It has been just over one year since I assembled my first build of JRC-1. It’s also been that long since my last significant post here, but despite the radio silence I have been making steady progress and I’d like to share that now.
Firmware Updates
First, and most importantly, the firmware has seen a lot of improvement. This includes:
- I made the ROM code 16-bit clean. Much of the ROM code originated on my COLE-1 board, which was a plain 65C02, and had been updated just enough to work on the 65816. Now, everything except low-level driver code runs in 16-bit mode by default.
- I implemented a device manager and registered the built-in hardware as devices.
- There is now a functioning SD card driver for reading and writing blocks.
- Implemented the initial scaffolding of a DOS, including scanning devices at startup and reading DOS-style partition tables.
- Created a built-in mini assembler reminiscent of the Apple IIGS mini assembler. There is still work to be done here but it is already usable for writing small programs.
- I created an Apple IIGS-style memory manager to manage allocation of memory to both the OS and user space programs
- The code base got a fair amount of reorganization as the amount of code continues to grow. This includes not only physical file layout but also changes to how the various layers of the operating system (core OS, device drivers, DOS, and the system monitor) interoperate.
- Added a Makefile target for the memSIM2 ROM emulator. This USB device emulates the physical EEPROM and allows me to upload new code directly to the board (including a reset afterward) with no fuss. Testing a new ROM image can now be done in just seconds.
Hardware Updates
There have only been two hardware changes in the last year:
- I installed a bodge wire from the 65SPI’s external clock input to PB7 on the VIA. SD cards (at least the one I am using) cannot reliably be initialized without starting with a slower SPI clock. The bodge allows the VIA to be programmed to provide a slow initialization clock for SD card initialization; once the card is initialized it switches back to the faster, PHI2-based clock.
- I installed a 16 MHz crystal in the board, bringing the system clock up to 8 MHz. The board has been rock-solid at this speed for several months now. This is already better than I expected, and it’s possible I might be able to squeeze out another 1-2 MHz down the road.
Next Steps
My top priority right now is to finish the mini assembler, as having the ability to easily write code directly on the system makes testing ideas much easier. I am hoping to have this completed by the new year.
After the mini assembler I have a number of subprojects that need attention:
- Building out the scaffolding for supporting task switching (multiple processes).
- Fleshing out the user space environment so that actual user space programs can be written
- Implementing a FAT32 driver
- Developing a BASIC interpreter application. This will require the user space environment to be usable.
I also have an updated road map for the future of JR/OS as a whole. I had originally had that here, but this post was getting rather long, so look for another new post very shortly.
