The Table of Contents.

What is a Don?

FILENAME: ME.ME         UPDATED 4-June-94 by Don McKenzie.

Please pass my disk ads onto your friends. I am a one man band. All of
my software and hardware has been designed by me from home. All boards
are manufactured in Australia.

I work full time with the Victorian TAB as a Senior Systems Engineer.
I have been with the TAB for 18 years. As I work weekends, public
holidays, and nights, I get odd days off during the week. The TAB
sanction my private activities provided I do not sell to the Victorian
Racing Industry without prior consent, as this would be considered a
conflict of interests.

My business is registered with the taxation department. I operate as a
wholesale merchant in partnership with my wife Cheryl. She knows
nothing about computers. She hates them. She does all of my packaging,
posting, and banking. My trading name is "Don McKenzie".

I have been at the same address for 20 years.

Although I started off my electronics education as a Technician In
Training with the P.M.G. at Prahran Vic. (now Telecom) in 1959, my
Computer education has been mainly self taught, however a little help
from R.M.I.T. teaching staff has been invaluable. My completion of the
6800 and 8085 course has been my full formal micro-processor training.

At one stage in my early career, I was an Electrical Contractor
working with a couple of "A" grade Electrician mates. We traded under
the name of McKenzie, Woodhall, and Chapple at Rainbow Vic. We set
about wiring up the local country side to the new 240VAC system that
was sweeping through the state.

When work ran out in the area in 1968, I came back to Melbourne and
drove a Taxi and later worked at Silver Tops and Yellow Cabs as a
radio room operator for a few years. Many odd jobs followed until I
settled down to my current position with the Victorian TAB in 1976.

Since 1978, I have been involved with several TRS-80 Model one groups
including the first user group ever conducted in Victoria, also
Excalibur, and SCUA (CPM) user groups. Up until recently, I was still
a member of AMUG. (Adelaide Micro Users Group).

I now have my own Special Interest Group at my house on a Friday
night. This usually ends up with myself and my good friend Mick
drinking lots of Mick's home brew. Currently we are trying to etch our
own "PIC16C5x" proto boards.

I like to think that I had the first domestic computer system (well
before P.C.'s) in Australia, as I placed an order with TANDY and
waited for the TRS-80 to reach Australia, however I dare say someone
brought one in before me.

I had seen the "COMMODORE PET" advertised in U.S. magazines, but the
mail order houses wouldn't help me when I mentioned 240V and 50hz.
When I asked TANDY about the TRS-80, I was advised to wait for the
Australian model, which arrived in May 1978.

If you did a Morse code receiving test with the Department of
Communications from around 1979 to 1984, you would have heard a little
of my handicraft. Computer generated Morse code from a TRS-80 model
one.

This was Basic with machine language drivers on a system that started
out with 4K of ROM and 4K of RAM. This was later expanded to 16K ROM
and 16K RAM. I later designed and supplied an upgrade to the public
that allowed 64K of RAM to be used on this model. I designed many
upgrades for the old "TRaSh-80" and Dick Smith System-80.

Although my involvement with user groups is now limited, my close
circle of friends and work colleges are able to stimulate me with new
concepts and ideas. This business and the feedback I get from it is
also a valuable source for future direction.

You may have seen some of my projects published in Australian
Electronics magazines in recent years.

Interesting people that I have met during my computer user group
meetings over the years have now become my friends and work colleges.

Micro Chit-Chat:

Updated 1-Feb-95

Read about the MC68HC705C8 (and P3) in this article. VELTEK also get a
big negative mention...... My latest adventure, the PIC chips, tail
off this article.
_______________________________________________________________

29-Nov-93               Motorola 6805

Well, I finally decided to give a single chip micro-controller a go.
After serious deliberation, I settled for the Motorola MC68HC705C8.
This chip and it's little brother the P3, have been well covered in
Electronics Australia, Silicon Chip, CC INK and other magazines.

I even found a very (for me) local supplier of  a "Fair Dinkum" 6805
Micro Emulator at what I felt was a good price of $285 for a kit
version. This will reduce development time dramatically as I believe
it will delete the EPROM Burning phase.

Lots and lots of nice little projects and development systems. Hey
this is going to be easier than when I did a 6800 course years ago.
Simple instruction set, doesn't even use the old "B" register. Nothing
really new for me to learn here. In fact it looks like a walk in the
park.

What's this!!! Silicon Chip reports that this micro is hard to get. I
rang up Motorola to confirm this, then contacted local suppliers. Here
is the story:

A: No supplies of this chip until next year, and the current wholesale
   price ex-tax is $80!

Q: [They must be kidding.] Are you sure?

A: Yep, and the One Time Program (OTP) version is $42, but this isn't a
   direct equivalent. It needs an adapter, and we only have a couple of
   these 42 pin chips in stock.

   [42 Pins? What the hell are they talking about?]

Q: How about the simple 28 pin, no UART, 1668 byte EPROM P3 versions?
A: We should have some of these in soon at around $20 ex-tax. The OTP's
   are $22.

