Hi, happy birthday to you, Dave! :-)
A few answers. Nasta still uses "GF" for his hardware project, so I use the same abbreviation from now on :-) Main reasons why the Q40/Q60 uses an ISA-style extension bus: 1. No QL specific extension cards available, with use for Q40/Q60. 2. Save hardware work. 3. Save hardware costs. We already have on the Q40/Q60 extension slot: 1. 2xFloppy, 2xIDE, 2xSER, 1xPAR (*always* included with mainboard) 2. 2xFloppy, 4xIDE, 4xSER, 2xPAR (if 2nd IO card is added) 3. Mouse (serial mouse or combo mouse PS2/serial) 4. IrDA connector (on new IO cards supplied by me, no drivers yet) 5. CompactFlash (yet expensive, using up 1xIDE) 6. NE2000 Ethernet (fully working, only Linux drivers yet) We already have on the Q40/Q60 mainboard: 1. PC Keyboard IF (DIN, or PS/2 by passive adaptor) 2. Stereo sound 3. NVRAM 4. Battery backed realtime clock Supply with IO cards is guaranteed by keeping a little stock. Both cards can be sourced new and cheap. Lets keep in mind that a re-implementation of the above mentioned hardware with GF chips brings nothing new to the Q40/Q60 users. Reasons for re-implementing them anyway would be: 1. Write driver software for Nasta's planned GF chips 2. Test the hardware for Nasta, and give him feedback 3. Reduce GF system cost by purchasing components in larger quantities 4. Free Q40/Q60 extension slots without using a slot riser. Most is very interesting for the GF, but will hardly attract Q40/Q60 users. So far I would just call the idea a GF preparation and support project. Likely *new* features for Q40/Q60: 1. Sound improvements 2. MIDI 3. I2C The key questions are: * Will that be enough to justify all the work? * What else would Q40/Q60 users like, and can it be included? I admit that I don't have answers made up. I didn't expect that someone offers to design an extension card of that complexity. (Thanks a lot, Dave!) I have a tendency toward Dave's idea of dropping features that are already implemented on the standard IO card. Except for IDE ports. You can never have enough IDE ports :-) Should we do a survey among Q40/Q60 users to learn more what *they* would like to see on a "Ultra IO card" ? Peter
