CPC TREX
The CPC TREX is a real hardware CPC rebuilt with FPGA technology which also includes some new features and possibilities.
The CPC TREX consists of the Amstrad CPC turbo core written by TobiFlex and the reconfigurable T-REX C1 board by TerasIC, which is based on the Cyclone FPGA by Altera. The TREX C1 board is very small, an industrial production and it contains connectors to all the standard PC periphery like VGA monitors, PS/2 input devices and CF cards.
The Amstrad CPC turbo core of the CPC TREX is based on TobiFlexs' C-ONE turbo core, which has been developed for the C-One board. It contains two Z80 cpus implemented in the FPGA, which are running at the same time. The first CPU runs a special version of SymbOS to control the rom and disc configuration of the Amstrad CPC. The CPC itself is running on the second CPU.
Features
- complete Amstrad CPC 6128 standard hardware
- Z80 CPU with 4MHz (normal) or 24MHz (turbo mode)
- nearly 100% compatibility
- 576KB RAM (dk'tronics compatible)
- 256KB ROM (16x16KB, freely useable)
- VGA connector (for CRT or TFT displays, needs to support 50Hz)
- PS/2 keyboard connector
- PS/2 mouse connector (SYMBiFACE II compatible; requires a PS/2 Y-cable, so that mouse and keyboard can be used at the same time)
- CF card slot: The CF card will be used as DSK storage and SYMBiFACE IDE mass storage device
- Audio stereo output
- FDC disc drive emulation; DSK files will be loaded from the CF card
- serial RS232 connector
- USB connector (used for FPGA and flash memory updates)
CPC TREX starter
The CPC TREX starter written by Prodatron is needed for booting the CPC TREX machine. Automatically after switching on the TREX it is started together with a special SymbOS version, which has been adapted for the native mode of the CPC TREX. It allows the selection of the favourite CPC type, ROM configuration and DSK files. The starter menu will load the files into the memory and switches to the Clone CPC (4MHz) or Turbo CPC (24MHz). To change a disc again, it is possible to go back to the menu and choose other DSK or even ROM files.
