Subject: All this talk of a new GS... From: lefebvre@klatch.demon.co.uk (John & Anne Le Febvre) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 22:06:04 GMT Message-ID: <388cbf13.11507897@news.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: klatch.demon.co.uk X-NNTP-Posting-Host: klatch.demon.co.uk:158.152.115.116 -Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Newsreader: Forte Agent .99g/32.339 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit OK, I have been reading about everyone's ideas for a new GS but read something lately that may hopefully spark off some new ideas. I read with great interest that Transmeta are starting to produce their processors. These are software instruction set based, i.e. you can program it to be an 80x86, a 680x0, PowerPC, ARM, whatever you like. From what I've read in the PC press lately, they are making it as open as possible and are positively encouraging people to write new instruction cores for it. This is a venture with Linus Torvalds (of Linux fame) and I know IBM are manufacturing the chips. The current chip is Crusoe which is a very low power x86 compatible. The idea is that with very few transistors and software instruction set means very low power consumption and a battery life of days rather than hours. Anyway, take a look at: www.transmeta.com ...and discuss! What about a PC that can switch to native GS mode at a high clock speed with one or two 8-bit Apple II slots and all the bits of a GS built in. Perhaps the latest Ensoniq chipset that is backward compatible to the GS one, Second-sight or a newer variant, SCSI etc built in? I'm sure the hardest part would be getting the custom chipsets for ie SWIM controllers. Perhaps we could forgo the SuperDrive as many people can use ZIP drives as an alternative. If we were being realistic this is what I would like to see in a new GS... Primarily a new modern architecture and new OS. Perhaps based on GS/OS, perhaps not. Capable of natively running GS/OS software or seamless emulation. SuperSerial port or GS-serial port (Appletalk) ADB & USB IDE & SCSI connector (SCSI II enough? Or U2W?) SmartPort Hmmm... Would we really need 8-bit slots if this lot was built-in? Perhaps yet another way to approach this is a peripheral card for PC or Mac which has the missing ports on it. Then an emulator could be written to use that card. What¹s the chances of a PCI peripheral card sporting ADB, Smartport, SuperSerial and perhaps an Ensoniq? Just my GBP 0.02 ;-) -- John