video card, slave z8000 processor and voice synthesizer. Then I wrote software drivers for supporting every available drive under the sun, the video card and the voice synthesizer. So I am a bit of a geek. Also owned at one time every version of the Amiga, the Atari 68k system and a AT&T Unix workstation. I liked this platform so much I decided to use this kit to get back into it again now that I am retired. Bought the kit with all the bells and whistles (parts, etc.) Given the current clime, it took a while, but it got here. Well packed. However, lots of the chips suffered pin damage, most it appears, before they were packed. Fortunately, I was able to salvage them without breaking any. So guys you have to do a better job with those chips (FYI the ROMs were the worst). Also, with QC regarding the sockets - you shipped me one defective, which I was able to recover, and one with missing pins. Only other ding was a doc discrepancy - web page manifest is different from the one included with the kit. Issue was the Green LED resistors weren't updated into the webpage - minor, but there. Once I acquired the appropriate replacement socket, it went together easily, less than 4 hours of soldering. Biggest problem with the assembly itself was figuring out the values of the caps. Fortunately I had just acquired a digital microscope, which was invaluable in resolving that problem (only way I could read the legends). Once I plugged it in and hooked up the mini B USB converter (per the instructions - had to acquire another cable there), it booted up just fine. Started playing with it tonight, if I can get Kermit to cooperate (locking issues with UBUNTU 18.04). Nice, clean design, pretty full proof if you socket the chips, and very, very good, docs. Looking to implement CPM 68K here again eventually and then start really playing.

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | July 21, 2020

Hi John,

Thanks for your review, and for the detailed feedback :)

Firstly, I'm sorry for the damage on some of the parts - I would never have knowingly shipped them that way, and am more than happy to refund for any that were beyond repair - please contact me directly at ross@rosco-m68k.com and we'll arrange that :)

I hear you loud and clear on the packaging, rest assured that, based on your feedback, I'm already investigating alternative packaging methods. I'll be changing the way the ICs are packaged immediately, and plan to move to sturdier boxes (instead of the current soft packaging) in the near future, with the ICs packaged in anti-static tubes.

The website BOM differing from the printed one in the kit is because some kits have been shipping with different LEDs and limiting resistor combinations, but I think those are sold through now so will look at getting them updated to match as soon as possible, thanks for the reminder.

Thanks also for your kind comments, I'm super pleased that you're happy with your kit!

Thanks again, and happy hacking!
Ross

Michael | July 20, 2020

Good kit, worked first time.

Can't really fault this kit. Everything supplied, very good documentation and supporting software. It's still being very actively developed and there is a lot more potential. If you want to take advantage of the ongoing developments, a programmer would prove useful. This isn't a kit for someone wanting to boot straight into an operating system, it's more suited to someone who wants a platform for hacking m68k code and hardware. The documentation covers setting up the tool-chain, which can often be a challenge for the beginner, and I found this worked well on my Mac. Support from the developer is very good. Recommended.

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | July 20, 2020

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the review, and your kind words :) Really pleased that you're happy with your kit, and super excited to have you in the community :)

Thanks again, and happy hacking!
Ross

Paula | July 17, 2020

Awesome fun

I had so much fun building this and bringing it to life.
Had a small hiccup with the build which was quickly and professionally resolved by the seller.
I'm super happy with this and will be tinkering for weeks :)

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | July 17, 2020

Hi Paula,

Really pleased that you're happy with your kit, and many thanks for your review!

Very sorry for the faulty part you received with your order, and glad we were able to get it sorted out for you quickly :)

Thanks again, and happy hacking!
Ross

Alexander | May 28, 2020

All cool! Like this sbc

A lot of options for kit and easy to build but powerful sbc. Like it 👍, good tool to study m68k. Even unix can be loaded probably - will do that in future.

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | May 30, 2020

Hi Alexander,

Thanks for the review! Really pleased that you're happy with your kit, running unix would be awesome :)

Thanks again, and happy hacking!
Ross

Henk | May 21, 2020

Well constructed board, easy to build, good software support

Communication with the seller is great, very kind person to deal with. The Rev 1 board is perfect for a lot of experiments, but a new revision would be better if it supports a true backplane in a 19 inch rack. Soldering the board is easy, and should take just a few hours. There are no adjustments, it should work right "out of the box". I bought the almost complete kit (I had several components in stock), and everything is clearly labeled, down to each separate resistor! I have always favored the Motorola processors over all the Intel stuff, so I might be a bit biased :-). But the M68010 is a great CPU, and only the 68020 can top it, before things get really complicated. The board is very "open", so lots of add-ons are possible, and being worked on already! The software that you can download from Github contains a toolchain and lots of help to get started. Either in assembly as in C! All in all, I am very happy with this kit.

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | May 22, 2020

Hi Henk,

Thanks for your review and your kind words!

