Re: Modern A2 successor

["Arkain" <rwking@no.usa.spam.net>]

As far as built-in equipment is concerned, here's my preliminary list:

7 Extended Apple-style slots
1 Extended Apple-sytle Aux slot (Primarily for video controllers)
System bus supporting up to 50Mhz(should be inexpensive to make)
Onboard memory slots(SIMM/DIMM style: 1GB)
Onboard EIDE-ATA drive conroller
Onboard Apple-style Floppy controller w/ MFM support in firmware
Onboard sound chip w/ Wavetable MIDI, Mockingboard Emulation, and GS
Emulation
Onboard VESA SVGA video controller w/ legacy support for the A2 & A2GS
Onboard keyboard & mouse controllers
Onboard Serial port chip (with SSC support)
Onboard Parallel port chip (with Picasso support)
New MMU with legacy support for the A2 & A2GS
New 16 port DMA controller
New Interrupt controller w/ support for 32 interrupts
New 65832 processor(PGA based)
System Monitor in ROM
Applesoft BASIC in ROM w/ extensions for the new hardware
GS Toolkit in ROM

I thought about SCSI, but it's too complicated and expensive. Better if we
leave that for a card. I don't want PCI simply for the fact that it's too
convoluted. The Apple bus architecture was simple, and I want to continue
that tradition. This computer, just like it's predecessors, will have
everything it needs in ROM. You'll be able to boot w/ no drives at all and
get dropped off at a BASIC prompt. I hope I didn't leave anything out.
Everybody.... tell me what you think?

Arkain