4 Jun
2008
4 Jun
'08
9:16 a.m.
subject needs to reflect corvis + Vt180
Steven Hirsch wrote:
On Tue, 3 Jun 2008, Allison wrote:
Hmm. Definitely referred to as the VT180 interface in the Corvus
book, but perhaps that was more of a statement about the software?
likely the disk and driver code (bios overlay).
Do you
recall anything about the semi-mythical Corvus interface for the
VT180? It's mentioned in the Corvus technical literature, but I've
never
talked to anyone that's actually seen it in the wild. I'm curious
if it
ever actually existed.
Nothing mythical. There was a version of the corvus interface that
was a board that went under the Z80 and therefor allowed most any
Z80 system to accept the corvus hardware. It wasn't however sold as
a uniquely Robin thing. If anyone has one of these, I am very interested in
owning it.
don't confuse speed with means of attachment. for example VT180 has no
parallel ports accessible. other machines may have.
Allison
FYI the Robin does not have any for of external
bus. If you want
access to the bus you have to jack up the Z80 and grab it there.
Corvus took other routes as well. The interface for Xerox 820
connects to a pair of what appear to be parallel IO ports on the
motherboard. Given the limited transfer rate, it certainly did not
need to be sitting on the processor bus.
Steve