Recent Articles
Lunetta 1
About seven or eight years ago, I started down a path to create my own synthesizer using discrete electronic parts like CMOS chips, resistors, capacitors, and the like. Early on, I discovered the “Lunetta” synthesizer, made from 40106 CMOS chips. By hooking them up a certain way, you can achieve a square wave. This was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, I got distracted by more capable machines like the Arduino and various FPGAs along the way, so my adventures were short-lived.
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Using Xmodem to Transfer Files to Retro Computer
My retro computer is an SC126 designed by Stephen C. Cousins. It has two serial ports. I am using 1 serial port to interface with my retro amber monitor. That leaves the second one open to use as a way to transfer programs and data from my laptop to the retro computer.
The port circled in orange is the primary serial port. I have mine plugged into the amber terminal. The one outlined in blue is used to communicate with the PC.
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VGA on an FPGA
I have been working with my FPGA boards to attempt to display a test pattern on a VGA monitor. For my experiments, I bought a small VGA monitor*. It has a VGA input, as well as a HDMI input, so I can use it with all of my FPGAs, since the Zybo only has HDMI ports. Hardware I am using my Mercury 2 with the Mercury baseboard attachment, as it has a VGA port on it.
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