[Coco] DriveWire is just a hobby (Was: DW4 on MAc & Linux)

[Christopher Smith]

If it's just newer hardware we wanted, an enhanced CoCo 2 should be quite doable.  The SAM chip was reasonably primitive by modern standards and should be reasonably well-documented, I'd guess.  Probably all of that could be shoved in a low cost FPGA and you could use another array (... or put them on a single larger array) for the CPU.  You could even do a real 6809 or 6309 if you aren't worried about the parts not being manufactured any more.  In theory this should allow speeds in the tens-of-mhz range and you could work out a way to support a good deal of memory even above what is on the CoCo 3, though if that was all you'd done, the graphics wouldn't be so great. :)


... and of course there's the problem of having the time, money and inclination to do it, but technically speaking I think the big deal would be in terms of the legality of the ROM from the system.  If you want a compatible machine, you need a compatible ROM which you're allowed to reproduce and perhaps modify slightly for new hardware.

Chris

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brian Blake" <random.rodder at gmail.com>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Friday, September 27, 2013 2:43:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] DriveWire is just a hobby (Was: DW4 on MAc & Linux)
> 
> On 9/27/2013 3:36 PM, Al Hartman wrote:
> >
> >
> > I think the Coco 4 project is working on something like this.
> >
> > -[ Al ]-
> >
> 
> For all intents and purposes, the CoCo4 project is D.O.A. Anytime
> something like this is mentioned, it usually ends up in an
> ideological
> flame fest.
> 
> There was a kickstarter project that didn't get anywhere close to the
> funding necessary - and there was quite a flame fest for this on in
> it's
> own right.
> 
> There's been a CoCoFPGA build for two development boards, but,
> whether
> it's ready for prime time is up for debate.
> 
> Having a CoCo3 in newer hardware would be cool, but, I'm not sure
> there
> ever will be based on the history of the previous attempts...
> 
> 
> 
> Brian
> 
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> 

-- 
Christopher Smith
Systems Engineer, Wolfram Research