--- Mike <dogas_at_bellsouth.net> wrote:
> From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
> >
> >
> > The C3 was kinda cool... It was wild to see a box with multiple CPUs...
>
> C3's are cool... One, a C3-SI with a C2D dual 8" floppy system using the
> 530 board (I think) which has the z80, 6800, and 6502 all on board.
That's the one! We had a family friend who put himself in serious hock
for one of those when it was new. I got to go over and play with it
from time to time. He might have gotten it to drive one of those T-shirt
printing rigs - remember those in the Malls in the late 1970s? They
would take a bad picture of you and/or your family and put it on shirts,
cloth calendars, etc... He loaned the whole shebang to a "Junior
Achievement" post in the early-to-mid 1980s and they broke it. I lost
track of him and it after that. I should see if he is a) still alive and
b) if he has any parts of it in his basement.
> I wish I could find the OSI 460Z board... that adds the Intersil 6100
> and some other microprocessor too to the base 3 of the C3.
That sounds wicked. I wonder how they handled the 12-bit bus of the
6100.
> (If they had just jammed the CDP1802 in there too I could have prossibly
> settled on this one machine to collect...those bastards...)
Agreed... you could have all the big stars of the 1970s micros in one
cabinet. I still don't get how they managed all the different machines
in one box. The easy part is building a CPU board where you can disconnect
a particular CPU from the bus in software. The hard part is the handoff.
You'd almost need a way to preload RAM or select a ROM that was ready to
go for the next CPU you wanted to switch to. It's been so long since I've
used a C3 that I forget entirely how to boot it and switch it around. Are
there any manuals online?
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com
Received on Mon Jan 28 2002 - 07:44:15 GMT