Fluke 9010A pod 9000a-z80 replacement DIY kit for 100$

marian

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Fluke 9010A pod 9000a-z80 replacement DIY kit for 100$

Hi All

I am sure you all must have reached to a point where you wanted a Z80 pod and the price for it was really huge and you didn't knew what to do about it.
It happened to me as well and i decided to build one and replace all not produced parts anymore. Discussed the initial initiative with Brian Brzezicki and looked like a good idea.

Probably few years back the price on it was more affordable, but now i've seen these getting sold with 1400$ plus. And any new people trying to get a feeling on these are really having a hard time to find them for a decent price. I just felt really frustrated about it and wanted to do something to change it.

I have attached the pictures of one that i build, and its running without issues.
I replaced the protection circuits and the power sensing, plus some other some small changes. I tested it on circuit: dumping roms over usb, changing ram data, run UUT, reading control lines and everything worked fine. I can upload pictures with those as well if you want to see it running like that.

The protection circuit replacements can be used to replace existing ones in the pods as well if you have them broken. I haven't stress tested this. Like using -10/+10V on some of the address/data lines. But the simulation that i run with looked fine (when i used 3.3k resistors on it).

If you have a pod that you don't use, you can just use the original protection circuit on this pod replacement also.
As you can see in the pictures i am using 2 original protection circuit + 3 replacements.
These replacements are the most challenging to solder as there are SMD diodes on them.
You might have a lot more experience on soldering than me, and that might not be as hard as i found it. I've also tried to manufacture these replacements but those prices also really high (300$).

I am waiting to get some new print for these protection circuits to match the original ones which are using the external lines pulled up high (using 280 k ohm on a SIP resistor). The ones that i tested with didn't had the lines pulled up and it was working without any issue.
It be soldered later on. Also i used an atmega8A for the power sensing circuit. (ordered 10 now)

I have 3 available PCB's now and these new protection circuits that should arrive by next week.
For this kit (at 100$) i can include with it :
- main PCB
- 5 pcbs for protection circuits
- pod UUT cable
- atmega8A programmed.
- parallel cable to connect with the fluke.
- side connector for the parallel cable.
- 2716 (o 2732) with the ROM.
- 74S140.

All other items you should have already. 6532 IO timer is a little bit harder to find, but i've seen them on ebay and you might also have it from other sources. The other ICs are 74LS/HCT,74ALS to have the Z80 run at 6Mhz in circuit.

If there is more interest into this, just let me know and i'll do more prints on request. Based on that i'll try to source more of these parts as well.

Thanks
Marian
 

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Awesome! I'd be all over this if I didn't have a Z80 pod already.

But if you can do 6809 and 68000 for about the same price, I'll be your first sale!
 
This batch is gone (4 boards). I've written down all interested (replayed here or private).
Once i have the other items ready by next week, i'll get in touch with you all for shipments.

If there are more requests, will do more prints as requested.
 
Hi Marian - sending you a PM. I'm definitely interested in a Z80 kit (as well as any others) when/if you decide to run more.

Thanks!
 
Sure, will add you as well. There will definitely be a new print.

If you're going to run another batch, have you considered instead replicating the QT version?

Hopefully there are no noise issues at B speeds using the flat style cable. Fluke switched to the fully grounded cable design for these faster cpu speeds.

edit: Forgot to add, very impressive job! Though this might mark the end of my pod sales sideline :D
 
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What functionality does the QT version add?
QT is for quick test. A different form of RAM and ROM tests can run entirely on the pod without mainframe processing. Some other pods have QT variants (68000 v6), others like z8000 came with QT functionality as standard. The z80qt manual has been scanned online.
 
If you're going to run another batch, have you considered instead replicating the QT version?

Hopefully there are no noise issues at B speeds using the flat style cable. Fluke switched to the fully grounded cable design for these faster cpu speeds.

edit: Forgot to add, very impressive job! Though this might mark the end of my pod sales sideline :D

Yes. the flat cable style was easiest to create. It can be replaced with a grounded version if available. I've put a 2 connectors for ground and +5, -5 and +12V that come from the mainframe.
I thought these can be useful to connect the logic probe directly to it. Or even have these voltages handy anyway in case they are need it.
 
Good work.What about to use SMD components to obtain a more compact PCB layout?

Great idea yes. There were a few changes from the original design and i thought that if i'll add more, things will break and i might not know at which point. And plus the soldering was more involved. There are SMD's on the protection circuit. I wanted them to possible be used with original pods as well as replacements.

This can be made really compact if for instance most of the connecting logic can be included into a CPLD/FPGA. That will require much more experimentation. I think i wanted the pcb open so that it can be debugged in case of issues with it. With it now experimentation to above ideas is possible.
 
If you're going to run another batch, have you considered instead replicating the QT version?
:D

That's interesting. I see that half of it is same as Z80 pod. (second board).
That shouldn't be hard to replicate with the work done already for this project.
 
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