>If you take the time to redesign this device, the simplest, lowest-risk,
>easiest, cheapest, and least-exposed-to-copyright-infringement will be to
>redesign the entire thing in a single CPLD or FPGA, on a board that matches
>physically and logically, but in no way infringes on the copyright associated
>with the artwork, which is what can be copyrighted. Circuits themselves would
>have to be patented, and, folks have found, that's a waste of time, since
>generating a logical equivalent circumvents the patent, though not the PCB
>copyright.
That's basically what Michael Holley did with his new floppy
controller for the SS-30 bus machines from SWTPc. It's compatible
with the SWTPc DC-4 but is implemented in a CPLD. It also adds
support for a few things the original couldn't do.
Jeff
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Received on Tue Sep 04 2001 - 17:53:22 BST