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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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838343 No.838343 [Reply] [Original]

what is this pic, some sort of homebrew ISA or PCI card? can this still be done today on PCIe?

>> No.838351

>>838343
Looks like a custom ISA sound card. Yeah, you can still do it but its gonna be hard as fuck to solder connectors by hand like that. PCIe is much tighter than ISA was. Kind of redundant now that sound cards are built onto the mobo now.

>> No.838368

>>838343
Google suggests it is a sound blaster prototype. Yes, for ISA bus.

>can this still be done today on PCIe?
With certain definition of "can". Your primary problem would be handling the bus itself, not producing sound. The opposite was true with ISA, which was very simple and slow.

>> No.838371

aaayyy - jist, look at that thing..

dont make em like they used to, for sure.

>> No.838381

You would have to use something like this: http://www.pci-tools.com/english/prototyp/pcie_eval_board.html
There are also FPGA development boards that plug into PCIe slots. Expect to pay top dollar in either case.

>> No.838382

>>838381

wow, that ain't cheap. so i guess the days of diy pc expansion cards are over :(

thx. op.

>> No.838392

>>838382
Did some Googling and found that Lattice has some dev kit that's not too expensive, but I don't know anything else about it: http://www.latticesemi.com/ecp5pciekit

A long time ago Elektor published a PCI (not Express) proto board that wasn't too expensive. The problem is that with modern bus protocols and signalling rates you need a dedicated controller and a high-quality board. ISA is incredibly forgiving by comparison.

>> No.838395

>>838382
Nowadays expansion is done with USB devices. Much simpler, cheaper and safer. There's not much a hobbyist could do that would require PCIe bandwidth.

>> No.838426

One of the reasons I want to try building a computer of some sort out of a MCU or similar. You can't do stuff like homebrewing hardware anymore and I'd like to try.

>> No.838442

You could use a pcie bridge (like http://www.plxtech.com/products/usbcontrollers/usb2380)) to get the signals to a more manageable protocol. Granted usb is still ridiculously complicated and difficult to use.

>> No.838478

>>838442
That chip allows you to connect PCIe to a USB host, the opposite of what you'd want (a USB host controller connected to PCIe).

>> No.838506
File: 56 KB, 600x260, 7564-200.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
838506

>>838343
>can this still be done today

prototyping and development boards $99

>> No.838507

I just want to read- shame I have to work during all summer
https://www.mindshare.com/files/ebooks/PCI%20Express%20System%20Architecture.pdf

>> No.838523

http://dangerousprototypes.com/2011/05/18/99-dollar-pci-e-fpga-kit/

>> No.838525

>>838506
That's for the bare board, it doesn't include the controller you actually need to connect anything to the bus. These people sell a preprogrammed FPGA for that purpose for €55: http://www.quancom.com/qprod01/eng/pb/pci_dec3.htm

>> No.838527

when is PCIe 3.0 gonna hit the streets? and how much will those dev boards cost :)

>> No.838536

>>838523
The kit costs something like $250 today.

>> No.838538

>>838382

I was thinking about DIY expansion cards too and came to similar realization. Plus pretty much anything a hobbyist can do is already on the motherboard of modern computer.
I suggest finding some decades-old computer (with ISA, VLB or PCI buses) and experimening with it. It's much simpler to learn something that way.

>> No.838542

>>838538
A lot of medium to large microcontrollers have external memory interfaces nowadays. Another fun way of experimenting is old cartridge-based game consoles.

>> No.838543

>>838538
I used to work with TI-83s a lot. Eventually I'm going to get an eZ80 and build myself a machine, that way I'll know every little detail I'll need for expansion cards.

Also I've wanted an eZ80 TI-84+ for years.

>> No.838548

>>838542

Yes, consoles too. I'm considering buying some old console and writing some kind of game for it. Toasted my old console about a decade ago, so only old 386 machine left to tinker with.

Any ideas about which console is most friendly to unofficial games?

>> No.838549
File: 83 KB, 545x464, Board.Dragon-E.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
838549

Dragon-E PCI Express & FX2 USB FPGA board

>> No.838550

>>838548
Megadrive probably. It's well-documented (the official dev documentation and schematics are available on the net), there's no real security and there's an active developer community (http://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/).). There's also many very accurate emulators, which can help with debugging. Since the main CPU is a 68000, you can use GCC as compiler, and SDCC or plain assembly for the Z80 sound CPU.

You can buy flash cartridges from places like Tototek, but making your own isn't very difficult either.

>> No.838552

>>838343
Yes, but PCIe requires knowledge of high speed digital design and great knowledge of the PCI architecture.

good luck :^)

>> No.838557

>>838552
>Yes, but PCIe requires knowledge of high speed digital design and great knowledge of the PCI architecture.

I just want to make some LEDs blink inside my computer. :(

>> No.838566

>>838549
Costs about $600.
OP, sometimes you can find FPGA kits on eBay, sometimes they are even cheap.

>> No.838605

You probably have a serial port, use that.

>> No.838646

>>838343
>can this still be done today on PCIe
well, in theory you could build the whole computer by hand if you have enough time and resources, but the question is is it gonna be worth it?

PCIe is much tighter and what obscure application could you have to need to build something custom like this? I'd imagine for the time and money it would take to make it by hand it would be much more reasonable to just buy a finished product

>> No.838828

>>838557
Hook it up to the 3.3v cable of a sata connector.

>> No.839813

>>838506
>pci protoboard
>$99

Ill glue a pci cutoff to a protoboard right now for you for $50

>> No.839827

>>838646
there are actually custom PCIe cards for scientific machines that cost thousands of dollars.

i work in a lab and try to buy surplus equipment to save money and often come up against this problem. people often surplus the machine, but forget to remove the hugely expensive and custom interface card from their computer to include with the machine.

it is often possible to make cards to send the right equipment signals to the right pin from the equipment manual