22 Jul
2012
22 Jul
'12
4:45 p.m.
Hi! Several builders have asked about the XT-IDE V2 PCBs and I have
reordered a batch. They should be here the second week of August. They
will be identical to the previous batch of boards. I will announce when the
PCBs arrive. Please do not send any funds until the boards arrive.
They will be $12 each plus $2 shipping in the US and $5 shipping elsewhere.
After I announce the boards have arrived please send a PayPal to
LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM and I will send your boards right away!
Thanks and have a nice day!
Andrew Lynch
22 Jul
22 Jul
4:53 p.m.
New subject: GNT tech docs
This might be a second post, I got a weird error message the first time.
I just scanned my technical manual for the GNT 4604/5 which has many references to the
4601.
It does include schematics. You can find it here:
http://www.dvq.com/docs/GNT/
Bob
5:58 p.m.
New subject: GNT tech docs
On 22/07/2012 21:53, Bob Rosenbloom wrote:
This might be a second post, I got a weird error
message the first time.
I just scanned my technical manual for the GNT 4604/5 which has many references to the
4601.
It does include schematics. You can find it here:
http://www.dvq.com/docs/GNT/
Bob
Bob,
I have a 4601 and a 4604 so that is really useful to me as well.
Thanks,
--
Dave Wade G4UGM
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
23 Jul
23 Jul
4:31 a.m.
New subject: GA SPC-16 (was: GNT tech docs)
On Sun, 22 Jul 2012, Bob Rosenbloom wrote:
That reminds me that I still have a GA SPC-16 without any bit of software
and without technical manuals/schematics. Do you happen to have these? I
could need some scans/dumps because our machine needs repair and a memory
board (missing). I've always wanted to ask but forgot...
Christian
11:17 p.m.
New subject: GA SPC-16 (was: GNT tech docs)
--- On Mon, 7/23/12, Christian Corti <cc at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de> wrote:
From: Christian Corti <cc at
informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>
Subject: GA SPC-16 (was: GNT tech docs)
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
Date: Monday, July 23, 2012, 1:31 AM
On Sun, 22 Jul 2012, Bob Rosenbloom
wrote:
That reminds me that I still have a GA SPC-16 without any
bit of software and without technical manuals/schematics. Do
you happen to have these? I could need some scans/dumps
because our machine needs repair and a memory board
(missing). I've always wanted to ask but forgot...
Christian
I have some docs for later model SPC-16 systems, and a box of paper tapes. I believe most
of the tapes are for the SPC-12,
but I think some wee for the 16. Problem is they are in storage at my ranch and I
don't expect to get there any time soon.
Bob
22 Jul
22 Jul
7:34 p.m.
On Sun, 22 Jul 2012, Andrew Lynch wrote:
Hi! Several builders have asked about the XT-IDE V2
PCBs and I have
reordered a batch. They should be here the second week of August. They
will be identical to the previous batch of boards. I will announce when the
PCBs arrive. Please do not send any funds until the boards arrive.
What's the difference between the original and V2?
--
23 Jul
23 Jul
5:31 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Steven Hirsch
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 7:35 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs
On Sun, 22 Jul 2012, Andrew Lynch wrote:
The XT-IDE V2 cleans up the board a bit, adds a bunch of option jumpers,
supports larger EEPROM (8KB-32KB), offers the "chuck mod" IO register
remapping for improved transfer speed (DMA mode not necessary). It also has
a UART for external boot protocol over a serial line. All of this is
supported by the BIOS. It is a group project at Vintage-Computer.com
forums.
Thanks and have a nice day!
Andrew Lynch
Hi! Several builders have asked about the XT-IDE
V2 PCBs and I have
reordered a batch. They should be here the second week of August.
They will be identical to the previous batch of boards. I will
announce when the PCBs arrive. Please do not send any funds until the
boards
arrive.
What's the difference between the original and V2?
-- 
22 Jul
22 Jul
8:30 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
I would like to point out that there is a jrIDE sidecar, which was
originally derived from the XT-IDE work but is quite different now.
Here are the main features:
- fits inside of an existing PCjr sidecar shell
- Adds 512KB of SRAM to fill the machine out to 640KB
- Adds an IDE interface using an adapted XT-IDE BIOS
- Real time clock (uses a command line utility at the moment)
- POST display
- The BIOS boots directly from the IDE drive
- Implemented using CPLD to keep the chip count down
- IDE registers are memory mapped - this sucker is fast!
I originally grafted an XT-IDE onto a PCjr and modified (hacked up) an
early version of the BIOS to work. That lead to ideas and discussion,
and eventually the jr-IDE sidecar. Alan H ("eeguru") did the design and
implementation work. I've done most of the BIOS work.
