Re: TI-H: General questions with a possibly big im
[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: TI-H: General questions with a possibly big im
Hehehe... I beat you to it... unfortunately, it's nowhere near release
point, and it's bigger/more powerful than a z80 based system. But I did get
TI-85 functionality into it from scratch, down to a working linkport into
the calculator section of the system space. It's basically an incredibly
souped up PDA setup, with more options than I need, and more going in each
day... no PCMCIA yet, but I managed to cram in 320x240 LCD video with
digitizer touchscreen... and did I mention it runs ELKS? I'm using an AMD
386-based mobile processor... no mp3 audio storage as a result, but then
again, I haven't done the sound hardware at all yet... It's all based on
parallel RAM chips, no serial flash technology here :)
But it's still buggy, too much crap is stored in ROM, and I won'r
release it until it starts to leave the breadboard.
D'oh!
CK
kaus@cybrzn.com wrote:
> Thanks for your input, Mel. You've shown me how my idea would be
> impossible and therfore saved me hours of trying to get it to work:)
> Youre idea sounds complicated, and like you said, the average electrical
> hobbiest wouldn't be able to do it. I certainly would be lost, but then
> again, I dont claim to be much of an electronic hobbiest either:) The
> reson i wanted to do this anyway was most for personal reasons. I am a
> programmer. Pretty much cut and dry. I program. But, as a programmer,
> i am insulted by the limits TI poses on us with their calculators. I
> want complete control over teh entire computer system, which TI just
> doesn't give me. I therefore am obliged to announce that i am going to
> create a better Z80 computer system that can be just as small, but more
> hardware adaptable and controllable. Someone wants a memory expander,
> they plug in the chips to the parelel bus port out of the system and
> install a driver. I dont want to be limited by TI-OS constraints. I
> want overlays, i want Shell startup, i want complete interupt control, i
> want most of the 64k RAM for my progs to work in, I want, I want, I
> want, I want!
> So, I was wondering: you said lots of people sell Z80 microproccesors?
> do they sell them singly? I dont think Zilog does. Maybe, i dont know.
> I fthey did, i could slap that on a baord, with power supply,
> oscillator, and a big wide bus to put stuff on containing all of the 40
> pins from the processor. With the Low profile thingies in computers, i
> can put SIM like memory modules in theri depending on how I want it
> setup. A 2K System Rom would be sufficent, for all it has to do is load
> up the actual shell from the memory expander built in to the system. It
> could be a very simple expander, for it can work 8 bits at a time,
> instead of serially. The shell can do the rest. The hard parts would
> be getting the ROM done. I dont know if companies do this for consumers
> on a small scale basis, or if i could do it myslef, id ont know.
> another problem would be the video. If we chose th TI way, we would
> need dual access RAM for the video RAM, and i dont know if/where they
> sell that, or how expensive it is. Also, the screen itslelf i dont know
> how to do. Anyway, programmers would love it, USer's would love it
> (bigger games!) and people could sell them (for only the cost of the
> building, almost nill profit, to keep the price reasonable. Hardware
> hackers would love it cause they could make all sorts of devices to plug
> into the thing, and they could even work together. I dont know how much
> this ould all cost, it probably would be expensive. but maybe not. I
> would do it anyway if it was under $200 or so. :) I would need a lot
> of help with this, but it would be worth all effort if it lived up to
> expectations. And think how much fun it would be!
>
> at is all i ahve to say for now i think.
>
> Jonathan KAus
> kaus@cybrzn.com
References: