HP41 MLDL2000 Update
Message #1 Posted by Meindert Kuipers on 29 Apr 2004, 3:53 a.m.
All interested in the MLDL2000,
There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that there will be some delay due to a significant redesign. In the process of preparing for PCB design and production it turned out that the selected 8-bit memory components (FLASH and SRAM) are becoming very hard to purchase and more expensive. I therefore need to switch to 16-bit memories, which are cheaper and are stock items. The IC's themselves are larger and routing the PCB is a bit of a challenge, so that will take more time.
Using 16-bit memories also allows me to remove all multiplexing of the famous L8 and U2 data bits and requires a redesign and verification of the state machine and memory access engine, also taking some time.
The good news here is that the design is much more straightforward and requires less resources in the CPLD and I may be able to switch back to a smaller CPLD, with still room for additions. Even better is the news that there will be much more memory in the MLDL2000. The current design has 512kByte, allowing for 63 ROM images in FLASH, I am now looking at a 1M * 16 bit device, allowing for four times as much room. SRAM will probably be a bit less, depending on what suitable devices I find in stock.
The specifications (now at version 1.2) will be updated in due time, but the old version is still available for download at www.kuipers.to
So far the response has been pretty good and there are enough commitments for a sizable production run. The more I can produce however, the lower the price will be! Again, this project is for fun, not for profit!
Regards,
Meindert
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