The Z85C30 is indeed still available - I got one recently - you can get
them on mouser at various speed ratings (8 and 10s mainly). No doubt
other places will supply them as well.
M
On 26/01/2021 05:53, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 1/25/21 8:46 PM, Paul Koning wrote:
In playing with DECnet I built a DDCMP
implementation which deals
with a byte stream, normally from a UART.? So that works nicely with
async link DDCMP as found in RSX and several other operating
systems.? But the speed is limited.
The other option would be synchronous links, which would enable
connections to DMC11 or the like at speeds up to 1 Mb/s.? But
synchronous comm devices that connect to modern computers aren't so
easy to find, though I have seen a few.
After playing with Arduino for LK201 keyboard emulation I started to
wonder if one could be made to be a synchronous comm link with a USB
back end, with low level things like byte framing and maybe DDCMP
packet format handling in there, but the protocol state machine in
the host behind the USB interface. For moderate speeds that seems
entirely practical.? For 1 Mb/s, probably not, though perhaps one of
the fast ARM based units with its built-in SPI could be warped into
that.
The alternative would be something like a BeagleBone Black (or Green)
such as David Gesswein used as the engine for his MFM hard disk
emulator.? That clearly could do the job without any strain.
So I'm wondering: would there be interest in such a thing?? If yes,
should it be a modem-connected one (RS232 signaling, bit clock
supplied externally by a modem or modem-eliminator)?? Or should it be
the "integral modem" short distance type, the ones that used a pair
of coax with 4-pin AMP connectors like this
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/2…
?
? You could implement it as a USB interface to a Z8530 or a Z80 SIO,
they both do synchronous serial, and most likely implement all of the
required functionality.? They're both readily available, and likely
will be for a long time.? I think the Z8530 may even still be current,
but I've not checked.
? Just a thought.
??????????? -Dave