Re: What if we designed and built a "32bit" Apple II?

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Jeff Blakeney replied:

>On 10 Sep 2004 06:21:48 GMT, mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon) wrote:
>
>>Yes, each board of the 'crate can run a different program, and
>>coordinate with others through NadaNet.
>>
>>If some of the programs need some I/O attached, then they
>>can run on more fully equipped Apple II's, also on NadaNet.
>>
>>I designed it for up to 16 machines, and have tested it for
>>a 10-machine configuration.  The limit is not "hard", and
>>could be extended easily if there were some reason.
>
>Ah, but now you are no longer working withing the constraints of a 1
>MHz 6502 with 64 KB of RAM.  You've created some weird multiprocessor,
>pre-emptive multi-tasking computer with up to 1 MB of RAM that can no
>longer be considered an Apple II.

Although each board is an unadorned Apple //e, it is certainly
true that the aggregate is a much different beast.

I've always been fascinated with parallel computing, so leveraging
my Apple II passion seemed like a fun way to go.  Note, though,
that I had no illusions about my "Frankenstein" capturing the
interest of many in the Apple II community, except possibly as
a curiosity.  ;-) 

Certainly, there is no _practical_ purpose for linking multiple
1MHz machines in an era of multi-gigahertz uniprocessors.

However, the vast majority of any program(s) running on any
of the machines will be truly and recognizably Apple II programs.

>Sorry, I couldn't resist.  :-)

Neither could I.  ;-)

-michael

Check out parallel computing for 8-bit Apples on my
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/