In fact, the prices seemed to be reversed for window and non-window P3
versions and neither are cheap. All very confusing.

Summary: Forget it Don. Stick with your soggy old, very cheap Z80's.
_______________________________________________________________

3-Jan-94                Motorola 6805

About a month ago I purchased a 6805P3 Emulator and a 6805P3 burner
from Graham Blowes of Mantis Micros who tells me that you can only get
P3's in EPROM versions.

I have been having a lot of fun with Graham's Emulator. I believe that
it is close to brilliant. The Emulator 28 pin pod simply plugs
straight into your 6805P3 circuit and you drive the device via a PC
serial port.

I will no doubt mention this device in more detail as I learn more,
and as time permits, however at $285 for the Emulator kit, and $115
for the Burner kit, it's aimed mainly at the more serious
(professional?) user, and any potential users should have a good look
at the cost of other fully blown Emulators compared to Graham's unit!!

Why did I have a look at the 6805?  I needed a single chip micro for a
special project and feel the 6805 could be the answer. It has 20 I/O
pins, which is much more than I need. I just hope that it's cost
effective in the long run. Prices seem to vary dramatically at the
moment.

Only a few months ago, a 6805P3 retailed for $13, now they are around
$25. Well at least, they are available at retail outlets.
_______________________________________________________________

3-Jan-94                         VELTEK

VELTEK seem to have taken a big nose dive recently. They have no stock
of my immediate needs, and don't seem very interested in selling
anything. I had trouble buying a P3 manual. They would only accept a
phone order, and it had to be a minimum order of $50. Here I was,
there in person, and I wanted an $8 manual. I had to push my case a
little before service was forthcoming.

I thought there was a recession. Shouldn't customer service be a
priority?
_______________________________________________________________

3-Aug-94                PIC, PIC, and PIC...

N.S.D. are the Australian suppliers of the MicroChip PIC series of
CPU's and other devices.

As I didn't have a good response from VELTEK the local Motorola 6805
chip supplier, and I had seen lots of advertising and read many
positive articles on the PIC chips, I decided that the PIC chip is the
direction that I must head. I promptly sold off my 6805 Emulator.

If you are like me, you start out with a $225 PIC-Start kit then get
horribly frustrated as you can't really do much with the single EPROM
version of the PIC16C57 and 71 that you get with the kit. I found the
machine code a nightmare to understand compared to anything I have
used in the past, and I have played around with 680x/0/5/9, 808x/0/5/8
etc., and Z80's. To be fair, my friend Mick says just the opposite. He
loves PIC machine code.

After spending many, hundreds more (U.S. not Australian) dollars on
Emulators, decent Assemblers, and other gear, I can now really do
something with these chips, well that was until I got my first batch
of 57-XT OTP chips from the states and started blowing them up. I lost
five in all, and at U.S. imported rates they are nearly double the
local price. It added up to a decent figure, and I still hadn't
programmed my first OTP chip.

Why did I get them from the states? N.S.D. quoted me a two month wait
on these chips, so I ordered from PARALLAX, and DIGI-KEY. Why order
from two different companies? That's a story in itself which I won't
even bother to go into here. These now, two sets of chips arrived in
about a week from when I ordered them. I am still waiting on N.S.D. to
fill my order that has been with them since 5-Jul-94. They tell me
early September, and yet they are on the shelf gathering dust in the
states.

And here's more on N.S.D. I had an upgrade kit for the PIC-Start kit
on order for over two months. This will bring me up from Version 1.6
to 1.7 and possibly fix my 57-XT blow up problems. My friend Mick
contacted MicroChip in the states via their BBS and was able to get
two upgrades flown in free of charge within a few days.

One day before they arrived, I went to N.S.D. myself to complain about
the programmer blowing up my chips, and the upgrades. After a bit of
blame shifting and discussion, I was given a suitable "MICRO-CHIP"
produced solid-state power supply and an upgrade kit at no charge. I
don't know if it was the power supply or the upgrade that fixed the
problem, but all looks OK now.

Mick wants me to spend more money finding out which item caused the
problem. He is quite correct. I must find out, but at this stage I
feel I have spent so much time and money on these chips and this
burner, that I need a little time to settle back down to earth and
gain some confidence in this product before proceeding ahead with a
fact finding mission.

N.S.D. say they overlooked both of our orders for the two upgrade
kits. Due to utter confusion, I'm not sure if we have three, or is it
four upgrade kits EACH now. YES EACH. I guess we now try to return
some of them if that's possible.

When I last spoke to N.S.D., I was told that my chips should be in
next week. That was two weeks ago.

I guess N.S.D. can only improve............
_______________________________________________________________

1-Jan-95

Haven't had a great deal to do with Har-Tec (old N.S.D.) for a while
as I have managed to get current stocks of my immediate needs, however
they have attempted to assist me as much as possible, and have made
several peace offerings to me.

It's a long story, but I will sum Har-Tec up by saying:

If you are a big company, you will get good service from Har-Tec. I
have spoken to Engineers that say Har-Tec bend over backwards for
them.

