At 5:53pm -0500 1999/08/28, J.S. Havard wrote:
>One thing we should do on these macines.  Use SCSI for everything!  And
>while we are at it, use the Qbus.  I think there is enough documentation
>out there that one can figure out how it works.  :-)  What's the
>speed/bandwidth limitations on the Qbus?  Might have to change it, make it
>SuperQ or something.
>
>And speaking of Qbus cards, definitely need to make multi-function cards,
>if possible.  Save space, save energy, save a bunch of chemicals need for
>extra cards, etc.

If you do that, why not do it *first*? If you can start by producing a
nice Qbus multifunction card at a reasonable price, I'm sure plenty of
current VAX & PDP owners would want one, and it might finiance the CPU
development. My wish list: SCSI (or even just IDE), ethernet, memory
(SIMM/DIMM sockets?), emulating original DEC cards so existing software
works. (My less realistic wish list also includes automagical smoke-free
Qbus and Unibus compatibility.)  Maybe also a PC keyboard & VGA
controller emulating a serial console.

If I'm not imagining things, there are now microcontrollers with onchip
ethernet and disk controllers, so perhaps using one such to do all the
emulation and external interface might make this practical. I can't do
hardware, but might be able to help with software.

-- 
Kevin Schoedel
schoedel@kw.igs.net