Jeff Burrell gave us an update on the TS 2060 project. Initially, he designed a standalone, enhanced TS 2068 with ports for a keyboard, monitor, joystick, and more. Recently, he pivoted the project to be an expansion unit, similar to the never-release TS 2060 Bus Expansion Unit.
Jeff provided an overview of the current features of the 2060 board. The board includes a standard card edge connector for plugging into the 2068 and several expansion slots for custom hardware development. Notably, the board will feature:
- FPGA that will generate VGA video and serve as the interface hub on the board
- RS232 serial port
- VGA output with 80-column terminal display capability
- I2S DAC for stereo sound from emulated AY sound chips in the FPGA
- New Pico processor that provides SD card support for mass storage
- USB interface for keyboards and other peripherals
We discussed the aesthetics of the enclosure, aiming to replicate the original 2060 look while also accommodating modern hardware requirements.
We also talked about the upcoming VCF Midwest event and what we’d like to display. In particular, we’re going to show as much of our original work, including programs from Johan Koelman.