mnf wrote:Look like some interesting kit...
Seen details of PokeyOne - nickname of a bedsit I stayed in for a while...
Yeah the journey began back in mid 2015, when I kind of got sucked back into the retro 8-bit computing scene. At first it was just an opportunity to create a re-imagined version of something I had built and sold back in 1990 called TransKey. Back in that time period PICs didn't even exist, and micro-contollers were in their infancy. So I essentially built a single board 6504 computer to translate an AT keyboard into something that would mimic an 8x8 matrixed keyboard. Years later I stumbled upon the PIC at an embedded systems conference, and began working with it in some of my own designs, always thinking that if I had only had one of these in 1990.
Pokey's got used in a multitude of systems starting in the 80's, game systems, computers, and arcade machines to name a few. It was a great chip back in the day, handling the keyboard, paddle controllers, sound, and serial I/O. But due to all the sources drying up, buying a Pokey will set you back at least $40 now days, thus making an FPGA replacement like the PokeyOne a more viable proposition.
mnf wrote:Are you up and running now - or is it still temperamental?
Yep that last iteration appears to be rock solid.
Michael St. Pierre
FlowCode V3&V4 Pro Registered User
Manufacture: Heat Load Controllers,
and a variety of other widgets.