Motherboard from scratch

Thu Feb 16, 2006 2:39 am   

Hi, I want to build my own motherboard from scratch, is there any free
software and book/books you can recommend for me? I am thinking about using
a backplane design with pluggable modules.

Please help!
Thanks!

Thu Feb 16, 2006 4:49 am   

TAB books had a whole series on building a S100 based computer using
the backplane motherboard approach approach. They are still seen on
ebay today.

Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:42 am   

I want it to be PC compatible though any help would be appreciated!
<dkuhajda_at_locl.net> wrote in message
news:1140061768.270446.183480_at_g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:25 pm   

And these free board editors will do 8 to 16 layer boards with the high
frequency circuit trace routings that are required at the GHZ range?

The "homebrew" and small scale prototyping work that does not require
anything more than a double sided board without special radio frequency
board layout issues are well suited to the free board editors.

I would not want to place anything like a 370 pin surface mount IC on a
multi-layer board by hand without the correct equipment.

Then there is writing all the code for the Bios and drivers for the
operating system on top of the actual construction.

I am not sure the OP is quite sure what is really involved, especially
when you can buy a Pentium based motherboard brand new for $29.

If the OP really just wants the experience of building a computer, I
think there are still some brand new Sinclair ZX81 kits available on
ebay for $99.

Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:21 pm   

<dkuhajda_at_locl.net> schreef in bericht
news:1140729938.048874.312170_at_i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...


You should as you pointed out take care of the kind of free editor you use.

The placemant of many IC's is not a problem (at least for me), the problems
start when placing a BGA by hand ;)

The writing of the BIOS and Drivers can also be tricky.

But if the OP has the required experience and is willing to put in more than
a year of spare time I say go ahead.

I build a Z80 kit from scratch, just text output. It took me about half a
year to get the schematics, then another few month to get the hardware work.
And after that a year to get the software work reliable.
Now this is rotting somewhere on a shelf.

If you do this for a new Processor and want all the functionality of a
normal motherboard you should invest about 5 years or more. And after that
the stuff is already outdated.

A good option is to place existing pieces together as is done by cheap
motherboards. But that is not the ultimate goal.

Alexander