Re: A 21st Century Apple II?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

mdj wrote:
> 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.

That's a good point.  But we must consider the possibility that many
of those who want that configuration already have it--in other words,
it's a "sunk cost".

-michael

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