Schneiderware

The Schneiderware series consists of several DIY projects which have been released in german magazine CPC Schneider International published by DMV. The name "Schneiderware" was probably choosen due to its double meaning ("CPC Hardware" in computer language, or "specially fitted clothing" in german language). Aside from building the hardware on one's own, one could also order printed circuit boards, either fully assembled, or in kit form.

The various boards are having special connectors, intended to be mounted on the "Basisplatine" (some kind of a motherboard with ECB (Europe Card Bus) sockets) which allows to connect up to five Schneiderware boards to the CPCs Expansion Port; with some small modifications one could also connect the boards directly to the Expansion Port (the motherboard is merely an Y-cable-like adaptor without electrical components, so one doesn't really need it).

The DIY projects can be reportedly found in following issues (as by now, the magazine pages don't seem to be scanned, so details about I/O ports are unknown):

CPC Schneider International 06/1986, Page 062-067, Schneiderware #1 Introduction (Theory)
CPC Schneider International 07/1986, Page 060-067, Schneiderware #2 Basisplatine (Motherboard) & Centronics (Printer Port)
CPC Schneider International 08/1986, Page 070-077, Schneiderware #3 V/24 (RS232 Interface)
CPC Schneider International 09/1986, Page 078-083, Schneiderware #4 Netzteil (Power Supply)
CPC Schneider International 10/1986, Page 078-085, Schneiderware #5 Echtzeituhr (Real Time Clock)
CPC Schneider International 12/1986, Page 124-130, Schneiderware #6 Uni-PIO (48 I/O lines)
CPC Schneider International 01/1987, Page 144, Notes (?)
CPC Schneider International 03/1987, Page 032-045, Schneiderware #7
CPC Schneider International 04/1987, Page 026-034, Schneiderware #8
CPC Schneider International 05/1987, Page 032-034, Notes (?)
CPC Schneider International 06/1987, Page 122-131, Schneiderware #9
CPC Schneider International 11/1987, Page 097-099, Notes (?)

Notes: The "Centronics" board is yet another 8bit Printer Port solution (but different than the joystick-signal based one that was released a few months earlier in the same magazine). The Real Time Clock is somewhat similar to the CPCI Real Time Clock released in a special issue of the same magazine, but not identical (the RTC chip has different pin-outs, and some of it's 4bit registers are working slightly different, the leap-year bits, for example).

Databoxes: UHR8000 RTC-RAM-driver in 10-1986 (hex listing, plus Hisoft Devpac source code) (caution this version uses incorrect I/O addresses FBE1-FBE3), UHRC000X RTC-ROM-driver in 4-1987 (this version uses correct I/O addresses FBE2-FBE4). Uni-PIO examples in 12-1986 (=only a few basic lines). There seem to be no Centronics and V/24 drivers included in databoxes.

I/O Ports

Address (default)	Address (alternate)	Usage
F8E0h	F8F0h	Schneiderware Centronics 8255 PPI Port A (data)
F8E1h	F8F1h	Schneiderware Centronics 8255 PPI Port B (unused)
F8E2h	F8F2h	Schneiderware Centronics 8255 PPI Port C (busy/strobe) (bit7=busy, bit6-1=unused, bit0=strobe; strobe is externally inverted) (autolf is wired to GND, all other control/status signals are not connected)
F8E3h	F8F3h	Schneiderware Centronics 8255 PPI Control
F9E0h	F9E2h	Schneiderware V/24 8251 USART Data
F9E1h	F9E3h	Schneiderware V/24 8251 USART Control
F9ECh	F9E8h	Schneiderware V/24 8253 Timer 0 (TX clock)
F9EDh	F9E9h	Schneiderware V/24 8253 Timer 1 (RX clock)
F9EEh	F9EAh	Schneiderware V/24 8253 Timer 2 (unused)
F9EFh	F9EBh	Schneiderware V/24 8253 Timer Control Note: Timer clock input is jumper select-able: 2MHz (default), or 1MHz
FBE2h	BUGGED:FBE1h	Schneiderware RTC index/control (W)
FBE3h	BUGGED:FBE2h	Schneiderware RTC data 4bit (W)
FBE4h	BUGGED:FBE3h	Schneiderware RTC data 4bit (R)