I actually was pretty close to doing this in the late
'80s. The original PC/XT used 2764 compatible ROMs,
and had extra sockets on the MoBo for BASIC. You could
take the BASIC roms out, drop in your own up to 32K of
code, add a magic signature to the ROM, and there you
go. Many XT clones had spaces for these ROMs. So, you
could, with the appropriate firmware, have a nearly
instantly booting terminal. The only useful thing I
made with this idea was a password UVEPROM for my XT
clone, but making terminals did come to mind and made
a really dumb teletype with it. Lots you could do with
32K and a BIOS. BBRAM or flash would have been useful
for storing settings, which I was thinking about doing
with a clock/calendar board and its extra available
bytes.
--- "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
wrote:
> It all seems rather elaborate for a dumb terminal!
>
> Y'all seem to be moving from building a terminal,
> into building a network
> server!
>
> Why not XTs with serial ports?
>
> If you are THAT hung up on avoiding MS-DOS (I don't
> think that MICROS~1
> really got truly evil until about 3.00), why not
> just write a trivial
> terminal emulation program and put it in the
> bootstrap?
>
>
> On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, Scarletdown wrote:
>
> > On 13 Oct 2002 at 10:14,
> vassilip_at_dsl.cis.upenn.edu wrote:
> >
> >
> > > "Scarletdown" <SecretaryBird_at_SoftHome.net>
> wrote:
> > > > I might just build a very minimalist 386 or
> 486 system from spare
> > > > parts I have lying about here, set it up with
> FreeDOS or MINIX, and
> > > > make that the console. [...]
> > >
> > > Actually the easiest way to build a 386-based
> terminal is with MSDOS
> > > (or DRDOS) and kermit. Kermit supports most
> serial cards and even some
> > > ethernet cards (so you can telnet over TCP/IP).
> There is even
> > > DOS-based software for mouse support (so you can
> cut & paste text).
> > >
> >
> > I've got most of the components gathered and ready
> for assembly. My
> > first choice for this is still MINIX. I need to
> check the FAQ to
> > determine whether or not this 3COM EtherLink II TP
> (8 Bit ISA
> > Ethernet adapter) is one of the few NICs supported
> by MINIX. Then I
> > have to check and see if Token Ring and 3270 are
> supported. If just
> > one of those is a no go, then I will be using
> FreeDOS; an open source
> > MS-DOS compatible OS (think of it as to MS-DOS as
> Linux is to Unix).
> >
> > The system thus far will consist of a 486/DX-33 in
> a MB with 8 16-BIT
> > ISA slots and 8 MB of RAM, VGA adapter, 16 bit IO
> card with one
> > floppy controller, one IDE controller, 2 serial
> ports, and 1 parallel
> > port, a 2nd IO card with 2 serial and 1 parallel
> port, then an
> > Ethernet adapter and a 3270 adapter (don't have an
> ISA Token Ring
> > card yet), 3.5" and 5.25" floppies, and dual IDE
> hard drives (43MB
> > and 84MB respectively). If I end up going with
> FreeDOS instead of
> > MINIX, the EtherLink II will be replaced with
> either an EtherLink III
> > or EtherExpress and the II will be used in the
> PS/2 Model 30, since
> > its slots are all 8 bit ISA.
> >
> > The reason this system will have four COM ports is
> because in
> > addition to serving as the console for the
> Cromemco System Two, she
> > will also be the bridge between our various other
> classics (TI-99/4a,
> > Apple II systems of various models, TRS-80s,
> KayPros, etc) and the
> > LAN, as those old beasts don't have Ethernet
> capability and will
> > connect via serial connection.
> >
> > I'm really looking forward to getting this little
> project started
> > soon. It should make for a few experience points,
> much like building
> > a FreeSCO router did. :)
> >
> > -- Scarletdown
>
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Received on Mon Oct 14 2002 - 13:16:01 BST