Really glad to hear you're happy with your kit, and very pleased you got up and running quickly :)

I hear you loud and clear on the revision two :) All feedback is being taken on board and will be considered when the time comes to do the design for the next version - there will be a lot of community involvement in the future direction we take :)

Thanks again,
Ross

Rick | May 7, 2020

Great Kit

Overall this is a great little kit. It was well packaged, organized, and all the parts were accounted for. There was not a whole lot of documentation for the assembly, but it was very obvious how to put it together. I was able to put it together in less than 4 hours.
Some general suggestions:
1) Make the EEPROMs at least 128K
2) Most of the capacitors did not mount exactly right. The pads were closer than the lead spacing of the caps.
3) Change the serial connector to be the standard 6 pin USB to serial header. I had to build an interface cable.
4) As others have stated, the GALs and EEPROMs should be labeled. The kit did include a neat little "map" of the packaged ICs, which was a life saver.
5) The SW development documentation was spread out all over several web pages, and was hard to follow. I understand this is a work in progress, and hopeful for improvements coming soon.
6) The SW development was geared towards Linux and MAC OS. It would be nice to have PC options other than Easy68K.

With that being said, the kit worked the first time I powered it up with a small hello world that I wrote using Easy68K. I would recommend this kit to anyone who has previous CPU development experience - especially those with a gcc background. Due to the SW difficulty, I would not recommend it for NOOBs...

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | May 9, 2020

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your review! Glad to hear your kit arrived safely and powered up first time :)

Thanks for your suggestions too, it's great feedback like yours that helps us make a better product.

There are already some moves afoot within the community to increase the ROM size (initially with a minor board modification) and I'm definitely planning to spec for larger ROMs in a future revision. I'm sorry to hear the capacitors weren't quite right, I'll talk to my suppliers and get that addressed going forward.

Great call on switching to the standard 6-pin serial connector, I'll raise a ticket on our tracker to do that in the next board revision.

Based on feedback, we now label both GALs and EEPROMs in all orders, yours must have been one of the last to escape before we started doing that, sorry about that.

I hear you loud and clear on the software side. I'm planning a big overhaul of the software documentation and plan to pull everything together into one place on the main website. You're absolutely right that the current documentation (like the software itself) is still growing but that's no excuse, I'll make this a priority and get some improvements n place. I'm also investigating options for a Windows version of the toolchain, hopefully as a self-contained installer that pulls in everything. I hope to launch that very soon.

Thanks again for you order and review, and happy hacking!

Ross

Andre | April 27, 2020

Nice m68k project.

Today finally had time to assemble the board.
Despite the corona crisis, the order was received quickly.
Assembling the board was very easy.
I would have liked to see that the 5 V DC connection was next to the serial connection, and whether a DC jack connection.
Sequence of the ROM and GAL chips were clear, but a sticker on the chips would be better.
Software installation did not go very well many errors with the installation of the toolchain via homebrew.
Everything done manually on a clean install of Ubuntu 20.04.Now looking for an MC68010, CPUs had been ordered in China, this turned out to be re-badged 68000 chips.

Keep it up with this project!

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | April 27, 2020

Thanks for your review 🙂

Really pleased that you’ve received your kit and the build went well!

Thanks for the feedback too, you’re not the first person to mention stickers and it’s a great point - going forward all boards will ship with stickers on the ROMs and the 16V8s.

A DC jack is a great idea, and I’ve actually just sent the initial design for a local bus backplane off for manufacturing, this will include a variety of power options including a jack, but I’ll make a note of your suggestion also for a future revision of the main board.

I’m sorry your software installation didn’t go well, I work on Mac so don’t have much experience with brew on Linux, but I’m going to contact you directly about that and also about the CPU - although I didn’t have any in stock when you ordered due to the unfortunate incident with the rebadged 68000s you mentioned, I now have stock of verified, genuine 68010s.

Thanks again for your order and review, and happy hacking!

Ross

Miodrag | April 25, 2020

Great m68k kit

Very nice board, quite easy to build. All resistors were clearly marked which is nice touch.
On plastic bag there is also marking of chips and location where they go, but would suggest
placing sticker on GALs and ROMs, other parts do not need more info.
One small remark regarding PCB is that it would be better that memory chip pads and NE555 are larger
(like on other components) that would make it even easier to solder.
Nice coding examples and instructions for toolchain, so very interesting for further development.
Testing with MC68000P10 but will try with MC68010 as well when I get one.
Looking forward to new boards from you.

Response from The Really Old-School Company Ltd | April 25, 2020

Thanks for the review, really pleased you're happy with your kit and hope you have a lot of fun hacking on it!

Many thanks for the feedback, going forward we'll be adding stickers on both the ROMs and the 16V8s, and I've raised an issue (https://github.com/rosco-m68k/rosco_m68k/issues/35) to fix the pads on U1-U4 and the 555!

There's lots more to come for the rosco_m68k, with two new boards almost ready to launch and a video card at the breadboard stage, so be sure to check back regularly!

Thanks again, and happy hacking,
Ross

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The Really Old-School Company Ltd

Heanor, Derbyshire, United Kingdom

Ships from United Kingdom.

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