Raven. A homemade Atari-like computer

[agranlund]

I know its already been suggested here at least once but wouldn't it be a good idea to start a new wiki page or two for the Raven?

Exxos, github or atari-wiki would seem to be the obvious first choices. I suppose its up to which one Anders prefers?

PS I'm not volunteering to document the Raven altough I would if I was building one. Maybe rev 2?

Wiki would be nice of course but I'm really not the one to set it up and maintain or fill it with information. I know that even if I like the idea I'm going to fail at maintaining anything on there - they have a hard time trying to get me to document anything at work as it is.. "the code is the documentation" :lol:

But yeah, a different thread or threads might be nice perhaps. I really don't mind chipping in with troubleshooting and such and it's of course easy for me to answer here. But as you brought it up, it's also a nice idea to keep the thread as the build diary of my particular computer.
For myself anyway, who knows it might be fun for me to look back and see what I did with it over time, as a build diary / log.

But I'm not too fussed either way. I'm still going to be posting random progress of my computer here.
You know, like these stickers I just made :)

IMG_2811.jpg

IMG_2810.jpg

[Oldskool]

Bingo! Mystery solved, good stuff :)

No desktop pic no party!

This is the party. 😀 Desktop ends the party or at least when everything runs and all the soundcard work and doom has sound and scummvm is fully working and Mac emu works and all ST games. Just after that moment and no new things the party is over…

[danboid]

No desktop pic no party!

This is the party. 😀 Desktop ends the party or at least when everything runs and all the soundcard work and doom has sound and scummvm is fully working and Mac emu works and all ST games. Just after that moment and no new things the party is over…

Haha yes! This is peak party for you, the DIY hardware high is just about fully kicking in. When you have DOOM and the ST emu running with sound its time to get your coat.

[agranlund]

Haha yes! This is peak party for you, the DIY hardware high is just about fully kicking in. When you have DOOM and the ST emu running with sound its time to get your coat.

Haha yeah it's like having an old car from you childhood in the garage. Great fun to work on, and the idea of using it is nice, but in reality it sucks to use in comparison with the modern one in the driveway so it stays mostly in the garage.
I think it's quite similar with Raven, though there's certainly no shortage of things that can be fixed, improved or made to work properly so it may take a while until I get bored :)

I really would like ScummVM, with hardware AdLib and Midi, then start Leisure Suit Larry 5. Not that I'd actually play it, I can already do so on the Mac, I'd just like that to work :lol:

[danboid]

It's a very unique achievement that you've seen this project all the way through, single-handedly in less that a year by the sounds of it! I can't imagine how satisfying and how much fun that journey was and is for you. You get the extra fun of getting to write software for it now, knowing the machine inside out.

I was impressed when I learned the first ST was put together in 5 months by 6 engineers but the Raven is more impressive to me, its just about 30 years too late :D

I think the best DIY computer I'd seen before this was the Kiwi 68K, which I'm sure many of you are aware of:

https://www.ist-schlau.de/

It seems likely the Raven could handle a full speed Mega Drive emulator and maybe doing a decent job of emulating some of the m68k based MAME games, if someone wanted it to happen. Do you think that could fly Anders? Can you get a low res 8 or 4 bit video mode out of these cards OK? I really don't know TOS well enough to know how that sort of thing would best operate.

Are you not interested in giving NetBSD a shot Anders? I'd presume it supports more "modern" hardware than TOS I'd expect, if you can get it booting? Its not very Atari though is it?

What's the next best fully DIY computer anyone is aware of? What's the best you've seen Anders? I suppose Chucky's reamigas etc can count here.

[danboid]

I suppose the Apple 1 could count here. No one can say the Apple 1.

Woz level greatness here. Has anyone told Woz about the Raven yet?

[Steve]

I suppose the Apple 1 could count here. No one can say the Apple 1.

Woz level greatness here. Has anyone told Woz about the Raven yet?

Yeah I mentioned it round the pub last week ;)

[danboid]

I suppose the Apple 1 could count here. No one can say the Apple 1.

Woz level greatness here. Has anyone told Woz about the Raven yet?

Yeah I mentioned it round the pub last week ;)

Ask ol' Wozza if he'll chuck us a few bob to mass produce some ISA graphics cards please!

He might want to build a Raven himself?

That'd be a killer claim to fame!

:lol:

[agranlund]

It's a very unique achievement that you've seen this project all the way through, single-handedly in less that a year by the sounds of it! I can't imagine how satisfying and how much fun that journey was and is for you. You get the extra fun of getting to write software for it now, knowing the machine inside out.

Thank you! It is super rewarding and I am really very proud of it.

Oh there are so many other cool homemade computers out there which I found very inspirational. Kiwi of course, all the Rosco m68k stuff, Blitz030, Gryphon030. And Sergey Malinovs 8088 machine and all his homemade ISA cards for it is really something. There are tons more, it's crazy what you can do with free and really good tools and cheap manufacturing these days.


The hardware was made rather quickly and sticking to a plan and scope is harder than you might think. It's so easy (at least for me) to get lured into some kind of death-by-feature-creep - especially when you're in the schematic stage and the possibilities seem endless.

I kept a very rigid keep-it-simple mentality and it probably shows all over the place :)
Every time I found myself thinking "maybe there should be options here for this-or-that, in case someone else wants x" or "maybe I should do this more complex thing because it would be cheaper in case someone else wants to build it" then I quickly had to remind myself that screw what anyone else may or may not prefer - this computer is for me, and that basically made everything solve itself and go rather quickly :)

Then the fun really begins in the software stage!

I'm really only interested in running EmuTOS, and Mint now of course, so I'm unlikely to test something like NetBSD myself even though it would of course be cool if someone else made it run.

[danboid]

Blitz030, Gryphon030

Have you got links for more info on these two machines? Does either feature any kind of video output? Did you build either of these yourself?