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MK14 emulator

Mk14

This page is about my MK14 emulator for Microsoft Windows. The the INS8060, also called the SC/MP processor was the first real processor I studied when I was 13 years old, but at that time I did not have much money,so I could not afford to buy a real computer board. I read all I could about the SC/MP processor and I would draw the internal of the processor on a big piece of paper, with the RAM / ROM / keyboard and display as registers and I would have a lot of small zero and one papers to simulate the flow of the bits and bytes in the (paper) circuit. Looking back this was ridiculous, but this is the way I learned computer design and binary logic. The SC/MP is my first processor and nowadays you cannot get the processor anymore (at least not at a reasonable price), but there are emulators in software and hardware that are still available. After building two PIC14 boards I decided to also write a MK14 emulator for Microsoft Windows. I dedicate this program to Karen Orton (R.I.P.) who left us the amazing PIC14 hardware emulator. Regards, Hein Pragt.

Copyright

I respect copyright and I will not distribute illegal software. But this program includes the MK14 rom, and the zip file includes some old programs and documents that still might be copyrighted. BUT in my opinion the copyright was from 40 to 45 years ago, these products have not been on the market for a lot of years and I think that no one would not care if someone was using a 40 year old file on their own Windows 10 machines. I do not ask any money for this package and the main goal is to keep the old spirit alive. If anyone can identify him or herself as a legal copyright owner and has problems with the distribution I will remove that content. But I seriously believe there is no one to object to distributing these old artifacts as freeware. My program itself is closed source but freeware.

What is inside this MK14 emulator

Mk14 Board

This emulator of the MK14 has full memory expansion on 200H, 800H and B00H and the first 0x200 bytes contain the second version of the MK14 rom. The on screen keys work as they should do, you can also us the keys on your keyboard, the mapping of the command keys is on top of the key.

Mk14 Menu

You can load programs in hex format using the top menu, the last digits of the filename is the starting address. Press reset or abort then enter the address and push the go button. You can also save the memory to a hex file, the first option only saves the original memory 0xf00 to 0xfff, the second option saves the entire ram from 0200 to 0fff. The instructions are cycle precise and the MK14 emulator runs on the same speed as an original MK14 would, so it can be slow sometimes, but its real.

Mk14 Disk

This is a so called portable program, you do not need to install it. Just download the zip file and unpack it on an logical location on your disk. I have all my portable application in a top directory “portapps”. There is a win62 and a win32 version of the MK14 emulator, both are digitally signed for your safety. There is also a directory containing a lot of example programs I collected, with sourcecode and hex files. The is also a documentation directory that contains the original MK14 manual and some SC/MP programming manuals and datasheet.

Download

Here you can download the latest version if this MK14 emulator. This download is a zip file containing a portable x64 (and a x32 version) Windows exe programs, and a directory with example programs. It use a portable program, just unpack it somewhere on the disk and start it by clicking it. This program is digitally signed with my own code certificate and it is trusted by Microsoft windows.

Download x64 (and x32) version 1.01 of MK14 emulator (2023)

  • Version 1.01
    • First (beta release) version, the program has been testen by myself on my hardware.

Retro computing webshop

Heinpragt.nl is a daughter site of this website and a webshop focused on retro computer parts, retro electronics components and chips and other articles that have a connection with old retro computers. It is a small webshop that I run myself and I also try to get some more information about retro computers and electronics. Shipments are only made to countries within the European Union.
Retro computing parts webshop

More pages on emulator software

[catlist name=”Emulators”]

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MK14 emulator (Windows)

mk14 emulator

This page is about my MK14 emulator for Microsoft Windows. The the INS8060, also called the SC/MP processor was the first real processor I studied when I was 13 years old, but at that time I did not have much money,so I could not afford to buy a real computer board. I read all I could about the SC/MP processor and I would draw the internal of the processor on a big piece of paper, with the RAM / ROM / keyboard and display as registers and I would have a lot of small zero and one papers to simulate the flow of the bits and bytes in the (paper) circuit. Looking back this was ridiculous, but this is the way I learned computer design and binary logic. The SC/MP is my first processor and nowadays you cannot get the processor anymore (at least not at a reasonable price), but there are emulators in software and hardware that are still available. After building two PIC14 boards I decided to also write an emulator of the MK14 for Microsoft Windows. I dedicate this program to Karen Orton (R.I.P.) who left us the amazing PIC14 hardware emulator.

I respect copyright and I will not distribute illegal software. But this program includes the MK14 rom, and the zip file includes some old programs and documents that still might be copyrighted. BUT in my opinion the copyright was from 40 to 45 years ago, these products have not been on the market for a lot of years and I think that no one would not care if someone was using a 40 year old file on their own Windows 10 machines. I do not ask any money for this package and the main goal is to keep the old spirit alive. I anyone can identify him or herself as a legal copyright owner and has problems with the distribution I will remove that content. But I seriously believe there is no one to object to distributing these old artifacts as freeware. My program itself is closed source but freeware.

