> Kevin McQuiggin <mcquiggi_at_sfu.ca> wrote:
>
> Anybody else have one of these? I understand that Bill Yakowenko (sp?)
> does, but don't have his email.
>
> Any and all info appreciated. There's nothing on ther web that I can find.
> It dates from 1975.
>
I remember seeing these used to develop embedded microprocessor systems for
applications like industrial control, back in 1979. I was using a Kontron
development system then so I didn't use the EXORcisor firsthand. As I
recall, it had a backplane that accepted cards from Motorola and a few
3rd-party manufacturers (cpu, memory, serial ports, etc). The cards had
dimensions similar to S-100 but were 86-pin or something like that, and of
course the bus incorporated more 6800-ish signals, like the E clock signal
used to synchronize bus events.
The idea was that you could run the EXORcisor itself as a general-purpose
computer (monitor, editor, assembler, Basic, and so on--running on top of a
proprietary Motorola OS that I can't recall) and you could stuff in any
special boards you were developing for your application and so integrate
them into your software development. When you had the code debugged, you'd
blow an eprom, pull the boards out and stuff them into their own cabinet,
insert the eprom, and start up your embedded system independent of the
EXORcisor.
One interesting thing was that many of Motorola's standalone (KIM-like)
single-board computer "development kits" like the "D2" had the same
EXORcisor bus connector and you could easily mix-and-match those boards with
standard EXORcisor cards.
I have a couple of EXORcisor cards somewhere (a Burr-Brown D to A card, some
memory boards I think?) but no EXORcisor and no documents. So if you have
documentation I'd like to take advantage and get copies of the relevant
schematics, etc. I also think I have a couple of ROMs containing Motorola
Basic that would probably work if plugged into an EXORcisor memory card.
The system you've got probably sold for upwards of $20K back then. This was
state-of-the-art professional gear, so admiration and respect are warranted
:)
Arlen
--
Arlen Michaels amichael_at_nortelnetworks.com
Received on Tue Dec 22 1998 - 15:07:44 GMT