[comp.sys.amiga] Cheaper expansion goodies?

peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (01/17/88)

One of the nice things about the Apple-][ was that it was easy to build
expansion cards for it. The problem with Autoconfig is that it's so hard
to build expansion cards for.

Autoconfig is great for novices, but switches in the cards or a geographically
addressed bus like the Apple-][/Mac-2 would allow relative novices to make
boards. Boards that would be prohibitive for such a small market if you had
to deal with autoconfig suddenly become a LOT cheaper to make.

Anyone got any ideas?

Here's one... a box that autoconfigures itself, say, 4K of address space and
has slots for Apple-][ cards. It was good enough for Apollo, you know.

(Karl: what do you think of this idea? You have bunches of Apple cards...)
-- 
-- Peter da Silva  `-_-'  ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter
-- Disclaimer: These U aren't mere opinions... these are *values*.

alex@xicom.UUCP (Alex Laney) (02/04/88)

In article <1408@sugar.UUCP>, peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes:
> 
> ... but switches in the cards or a geographically
> addressed bus like the Apple-][/Mac-2 would allow relative novices to make
> boards.

> Anyone got any ideas?

What about someone who has designed a auto-config prototype, sharing their
design/thoughts with the net. I'm sure there is some hardware hacker somewhere
who has looked at this. I think most designs have used PALs, but hobbyists
would probably have to use discretes. Once the concept is understood, I think
hobbyists could build auto-config boards.

[hobbyist -yuck but I couldn't think of a better word]
-- 
Alex Laney   alex@xicom.UUCP   ...utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!xios!xicom!alex
Xicom Technologies, 205-1545 Carling Av., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
We may have written the SNA software you use.
The opinions are my own.

lphillips@lpami.van-bc.UUCP (Larry Phillips) (05/21/88)

In <507@xicom.UUCP>, alex@xicom.UUCP (Alex Laney) writes:
>What about someone who has designed a auto-config prototype, sharing their
>design/thoughts with the net. I'm sure there is some hardware hacker somewhere
>who has looked at this. I think most designs have used PALs, but hobbyists
>would probably have to use discretes. Once the concept is understood, I think
>hobbyists could build auto-config boards.

  An EPROM works just fine in place of a PAL.

-larry

--
Janus? Well, look at it this way. If you squint a little, the J could be
       Amiga checkmark, and the rest of the word describes MsDos.
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