blgardne@esunix.UUCP (04/29/87)
in article <1740@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>, grr@cbmvax.UUCP says: > > The ideal A1000 *internal* expansion device would replace the current kickstart > tower with the 1.2 Kickstart ROM, 1 MB of RAM and an A500/A2000 compatible > real-time clock. Given a careful design, this would add *no* additional > loading to the expansion bus signals and would not consume very much more > power. Commodore has already licensed the ROM contents and would probably > be willing to sell the actuall A500 ROM chips, either as service parts or in > volume... Anybody interested in doing it "right"? I sure hope _someone_ is interested in doing it _right_! I've already got an ASDG Minirack and 2 Meg board, but I'd be very interested in what George has proposed here. I'm not fond of giving up the Writable Control Store, but it looks like that decision has already been made for me by the A500 & A2000. Since Kickstart has been frozen into ROM, I might as well take advantage of the faster boot-up. I like the idea of having a clock that is compatible with the new standard. And of course more RAM is _always_ a good idea. (Am I correct in assuming that this internal RAM would yield a system total of 9.5 Meg? (What kind of use does C-A have planned for the "reserved" ~6 Megabytes of address space?)). I really like the idea of this internal expansion. Like any other good idea, it seems so obvious once someone has mentioned it. Is anyone thinking about building it? (Maybe this is the chance for ASDG to get their great quality & engineering into the hands of the common people. Please note the 1/2 :-) here. ASDG makes great stuff, but sometimes even a satisfied customer gets a little tired of hearing how superior the hardware is.) If anyone is going to market this (why not an official C-A product?) I'd like to hear about it. -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland UUCP Address: {ihnp4,decvax}!decwrl!esunix!blgardne Alternate: {ihnp4,seismo}!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!esunix!blgardne