josef@ugun21.UUCP (11/22/88)
Well, they aren't what You would call "extremely cheap (n <= $30)", but have You looked at the Single Board Computers/Controllers Steve Ciarcia (from BYTE and CCInk) designed? They might just be what You are looking for, but the price tag is a little higher than the one You mention: BCC11 Z8 based, BASIC/Forth programmable $139.00 BCC52 8052 based, BASIC programmable $189.00 BCC180 64180 based, BASIC programmable $395.00 You can add opto-isolated I/O to be on the safe side: BCC40D 8-Ch opto isolated I/O $139.00 BCC40R 8-Ch Relay output board $169.00 Question is if You are able to get anything in the $30.00 range! I've built the BCC11 and the BCC52 myself and they are real fun! (They were described in BYTE some time ago: BCC11: BYTE July/August 1981, BCC52, BCC180 I forgot) Their main advantage is, they're programmable in BASIC (I would prefer C or PASCAL, but BASIC's what You get) You can also escape to assembly language for the time-critical stuff. Contact Micromint Inc 4 Park Street Vernon, CT, 06066 (203) 871-6170 1-800-635-3355 (Orders only) Josef Moellers paper mail: e-mail: c/o Nixdorf Computer AG USA: uunet!linus!nixbur!nixpbe!mollers.pad Abt. EG-3 !USA: mcvax!unido!nixpbe!mollers.pad Unterer Frankfurter Weg D-4790 Paderborn tel.: (+49) 5251 104691 Standard disclaimer: Blablabla opinion blablabla employer blablabla! Addidional Disclaimer: I have no connection whatsoever with Micromint apart from the fact that I am a VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER!