Ethernet cartridge for MSX

A few months ago i started a project where i need VoIP for connecting transmitter stations, to learn about the ethernet controller in this project i wanted to connect it to the MSX because this gives a real good debug environment. Then it is a very small step to make a cartridge of it.

In januari I received the prototype boards and started soldering the components on one board first to test it. Most things worked fine except for reading the buffer memory and lost connections when the MSX accesses the controller. I had to make extension boards with damping resistors to fix it, with this extension the cart fits into a Moonsound box. Originally the design was meant for a Konami sized box but the UTP plug won't fit anyway.

The basic program on the TV screen initializes the card and there is a small basic example program to send a package over the network. The controller handles most of the IP protocol, package decoding and checksum. I don't have enough time to write software, since i am working on other (hardware) projects and another problem is, in a lot of situations I don't have enough knowledge of DOS2 to keep software compatible. Yobi has written a tool to obtain an IP address from a router, the tool sends a DHCP request and decodes the reply.



The costs of this proto lot is 75 euro's, including the FLASH rom 29F040 which is not soldered on the one on the picture. Now there are 5 available and they will be produced again later on. If you are a software writer and feel like making tools for it, I can give support from hardware point of view.

The controller used is the W5100 with a total memory size of 16k, it can handle 4 sockets simultaneously with each another port, destination IP address or protocol. When using only one socket 8k memory for transmitter buffer and 8k memory for received data is available. A socket handles UDP, TCP or IPRAW, by hardware. In IRRAW mode you are free to write the protocol number in a register.



The FLASH is located at address &H0000-&H7FFF, the total memory is mapped in parts of 32k. With the lowest 4 bits of I/O address &H28, the desired 32k block can be mapped to address &H0000-&H7FFF. It can be used as a BIOS and DHCP at startup, there is no software now except a tool for programming the rom.

Memory address &H8000-&HFFFF is used by the ethernet controller, it has a memory space of 32k but to make access more easy there are two bits to select pages of 16k. Bit 4 selects the lower (0) or higher (1) part of the controller's memory for address &H8000-&HBFFF, bit 5 does the same for address &HC000-&HFFFF. Note that the upper part of the ethernet controller is the data buffer, switching the databuffer to &HC000-&HFFFF will conflict with slotexpanders.

A read is possible from I/O address &H28, bit 6 and 7 are not used and random for reading.

I/O address &H29 is read-only and gives the status of the LED's, these are:
Bit 0 = TX
Bit 1 = RX
Bit 2 = Collision
Bit 3 = Ful duplex
Bit 4 = Speed, 100Mbps
Bit 5 = Link