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Re: Compact Flash card project for Apple II / IIGS
"Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<8M6dnYNtrf1ILNzcRVn-iQ@comcast.com>...
> "TheByteBooster" <alex@frankendata.de> wrote in message 8d1d558c.0409092339.3e31d12e@posting.google.com">news:8d1d558c.0409092339.3e31d12e@posting.google.com...
> : "Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<a-idnecE6b4u5t3cRVn-iA@comcast.com>...
> : > "Glenn Jones" <rg.jones@rogers.com> wrote in message news:FYZ%c.205854$pTn.98645@news01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
> : > : > The thing is I have made that graphic card around the HD63484 ACRT
> : > : > controller. At theat tome (1994) quite a nice graphic processort.
> : > : > Unfortunatly it is no longer available. S
> : > :
> : > : http://www.innovasic.com/pdfs/IA63484prelim.pdf
> : >
> : > Good job, Glenn. Now he has no excuse. :o)
> :
> : Well, well... To put my notes and prototype back together would not
> : take that long (some months depending on how I find time). The
> : "biggie" comes when the software driver needs to be written.
> :
> : I my opinion only a QuickDraw II library/driver would make sense. So
> : most (I they are written cleanly) current Apple IIGS applications can
> : take advantage of the new high resolutions and color modes right away.
> :
> : So this is quite some amount of work. However I choose the HD63484 due
> : to that it has already many "highlevel" drawing command implemnted
> : straight in HW (e.g. lines, polygones, filling with patters, circles,
> : clipping and window(ing)).
> :
> : Basically it boils down to getting the HW to work, - relativly easy.
> : But the how about the SW.
> :
> : Any volunteers ?
>
> Ah, yes, software. One of the reasons I have projects
> on the back burner. I can build the hardware just fine,
> but the software/firmware, now that is another question
> yet to be answered. I've been studying and learning how
> to write programs again in assembler, and although the
> Apple II is not really that different from the Atari800,
> it IS different. I must somehow refrain from the mundane
> tasks of buying and selling existing hardware in hopes
> that there is a way that they will miraculously tell me
> how to program my own hardware. They haven't so far.
> Seems the only way is to get in there and start putting
> down some code and see what it does. I guess what I'm
> saying here is, I am up for a challenge, but not yet am
> I ready for that kind of challenge. Video is probably
> the most complex and difficult systems to master and
> hence to code. There have been a few that have vocalized
> that they would love to work on a video card, but where
> are they now. "I want", "I want", "I want", that's all
> we hear all the time, but where are the minds and the
> hands when it is time to work?, gone. One reason the
> RAM-4-GS came to be is because I saw a need. I tried to
> fill it with buying up GS ram cards and reselling them,
> but the rarity was making that difficult, so, I decided
> to create a ram card of 4MB for the GS myself, with the
> help of a good friend, and VOILA!, RAM-4-GS.
>
> Ok, let's get down to brass tacks here. How close are
> you to a prototype??? Would you like a real one?? Can
> I help you lay it out on PCB?? Do you want the firmware
> on disk, or on the card in eprom?? Will this put out a
> true VGA signal or just convert the Apple II video modes
> so they display properly on the VGA display?? The latter
> is much easier I think. I'd love to discuss this project
> with you on a more detailed level, so, feel free to use
> the email address below, it is valid, and we'll see where
> it takes us. :o)
Ok, I got a prototype working (actual PCB) however using a "stange"
single reolution of 720x400x8 (I had some timing and RAM issues at the
time, also I did not want to spend to much on expensive VRAMS (back at
that time)). I was able write small routines to do some drawing, and
it worked out fine. I also made a test to intercept a few specific
QuickDraw II calls and made them carried out by the 63484. So In
general the HW was ok, however I was not happy with only one single
reolution and also I wanted to add an 6511 "co-pro" on the board to
work independly with the QuickDraw II implementation / driver on the
graphic card to boost the performance and take the load of the
standard 2.8 65816. I did not finish that design, hence the prototype
is sort of left in the middle of "nowhere" - unfortunatly.
I still tend to prefer to have a co-pro on the graphic card itself,
but now I am not sure anymore if it has to be a 65xx series. The
advantage would be that many apple users know how to program it.
However on the other hand something like an SH3 or so would be much
nicer and there shouldn't be performance problems even if the QD II
driver is written in C.
So I am kind of undecided.
Alex.
> Apple II Forever, and Apple II Together,
> Bill @ GarberStreet Enterprizez };-)
> Web Site - http://garberstreet.netfirms.com
> Email - willy46pa@comcast.net
>
>
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