Re: What if...

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Sheane and Bonnie Meikle writes ...
>
 ....
> lets stop talking about it in theory and do it.

     It surely would be good to have individuals and groups experimenting with
different hardware designs and reporting on results. The VHDL 65C02 project is
one example.


> Maybe we 
> could start with the remaining documentation from the never
> released Avatar project? If Bill Heineman was willing to release his notes
> it would give us a place to start.

     The more input, the better.  


> We have people around here that know the
> insides of computers better than anybody. People like Tony Diaz are able to
> make thing work in ways they were never meant to work. If we did come up
> with a super GS we could probably get someplace like Altech to make them
> piecemeal until sales picked up.

     Alltech sounds like a good choice. 
 

> I've started a thread at
> http://www.insidetheweb.com/mbs.cgi/mb996045 dealing with this subject,
> just click on "Time To Put Aside Differences!!!!"
 ....

    'Putting aside differences' has a nice ring to it. A fair question is
"What differences?"

     We agree that PC is not the way to go. We have shared the same processor
for years; and, generally, we agree upon the desirability of a 65xxxx-based
approach for a new design.

     Beyond the above, "agreement" may come down to building in enough
flexibility to permit accommodating different OS's, disk formats, etc..

     Whatever, we are not talking about scrapping C-64's, Atari 800's, or
Apple II's. We are talking about introducing a new, high-performance machine
which has much in common with these earlier computers. This does not guarantee
direct compatibility with older software; but, it should be easier to do
conversions and, if necessary, get good results with emulation. 


     Possibly, the easiest way to get things going is for the first
motherboard to be very simple with lots of Slots. For instance, it could
consist mainly of a microprocessor, flash ROM, RAM slots, and card Slots. We
might borrow PCI for the latter. This would give us lots of signal lines, make
it easier for experimenters to find good prototyping boards, and, probably,
allow using some PC hardware.

     The motherboard would have an I/O port to allow loading in software from
an Apple II (or other computer) and a keyboard port. The I/O port would
eliminate the need to start with ready to go disk I/O.

     There would also need to be a simple VGA display interface. "Simple" here
refers to what the video controller is, at first, programmed to do. Given a
flexible, fast controller and user access to programming it, the video system
could handle all sorts of effects.

     Since we would want the motherboard to work at reasonably high speeds,
the microprocessor might be on a Slot card so that upgrades to speedier,
larger processors would be easier.

     Basically, you start with a sort of super 65xxxx 'development system'. As
users of the first board get things working smoothly, later motherboard
versions would be released which have more system components built-in rather
than on Slot cards.




Rubywand