Motherboard construction

Has any one ever heard of any one building there own motherboard

 

I can't even BEGIN to imagine the time and effort that would take! Although I suppose the very first motherboard would have been hand built, and they are all hand designed, so I guess many people make "Their own" mobos.

 

You could look up the Tandy Corp, they have all sorts of DIY kits and I think what you want is called a "breadboard". It's just a basic circuit type board with rows of tiny pinholes for circuits and other parts. Other than that, you are on your own.

 

There was a time when several manufacturers used the 'backplane' system and what we now call 'the motherboard' was a plug in like everything else. The Apple II worked like this as did many of the competitors of the original IBM pc. The processor was on one plug in card, the memory on another ...etc

 

It is a good project.

 

Yeah, way back in the day (early '80s) you could buy kits from HeathKit and Tandy/Radio Shack to build your own working PC. Check with Jameco Electronics www.jameco.com for a kit. It won't be for an Athlon64 or even a Pentium I; more like an 8088 or 8080 with ISA slots and a max of like 8mb RAM.... but what the heck? It may be fun to try

hd2k

 

Here's an interesting link for you; not really a motherboard, but it's in the same arena (kind of): http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=745&tag=nl.e101 It's a link to a "how to build and encode your own 8 bit gaming console" like the OLD Atari 2600 units!!! I stumbled across this and thought it might be fun

hd2k

You might have to register with TechRepublic to view the article, but registration is free, and they have a TON of good info and lots of downloads too.... definitely worth it....

 

I don't know what your budget is for the project or if you need to run the latest processor(s).

you can get 'development boards' for most processors. obviously the latest and greatest will also be the costliest, but you may be able to beg ,borrow or...... an older one from somewhere or Ebay or what ever. Google development boards.

Elektor magazine published a design for an IBM compatibles in a series from May 1985. Old but all the design info will be there. They have also published details of a series of prototyping and universal isa and pci boards since. Also a series of normal functions such as graphics, sound, test and measurement etc.

 

i have went to those links and can not find a motherboard to construct