Details, including how to get one can be found here:
http://www.brutman.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=180
The short story: Kits are $70, and you have to provide your own sidecar
shell. We have a few happy people using them now. But it was a limited
run of cards (20-25?) so they won't last forever.
Mike
8:47 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Congratulations, Michael! I never had a PC-JR but I find it to be a very
interesting computer.
These old gems are pretty rare in Brazil. I've never SEEN a PC-JR in
Brazil (although I had its color monitor - it was my FIRST color monitor)
and talking old PCs, just ONE Tandy 1000 :o(
---
Enviado do meu Motorola PT550
Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael B. Brutman" <mbbrutman-cctalk at brutman.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 9:30 PM
Subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
I would like to point out that there is a jrIDE sidecar, which was
originally derived from the XT-IDE work but is quite different now. Here
are the main features:
- fits inside of an existing PCjr sidecar shell
- Adds 512KB of SRAM to fill the machine out to 640KB
- Adds an IDE interface using an adapted XT-IDE BIOS
- Real time clock (uses a command line utility at the moment)
- POST display
- The BIOS boots directly from the IDE drive
- Implemented using CPLD to keep the chip count down
- IDE registers are memory mapped - this sucker is fast!
I originally grafted an XT-IDE onto a PCjr and modified (hacked up) an
early version of the BIOS to work. That lead to ideas and discussion, and
eventually the jr-IDE sidecar. Alan H ("eeguru") did the design and
implementation work. I've done most of the BIOS work.
Details, including how to get one can be found here:
http://www.brutman.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=180
The short story: Kits are $70, and you have to provide your own sidecar
shell. We have a few happy people using them now. But it was a limited
run of cards (20-25?) so they won't last forever.
Mike
9:07 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexandre Souza - Listas" <pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 8:47 PM
Subject: Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Congratulations, Michael! I never had a PC-JR but I find it to be a
very interesting computer.
These old gems are pretty rare in Brazil. I've never SEEN a PC-JR in
Brazil (although I had its color monitor - it was my FIRST color monitor)
and talking old PCs, just ONE Tandy 1000 :o(
---
You guys had all those MSX machines to play with that never made it to the
US.
9:16 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
You guys had all those MSX machines to play with that
never made it to the
US.
Eh, more or less...you had the spectravideo machines and the Yamaha CX
series which were sold in USA :o) But you're right, MSX had a huge impact
into brazilian computer market at that time. It was the first
"semi-professional" computer that could be bought by parents. We had many
clones of apple, TRS-80 and like before, but all of them were VERY
expensive. You could buy an Apple ][+ clone with 64K, 128K expansion, a pair
of floppy drives, controler and monitor. Or, with the same money, a brand
new VW beetle :o)
But no PC JR :(
---
Enviado do meu Motorola PT550
Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br
9:42 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Thanks, but I want to stress that it is only partly my work. I did the
original hacking to get the original XT-IDE onto the PCjr, but the
sidecar is way way far more advanced than that work. Alan (not on the
list) did a great job with it. It took a little debugging to get it
stable, but I've been using my machine happily since then.
If you've never seen a PCjr, don't despair - think of a near PC clone
that is almost impossible to upgrade because the expansion bus is
non-standard and you can have conflicts with the built-in goodies.
Having a PCjr that can boot from a hard drive directly using its BIOS is
a magical thing. Like the XT-IDE, the intent is to use a modern IDE
drive that supports LBA access. (Compact Flash with an adapter or Disk
On Module are equivalent.) I've measured better than 300KB/sec reads
from a Maxtor 20GB hard drive and 160KB/sec writes.
Now all we need is a native Ethernet adapter ...
Mike
9:56 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Now all we need is a native Ethernet adapter ...
Tips from someone who did a pair for the MSX computer:
- The RTL8029 is very easy to use, and you can use the usual DOS
drivers, but it will have to use all the TCP stack on the PC. And you can
use old ISA interfaces without changes to prototype and even use it. All the
needed pins are on the ISA bus.
- The wizchip modules are very easy to use, all the TCP stack is inside
of it. It will offload a lot of processing and you can map the module/chip
as a 16K RAM space onto your PC, but you'll have to write new drivers for
everyting, remembering it will be easier - ALL TCP processing is done inside
the chip
If you need tips, drop me a mail.
11:17 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Now all we
need is a native Ethernet adapter ...
