wchao@topaz.UUCP (12/10/86)
Has anyone noticed in the recent issues of 80-Micro, there is a company that sells the XLER8 expansion board for Model IV owners? If I'm right, this is the same computer from Steve Ciarcia's article in 9/85 BYTE magazine. Has anyone out there purchased one yet? What's it like? There is a video graphics attachment recently made by Ciarcia and it's in 11/86 BYTE if you are interested. William Chao wchao@topaz.rutgers.edu or wchao@blue.rutgers.edu
mbc@okstate.UUCP (Michael Carter) (12/13/86)
> > > Has anyone noticed in the recent issues of 80-Micro, there is > a company that sells the XLER8 expansion board for Model IV > owners? If I'm right, this is the same computer from Steve > Ciarcia's article in 9/85 BYTE magazine. Has anyone out there > purchased one yet? What's it like? There is a video graphics > attachment recently made by Ciarcia and it's in 11/86 BYTE if > you are interested. Well, I think I can give you a little more insight into this little jewel. I wrote the TRSDOS 6.2 and LDOS 5.x support software for it, and was in on its design, and debugging. The XLR8er is is a plug-in speedup board for the Model IV or 4(p), gate array or non-gate array. Installation consists simply of unplugging the Z80, and plugging in the XLR8er -- NO CHAINSAW NEEDED! The board is based on the new Hitachi HD64180 uP, and runs at 6.144 MHz. It has an additional 256K of DRAM on board, and is bus compatible with Ciarcia's SB180. Operating systems currently supported are: 1. TRSDOS 6.x 2. CPM 3. ZCPR3 -- and very soon -- 4. LDOS 5.x There are several pieces of software provided for each operating system. Below is a list of the programs provided for TRSDOS 6.x. LDOS 5.x support will be out very soon, and the programs are basically the same. 1. FIXALL/FLT -- A filter to insert memory wait states on keyboard accesses, and make sure @VDCTL is not fooled by the new memory mapping. 2. FIXBANK/CMD -- A new @BANK SVC driver that provides 10 bank capability. (The extra 256K can be partitioned off into eight 32K banks.) 3. SET180/CMD -- A utility to allow the user to set the memory wait states, I/O wait states, and number of clock cycles between dynamic RAM refresh periods. 4. RAMDISK/DCT -- A new memory disk driver. This new driver will allow memory disk drives of up to 320K. 5. BANKSTAT/CMD - Prints out the status of the ten memory banks -- reserved or free. 6. DISAS/CMD -- A simple disassembler that will disassemble the extended 64180 instruction set. Program number 1's raison d'etre is that some Model IV's keyboard hardware cannot handle zero memory wait states. This program provides a simple, transparent fix to this problem. I have been running my XLR8er (or Superchicken as it is called internally) for about a year now, and it hasn't had glitch one yet. With the increased clock speed, and the better efficiency of the 64180, CPU throughput is increased up to 100% If you have any more questions about the XLR8er, please feel free to post more articles on the net, or mail me at my electronic address. Michael Carter Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Oklahoma State University UUCP: {cbosgd, ea, ihnp4, isucs1, mcvax, pesnta, uokvax}!okstate!mbc ARPA: mbc%okstate.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa -- Michael Carter
mjg@ecsvax.UUCP (Michael Gingell) (12/15/86)
>
Operating systems supported:
TRSDOS 6.x, CPM, ZCPR3 and soon LDOS 5.x
Does this mean that other operating systems WILL NOT RUN ?.
Mike Gingell ...decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!mjgmbc@okstate.UUCP (Michael Carter) (12/17/86)
| | Operating systems supported: | | TRSDOS 6.x, CPM, ZCPR3 and soon LDOS 5.x | Does this mean that other operating systems WILL NOT RUN ?. | | Mike Gingell ...decvax!mcnc!ecsvax!mjg What this means is that H.I Tech does not currently sell software to configure the XLR8er for high speed operation under any other operating systems other than the ones mentioned above. *** EXCEPTION: *** ==> TRSDOS 1.3 for the Model III This OS DOES NOT run and WILL NOT run on the XLR8er. The reason for this is that 1.3 has one or more illegal Z80 instructions in it that the 64180 traps. We haven't done much research into this problem since practically no one uses TRSDOS 1.3. (Does this cause anyone out there trauma?) It is known that DOSPLUS 3.4 (for M3) runs with the XLR8er although there has been no software written for it that I know of. I seems to recall that someone was going to work on patches for M4 NEWDOS, though. I'll check on it. Thanks for bringing up this question, Mike. I forgot to mention anything about it in my last article. Michael Carter Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Oklahoma State University UUCP: {cbosgd, ea, ihnp4, isucs1, mcvax, pesnta, uokvax}!okstate!mbc ARPA: mbc%okstate.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa -- Michael Carter
wchao@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (William Chao <Wchao@topaz.rutgers.edu>) (12/20/86)
I think you mentioned that the board attaches to the Z-80 socket via a ribbon cable? Since my graphics board is somewhat close to the Z-80(I think. Didn't really pay much attention to the placement of the graphics board), is this ribbon cable long enough so that maybe I can move the board out of the way and have it still remain inside the computer? Will this board load up the power supply with the graphics board installed? William Chao wchao@topaz.rutgers
mbc@okstate.UUCP (Michael Carter) (12/21/86)
> > > I think you mentioned that the board attaches to the Z-80 socket > via a ribbon cable? Since my graphics board is somewhat close to the > Z-80(I think. Didn't really pay much attention to the placement > of the graphics board), is this ribbon cable long enough so that > maybe I can move the board out of the way and have it still remain > inside the computer? Will this board load up the power supply with > the graphics board installed? > The XLR8er can be installed with a cable up to six inches long, so it probably should be long enough to move it out of the way. As for power supply loading, there shouldn't be any problem. The whole XLR8er board pulls power on the order of what the Z80 it replaces does. This is due to the fact that the HD64180 is a CMOS device. RAM, therefore, is the only thing left that pulls power of any significance. Michael Carter Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Oklahoma State University UUCP: {cbosgd, ea, ihnp4, isucs1, mcvax, pesnta, uokvax}!okstate!mbc ARPA: mbc%okstate.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa -- Michael Carter