Adding SPI to the TRS-80
(Last modified 14 Mar 2010)

The Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (M100) is a true throwback, technology that is over 25 years old.  They still turn up now and then on Ebay and there is a still an active community of developers and hackers.  I started playing around with them a year or so ago and still dabble with them.  Sure, they're slow, don't run a lot of apps, and don't have a lot of memory, but they have a few features that stand out even today.  They take cheap batteries you can buy at the drugstore, they have a LARGE LCD, and they have a full-size, full-travel keyboard.

One thing I didn't like about them was the limited I/O.  I do a lot of embedded control and the TRS-80 has real potential as an embedded data logger or controller, but how do I add I/O?  There are expansion cards you can plug into the slot in the back, but I don't like opening up the box and the expansion bus is a full parallel bus that hooks directly to the MPU's memory bus; I REALLY don't like exposing the memory bus to the outside.

I decided instead to add an SPI port to my TRS-80.  After digging around on the schematic, I figured out a group of signals that, if properly isolated, would provide a bidirectional SPI port plus a couple of chip-select lines.  Doing this meant sacrificing some existing functionality, such as the cassette recorder and the modem, but I don't use either of them anyway.  If you want to retain these features, you will need to find alternative signals for adding your SPI.  If you can do this, please drop me an email explaining how you did it.



The signals

Here is the pinout I settled on for my SPI port.  The pin numbers refer to the pinout of a new 10-pin IDC male header that I added to my M100.  Output and input are based on the TRS-80's view of the connections:
GND
 1
 2
 GND
MOSI (output; master out,slave in)
 3
 4
 MISO (input; master in, slave out)
SCK (output; SPI clock)
 5
 6
 Vdd (+5 VDC)
*CS1 (output; chip-select 1, active-low)
 7
 8
 N/C
*CS0 (output; chip-select 0, active-low)
 9
 10
 CS0 (output; chip-select 0, active-high)



The modifications

Creating these signals requires some modifications to the TRS-80 circuit board.  Note that if you continue with this modification, you will lose both the cassette port and the modem!  If either of these are dear to you, spend some time with the mod and see if you can come up with an alternate method to add SPI.

Refer to the following photo and the descriptions below for details.

SPI wiring to the motherboard

Here you see the different wiring points I used on the M100's motherboard.  Refer to this photo as you read the following signal connection instructions.

I started by removing CN3, the cassette port.  I'm never going to use a cassette drive with my M100 and that area of the board is a perfect place to add my 10-pin IDC header.

For GND (pins 1 and 2), I wired to pad 6 of CN3; refer to the silk-screened legend in the area around the cassette connector, CN3.

For MOSI (pin 3), I pulled C63, a 0.1 uf capacitor, and wired to the pad hooked to M34-12.  This removes the TXC signal from the M100's cassette connector.  You drive MOSI by changing the state of the 80c85's SOD pin.

For MISO (pin 4), I pulled R72, a 33K resistor, and wired to the pad hooked to M34-11.  This removes the RXC signal from the M100's cassette connector.  You read MISO by reading the state of the 80c85's SID pin.

For SCK (pin 5), I pulled R50, a 3.3K resistor, and wired to the pad hooked to M34-4.  This removes control of the cassette's relay, RY1.  You change the state of SCK by writing a 1 (SCK goes low) or a 0 (SCK goes high) to bit 3 of any I/O port in the range E0h to EFh.

For Vdd (pin 6), I wired to a pad on the +5VDC plane near the silk-screened legend "R46".  You can find this pad near pin 14 of M36.

For *CS1 (pin 7), I wired to the pad hooked to M36-12.  Note that this is the Q* output of the same flip-flop that drives the ENABLE signal of the MC14412 modem IC, M31.  I don't know what effects will be generated if you toggle this input rapidly.  If you want to disable the modem IC completely, cut the trace between R146 and M31-12, then tie M31-12 to M31-13.  This grounds EN and ensures the modem never turns on.  You change the state of *CS1 by writing a 1 (*CS1 goes low) or a 0 (*CS1 goes high) to bit 1 of any I/O port in the range A0h to AFh.

For *CS0 (pin 9), I wired to the pad hooked to M36-2.  You change the state of *CS0 by writing a 1 (*CS0 goes low) or a 0 (*CS0 goes high) to bit 0 of any I/O port in the range A0h to AFh.  You should also remove R134 if you intend to use *CS0; see the next paragraph.

For CS0 (pin 10), I wired to the pad hooked to M36-1 and removed R134, a 3.3K resistor.  This removes control of the hook relay, RY3, which means the modem control of the off-hook relay is gone.  If you don't remove this resistor and if you toggle CS0 rapidly, you can damage or destroy RY3.  You change the state of CS0 by writing a 1 (CS0 goes high) or a 0 (CS0 goes low) to bit 0 of any I/O port in the range A0h to AFh.

Note that *CS0 and CS0 are opposite states of the same bit.  Any time you change the state of one of these outputs, you automatically change the other output!

The 10-pin SPI connector

Here you see the 10-pin IDC connector epoxied to a piece of black Sintra plastic.  This plastic is then foam-taped to the motherboard in the space originally used by the cassette connector, CN3.  Note that to gain room for plugging in a 10-pin female connector when the case is put back together, I had to enlarge carefully the cassette port opening with an Exacto knife.



The software

I don't yet have any software to use this SPI modification.  I haven't taught myself enough 80c85 and M100 programming to gain access to the 80c85's SOD and SID pins under BASIC control.  I know that I can change states of the chip-selects and other ports but I'm still a ways away from a finished program.  If anyone reading this goes the next step and puts together a BASIC program for talking via SPI to a serial device, please let me know!  Otherwise, the software is on my to-do list.




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