14 Sep
2007
14 Sep
'07
1:01 p.m.
There was also the Ecolink board made by Acorn - a
full-length ISA card for an
x86 PC, containing a 6502, RAM, and the familiar 68B54 ADLC chip. I don't
Now you mentione it, I rememebr it. They turn up on E-bay from time to
time and always sell for a very high price (more than I would pay for one...)
Acorn also made some specific econet hardware -- the Filestores (6502 +
Econst module + drives + hard idsk interface), the Bridge (6502 + 2
econet interfaces, basically), and for real enthusiasts the 'test box'
(which basically pvided a clock source and allowed you to simulate a
typical lossy econet cable)
think Acorn ever sold many - Acorn and x86 PC users
just tended to move in
different circles, so there wasn't much call for a crossover.
Torch also used Econet ("TorchNet") on their systems which used the BBC micro
system board as the I/O processor, of course. Plus I recently found out that
SJ Research released an Econet board for the RML 380Z - something of a
surprise given how RML used to push their own co-ax network technology.
Given that Both BBC micros and RRML380Z were commonly found in UK
schools, I am not suprised that a 3rd party company made a product to
allow them both to sit on the same network. I would have been a lot more
suprised if RML had made the board themselves.
> outside of
a show stand. I don't think enough Sinclairs got used in
> schools to make the Sinclair network worthwhile.
What happened with the QL machines (and, by extension, the ICL OPD)? Did they
also feature the same network ability? I just wonder if it was a little more