Reverse Engineering-- Why Not?

[mike@athena.mit.edu (Michael T Decerbo)]

Hello everyone,

Just curious.  I've seen some traffic here in which people mourn the
fact that not more than a couple prototypes of the Apple II Ethernet
Card have made it into circulation.

Since there seems to be a lot of interest in that item, I wonder why
no one has suggested reverse engineering the card and producing
schematics, PROM listings, etc., so that anyone interested could put
one together for themselves?

Granted, reverse engineering a complicated card isn't trivial-- but
it's do-able with the right equipment.  More to the point, there are
folks who will happily do so-- and give you a free quote beforehand;
see

	http://krohn.simplenet.com/reverse.htm

(I know nothing about these particular folks; just found them in a Web
search.)

I could imagine a subscription effort where (say) twenty-five people
who'd like the ability to make boards each fronted $20 towards, say, a
$500 effort.

I hasten to say that I have no time to lead such an effort, especially
since I don't have any real interest in an Apple II Ethernet Card.

It's just been kinda sad to see people talk about it as forever lost
except to a few lucky owners.  Is there a reason why folks haven't had
this done before?


Mike

-- 
Michael Decerbo --- mike@mit.edu