Does anyone know of any good books/information online on how to build your own motherboard?
Thanks,
Joseph
Motherboard Design
I very much doubt there are any consumer books on making Core 2 Duo style everything-on-board 7 layer PCBs.
There are, on the other hand, a great number of books that could serve as introductions to the topic. Search Amazon.
This book on amazon is worthwhile reading for those wanting to make their own circuit boards... I own it.
For the students among us, the page here says pretty much the same thing in less words. It's also more up to date. It's not a complete reference though.
As far as designing the circuits that go into such a computer, you'll most likely want to start simple. I found the site http://6502.org which has a lot of resources... projects, forums, etc. They use the 6502 processor, which is a rather simple CMOS-based CISC processor with a 8-bit data bus. It's a good place to start.
Before you do any of this, you'll want to have a good grasp of basic chemistry, digital electronics (search amazon...), as well as practical skills like soldering, handling chemicals, etc. There are prerequisites, just like OSDev.
Up from that... well, I haven't got that far.
There are, on the other hand, a great number of books that could serve as introductions to the topic. Search Amazon.
This book on amazon is worthwhile reading for those wanting to make their own circuit boards... I own it.
For the students among us, the page here says pretty much the same thing in less words. It's also more up to date. It's not a complete reference though.As far as designing the circuits that go into such a computer, you'll most likely want to start simple. I found the site http://6502.org which has a lot of resources... projects, forums, etc. They use the 6502 processor, which is a rather simple CMOS-based CISC processor with a 8-bit data bus. It's a good place to start.
Before you do any of this, you'll want to have a good grasp of basic chemistry, digital electronics (search amazon...), as well as practical skills like soldering, handling chemicals, etc. There are prerequisites, just like OSDev.
Up from that... well, I haven't got that far.
For gaining experience with digital electronics, I would recommend Atanua. (http://atanua.org/) I just recently designed my own 8-bit CPU using this program. (Actually, I designed the CPU on paper and implemented it in this program...) It also lets you use 74 series logic chips which is nice.
Re: Motherboard Design
You can also check out the homebuilt CPU webring (google it)
-
TverrBjelke
- Posts: 23
- Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:14 am
Re: Motherboard Design
@JackScott: 6502 is almost identical CPU to the famous 6510, they were used in Commodore C64/C16/C116/plus4 etc. there I learned my first assembly, seems like eons...
If s.o. wishes to design his own circuits on a board, and then etching/cutting himself: 1 layered boards are quite easy... with 2 layers (front/backside) you should be a bit experienced and be able to handcraft things with excellent precision - I saw super smart people that simply were not good with fancywork, they utterly spoiled the board e.g. when drilling some contact holes (smaller solder contacts get easily ripped off easily).
So for Europe I can recommend e.g. olimex, that will do the physical work of manufactoring prototypes of boards, for really small budget (there are others, I just forgotten the names). It's a thing to hold your own design in your hand and it looks professionally finished. And the pads are already tined, so it's nice to solder with such pieces than on homebrewed ones. Sure, you can also put tin on the contacts at home..., but the eco bilance of homebrewing with chemicals almost always is worse than letting it be done by profs. And it depends on what kinda experience you wanna gain - more the design or more the handcraft part.
If s.o. wishes to design his own circuits on a board, and then etching/cutting himself: 1 layered boards are quite easy... with 2 layers (front/backside) you should be a bit experienced and be able to handcraft things with excellent precision - I saw super smart people that simply were not good with fancywork, they utterly spoiled the board e.g. when drilling some contact holes (smaller solder contacts get easily ripped off easily).
So for Europe I can recommend e.g. olimex, that will do the physical work of manufactoring prototypes of boards, for really small budget (there are others, I just forgotten the names). It's a thing to hold your own design in your hand and it looks professionally finished. And the pads are already tined, so it's nice to solder with such pieces than on homebrewed ones. Sure, you can also put tin on the contacts at home..., but the eco bilance of homebrewing with chemicals almost always is worse than letting it be done by profs. And it depends on what kinda experience you wanna gain - more the design or more the handcraft part.