Tips from someone who did a pair for the MSX computer:
- The RTL8029 is very easy to use, and you can use the usual DOS
drivers, but it will have to use all the TCP stack on the PC. And you can
use old ISA interfaces without changes to prototype and even use it. All the
needed pins are on the ISA bus. - The wizchip modules are very easy to use, all
the TCP stack is inside
of it. It will offload a lot of processing and you can map the module/chip
as a 16K RAM space onto your PC, but you'll have to write new drivers for
everyting, remembering it will be easier - ALL TCP processing is done inside
the chip
I like these as well, though they can require some external programming.
Personally if I were going to offload TCP to another device I'd use one of
the Lantronix UDS series, which are nice all-in-one units.
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- Queen, you shall be it if you wish/Look for your king -- Pink Floyd --------
11:30 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Why not a Cirrus Logic CS8900A ("Crystal
LAN")? These are very easy to
interface also (see C64 RRNet).
Well, I'm talking about what I know. The RTL is **very easy** to find
and there is plenty of source-code for PC for driving it. I don't know about
the Crystal LAN chip.
I like these as well, though they can require some
external programming.
Personally if I were going to offload TCP to another device I'd use one of
the Lantronix UDS series, which are nice all-in-one units.
But the Wizchip is so cheap! And so easy to use! Why use lantronix
(waaayyy expensive)???
23 Jul
23 Jul
9:34 a.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Why not a
Cirrus Logic CS8900A ("Crystal LAN")? These are very easy to
interface also (see C64 RRNet).
Well, I'm talking about what I know. The RTL is **very easy** to find
and there is plenty of source-code for PC for driving it. I don't know about
the Crystal LAN chip. I like these
as well, though they can require some external programming.
Personally if I were going to offload TCP to another device I'd use one of
the Lantronix UDS series, which are nice all-in-one units.
But the Wizchip is so cheap! And so easy to use! Why use lantronix
(waaayyy expensive)???
11:27 a.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Because the
Lantronix is preassembled, all in a box; just plug it in. You
can't really compare the cost of a full design versus a single chip.
Wizchip too. There is the chip AND the fully assembled module.
11:45 a.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Nooo, this one:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9473
Have you used the Lantronix? Besides being a higher
quality case and
build,
the software and configuration is much nicer. The UDS-1100, which is the
current UDS version, is around $120, which is not massively more.
24,95 for the wizchip module :o)
This is not to say that the Wiznet box/chips are poor
choices (they're
not),
and there are lots of applications where the niceties of the Lantronix
aren't
worth the cost, but I really think you're not making a fair comparison.
Sure I am. I'm creating a simple and cheap internet card for an old
computer. If Wizchip works, why would I use Lantronix?
Having used a Wiznet and both a Lantronix UDS-10 and
UDS-100, the
Lantronix
boxes offer a much more complete and higher quality package.
I'll take a look at lantronix modules, but as I said before: If it
works, and it is cheaper, why bother?
I won't buy a $199 Fluke multimeter, just to test continuity.
11:58 a.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Nooo, this one:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9473
Now we really are talking apples to oranges. The one I posted was a fully
enclosed Wiznet package, but this one is a board. In fairness, you don't
have a board option for the Lantronix, so that point I will concede, but
I'd rather have a box.
And you haven't addressed the criticism I made two posts ago: the Wiznet has
an inconvenience where if its settings get fouled, you need an external
machine that already has Ethernet to send it new configuration information
(at least the protocol is documented, but it is not a fully self-contained
solution). The Lantronix can be reset from the computer it is connected to.
I'm just going to conclude by saying I really do like the Wiznet for what it
is, but the Wiznet is cheap, and you get what you pay for. If the Lantronix
is overkill for your application, fine, but I get a lot more mileage out of
my UDS modules than the Wiznet modules I have. I'll shut up now, since this
is probably not helping Michael decide.
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever. -- Napoleon Bonaparte ---------
11:52 a.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
On Mon, 23 Jul 2012, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
As far as I know, this is incorrect. The Comet 64 uses the Wiz1000 module
and you can change the settings from the serial side of the device.
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/coll - Go Collimated or Go Home.
Some people collect things for a hobby. Geeks collect hobbies.
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://www.scarletdme.org - Get it _today_!
Buying desktop hardware and installing a server OS doesn't make a
server-class system any more than sitting in a puddle makes you a duck.
[Cipher in a.s.r]
Nooo, this one:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9473
And you haven't addressed the criticism I made two posts ago: the Wiznet has
an inconvenience where if its settings get fouled, you need an external
machine that already has Ethernet to send it new configuration information
(at least the protocol is documented, but it is not a fully self-contained
solution). The Lantronix can be reset from the computer it is connected to.
