12 Aug
2006
12 Aug
'06
12:56 p.m.
Don wrote:
Huh? I don't think so, at least not for me. I'm totally in love
with my SBC6120, which is at least a move in that direction. I can run
it 24/7 and just have it available on a serial port which I can get to
when I'm not home, for some OS/8 hacking when I get the itch.
That said, though, it'll never replace my "real" -8 machines. I have
several 8/e and one 8/m system, sadly no others...anybody got one (8/i,
8/l maybe) that might be up for trade?
A variation
on this theme might be to build a very small number of
different types of boards, but with a CPLD on each one...a small,
cheap one like a Xilinx XC9536 (something like $3/ea qty. 1)...then
have a JTAG connector on each board, and squirt the "personality" into
the board that way. I've not had a chance to work closely with
FlipChip-based machines (unfortunately) so I don't know how much
consistency there is on things like power pins and such, so I don't
know if this'd be practical, but I think it's an interesting idea.
I think that skirts the appeal of a *real* "miniture PDP".
E.g., why not just do the whole design in an FPGA? It would
be a pretty boring accomplishment.... :-( OTOH, having the exact same design done in
"miniature
technology" would be cool!
I've a friend who had a miniature pinball machine (intended
as a "bar top" device). Roughly 10"x24" with everything
scaled down (and made in stainless!). *That* was cool!
Wow, that does sound cool!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Cape Coral, FL