14 Dec
2005
14 Dec
'05
4:29 a.m.
Dave Dunfield wrote:
Also a good idea.
Agreed, although there is nothing in the design of CUBIX to prevent a DMA
disk interface.
Or do like I did in the original portable unit - put on a 6845 and do your
own video display.
No way that would work, as I don't have a TTL level monitor here, or a
real keyboard...
Just PC stuff! I still not figured out the terminal design yet, but it
would have 3 over laping
displays ... lowest level -- some sort of graphic display -- say 8 grey
or 8 colors -- 3 dots per
byte. Second level -- User Ascii with fixed colors and transparentcy.
Third level -- System Ascii
and borders and cursor pointers.
I think a Floppy chip with a real built in data
separator is the way to go.
Find a37c65 or 9266. no big deal using raw ttl as then you can do ANY
data rate.
Also a
good dma is needed, as having the cpu do floppy I/O leaves
no margin for serial I/O.
Not required. Small system, nice addition but pumps up complexity
more than a bit.
The other
thing is a NICE terminal to go with the system. I don't want
to boot windows or dos to run a terminal. For development work a PC is
a good idea until you get a OS running. I have a used Altos IV here,
from what the keyboard says but I don't know of how many years of
life the terminal may have left.
Fix it, build one or find a VT220,320,320 whatever.
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
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