IMPORTANT NOTICE: CERBERUS 2080™ is now obsolete, having been superseded by the new, enhanced, lower-cost CERBERUS 2100™. This page is now maintained purely for legacy reasons.
CERBERUS 2080™ is a complete, innovative, fully-functional, multi-processor 8-bit microcomputer. Featured on HACKADAY, it is meant as an open-source educational platform for students of computer engineering and advanced hobbyists, supporting both the Z80 and the 65C02 CPUs. As such, it has been designed correctly, so to provide an appropriate didactic example. Unlike many hobby computers, CERBERUS is a self-contained system and rock-solid in terms of robustness and reliability. It's also pretty darn fast!
Click on the figure above to see all technical specifications in a nutshell. If you are looking for colors, sprites and very high 8-bit performance at very low cost, check out Agon, CERBERUS's younger brother. This page provides a lot of information about, and demonstrations of, CERBERUS 2080™. But if you are in a hurry to get to the key links, here they are:
- Purchase a CERBERUS 2080™ kit or an assembled unit from the Dutch Home Computer Museum, a recognized public interest charity. If the museum is out of stock ("niet op voorraad" in Dutch), you can send them a message through their contact page, with your contact data, and they will contact you once they have stock again.
- The CERBERUS development group has a facebook space, where you can participate by developing software.
- You can order your own PCB and peruse the schematics on OSHWLab.
- CERBERUS 2080™'s Github directory has everything you could possibly want to know about the computer, including extensive documentation, firmware, hardware and even IC design details.
- If you want a link to the transparent micro ATX trays that can be used as case for CERBERUS, here is one example on Amazon NL, one on Amazon DE, another on Amazon UK, and yet another example on Amazon US. There are many sellers on Amazon selling the exact same product, so shop for the best price and availability.
- Yes, CERBERUS has both BASIC and FORTH interpreters available for both of its CPUs. Look below for download links.
CERBERUS gives the user direct, convenient and unrestricted access to the hardware. It demystifies computers by showing in detail how one is built, from the gate-level up.
CERBERUS's architecture illustrates how a multi-processor system can be implemented. Its design was done explicitly at the gate-level, with no high-level hardware synthesis tools. The chipset of 3 custom ICs is implemented by in-system programmable CPLDs.
CERBERUS’s architecture is clean and highly didactic, no ugly compromises having been made for cost-reduction purposes. It can be regarded as an advanced, elegant successor to classical late-70s microcomputers such as the ZX80, TRS-80 and PET 2001. Check out this short video introduction to the architecture and demonstration of CERBERUS's basic functionality:
If you wonder what you can actually do with CERBERUS, beyond learning computer engineering, there is quite some software development for it, some ongoing, some already available.
Gordon Henderson has been porting his RubyOS to CERBERUS's 65C02 CPU. With Ruby comes BBC BASIC version 4 and other applications. Here is a demo:
Andy Toone's online development tools for CERBERUS include an emulator and an assembler. Also check out his enhanced '0xFE BIOS' with several extra features handy for game development, available on Github. Andy himself used these extended features to port Manic Miner—a classic game from the 80s—to CERBERUS. Here is a sneak preview:
Dean Belfield has ported BBC BASIC—the BASIC interpreter of the BBC Micro—to CERBERUS's Z80 CPU; yes, the Z80 this time! With it, you get a native Z80 assembler as a bonus. The code is available on his Github page, so you can immediately download and run it, and write your own BASIC (or Z80 assembly) programs on CERBERUS! Check out the demonstration in the video below. Dean has also been writing a series of blog posts about porting BBC BASIC to CERBERUS.
Lennart Benschop has developed a high-resolution graphics library, usable from within BBC BASIC, which allows for high resolution plots and 3D graphics. See brief videos below, which were captured from the actual hardware and run—except when otherwise indicated—in real time.
Jeroen Venema has ported the puzzle game Sokoban to CERBERUS 2080™. The short video below shows what the gameplay looks like.
Alexandre Dumont has ported FORTH, the procedural, stack-oriented programming language, to CERBERUS, and developed a convenient BIOS (targeting the W65C02S CPU). There is also another version of FORTH made by Lennart Benschop (this time targeting the Z80 CPU). Paul Robson has developed another emulator, supporting both CPUs, and a sprite engine for CERBERUS. And so the list of software developed for, or ported to, CERBERUS keeps on growing!
You can find CERBERUS 2080™'s complete manual and bill of materials on my Github page, where the entire design can be freely downloaded under a very permissive license. The complete project is also available on Oshwlab, including schematics, PCB and bill of materials for immediate use. There is a discussion group on Facebook dedicated to all things CERBERUS. Finally, here is a video playlist chronicling the entire design and build process of CERBERUS, where I provide in-depth commentary on every design step and decision.
CERBERUS 2080™'s board complies with the micro-ATX standard and can be fitted into standard cases and trays (in the pictures, two standard micro-ATX plexiglass trays are used as case). If you want a link to these trays, here is one example on Amazon NL, one on Amazon DE, another on Amazon UK, and yet another example on Amazon US. There are many sellers on Amazon selling the exact same product, so shop for the best price and availability.
Only 5V, through-hole technology is used, so advanced hobbyists should be able to build CERBERUS on their own without problems. Check out Michael Doornbos's blog post on his experience building one. Famous vintage electronics YouTuber Jan Beta has also made an in-depth video showing how to assemble a CERBERUS kit:
If you are a beginner in electronics, however, CERBERUS 2080™ should not be your first project.
You can buy a CERBERUS 2080 kit, with pre-programmed CPLDs and microcontroller, from the Home Computer Museum. All you need to do is solder the components, which are all through-hole parts relatively easy to solder. But if you prefer, you can also buy a pre-assembled unit from the museum, using the same link above. In either case, you will be contributing to a registered public-interest nonprofit dedicated to preserving the history of computers, as 100% of the proceeds go to the museum, none to me.
If the museum is temporarily out of stock ("niet op voorraad" in Dutch), you can send them a message through their contact page, with your contact data, and they will contact you once they have stock again.
