RCBus

The RCBus is an extended version of the RC2014TM bus, designed to overcome the limitations of the RC2014TM bus. The bus extensions and formal specification have been developed by members of the retro-computing community via the retro-comp forum.

The RCBus specification v1.0 is available below.

RCBus forum: retro-comp google group.

The RCBus exists for these reasons:

  • To overcome the limitations of the RC2014TM bus whilst maintaining compatibility with existing products. The additions include support for advanced features, such as the Z80 interrupt priority chain, and support for other processor families.
  • To help clarify what is a genuine RC2014TM product and what is a product with a degree of compatibility to an RC2014TM
  • To reduce the chance of trademark infringement (RC2014 is a trademark belonging to RFC2795 Ltd)

The RC2014TM bus specification is a subset of the full RCBus specification. This subset is defined by the RCBus-2014 specification. Similarly, the Z80 family extensions are defined by the RCBus-Z80 specification. Other processors and applications have their own extensions within the RCBus specification. Compatibility can be defined by which specifications are supported.

Modules designed for the 40-pin RCBus (or RC2014 standard bus) can be used with 80-pin RCBus backplanes, but not all 80-pin RCBus modules can be used with 40-pin RCbus/RC2014 backplanes.


Notes relating to RCBus specification:


RCBus Product Ranges

RCBus Information

RC2014 Information

RCBus Product Summary

There are a number of physical options in common use for RCBus products. These include:


Type

Row 1

Row 2

Profile

Bus spec.
80 pin40 pins40 pinsRCBus RCBus
80 pin
40 pin40 pinsn/aRCBus RCBus
40 pin
SP 40+39 pins10+ pinsRC2014
Standard
RC2014
Enhanced
SP 3939 pinsn/aRC2014
Standard
RC2014
Standard
LP 4040 pinsn/aRC2014
Low Profile
RC2014
Standard

Designs available on this site are shown below.


Backplanes

80 pin

40 pin

SP 40+

LP 40
6+1 slot, 5V inSC701SC671n/an/a
6+1 slotSC702SC672
SC147
n/an/a
10+1 slot, 5V inn/aSC673n/an/a
11+1, 12V inn/aSC133n/an/a
12+1 slot, 5V inSC709n/an/an/a
12+1 slotSC710SC141n/an/a
3 slot, 5V inSC723n/an/an/a

Motherboards

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
Z80 RomWBWSC720SC114n/an/a
Z180 RomWBWSC126SC130n/an/a

Power supply

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
8-15 voltSC703SC614n/aSC142
5 voltSC712n/an/aSC149

Processor

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
Z80 CPUSC706SC601SC153SC149
Z80 SBCSC708n/aSC108n/a
Z80 + MMUSC730n/an/an/a
Z180 CPUSC722n/aSC111n/a

Memory

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
128kSC707n/aSC152SC143
SC150
SC151
512kSC714n/an/an/a
512k x2SC721SC602SC119n/a

Storage

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
CF cardSC715
SC729
SC604
SC613
n/aSC145
SD cardn/aSC611n/an/a

Serial

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
68B50 SC705SC610
SC612
n/aSC139
SIOSC716SC603SC104
SC132
n/a
SIO+CTCSC725n/aSC110n/a

Digital

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
8 in, 8 outSC719SC605SC129SC134
SC135
SC136
PIOSC717n/aSC103n/a

Prototype

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
PrototypingSC711
SC733
SC607n/an/a
BreakoutSC724n/aSC115n/a

Other

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
I2C masterSC704SC608n/aSC137
CTCSC718n/aSC102n/a
ClockSC726n/an/an/a
RTCSC727SC606n/an/a
RiserSC728n/an/an/a
PWMSC731n/an/an/a
ServoSC732SC609n/an/a
Z80
Base systems

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
SCM+BASICn/aSC114n/aSC192
SCM+CP/Mn/an/an/aSC191
SC193
RomWBWSC791n/an/an/a
SCM+RomWBWSC720
SC794
SC691n/an/a
Z180
Base systems

80 pin

40 pin

40+

LP
SCM+BASICn/an/an/an/a
SCM+CP/Mn/an/an/an/a
RomWBWn/aSC130n/an/a
SCM+RomWBWSC126
SC792
n/an/an/a
SCM is the Small Computer Monitor
CP/M allows software to be added. eg. BASIC
RomWBW includes CP/M, BASIC and much more

Homebrew 8-bit retro computing