[Coco] CoCo3FPGA, FPGA Development, and GIME replacement

[Stephen H. Fischer]

Hi,

Does the DICTATOR sound any better now?

I thought last night about breaking the 64K limit and hit a very thick steel 
wall.

Adding colors, a larger screen size and other features will run up against 
the 64K limit in several ways.

With a 6x09 processor it may not be possible to bypass it.

D.P. Johnsons's "Rocket", a 68000 added to the CoCo sounds like the idea 
that we missed out on because the number of people that signed up for was 
too little.

Software for a 6x09 based machine may already be at the limit of what we can 
do.

New hardware, Great, new software to support it, questionable.

SHF


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nick Marentes" <nickma at optusnet.com.au>
To: "CoCoList" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 1:21 PM
Subject: [Coco] CoCo3FPGA, FPGA Development, and GIME replacement


> > I don't think there will ever be a mass-produced,
> > shrink-wrapped Next Generation CoCo. But if there's enough interest, we
> > could very well see hobbyist-produced kits that make it pretty easy to
> > plug in one of the FPGA development boards, upload the CoCo3FPGA bit
> > file, and go.
>
> I guess this what I'm afraid of. If there is no "shrink-wrapped next 
> generation CoCo" but hobby-produced kits, will there be a "mish-mash" of 
> different boards, each customized to a handful of user's specifications? 
> Writing software will be a case of software that supports the feature of 
> one board versus the other. Software may not utilize all the features of 
> one board, instead supporting the most common set of functions.
>
> This is not so bad, it's fun for the hardware hackers (the old definition 
> of the term!) but it doesn't create a standard product that everyone else 
> can use fully. And considering that such a product would probably be sold 
> in small numbers ($200?), it may be something only for the few. It may not 
> attract the software developer type, not that there are many left for the 
> CoCo.   :(
>
> In the end, I guess it's just a fun project for those few who are 
> interested in FPGA/CPLD designs.
>
> --

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nick Marentes" <nickma at optusnet.com.au>
To: "CoCoList" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 12:20 AM
Subject: [Coco] CoCo3FPGA, FPGA Development, and GIME replacement


> > The "WANTers" need to keep SILENT and let the "DOers" produce what
> > they can, if they can.
>
> Can't see anything wrong with this statement.   :)
>
> Too many organizations start a project by listing all the things they WANT 
> to achieve and try and go from there.
>
> This is a very messy way to start because everyone talks about things that 
> don't even exist and in cases is out of the budget range and out of scope. 
> I've seen it happen so often.
>
> Work out your budget, define the project's needed specs and *then* dream 
> if there's more time/money/energy to move.
>
> This method allows projects to finish neatly and on time.
>
> There's always a version 2!!   :)
>
> --
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