This emulator of the MK14 has full memory expansion on 200H, 800H and B00H and the first 0x200 bytes contain the second version of the MK14 rom. The on screen keys work as they should do, you can also us the keys on your keyboard, the mapping of the command keys is on top of the key. You can load programs in hex format using the top menu, the last digits of the filename is the starting address. Press reset or abort then enter the address and push the go button. You can also save the memory to a hex file, the first option only saves the original memory 0xf00 to 0xfff, the second option saves the entire ram from 0200 to 0fff. The instructions are cycle precise and the emulator runs on the same speed as an original MK14 would, so it can be slow sometimes, but its real.

This is a so called portable program, you do not need to install it. Just download the zip file and unpack it on an logical location on your disk. I have all my portable application in a top directory “portapps”. There is a win62 and a win32 version of the emulator, both are digitally signed for your safety. There is also a directory containing a lot of example programs I collected, with sourcecode and hex files. The is also a documentation directory that contains the original MK14 manual and some SC/MP programming manuals and datasheet.

Download

You can download the zip file here: mk14_emu101.zip

Version 1.01

  • First (beta release) version, the program has been testen by myself on my hardware.

Have fun, regards, Hein Pragt.

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PIC14 zelfbouw MK14 kloon

MK14 kloon

Deze pagina is gewijd aan een MK14 kloon door middel van een PIC processor, de PIC14. Toen ik 13 jaar oud was las ik veel over de INS8060, ook wel de SC/MP-processor genoemd. Ik had niet veel geld en ik kon het me net veroorloven om elke maand een elektronicamagazine genaamd Elektuur te kopen, en ze publiceerden een eenvoudig computerbord gebaseerd op de SC/MP-processor. Ik las alles wat ik kon over de SC/MP-processor. Omdat ik geen geld had om een echte processor te kopen tekende ik de binnenkant van de processor op een groot stuk papier, met het RAM / ROM / toetsenbord en display als registers en ik had veel kleine nul en één papiertjes om de stroom van de bits en bytes in het (papieren) circuit te simuleren. Terugkijkend was dit belachelijk, maar zo heb ik computerontwerpen en binaire logica wel geleerd. Indertijd was er ook een board dat de MK14 heette ook op basis van de SC/MP processor en ik heb destijds overwogen om er een aan te schaffen. Nu ik genoeg geld en tijd heb is de INS8060 processor niet meer koop (althans niet tegen een redelijke prijs). Op deze pagina staat een MK14 emulatie door middel van een PIC processor met de naam PIC14, die qua hardware zich exact gedraagt als een originele MK14. Met een beetje soldeervaardigheid is het in een paar avonden te bouwen. Wanneer u meer wilt weten over de INS8060 ofwel de SC/MP processor kunt u kijken op mijn Engelstalige pagina over deze processor.

Hier ziet u de versie die ik zelf gemaakt heb, op één print zit de voeding en de processor, op de andere het toetsenbord en het display. Ik heb alles zeer ruim opgezet zodat het eenvoudiger te maken (en debuggen bij een fout) zou zijn. Het geheel is op een houten plaatje gemonteerd zodat het in de showkast kan staan en voor gebruik stabiel staat.

Dit is het schema, alle details en bouwinstructies, inclusief de code voor de PIC processor kunt u vinden op de website Karen’s Corner http://techlib.com/area_50/Readers/Karen/micro.htm#PIC14

Nog een PIC14

Een kennis uit de UK stuurde me een PCB voor een PIC14 kloon die gebruikt maakt van een UN2003 transistor array IC en een fijne compacte opstelling heeft. Ook deze is gebaseerd op het originele ontwerp van Karen. Ik had alle onderdelen op voorraad dus op een druilerige zaterdagavond was het in een paar uurtjes in elkaar gezet.

Nog een PIC14

En nog een PIC14

Wanneer u zelf een PIC14 wilt bouwen en niet wilt bedraden op experimenteerboard, is het lastig om nog een PCB te vinden. Het Nederlandse bedrijf Budgetronics.eu levert een compleet bouwpakket dat ook gebaseerd is op het ontwerp van Karen tegen een schappelijke prijs.

Nog een PIC14 board

U kunt het bouwpakket bestellen bij: https://www.budgetronics.eu/nl/bouwpakketten/cambridge-mk14-in-a-pic-computer-bouwkit/a-25922-20

Originele MK14

Dit is de originele versie van de MK14 single board computer, het was geen Acorn-product maar een eerste stap in de creatie van Acorn Computers. Chris Curry werkte met Clive Sinclair aan de ontwikkeling van de MK14 als een product van Science of Cambridge / Sinclair. De MK14 is gemaakt door Science of Cambridge (later Sinclair Computers en
tenslotte Sinclair Research). De MK14 was het gebaseerd op de National Semiconductors SC/MP (INS8060) processor en werd het als bouwpakket verkocht. Het kon geprogrammeerd worden voor middel van een ingebouwd monitor programma en het hexadecimale toetsenbord en de zevensegment displays.

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