If you are a small business or a hobbyist, you may have to do battle
with Har-Tec for small quantity prices and may experience long delays
on some chips. Even any item that is a stock item, you may have to
purchase a minimum 25 off quantity.

I have approached MicroChip U.S. on several occasions regarding these
problems, and they have been very obliging, however it doesn't get me
chips any faster.

Farnell is another Australian source for PIC chips, but at arm and leg
prices. If you are after one or two chips, Farnell may be the best
approach.
_______________________________________________________________

1-Feb-95

Gasp, Gasp!!! I contacted Har-Tec again.

They seem to be getting better. The light I see may not be the train:

Chip prices are dropping and stocks are improving. PIC's are looking a
lot better.

If they don't normally stock a particular item, you may have to order
a minimum price/quantity. This could be $500-$1000 per order. Eg:
93LC56 EEPROM.

Most common PIC16C5x's are now stocked.

Normal minimum order is $50, (or may be a 15 off quantity) which I
believe is reasonable. Not "GOOD" for the hobbyist, but reasonable for
the likes of me.

Garden Variety Design:

Updated 3-Aug-94

I design all of my circuits only after looking through a selection of
certain Australian catalogs available to me. If the I.C.'s appear in
the Dick Smith, Rod Irving, or Jaycar catalogues, I will use them in
my designs. If they don't, I try to steer clear of them.

I have recently been through the "Is it time for a change of Micro and
direction?, Syndrome."

After spending many hours reading my old BYTE, MICRO-CORNUCOPIA,
CIRCULAR CELLAR INK, DR DOBBS, and EMBEDDED SYSTEMS Magazines, I have
decided positively that I am completely confused, and my condition
will degenerate dramatically.

Where do I find these hours? Have just spent many nights watching the
Olympics while flicking through these mags in think mode. My wife says
she can see the smoke that I emit while my eyes rotate. What does she
mean?  I don't understand that girl anymore. 30 years is more than
enough.

The PIC16C5x, 8031/2 to 8051/2, 68HC11etc, 68HC705etc, and Dallas
Semiconductor Soft 8051, V40, HC11 Controller systems are many and
varied. The cost of single One Time Program (OTP) chips, and windowed
many times program chips, hardware development, programming boards,
and software to suit your development, can add up to a lot more than
first envisaged.

Even the "HEY!, I can supply you with a $3.50 micro" (PIC16C5x),
really requires you to purchase the US$449 Programmer and Emulator
before you can do anything with this chip. That's a lot of overhead
for a $3.50 CPU.

In July 92, I even purchased an Applications guide on the 68HC705C8
from Veltek. This large manual explained how difficult is was for the
average user to program this "SIMPLE" device. Cost of CPUs start at
$13 for a OTP (one Time Program) type, to $33 for the EPROM windowed
version.

To program one of these devices, you must first program a 2764, then
insert the 2764 into a special programming board. This board is not
complex, but it is an extra development stage. You then program the
device from the 2764.

This may be fine if you intend to produce 1K of controller boards for
a particular application.

I must throw the latest Zilog CPU's into the confusion. They have a
lot of new gear that I would love to get into, but I am a little
disillusioned at the cost and complexity of some of these chips. The
Z180 is very good, but the cost structure of many of the other Zilog
items leads me away from further interest in Zilogs other CPU's and
Peripherals.

The added price and availability of PLCC sockets for some Micros and
peripherals, and the disadvantages of surface mount devices for kit
builders means that these devices aren't readily usable for low cost
projects.

I would love to do a project based on the 100 pin surface mount Zilog
Z84C15. This has a Z80 (6 or 10MHz), 8 bit Dram refresh, on board
clock generator, low power requirements, sleep modes, watch dog timer,
Serial I/O (2 channels), Parallel I/O (2 channels with handshaking),
Counter/Timer logic (4 channels), power on reset, wait state
generator, and two programmable output address chip select signals.
These last two signals are used to select external Rom and Ram maps.
It also produces standard Z80 Address, Data, and Control signals.

In fact, all you really need is this chip (Z84C15), a power source, a
crystal, an EPROM of your choice, and a Static Ram of your choice.
Pity they didn't put 2K of Ram inside the chip like they did with the
Z84C50. A 28 pin EPROM socket on the top of the chip that could accept
a 2764 (8K) to 27512 (64K) would have really topped it off.

But, what can a kit builder do with a 100 pin surface mount device?
The pins are very close together at .65" centres. These chips aren't
dirt cheap either, about $40 in a one off.

On the other hand, DIP standard Z80's, 8255's, common EPROMs, Static
Rams and 74LSxx chips are readily available and cheap.

The ability to use the Word Processor of your choice on an MS-DOS
computer with a very fast Z80 Cross Assembler that is provided with my
kits, and a standard Centronics Parallel Interface for program loads,
adds up to a cheap, fast, Micro Development System. AND, you don't
require an EPROM burner for development.

If you are an OEM, you will know that standard Z80's are the cheapest
Micro that can be purchased today in large quantities.