2 Dec
2009
2 Dec
'09
2:55 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
Very nice. I have a couple of 8-bit and 16-bit
Bridgecards, but never
ran across a Sidecar (and couldn't afford one when they were new, but
didn't really need one then, anyway).
Interesting! I've got a Torch Graduate, which is an almost identical concept
to attach to an Acorn/BBC micro - keyboard and display is through the host
BBC, whilst the Graduate contains the PC CPU, ISA bus, and local floppy
controller/drives.
So, were there "external box" PC-a-likes for other vintage systems? I know
there were some internal boards for various machines...
I heard that by the A2000-A2286 era, one of the
reasons Commodore kept
making Bridgecards was for those customers whose employers had a
strict "must run MS-DOS" rule for IT Purchasing. I do remember seeing
forms in the mid-1980s with a checkbox that indicated if the machine
being ordered was "IBM Compatible" - with the implication that you had
better be prepared to explain yourself (or be rejected) if you didn't
check the box.
I kind of fell foul of that in speccing out an Amiga-based system for a school
art department once; it ticked all the right boxes in terms of capabilities
and "doing the job", but it wasn't a PC or a Mac and made the school's
IT
person too nervous :-) Unfortunately I never thought of seeing if I could get
any kind of PC board thrown into the mix!
cheers
Jules