12:30 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
And you
haven't addressed the criticism I made two posts ago: the Wiznet has
an inconvenience where if its settings get fouled, you need an external
machine that already has Ethernet to send it new configuration information
(at least the protocol is documented, but it is not a fully self-contained
solution). The Lantronix can be reset from the computer it is connected to.
As far as I know, this is incorrect. The Comet 64 uses the Wiz1000 module
and you can change the settings from the serial side of the device.
12:28 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Now we really are talking apples to oranges. The one I
posted was a fully
enclosed Wiznet package, but this one is a board. In fairness, you don't
have a board option for the Lantronix, so that point I will concede, but
I'd rather have a box.
No, I was talking about this module since the beginning of this thread.
And you haven't addressed the criticism I made two
posts ago: the Wiznet
has
an inconvenience where if its settings get fouled, you need an external
machine that already has Ethernet to send it new configuration information
(at least the protocol is documented, but it is not a fully self-contained
solution). The Lantronix can be reset from the computer it is connected
to.
I don't know what is is. None of my devices on the wild (more than 2K
devices built) has this problem. Can you illustrate a situation where it
certainly happens?
12:41 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
I don't know what is is. None of my devices on
the wild (more than 2K
devices built) has this problem. Can you illustrate a situation where it
certainly happens?
Right out of the manual for my WIZ105, section 4.2: "At the default
status, the serial configuration is disabled." If you're bringing the
device up cold, *or* the settings got whacked and serial configuration
is off, you *can't* configure it over serial; you *must* use the Ethernet
configuration tool.
Now, once this is done, it works fine, assuming the internal settings
don't get munged. I did this once by mistake when I was flubbing a
config string, so you can definitely screw it up in addition to any kind
of random scrambling event.
They may have changed this in later versions of the chip, so if they
fixed this, great. The ones I've dealt with all have this issue.
Is this a crippling limitation? No. It's just a limitation that the
Lantronix boxes don't have. If this isn't a limitation for your application,
or you can program around it, then it should be okay. But I like the
Lantronix better.
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- How are you gentlemen? All your base are belong to us! ---------------------
7:58 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
On 07/23/2012 11:45 AM, Alexandre Souza - Listas wrote:
Sure I am. I'm creating a simple and cheap
internet card for an old
computer. If Wizchip works, why would I use Lantronix?
[head explodes]
"Internet card"?!
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
8:28 p.m.
New subject: Ethernet solutions for the Jr (was Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs ...
There are some interesting options there ...
My interest is in a real Ethernet device. I already did the work to
write a TCP/IP stack that runs well on old DOS machines (
http://www.brutman.com/mTCP ). Having an external device that does the
TCP/IP work for me is nice for machines that are more limited, but a
PCjr or PC clone doesn't need it.
I haven't looked at the Ethernet chipset solutions recently but the last
time I looked around I got hung up on the interfacing to an 8 bit PC
bus. A lot of them seemed to require a 16 bit bus.
In my ideal world I would have an Ethernet chipset that wires easily to
an 8 bit PC bus. (I can make that work on a PCjr.) If 16 bit is
required then it is not feasible for the jr without some circuit
hackery. In that ideal world the packet driver already exists and
works, assuming that you didn't wire the chip up in some strange way.
Lastly, the chipset can use I/O ports and an IRQ. But DMA is a no-no.
Which is fine because most Ethernet chipsets in that class don't use DMA
anyway.
Time to do some reading ...
Mike
9:18 p.m.
New subject: Ethernet solutions for the Jr (was Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs ...
You can use an entire NE2000 board with RTE8029.Take a look at the
"obsonet" project for MSX. Sources and schematics avaiable. You'll see that
although it is a cart with the 8029, it is essentialy a RTL8029 NE2000
board.
---
Enviado do meu Motorola PT550
Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael B. Brutman" <mbbrutman-cctalk at brutman.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 9:28 PM
Subject: Ethernet solutions for the Jr (was Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs ...
There are some interesting options there ...
My interest is in a real Ethernet device. I already did the work to write
a TCP/IP stack that runs well on old DOS machines (
http://www.brutman.com/mTCP ). Having an external device that does the
TCP/IP work for me is nice for machines that are more limited, but a PCjr
or PC clone doesn't need it.
I haven't looked at the Ethernet chipset solutions recently but the last
time I looked around I got hung up on the interfacing to an 8 bit PC bus.
A lot of them seemed to require a 16 bit bus.
In my ideal world I would have an Ethernet chipset that wires easily to an
8 bit PC bus. (I can make that work on a PCjr.) If 16 bit is required
then it is not feasible for the jr without some circuit hackery. In that
ideal world the packet driver already exists and works, assuming that you
didn't wire the chip up in some strange way.
