Alex Freed wrote:
> Steven Hirsch wrote:
>>
>> Terrific!  I will put the search for API details at the top of my list.
>>
> 
> All I found on the net is a picture:
> 
> http://mylinuxisp.com/~jdbaker/oldsite/images/CardZ180.jpg
> 
> the resolution is not good enough to make out the details like the
> chip part numbers, but some things can be guessed.
> 
> Looks like 32 chips on the left are 1 MB of DRAM. The 2 vertical chips
> next to them must be address multiplexers. This leaves very few 
> unknowns. The 2 chips next to the slot connector are likely PALs
> implementing the interface with the Apple slot.
> 
> The bottom line is that if the programming model is found, the 
> complexity of making a functional equivalent is no higher than that
> of making an Applicard clone.
> 
> "Based on the design of the venerable PCPI AppliCard".
Likely a similar
> Apple interface with a different MMU using the z180's native memory 
> management.

  That's probably a correct assessment, but it sort of trivializes the 
amount of sweat, blood and tears that went into the project :-).  In 1987, 
blowing the entire thing into an FPGA was not an option.  Nor did any of us 
have Alex's level of hardware skills!

A rework of the CardZ180 as actual hardware would, IMHO, support:

- Use of dirt-common 30-pin SIMM memory
- Built-in SCSI (or serial ATA) disk support.  Software would permit the card 
to act as a caching hard disk controller for the Apple host.
- Built-in CF card socket?

Steve
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