Category Archives: Retro-CGA

Retro-CGA #6 – Character Font

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Andrew

The last post in this series covered the receipt of the Retro-CGA prototype circuit boards, and the soldering of all components onto one of the boards, making a completed prototype card: This post covers the last step in preparing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Retro-CGA, Retro-CGA | 5 Comments

Retro-CGA #5 – Fabrication and Assembly

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Andrew

The last post in this series showed some of the detail of the Retro-CGA as it has come together so far, and ended with the preparation of Gerber files in preparation of having some prototype boards fabricated. After a week … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Projects, Retro-CGA, Retro-CGA, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Retro-CGA #4 – Design Features and Fabrication

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Andrew

The last post on the Retro-CGA showed the gradual progression from schematic design to  board build-up, summarising a period of several busy weeks. This post acts as a summary of that whole exercise, showing some of the board design detail. … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Projects, Retro-CGA, Retro-CGA | Leave a comment

Retro-CGA #3 – Initial Board Design

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Andrew

The last post in this series covered aspects of the initial schematic design of the Retro-CGA. This post will crack on with the initial board design, using the magic of pictures to show the detail of the board build-up. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Retro-CGA, Retro-CGA, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Retro-CGA #2 – Initial Schematic Design

Posted on December 6, 2019 by Andrew

In one of my last posts I pondered the journey required to create an open-source video card inspired by the CGA card that I had repaired, in an attempt to preserve its historically-significant legacy. In this post I will share … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Projects, Retro-CGA, Retro-CGA | Leave a comment

Retro-CGA #1 – Starting the Journey

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Andrew

If you have been following the ongoing saga of my CGA card, you would have seen the recent progress in repairing the extensive damage to the card, and getting the card running with Sergey’s Micro 8088. Although I haven’t yet … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Retro-CGA | Leave a comment

Learning KiCad; Designing and Building an ISA POST Card

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Andrew

The last post in my series on retrocomputing covered the testing of my repaired CGA with the Micro 8088. The process of troubleshooting took several weeks, and it became apparent that a handy piece of hardware to have would be … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Retro-CGA | 6 Comments

Testing my repaired CGA with the Micro 8088

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Andrew

After repairing my CGA video card, and building Sergey’s Micro 8088 processor board and ISA 8-bit Backplane, I am now in a position where I should be able to test the combination of cards and verify if the CGA video … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Retro-CGA | Leave a comment

Building Sergey’s Micro 8088 and ISA 8-bit Backplane

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Andrew

In my last retrocomputing post, I tackled the problem of Repairing my CGA video card following quite a bit of foolish childhood damage. In this post, I’ll document the fabrication of Sergey’s Micro 8088 processor board and ISA 8-bit Backplane. … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Retro-CGA | Leave a comment

Repairing my CGA

Posted on September 4, 2019 by Andrew

Following on from My Introduction to Retrocomputing, I had found myself in possession of an IBM CGA card numbered “1501981APS”. At some point in my childhood, I had damaged the card by pulling traces off the PCB. I’m still annoyed … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects, Retro-CGA | Leave a comment