Re: Some questions about a2 upgrading

["**** ****" <***@***.com>]

Roy and/or Janet Miller wrote in message
>> It seems to me that even the 40/80 column text modes could be displayed
with
>> a bit of trickery. A lookalike font,  and a coprocessor to repaint the
vga
>> buffer with a lookalike screen.
>
>There was once a video card for the II that used the TI 9918a/9928 video
chip.
>The result was faster display, more colors, and 32 sprites. However, there
was
>very little software that used it (other than a neat LOGO) and it cost
hundreds
>of dollars. Since that was done, I suppose, in theory a VGA type card could
be
>done - but how to do it and ignore the Apple's own built in video is beyond
me.


Not exactly certain you'd need to ignore it... we'd run the vga card as if
it were looking over the shoulder of the built in video. It would in effect
copy it to a VGA framebuffer, altering it for 320x240, or even 640x480 (this
would probably be overkill) VGA. In text mode, it would grab the characters,
use the coprocessor to blit a new lookalike font to the framebuffer. I don't
understand fully what exactly would be needed, but my fuzzy understanding is
that nothing exotic would be necessary. Will look into it. Also, a side
effect would be that you could hook up an original a2 monitor, and the VGA
simultaneously.

>>     And of course, there is the question of how to beef up the power
supply.
>> I have noticed that several vendors sell aftermarket power supplies, are
>> these refurbished, or even new? Are any of them enhanced in any way?
>
>Jameco sold/sells a new power supply that provides twice the wattage as the
>original II powersupply. I have one in my machine (will all slots filled,
>including a 20 meg hard drive, Transwarp and one meg RAMWorks III, I need
it!),
>it has slots on top to allow the heat out, so there is an increased need
for a
>fan or to run with the lid off.


They have internal connectors for drives then? No way you could beat the
price, without used parts and junking alot of pc ps's. Even that wouldn't be
cheap.

>>     Another thing that I can't let go of, is a localtalk hub.
>
>I thought localtalk was a peer to peer network, why would you need a hub?
On the
>other hand, there was the ability to have various "nodes" so perhaps a hub
is
>something that Apple once built?


    Not sure if Apple did, but other comapnies did. Mostly expensive stuff,
for universities and to a lesser extent corporate lan's. Some are more than
hubs, offering true switching and even tcp to appletalk gateways. Shiva
fastpath and cayman's  gatorbox come to mind. I'm a miser granted, but it'd
still be nice to be able to buy one of these for less than $200.
    Hubs mean no more need for daisy chaining, for one. Also, by running it
over cat5, it would allow for localtalk in a modern network setting. No need
to have all the old mac128s in the same room, they can just plug into a
network jack, and on the patch panel side of things, we sit the hub in a
rack. Also, it's not too much of a stretch to think that I could add several
features. For one, could externally overclock localtalk to 1mps, could also
switch... what this does, is allow everyone to speak simultaneously,
increasing bandwidth. A few 65c02's (since I'm already having to learn
6502/816 asm anyway) would buffer each port, and negotiate among themselves
where to send it. If 4 computers are connected, with phonenet, while 1 is
speaking, the other 3 must sit silent. With a switch, 2 pairs could be
having conversations simultaneously. Not so sure about full-duplex or not,
that could get hairy. Also link lights, maybe even an add-on ethernet bridge
could even be done. I'm not too far away from being capable of this (many
thanks to David Wilson, he's one hell of a guy). Of course, the real
question, is it worth the time? I want one myself, but it would be cool to
be able to share the design with others. All in all, even the apple2 isn't
limited to localtalk networking anymore... it's really only the 128, 512 and
Plus models of Macintosh (hmm, I think maybe the Classic too, would have to
check). Not exactly an apple2 issue, but related enough thought some people
would like to hear.

>>     Back to the floppy controller, suppose I were to design one... would
it
>> make sense to do this alone, or add a few things to it? I mean, if we're
>> gonna be using up a slot, why not put either or both, a IDE controller
>
>There is also, at least two IDE controllers availible for the II


3 wouldn't hurt then. Might fit my budget better too.

>> on
>> it, or maybe even a ps2 mouse port? Heck, even a PC style joystick port
>
>I have a number of PC style joysticks that also have Apple II connectors. I
>would guess then, that it shouldn't be that hard to rewire a PC joystick so
it
>will work on a II.


Hmm. I don't think it would either. But to not have to make it apple2
only... to just plug it right in the back... wouldn't that be useful? On the
mouse aspect of such a controller, I'm not so sure. ADB wouldn't be much
worse, and they are almost as common (bought a bucket full for $10 earlier
this year), but I'm undecided. You would at least get to keep the Apple logo
on it, which is important to me. Espcially to have all those (or more) on
one card... 7 slots is alot even for a PC nowdays, but I have a sneaking
suspicion I'm gonna fill them too soon anyway. If there is anything I
missed, for a multi-controller card, say so. Even wondering about a pc-type
parallel port, and maybe a serial on it as well. What would be the best
combination of these things?

Eagerly waiting for your comments (thanks also),
John Oyler
http://aIIethernet.tripod.com/
jojo4@va.mediaone.net