20 Dec
2007
20 Dec
'07
3:15 p.m.
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:26:24 -0200 "Alexandre Souza" said:
> I think this project is excellent and a kick-ass
way to use spare old
> hardware lying around (which is more likely to have a working 25-pin
> serial port than any modern machine). I love this project.
Although there are cheap CF cards today, it would
be a hit if it could
be ROMable and put in place of BIOS chip :o)
If you can still find them, ancient XT motherboards ought to be just right for
this type of service. Just get an old video board (will it work with a CGA
board?) and a serial I/O card and plug in the "extra" bios chips for the
emulator. Of course, several options could be added:
1) Support for a character based printer (both serial and parallel)
2) Some sort of scrolling (got to use that 640k of memory somehow!)
3) Color support (if you got a CGA card, use it!).
4) Provisions for 40 column mode (so you can use the RS-170 output to a TV
set)
5) Add a network card for a telnet client (probably a bother since there are
so many network cards)
The best part is that when you turn the machine on, you get instant terminal.
None of this silly operating system stuff.
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22 Dec
22 Dec
12:43 a.m.
On Thursday 20 December 2007 15:15, Tom Watson wrote:
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:26:24 -0200 "Alexandre
Souza" said:
If you can still find them, ancient XT motherboards ought to be just right
for this type of service. Just get an old video board (will it work with a
CGA board?) and a serial I/O card and plug in the "extra" bios chips for
the emulator. Of course, several options could be added:
1) Support for a character based printer (both serial and parallel)
2) Some sort of scrolling (got to use that 640k of memory somehow!)
3) Color support (if you got a CGA card, use it!).
4) Provisions for 40 column mode (so you can use the RS-170 output to a TV
set)
5) Add a network card for a telnet client (probably a bother since there
are so many network cards)
Not that many in 8-bit. I have some Etherlink I cards that could be useful
for someone that wanted to try this...
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, ?a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. ?--Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
I think
this project is excellent and a kick-ass way to use spare old
hardware lying around (which is more likely to have a working 25-pin
serial port than any modern machine). I love this project.
Although there are cheap CF cards today, it would be a hit if it
could be ROMable and put in place of BIOS chip :o) 
5:46 p.m.
Hell, if you're going to go to the trouble of putting ethernet on it,
you might as well make it an X terminal :-)
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
5:27 a.m.
Although
there are cheap CF cards today, it would be a hit if it could
be ROMable and put in place of BIOS chip :o)
If you can still find them, ancient XT motherboards ought to be just right for
this type of service. Just get an old video board (will it work with a CGA
board?) and a serial I/O card and plug in the "extra" bios chips for the
emulator. Of course, several options could be added:
1) Support for a character based printer (both serial and parallel)
2) Some sort of scrolling (got to use that 640k of memory somehow!)
3) Color support (if you got a CGA card, use it!).
4) Provisions for 40 column mode (so you can use the RS-170 output to a TV
set)
5) Add a network card for a telnet client (probably a bother since there are
so many network cards)
The best part is that when you turn the machine on, you get instant terminal.
None of this silly operating system stuff. 
6058
days inactive
6060
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
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alexandre-listas＠e-secure.com.br -
dave06a＠dunfield.com -
legalize＠xmission.com -
rtellason＠verizon.net -
tsw-cc＠johana.com