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Re: Apple II VGA Video Generator Card Project
Mark McDougall wrote:
Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Here is the moment of truth...
Is it a VGA adapter for an Apple II or is it a *replacement*
for an Apple II?
To be honest, if you stuck a mid-range FPGA on a card with video, RAM
and compact flash, you'd probably have enough capacity left over to
implement the entire Apple II in the FPGA. I mean, look at the A2 - a
board full of TTL and a 6502 - it's not that much logic for today's
programmable logic devices.
Of course, it's a matter of personal preference...
Some insist on using all original apple hardware, down to floppy drives
and monitor, and nothing short will suffice.
Some want to use the apple machine hardware, but due to lack of space or
resources, would like to be able to use a VGA monitor. Some would also
use a PC keyboard so they can use a KVM switch.
Some would be happy with a 'C-One' type setup, happy to use an apple
emulated in hardware with modern peripherals such as keyboard and
compact flash.
Others again are happy to use software emulators running on the PC.
Personally, I want *all* of the above! ;)
I hear you.
But with all those different "wants", doesn't it seem likely that the
number of people who would acquire any specific thing is a little thin?
This sounds like a very fragmented "market". And, starting from a "user
base" many times larger, how many C-One's have been sold?
Hey, I'm not a cynic--just a realist. ;-)
Of course, if someone wants to invest their time, effort, and money to
build something interesting *just because they want to*, I love it!
Returning to the VGA topic, it's more than a little ironic that all the
VGA monitors out there could handle NTSC scan standards trivially for
an incremental cost of a dollar or so, if it were a design objective.
-michael
Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."