4 Sep
2001
4 Sep
'01
10:53 a.m.
If you take the time to redesign this device, the
simplest, lowest-risk,
easiest, cheapest, and least-exposed-to-copyright-infringement will be to
redesign the entire thing in a single CPLD or FPGA, on a board that matches
physically and logically, but in no way infringes on the copyright associated
with the artwork, which is what can be copyrighted. Circuits themselves would
have to be patented, and, folks have found, that's a waste of time, since
generating a logical equivalent circumvents the patent, though not the PCB
copyright.
That's basically what Michael Holley did with his new floppy
controller for the SS-30 bus machines from SWTPc. It's compatible
with the SWTPc DC-4 but is implemented in a CPLD. It also adds
support for a few things the original couldn't do.
Jeff
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