Multicomp on Purchased Cards

Purchased FPGA Cards

MultiComp On A4-CE6 Card

• Cyclone IV FPGA EP4CE6E22C8N Development Board Wiki page

Features for MultiComp Use

• Enough Internal SRAM to make small (16KB) BASIC computers
• Includes VGA, PS/2 and CH340 USB-Serial converter
• A lot of I/O (26 pins) which can be easily accessed using EP4 FPGA BREAKOUT
• LCD Display connector with additional I/O

Limitations on MultiComp compatibility

• No native SD Card storage but could be built using EP4 FPGA BREAKOUT and SD CARD X49
• 1:1:1 video does not support 2:2:2 (bold characters under ANSI terminal)
• Serial Hardware handshake with a small rework to the card (2 wires)

Additional Features

• 8 Digit 7 Segment Display
• 8 position DIP switch
• 3 User pushbuttons, 1 DEV-OE pushbutton, 1 nCONFIG pushbutton
• 12 "Ring" LEDs - 2 removed and used for hardware handshake rework
• 24C04 I2C EEPROM

MultiComp On A4-CE10 Card

• Wiki page for Cyclone IV FPGA EP4CE10E22C8N Development Board

Features for MultiComp Use

• Enough Internal SRAM to make small (32KB) BASIC computers
• Includes 5:6:5 VGA, PS/2 and CH340 USB-Serial converter
• A lot of I/O (26 pins) which can be easily accessed using EP4 FPGA BREAKOUT
• LCD Display connector with additional I/O

Limitations on MultiComp compatibility

• No native SD Card storage but could be built using EP4 FPGA BREAKOUT and SD CARD X49
• 1:1:1 video does not support 2:2:2 (bold characters under ANSI terminal)
• Serial Hardware handshake with a small rework to the card (2 wires)

Additional Features

• 8 Digit 7 Segment Display
• 8 position DIP switch
• 3 User pushbuttons, 1 DEV-OE pushbutton, 1 nCONFIG pushbutton
• 12 "Ring" LEDs - 2 removed and used for hardware handshake rework
• 24C04 I2C EEPROM

MultiComp On A_ESTF_V2_EP4CE22 Card

• A_ESTF_V2_EP4CE22 Card Wiki page

Features for MultiComp Use

• Includes VGA, PS/2 and USB-Serial converter
• A lot internal SRAM (up to 56KB)
• MicroSD card socket with card detect LED

Limitations on MultiComp compatibility

• No external SRAM but very large SDRAM
• A lot of I/O options
• Not widely available
• Has no USB-Serial Interface (has RS-232)

Additional Features

• A lot of I/O pins on the base board and on the FPGA board
• Eight 7 Segment Displays
• 3x3 matrix of pushbutton switches
• 3 user pushbutton switches on baseboard
• 3 user pushbutton switches on FPGA board
• Buzzer
• IR receiver
• Power switch
• 24C02 I2C EEPROM
• 8 position DIP Switch

MultiComp On ZrTech Cyclone IV FPGA Card

• EP4 FPGA card Wiki page
• Marked as zrTech V2.00
• We did a YouTube video series on this card.

Features for MultiComp Use

• Includes VGA, PS/2 and USB-Serial converter
• Enough Internal SRAM to make small (16KB) BASIC computers

Limitations on MultiComp compatibility

• Very limited I/O
  • Most of the I/O pins are shared with the 16-bit Video
  • Would require removing R-packs to gain I/O
• Driver for USB-Serial doesn't work under Windows 10 (painful workaround)
• No SD Card storage
• No external SRAM but very large SDRAM (not supported yet in our builds)
• Would require a mod for serial hardware handshake (there's a pin or two free on the I/O which could at least do RTS)

Additional Features

• On/Off switch - nicer than plugging/unplugging DC power cable
• 4 pushbuttons
• Four digit 7 Segment Display
• IR LED
• Buzzer
• A/D with SMA connector