Because of all the recent inquiries of availability of either bare or assembled boards, I have posted this page to answer your questions. This board was designed in 1987, and it was the second board produced by Peripheral Technology using Motorola's 68K family of microprocessors. The first board, the PT68K1, was very similar to the 'A' version. The PT68K1 was slightly smaller and could be mounted to the side of a floppy drive. The original board used a MC146818 for a clock chip while the 'A' version uses a MK48T02. Otherwise there was little difference between the boards. PT68K1 boards are no longer available. There will eventually be a product page for the PT68K1. This will be provided for historical information. If you want an assembled board, please contact us. Generally it takes about two weeks to provide an assembled board. They are built after receipt of order.
One common question is what is the difference between SK*DOS and REX. SK*DOS was sold originally for $150 and REX was released as shareware. REX did not come with an assembler. Palm Beach Software sold an assembler and word processor separately for REX. SK*DOS and REX are very similar and usually read disks from each other as they use the same disk format. The programs are not compatible between the two operating systems, but the look and feel is very close between the two operating systems.
Source code for the boot ROM for REX and SK*DOS was located in 2022 and we now have a boot ROM that will boot REX, SK*DOS and OS9. The operating systems have been upgraded to support SD/IDE drives and will boot REX, SK*DOS and OS9 from the same SD memory card.
GoTek Floppy Emulator
With good floppy drives hard to come by, to say nothing of blank diskettes, an alternative is needed. A GoTek drive with Flashfloppy Firmware update is capable of reading and writing disk formats as used by FLEX and OS9 . The GoTek uses USB memory sticks to store images of floppy disks and can hold thousands of disk images on a single USB stick. The images can be emailed as well as downloaded over the internet.
A GoTek allows users to download DSK image files from the FLEX users group, and there is a PC program to utility convert these image files to .IMA format used by the GoTek unit. Originally GoTeks had to have their firmware reflashed with Flashfloppy Firmware, and it was necessary to add an OLED screen in order to tell which image you selected and to see error messages. It is no longer necessary to buy a GoTek and immediately modify it. Fortunately you can purchase ready to use GoTeks. GoTeks are now available with FlashFloppy Firmware and OLED displays; in addition they use a rotary knob to select images. This is a big improvement over the up and down push buttons that were on the original units.
You may use a real floppy drive with a GoTek should you have a need to read or write real diskettes.
This is a GoTek with Flashfloppy Firmware and OLED. These units can be purchased on EBAY for under $50. Currently these units are not available on AMAZON. The units for sale on AMAZON do not have the OLED and Flashfloppy Firmware.
Downloads
Click Here to download PT68K1A User manual
Boot ROM Binary - 27128 - 1988 - Boot EPROM for SK*DOS and OS9 - Boot ROM Released in 1987 - Works with Floppy, Hard disk requires a WD1002-HDO controller and a MFM drive
Boot Rom - 2024 Monk HUMBUG -OS9 Burn to 27512, boots REX, SK*DOS and OS9 from floppy and SD memory card
GoTek IMA Disk Images - Download and copy to your USB Thumb drive.
Click Here for SK*DOS Boot Disk - Use with 1987 Boot ROM
The 1772 Floppy controller chips have become very expensive lately. We are forced to raise the cost of the PT68K1A to reflect the price of the 1772. We are offering the assembled PT68K1A without a controller chip installed for less should you happen to have a 1772 FDC chip.
| PT68K1A-Bare | PT68K1A Bare Board - With 2024 version of Boot ROM, 150ns Delay Line | $50 |
| PT68K1A | Assembled PT68K1A Board with 768K DRAM, 2024 Boot ROM | $225 |
| PT68K1A-FDC | Assembled PT68K1A - No 1772 controller Chip | $180 |
| HDO-IDE-SD-32GB | Converts HDO port to IDE and includes a SD/IDE adapter, 32GB memory card with REX, SK*DOS and OS9 preloaded/bootable | $39 |
| OS9/68000 | Professional OS9 V2.4 for PT68K1A, Includes K&R C, Editor, Assembler, Linker and over 80 utilities | |
| Ultra C | Ultra C compiler for OS9 | |
| SK*DOS | Star DOS - by Peter Stark - Now in Public Domain - Similar to FLEX | |
| REX | REX Operating System by Dan Farnsworth - Released for free use - Similar to FLEX | |
| BASIC | For REX Operating system | |
| BASICS | Source Code for REX BASIC | |
| REXSRC | Source to REX Operating System |