From: No@spam.org   
      
   "Mark McDougall"  wrote in message   
   news:4a721f57$0$9735$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...   
   > turnkit@gmail.com wrote:   
   >   
   >> Mark - how difficult would it be to make an "Expansion Interface^2"   
   >> for a Model I, which would basically be the all the functionality of a   
   >> normal EI but...  --  I   
   >> mean could a modern FPGA be 'burned' (???) to emulate most of the EI   
   >> functionality but in a very small container?   
   >>   
   >> - FDC   
   >> - memory (w/ bankswitching added memory)   
   >> - SD or CF memory adapter which emulates Floppy space inside a FAT32   
   >> container (see club100.org for the idea)   
   >> - Real Time Clock   
   >> - joystick port (TRSSTICK)   
   >> - Orchestra 90 functionality   
   >> - ESF emulated in SD/CF   
   >> - Serial port emulated into SLIP/PPP stack   
   >> - ethernet + IP stack   
   >>   
   >> Some of these features obviously require something of a separate OS   
   >> emulated as handler which opens even other options...   
   >   
   > Some of the above are trivial, some are more work but definitely   
   > technically feasible.   
   >   
   > I've had a certain project in mind for some time which I've kept under   
   > wraps until now, but don't see much point any more since it's unlikely to   
   > happen for reasons that I won't go into now.   
   >   
   > My idea was to design a replacement "motherboard" for the TRS-80 Model   
   > I/III/4/4P. The design would comprise a relatively large FPGA, memory, SD   
   > etc etc and pretty much emulate absolutely everything that was ever   
   > available for the TRS-80 computers - including the colour add-ons etc.   
   >   
   > It would be re-configurable on-the-fly, meaning any of the physical   
   > variants could emulate any of the TRS-80 models (or clones), with   
   > peripherals being enabled/disabled at will.   
   >   
   > It would also interface to modern peripherals, with composite, S-video,   
   > VGA (and perhaps even DVI output though not much point for a TRS-80), use   
   > modern controllers such as PSX/DC/NGC to emulate joystick and/or arrows   
   > keys etc, SD/MMC card emulation of both floppy and HDD, etc etc.   
   >   
   > Of course I'd like to do this sort of thing for a number of platforms -   
   > and indeed with the assistance of a colleague and another friend, hardware   
   > design was almost complete for another platfom (not TRS-80) due mainly to   
   > the enthusiasm of the 3rd party. The idea was to later re-spin pretty much   
   > the _same_ board in a different form factor and presto - TRS-80!   
   >   
   > However, for reasons I won't go into right now, that work has been at a   
   > complete stand-still for several months, with seemingly little prospect of   
   > being finished.   
   >   
   > Whilst the TRS-80 is _my_ personal favourite - being the 1st machine my   
   > father introduced to me - I think the global market for such a board could   
   > be counted on one hand (this isn't a cheap board). It is possible that our   
   > current design may be resurrected in some form for a different platform   
   > one day, and then I'd look at doing a batch of TRS-80 boards, but that's   
   > probably a long way off yet.   
   >   
   > FWIW, if I ever win lotto, I'll do the TRS-80 boards and give them away!   
   >   
      
      
   Why not stick with emulation? A netbook should have more than enough power   
   to emulate any 8-bit system ever made. A few cost less than $200!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)