From: muta...@gmail.com   
      
   On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 6:01:13 PM UTC+8, wolfgang kern wrote:   
      
   > >> none of these devices except modems can be controlled by serial ports.    
      
   > > Not true.    
   >    
   > > I connect the serial port to wifi using RS232-wifi or whatever    
   > > it is called, and that connects to another computer    
   > > running Windows or whatever (with my custom software)    
   > > which provides the hard disk capabilities.    
      
   Actually I don't need Windows - PDOS/386 can do that,   
   again with the serial port.   
      
   > > I will provide a protocol to communicate with the software    
   > > on the other computer.    
   >    
   > > I know it's a crappy solution, but I don't particularly care.    
   >    
   > > When someone who cares comes along with better public    
   > > domain software to drive an SSD or whatever, I'll consider    
   > > using that instead. That will depend on how complicated    
   > > it is such that I can maintain it.   
      
   > as an OS-author you should be able to write basic drivers yourself.   
      
   Yes, and I probably *could* if I made the effort.   
      
   There's lots of things I *could* do if I wanted to.   
      
   But I'm trying to maximize result for minimum effort.   
      
   And I've been successful (at least in my eyes) at doing that   
   for decades.   
      
   And I don't particularly care who agrees and who disagrees.   
      
   > I did it for every piece of hardware I ever owned.    
      
   And I'm not suggesting *you* were wrong for doing that.   
      
   > All it needs is information about the hardware, I got it direct from    
   > manufacturers, Intel charged me about 40$ per book, I bought all    
   > available books back then [1976... ],    
   > RCA, Motorola, Texas instrument, National Semiconductors and more gave    
   > me all required info books for free with any purchase of chips.    
      
   Sure. Go for it.   
      
   > you may find documents for free on the net these days.    
   > RBIL, sandpile.org and more   
      
   And with the serial port I can get that too. Not just that,   
   but public domain code.   
      
   > > Even then it's more likely    
   > > to be an option, as the hard disk interface keeps changing,    
   > > and there's no-one volunteering to both live for 1000 years    
   > > and maintain it. So at any point I need to go back to serial.   
      
   > why obsolete Serial, LPT (also dead) gives you much more options.    
      
   The option I want is to minimize effort, especially   
   on drivers, and reuse public domain C90 code.   
      
   > you cannot just fiddle an FPGA into any laptop:    
      
   As already explained in the thread, I'm not after   
   "any laptop".   
      
   I'm after a laptop specifically designed for the FPGA   
   in question.   
      
   > * the socket wont match    
   > * and even if: the power pins are somewhere else    
   > * supply voltages are different    
   > * the bus system wont fit neither in size nor impedance    
   > * all the on-chip gates need to be addressed and configured    
   > * how would it boot at all w/o a setup memory controller ?    
      
   So first can you tell me which of the above will not   
   be possible to overcome for a *specifically designed   
   laptop*?   
      
   > So you better don't waste your time/money/brain on that.   
      
   I minimize effort on writing drivers specifically so that I   
   have more time thinking about things like that, and trying   
   to understand things like that.   
      
   BFN. Paul.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)