John, if only it were as simple as reverse engineering the hardware logic (basically cloning the board: chips and PCB traces). But as you properly pointed out, I am quite certain there must be some chips on the main video board that require specialized "firmware" that is next to impossible to reverse engineer or easily "read out" from the chips. But of course, not having a grayscale kit in my hands, I cannot confirm this. I was actually hoping to do that if I could acquire the board offered here, as I work in the engineering division at my company and we have a lot of advanced tools for such a job. And I still intend to do such work in the future (should I be so blessed with an Xceed kit at a reasonable price), not for my own personal benefit, but for the vintage Mac community and SE/30 owners worldwide. For truly, "having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical; but it is often true." (Spock, Amok Time) So I wish to obtain more complete satisfaction by obtaining one of these kits for the sake of possibly bringing it to others as well. Indeed, pleasing others often works to bring pleasure to oneself. Even so, to formally manufacture it again (which is much more realistic than building them by hand) would require a minimum order of at least 500 pcs (for it to be built in Taiwan, anyway).
Of course, a potentially better approach would be to design it from the ground up using more modern technology. But that would require a team of people and is beyond my own capabilities. It just saddens me that so many of these boards are out there, sitting in a closet or otherwise not being evaluated on an engineering level for the benefit of others. Best, James Wages -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
