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the box for home brew computers
http://anycpu.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=913		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  oldben [ Fri May 20, 2022 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  the box for home brew computers
I have my FPGA design mostly fleshed out, but now I need a better front panel
and a box to put all this mess in. Where do I get a nice simple one off box, that is not
thin as pancake and PDP 11 style front panel?
Attachment:
pdp1120+panelsim.jpg
pdp1120+panelsim.jpg [ 276.5 KiB | Viewed 7097 times ]

Where the staus lights are I would like a 2 slots that can mount a SD cards (standard size) from behind,
emulating a RK05 disk. Serial ports on the back of the box for i/o.
Ben.
PS: I picked a vt-100 terminal kit, hoping to modify the character set graphics. I need a box for that too.
Sadly the pic32 chip seems to be too complex and development stuff too expensive to easly modify.
Author:  BigEd [ Sat May 21, 2022 6:51 am ]
Post subject:  Re: the box for home brew computers
You might check out the pidp8 (uses a bamboo box with acrylic front panel) or the pidp11 (I think people have 3D printed the box for this... is the original kit an injection moulded piece??)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llciraSHbRQ

Maybe you need to sketch out some possibilities, with dimensions: are you going to have a single board, or stacked boards, or a backplane with right angle connectors? (Not being as flat as a pancake isn't quite a specification!)
Author:  oldben [ Sat May 21, 2022 9:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: the box for home brew computers
BigEd wrote:
You might check out the pidp8 (uses a bamboo box with acrylic front panel) or the pidp11 (I think people have 3D printed the box for this... is the original kit an injection moulded piece??)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llciraSHbRQ

Maybe you need to sketch out some possibilities, with dimensions: are you going to have a single board, or stacked boards, or a backplane with right angle connectors? (Not being as flat as a pancake isn't quite a specification!)


About 8 inches deep inside, and about 2 inches wider inside than what ever front panel I use. The extra space is for the SD card
slots. Thin plywood would be nice for the box. 12 Inches wide,5 1/2 "inches high and 9 inches deep feels right, but it all will depend
on what front panel I use. The current one about 10 inches x 4 1/2 inches. The rear would have DB9 and power cutouts.
Perhaps a generic modern S-100 bus front panel and box be designed for the old retro machines.Data path16 bits and the address path to 24 bits. Your Pi could run a z8000, 8085,8086 ect.
Ben.
Author:  BigEd [ Sat May 21, 2022 10:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: the box for home brew computers
As I'm not skilled in woodwork, personally I'd see what commodity boxes are available and design around that. The cactus machine uses lasercut plywood to good effect and I'm sure others have done the same.

The pipdp8 box is
Quote:
L = 30cm, H = 15cm, measured on the outside.
Thickness of wood is 0.8cm, of which 0.4cm outer side and 0.4cm is the inner ridge.
Depth is 6.5cm, measured on the outside. Plus 0.3-0.4cm as a ridge on the back of the case.
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