The Universal Chip Analyzer (UCA) beta testing is entering its final phase! Thanks to the valuable feedback from talented professionals and passionate retro enthusiasts, two critical improvements were identified and addressed before the official release. The first improvement concerns the Interface Board, and a detailed update is coming soon. The second key enhancement involves the DIP40 Adapter, which initially required additional top adapters to test common CPUs like the Zilog Z80, Motorola 6800, and MOS 6502.
These extra adapters were necessary because the power and ground pin configurations of these processors differ from those of Intel’s 8085/86/88, for which the original DIP40 adapter was designed. Switching VCC and GND to other pins is technically not very complex, but it’s much more difficult to keep these pins simultaneously usable by high-frequency signals. The transistors required to switch power lines add various parasitic noise to the pins, even when they’re switched off.
I’m happy to announce that the final DIP40 Adapter is now able to test the most common DIP40 CPUs from the 70s and 80s out of the box, without the need for any additional adapters! Here is a comparison of the old DIP40 adapter with some of its various top adapters, versus the newer “all integrated” one:
The DIP40 Adapter has a 4-way dip switch to select the CPU under test between the following:
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- Intel 8086/8088
- Intel 8085
- Zilog Z80
- National Semiconductor NSC800
- MCS-48 (80C48)
- MCS-51 (8051)
- RCA CDP1802 (COSMAC)
- Intel 8087 (Work in progress)
- Motorola 6800
- Motorola 6801
- Motorola 6802
- Motorola 6809
- MOS 6502
- MOS 6510 (or MOS6509, still TBD, would like your opinion!)
All these CPUs are now supported by the DIP40 Adapter directly! This should cover 95% of the most common CPUs that came in DIP40. What about more obscure ones? If you zoom in on the picture above, you can see that two positions of the configuration switch are marked “CUSTOM #1” and “CUSTOM #2”. Users will be able to upload any other firmware to these two slots. For example, CPUs like the Motorola 6809E or the Ricoh 2A03 can be added in the custom slots when they become available. Basically, any CPU with VCC on pins 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and/or 40, and GND on pins 1, 20, 21, and/or 29 can be supported. Some niche CPUs like the Signetics 2650 or the Intersil 6100 (which have vastly different pinouts compared to all other CPUs) will still need a custom adapter, but the new DIP40 Adapter alone should be enough for almost everyone out of the box, from pinball enthusiasts to retro researchers.