On Fri, 25 Oct 2002, ZN wrote:
> Well, the part that I disagreed on was 'on board'. It is a big decision and
> has to do with what you decide is going to be 'the board'. If the expansion
> needs to be very fast and/or flexible, it is a great problem to design it.
> But something very simple, a quick 'hook up a chip' port is quite easy and
> this is why the GF still has old QL bus capability. It is FAR simpler to
> work with than enything more modern.
The electrical questions are very separate from the physical questions. My
personal preference is simply to have everything available through
standard connectors, and have the expansion in a small but flexible format
where if people need more space they can do it. I have always been quite
taken with the idea of a mezzanine board, but that allows generally one
expansion. Some slot-based expansion has flexibility advantages but
electrical disadvantages (a la RiscPC backplane).
Whether or not something is the 'right' or 'wrong' way depends very much
on how the thing will be used, and someone may want to expand it in the
future, which is a very hard thing to guess.
> Yes, something like the flexATX size, it's about 1/3-1/3 micro ATX area,
> and it's not a rigid size standard, as long as it encompases 4 of the
> perscribed mounting holes.
Ok, let me elucidate my vision...
A compact, self-contained unit which has the functionality of a QL, the
expansion capabilities of a BBC B, and the price of a ZX81.
Ok, that's asking a lot and demands compromises...
I picture the target market as an "open system" for sale into schools. The
PC and Mac aren't very good at what the BBC model B was good at. With its
open IO and delicious BASIC capabilities for control and monitoring, you
have the answer to why the model B is still in use in so many school labs
today.
I think the QL, with a sensible storage system and rationalised BASIC
(which it already has) can fit that role very well, and is as near to a
real-time OS as a school could get.
I think if it's tiny, and looks like a super-PDA, and has a rechargeable
battery but less expansion, it could also find a market. I'm not
comfortable in the capability of the community to produce timely or
suitable software for that format though...
There are many other formats and target "markets" that could benefit from
something. But face facts, anything made for QL users only will be a
non-profit non-venture of limited scope. Anything made for a wider market,
like the technology department of schools, not to teach computing, but to
teach all that other automation/controls stuff, well that may actually
sell enough to be worthwhile...
This is why Nasta firmly told me many moons ago that the GF wasn't being
designed solely for this market - he definitely has other uses in mind
too...
Now there are GHz+ embedded ARM processors, I still consider the whole
hidden-emulated possibility, just because it lowers costs so much, but on
the other hand people want an actual QL.
What to do, what to do...
I guess the real question is that if one were to forget about all
performance considerations, and were just to try and reproduce the QL
exactly, but with modern interfaces on-board, how much would this save?
Dave