Lastly, the chipset can use I/O ports and an IRQ. But DMA is a no-no.
Which is fine because most Ethernet chipsets in that class don't use DMA
anyway.
Time to do some reading ...
Mike
24 Jul
24 Jul
2:38 a.m.
New subject: Ethernet solutions for the Jr (was Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs ...
On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:28:05 -0500
"Michael B. Brutman" <mbbrutman-cctalk at brutman.com> wrote:
Having an external device that does the
TCP/IP work for me is nice for machines that are more limited, but a
PCjr or PC clone doesn't need it.
I haven't looked at the Ethernet chipset solutions recently but the last
time I looked around I got hung up on the interfacing to an 8 bit PC
bus. A lot of them seemed to require a 16 bit bus.
The WIZnet W5100 does TCP/IP in
hardware. It can send / receive raw
packets as well, if you wane do TCI/IP in software. It offers a variaty
of bus options. (8-Bit MCU bus, SPI)
--
\end{Jochen}
\ref{http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/}
23 Jul
23 Jul
9:17 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
Oh, my head... :oO It hurts! It is..."them!"
---
Enviado do meu Motorola PT550
Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave McGuire" <mcguire at neurotica.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 8:58 PM
Subject: Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
On 07/23/2012 11:45 AM, Alexandre Souza - Listas
wrote:
Sure I am. I'm creating a simple and cheap
internet card for an old
computer. If Wizchip works, why would I use Lantronix?
[head explodes]
"Internet card"?!
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA 
10:34 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
On 07/23/2012 11:45 AM, Alexandre Souza - Listas
wrote:
> Sure I am. I'm creating a simple and cheap internet card for an old
> computer. If Wizchip works, why would I use Lantronix?
On Mon, 23 Jul 2012,
Dave McGuire wrote:
[head explodes]
"Internet card"?!
I was too embarrassed to admit that I have noi idea what an "internet
card" IS
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
10:51 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
It was a head fart...ETHERNET card :oP
---
Enviado do meu Motorola PT550
Meu site: http://www.tabalabs.com.br
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Cisin" <cisin at xenosoft.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
On 07/23/2012
11:45 AM, Alexandre Souza - Listas wrote:
> Sure I am. I'm creating a simple and cheap internet card for an old
> computer. If Wizchip works, why would I use Lantronix?
On Mon, 23 Jul 2012,
Dave McGuire wrote:
[head explodes]
"Internet card"?!
I was too embarrassed to admit that I have noi idea what an "internet
card" IS
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
22 Jul
22 Jul
11:18 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
If you've never seen a PCjr, don't despair -
think of a near PC clone
that is almost impossible to upgrade because the expansion bus is
non-standard and you can have conflicts with the built-in goodies.
The Peanut is an appealing little system. Always liked the graphics and
sound. If only IBM had made it cheaper.
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- You cannot trust this technology stuff. -- Ira Oldham ----------------------
23 Jul
23 Jul
7:10 p.m.
New subject: jr-IDE for PCjrs (Re: XT-IDE V2 PCBs)
On Sun, 22 Jul 2012, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
The Peanut is an appealing little system. Always liked
the graphics and
sound. If only IBM had made it cheaper.
IBM did make attempts to find out what corners they could cut to make it
cheaper. (In IBM relative terms, NOT "cheap" by THIS group's standards).
They got a resounding response that they could make it single floppy, no
hard disk, with limited expandability to cut costs.
'Course, sho'nuff, as soon as it came out it was thoroughly trashed for
it's expansion limits.
Disunirregardless of what their "focus groups" told them, as soon as they
bought the machine, they wanted to make it do the same identical things as
their office computers.
IBM provided exactly what they ASKED for, but not what they wanted.
IBM, also, once again, proved that they were too big to learn from the
mistakes of others, and just like the Coco, ended up giving away FREE
replacement keyboards, due to the public hatred of chiclets. (The
replacement keyboards were NOT an improvement of MECHANISM, just making
the keys shaped like typewriter keys, instead of like chiclets)
The cordless keyboard was a nice move. But many people HATED it, because
the batteries had a finite life, and couldn't wrap their minds around the
simple concept that a phone cord would permit it to run without batteries.
The Jr. keyboard velcro'd on top of a mouse solves the issue of how many
buttons a mouse should have.
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bobalan＠sbcglobal.net -
cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
geneb＠deltasoft.com -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
LYNCHAJ＠yahoo.com -
mbbrutman-cctalk＠brutman.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
pu1bzz.listas＠gmail.com -
snhirsch＠gmail.com -
spectre＠floodgap.com -
teoz＠neo.rr.com