jhs@disunix.UUCP (05/07/86)
In discussions with Paul Swanson of Nite Lite Systems (an Atari 520ST sales and service -- and 1M upgrade) dealer, I became convinced that it would not be very difficult to modify the 520ST to have a full CPU bus extension port like the 8-bit 800XL has. All it would take would be to replace the existing cartridge port connector with a larger one and add a small piggyback board above it (or a "smart" connector on the cable) which provided buffers for the extra address lines -- maybe for all address lines, which would make it easier to do on the cable side of the connector. Because of the high speed of the processor, one would of course have to be careful of cable length, shielding, termination and such things, but I see no reason that it couldn't be done. This mod looks easy enough that I no longer consider the absence of a CPU bus connection a telling blow in the 520ST versus AMIGA battle. The mod would open the way, for example, to large memory expansions and other nifty things. -John Sangster jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa