8 Bit Baby

Experimenting Board for Commodore 64, VIC-20, C16/116/Plus4 and Apple ][

8 Bit Baby is an experimenting board for hobbyists who want to develop hardware on their own. As the name already suggests, the board aims at users of the popular 8-bit computers of the 80s. These computers all have expansion ports that carry all important signals. Unfortunately, most hobbyists do not have the chance to make their own expansions, because experimenting boards normally do not have slot connectors.

This problem is now solved with the 8 Bit Baby board. It has a special connector for one of the following computers on each of the four sides:

• C64: 44-pin, raster 2.54 mm
• VIC-20: 44-pin, raster 3.96 mm
• C16/C116/plus-4: 50-pin, raster 2.0 mm
• Apple ][: 50-pin, raster 2.54 mm

The board is prepared for a programmable logic chip (not included in delivery) by Altera or Atmel in order to bring hardware development up-to-date:

• Altera EPM3064-xx LC44 (all speed grades)
• Altera EPM3032-xx LC44 (all speed grades)
• Atmel ATF1504ASV xxJC44 (all speed grades)
• Atmel ATF1502ASV xxJC44 (all speed grades)

The Altera EPM3064 can replace many TTL chips with its 64 macrocells and up to 34 IO pins. TTL chips were used on a regular basis for hardware-expansions in the 80s. The Altera chip can be programmed without expensive programming equipment, you just need a so-called JTAG cable for the parallel port. We offer the ByteBlasterMV at a very competitive price for that purpose. The development software Quartus can be downloaded at no cost from Altera.

The 8 Bit Baby delivery includes capacitors, resistors and a 3.3V regulator which might not be available in your local electronics store.