[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Update on Carte Blanche status.

Alex Freed wrote:

Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Even if no development is done and one uses a downloaded new configuration it is likely to be a PC/Mac/whatever used for the downloading. So the same logic applies. 

Perhaps I'm unusual, but I doubt it--My Apple //e is in a different
room from my PC, and I like it that way!  I use CiderPress with HD
ProDOS floppies and CF cards to move files and volumes back and forth
between the PC and the Apple II conveniently.
Then putting a file on an MMC/SD card and inserting this card into the CB in the other room should feel about the same :) 

Yes, that seems like a pretty good way to go.



That's why I've expressed so much interest in a purely Apple II-based
method of reconfiguring the Carte Blanche.  I expect to be loading
pre-existing configurations for use at least ten times more frequently
than I would be loading a newly developed configuration for trial.
While possible in principle, there is danger here. The old configuration must work to enable loading a new one. If something goes wrong you can only "unbrick" the CB by using JTAG. So unless you have a PC with a printer port and a $12 cable or a PC with a USB port and a $300 cable I wouldn't try reconfiguring CB too often. 

I understand.  (It's a shame that the "loader" part of the config can't
be "locked" to eliminate the possibility of bricking when not reloading
everything.)
Anyway it's a done deal now. If there is ever another rev of the CB it may be a good idea to add a tiny hard microcontroller that could handle the FPGA programming. 

That sounds like a practical way of guaranteeing it can be bootstrapped
without JTAG.


And for most of those configuration loads, I won't have a PC tethered
to my Apple II--or at least that's what I would much prefer.
As I said you can put several configurations on an SD card once and use Apple standalone (or rather the CB almost standalone) to re-flash. 

That should be fine.  (I'm glad that an SD card can hold several
configurations.)


I think of the Carte Blanche as a "chameleon card" that can be
reconfigured quickly to become something else I need at the moment...


Of course that's its main raison d��tre.


BTW, I don't want my requests to give the impression that I don't very
much appreciate the efforts that you both have made in bringing this
versatile card to fruition.  Thank you!  ;-)

-michael

NadaNet 3.0 for Apple II parallel computing!
Home page:  http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."