 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Return of the CMM2
Page 1 of 2   |
|||||
| Author | Message | ||||
| matherp Guru  Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9122 |
Looks like the chip shortage is finally coming to an end Farnell showing stock of 2726 of the CMM2 processor chips and Mouser and Digikey expecting stock in November Also LCSC now have stock of 2168 so the surface mount versions of the CMM2 could now be built again by JLC - just priced 5 G2 boards at GBP129.25 for all the surface mount (except CH340 as they are out of stock) |
||||
Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Come on Grogster !! Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
||||
Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6798 |
That sounds like a pretty good price, Peter. I'm sure the return of the CH340 won't be that long. I've not used my CMM2 in ages - it went back into the drawer, in fact. Since then it's lost it's space on my bench! Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
||||
Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
Alright then!  I got sick of checking, only to find they were never available, so this is good news. I will put in an order and get some made, and see if people still want them - with any luck, they still will. On that note, have either you(Peter or Geoff) heard anything from Phil?(WhiteWizard) He also used to sell them into the UK market, but he has been off these forums now for ages, and although I tried sending him a couple of emails to see what was up/how he was, I got no reply. Have either of you had any contact with him? Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
||||
| Geoffg Guru Joined: 06/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 3194 |
Phil seems to have dropped off the air. His Website is still running, but but I don't know if it is still accepting orders. I also heard from the editor of Practical Electronics and he seems to have lost contact with Phil also. Geoff Geoff Graham - http://geoffg.net |
||||
| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2350 |
this may be a worthy addition if there is interest in re-spinning as a CMM3:: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005324395556.html https://www.wch-ic.com/downloads/CH9350DS_PDF.html providing USB keyboard and mouse interfaces (2x USB sockets) over a serial link. another useful change would be switching to DVI over HDMI, instead of VGA. VGA monitors are only getting more scarce these days. cheers, rob :-) |
||||
| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
Gee......I hope he is OK.  EDIT: @ Rob - that's an interesting little module! I might have to get one, just to play about with it on the bench. Edited 2023-10-02 14:56 by Grogster Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
||||
| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
OK, I have ordered five more boards. I will get more, if these five sell fast enough. That was an interesting experience - ordering assembled CMM2's again from JLC. It's been a while since I was able to do that.....  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
||||
| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6798 |
Interesting little module. :) Remember that with DVI/HDMI not all monitors will accept low resolutions like 480P (the equivalent of 640x480) so 720P (1280x720) is the minimum framebuffer to aim for. That's pretty big and needs serious RAM and computing power even with low numbers of colours. There are excellent reasons why custom GPU chips are used. The easiest way is to use a Ri Zero as a display driver, but it'll be slow. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
||||
| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2350 |
can one not double-up pixels horizontally and vertically, so 1280 x 720 could then yield a resolution of 640 x 360? agreed, a RPi is the ideal solution - indeed, running the whole show - but for various reasons it has never proven a viable option in the past. although i see there is now ultibo available: https://ultibo.org/ that provides a core written in Free Pascal for most variants of RPi and (it appears) can then link to a C application such as MMbasic. cheers, rob :-) |
||||
| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9122 |
There is zero chance that the CMM2 will be converted to DVI over HDMI. Major coding and a complete PCB re-layout so NO CHANCE |
||||
| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6798 |
It's going to be a long time before VGA disappears completely. Lack of it may restrict your choice of *latest model* monitors, but that's all. If you *must* have HDMI output then you really need something with a GPU. The best option is to switch to a Raspberry Pi. The latest model 5 is going to be $60 for a 4GB RAM version - competitive with a ready-built CMM2. Ok, you'll need an alternative to MMBasic, but that's the price you have to pay. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
||||
| William Leue Guru Joined: 03/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 393 |
Grogster said: Grogster, if you are able to get the parts, will you be making and selling the CMM2 Gen2? -Bill |
||||
| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
@ Bill - yes. Once I have the ones I have ordered here, I will re-enable the CMM2 on my website. The pages are not deleted, they are just not "Published", so with the click of a mouse, I can re-enable those pages again. It would be good to see people picking up the CMM2 again, now that the chips can be had again! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
||||
| William Leue Guru Joined: 03/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 393 |
Grogster, that's great! I have a CMM2 Gen 2 that Piotr Siwi built, and it runs great. The only deficiency is that Piotr got stuck with a fake real-time clock chip. It gobbled up the battery in just a few days, so I had to cut the chip out of the circuit. The computer runs find without it, but sadly there is no battery-backed-up real time clock. If your new CMM2 Gen 2 has a genuine real-time chip and battery backup, I will buy one. -Bill |
||||
| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
All parts mounted by JLCPCB when then assemble the boards, are from their own component company LCSC, and I expect them to all be genuine. I have never heard of any issues with any boards assembled by JLC. I would expect that they simply COULD NOT afford to use non-genuine parts. It would result in too many failures if they used fakes or clones, and that would destroy their SMD assembly business, so I expect all parts from them are genuine. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
||||
Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1344 |
Eh Grog's when you get the boards in could you pencil one in for me please Cheers Bryan |
||||
| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9308 |
I have five!  I just have to fit all the connectors etc, and program/test the boards. It's been a while since I received any of these boards.......  I have run out of SD-card sockets for this board, but I have ordered more from element14, along with the other bits I need - including some CH340C's (the USB chip) I will build these up, program and test, and then they will either go up on my website, or they might even sell here on the forums! Bryan has reserved one, so there are only four left, technically! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
||||
PeteCotton Guru Joined: 13/08/2020 Location: CanadaPosts: 368 |
This is excellent news. My CMM2 is by far my favourite computer for dabbling with. I'm currently overhauling my Mame arcade machine (my wife went on holiday for a week and left me without adult supervision), and I got to thinking how fun it would be to make a "new" arcade machine from scratch (including the game). The CMM2 is the perfect candidate for such a product with it's instant boot up, I/O and 2D arcade style graphics*. *That's a compliment. Programming games in Unity/Unreal on a PC is not very rewarding from a technical stand point. Pushing the CMM2 to it's limits and seeing what a modern arcade game could look like is very exciting. Now all I need to do is find the time..... |
||||
| Khadaji Newbie  Joined: 12/10/2023 Location: United StatesPosts: 3 |
Grogster - please put me down for one. where can I go to order one? (I don't know your website.) I've long wanted to get my hands on one, now seems to be the perfect time! |
||||
| Page 1 of 2 |
|||||
 Print this page |
