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Re: Supercard
Jorge ChB wrote:
If it's not going to look like an Apple II and it's
going to be so different from a real Apple II in everyother aspect,
then in the end what happens is that it's not an Apple II at all :
it's another strange and different thing that nobody will want/like.
You've captured the essence of my requirements *exactly*.
Ultimately my intention is to provide an add-in card for a stock A2 that
will fill three distinct requirements:
1. Allow the use/interfacing of modern peripherals to promote longevity
of the base unit itself. eg. VGA adapter, CF/SD card, USB mouse, keyboard.
2. Provide 100% compatible functionality of existing but hard-to-obtain
A2 expansion cards. eg. Mockingbird, Super Serial Card, Memory
Expansion, Z80, various enhanced graphics etc.
3. Acceleration - both emulation of existing accelerators and
'proprietary' solutions as you've suggested below.
This does not mean that "the thing" can't run standalone. When
plugged in a real Apple II it "enhances" it. When not pluged in, as
the main subsystems are embedded in it much of its functionality
remains.
"The thing" will have the capability to emulate a complete Apple II -
several times over!
You asked Mark !
I did, and I'm getting more and more serious about this too!I have a
suitable prototype platform for which I'm building a daughter-board for
a completely different purpose. Turns out the daughter-board has almost
exactly what I need for the proposed A2 card - so I'm looking at either
adding an A2 card-edge interface to it, or spinning an A2 variant of the
card.
The prototype will be heavily over-engineered and won't physically fit
into an A2 with the lid on.
I have already done my own rather basic implementation of an A2 in an
FPGA, and I've also got an AY-3-8910 core running (Mockingbird) as well.
I've used Z80 IP cores (Z80 card) and have done a few composite/VGA
designs as well. So there's not a lot there I haven't actually done before.
Regards,
--
Mark McDougall, Engineer
Virtual Logic Pty Ltd, <http://www.vl.com.au>
21-25 King St, Rockdale, 2216
Ph: +612-9599-3255 Fax: +612-9599-3266