What boards/forums should we have?

You could start with something similar to 6502.org's:

• General but add that it needs to be computer-related, if that's what you want. IOW, it's still not a place to discuss celebrities, sports, etc..
• Programming
• Simulation and emulation (the latter involving hardware, not just software)
• Programmable logic
• Nostalgia
• Hardware
• Languages (maybe with sub-forums under that for different languages or lanugage groups, plus OSs-- or maybe languages can be a sub-forum under "Programming", still with furter divisions)
• SBC projects

You can add other ones later, but you'll want to avoid the situation where URLs posted to already-existing topics and posts become invalid because you re-arranged things instead of just adding a section.

There is also the fact that here we will have all kind of CPU-s, so i was thinking about trying to sort them somehow, for example, diy, vintage(CPU-s designed before 2001), modern(Arm SOC stuff, i don't expect too much discussion here).

It seems good to keep them sorted, yet at the same time there will be some overlap, so I don't know what the best solution is. Hardware for example would be different from one processor family to another, and someone who's interested in 68000 might not want to have to read all the x86 stuff; but at the same time topics like wire-wrap or PCBs or DRAM might apply to nearly all processor families. We won't be able to foresee everything, but we want to do our best to prevent painting ourselves into a corner.

For the 6502 (& family) stuff, it might be good to constanty nudge people over to the 6502.org forum. It would be good for those interested because there's already such a wealth of information and knowledgeable people there, and for 6502.org because of the new peole coming in, and for the 6502 world because the resources remain more centralized and easier to find. And again, your motive for starting this forum was that other processors don't have the support that the 6502 already has.

Agreed.


You may noted that I placed a link to 6502.org in the menu.
For newcomers, 6502 is always recommended of course, since it has lots of support.
Also topics that have something to do with non 6502 CPU-s on the 6502.org forum should be moved over here to keep the 6502 forum tidy.

I think you should let the site organically sort itself out as time goes on. The overall use will likely determine what topics are relevant and what aren't.

For example, you can start with the Hardware topic, and as that moves forward, from discussions about CPUs, then perhaps SBC, or utility bits (like serial port circuits, or clocks, etc.), then those topics will shake out over time.

If you start with too many topics, it just gets ungainly really fast, I think. I'd rather see the hardware topic with 100 posts than 10 other topics with 10 each. Better sense of traffic and community.

Agreed - start small, and feel free (as an admin) to move threads or posts to better places.

I like the forums at Bradsprojects.com/forum because it has a forum for teaching where you can post about datasheets, it has an online shopping forum to tell people where to get the best deals, cheap parts, etc., there are tutorials, a forum on generating video signals, and a forum on ADC with Digital ports. There are other good things there too.

I'm interested in ARM products because I want to build a SBC and I have other microcontrollers. I have also found other tutorials at www.andybrown.me.uk on how to use ARM!!!

I am requesting permission to come aboard here.

I just now noticed that there are 3 subsubforums under the Hardware->CPUs and MCUs subforum, "Commercial", "Vintage" and "DIY". To me that does not really make much sense, I see there is already confusion because a DIY board based on a 6809 prosessor was posted under DIY, but was suggested to be moved to Commercial due to a commercial CPU being used. But almost every processor is commercial, and couldn't it equally well be argued that it should be moved to Vintage? And what would DIY be used for? I guess self-designed CPUs..
Wouldn't it be better to just have either every CPU-based projects and discussions directly under CPUs and MCUs, or, if not, simply add z80, 8080, 8051, 6800, 6809, 1802, 8088 subsubforums? I would prefer the former, and keep the latter for if or when the forum has grown to need it.

-Tor

The idea with the Commercial, Vintage, and DIY is that modern CPU/MCU stuff goes into commercial, older that is discontinued goes under vintage, and homebrew CPU stuff under DIY.
But I guess we could merger vintage and commercial, since they are both non homebrew CPU.

(regarding my post, "Single Board Computer using dual 6809's...)
That's fine by me -- feel free to move it anywhere you see fit.
I agree with whartung and BigEd:



"Start small" deserves emphasis. There seem to be a LOT of categories right now -- especially considering there's very little content so far.

cheers
Jeff

Yes, more categories than threads is a bad idea: it makes it look like a desert!

I assume the admin can move threads between forums freely: so there's no need to anticipate what might happen. One or two forums to begin with - the fewest possible number so people don't have to navigate.

I do recommend an "Introduce yourself" forum. It works better as a forum than as a thread. I recommend we do allow people to go through the getting-to-know you and talk about their backgrounds and projects. The stricter approach at 6502.org is in my view a mistake. See the stardot forums for a good example. People do get to know each other and it is much more friendly - even though it's very big.

I should find out if Mike Naberezny knows how to move posts. I've been afraid to experiment on 6502.org because of the possibility of not being able to recover from a mistake. Moving them is ok when they're brand new, but I have found on other forums that it's a big pain when I've already made links to a post and then the post gets moved so I have to find and fix the links-- if I am even aware that it got moved.


That's what Brad did on his forum at http://bradsprojects.com/forum/index.php which ChuckT mentioned after we started this forum. I would be in favor of that method, even though it does add another category. The goal for it here is not the same as it was on 6502.org.

I would think usually a post or thread would be moved within a day or two. There is the other case of a major re-org.

But, on that note: is there any facility for tagging threads with this software? It's a great deal more flexible to tag a thread with as many labels as apply, rather than trying to impose a hierarchy of exclusive categories. For example a thread might be tagged with all of "motorola" "commercial" "6809" "clocking" "wirewrap"

See for example https://github.com/veganista/phpBB3-Topic-Tagging

Cheers
Ed

I was looking for such a thing, but I couldn't find it.
How do I install that? I can't find any installation guide.