Re: A 21st Century Apple II?

[mdj <mdj.mdj@gmail.com>]

On Mar 4, 11:28 am, Alex Freed <alex_n...@mirrow.com> wrote:
> mdj wrote:
>
> > I love this idea too. The only thing 'better' would be a CarteBlanche
> > motherboard, which replaces an existing IIe board. In this case, the
> > slots that it implements can be dedicated purely to supporting
> > original hardware, and all new "CarteBlanche" cards can be implemented
> > virtually.
>
> This describes perfectly the NanoBoard with PB10 - plug-in board with
> Apple slot connectors. The "motherboard" is my FPGApple implemented on
> NB. There are 2 issues:
> 1. Cost. NB is rather expensive but this might change.
> 2. Several 6502 cores exist but not a single (free) core is accurate
> enough to boot ProDOS without errors. One implementation uses a real
> 65C02 and the Xilinx FPGA is almost empty.
>
> It would not be difficult to create a motherboard with a real 65C02,
> 128K of a (static) memory and logic to connect a PS2 keyboard plus a
> smallest and cheapest FPGA for glue logic, say S3AN - 50. Plus the most
> expensive part - the slot connectors.

Yeah, the slot connectors are a price killer.

> One reason not to do it is the fact that A2e is worth about $20 on e-bay
> and there is no shortage yet.

True. That said, an Apple IIe, plus Zip Chip, plus CFFA isn't cheap.

> > I admit though, that the cost of this project makes it somewhat
> > prohibitive compared to the card.
>
> IMHO the great thing about the card is the possibility to implement
> things that either do not exist or are very rare. Like a VGA interface.
> Re-implementing the standard Apple 2 is definitely fun - I did it 3
> times now - but doesn't look like a "product" to me.

It would have to be in a "drop in" form factor for existing IIe cases.
A couple of headers for VGA, IDE, probably USB. The idea would be that
you get all the nice accessories for free virtually, and only have to
purchase the one new board.

I think the biggest problem with the idea is that it crosses an
aesthetic barrier, where it's no longer considered an 'upgrade' but a
replacement.

Matt