Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!munnari.oz.au!murdu!ucsvc!u5569462
From: U5569462@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (DAVID CLUNIE)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Wanted: answers to commonly asked questions
Message-ID: <740@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>
Date: 26 May 90 06:46:06 GMT
Organization: The University of Melbourne
Lines: 27

2 questions/comments:

 - I am a relative newcomer to this newsgroup and have figured out that the
pc532 appears to be a single board 532 design that is available as a printed
circuit board. Would it be possible for the designers or distributors of this
board to regularly post a "commonly asked questions" type message that would
save the net from multiple questions like those that I am about to ask, such
as waht are its specs, where does one get it, how much does it cost, and  has
Unix been ported to it yet ?

 - I gather that the board has multiple serial lines, buit no video driver. I
would love to configure one of these as a "workstation' type thing, but of
course one needs a frame buffer to plug into the board. Are there any plans
for such a thing ? Surely designing a memory mapped, 24-bit, no graphics
processor, uses dynamic RAM, frame buffer would be pretty easy compared to
designing the CPU board ! At least 1240 by 1192 driving a multisync monitor,
with lesser resolution as an option (to driver cheaper lower frequency
monitors), possibly with an 8-bit mode with a 24-bit palette for those
with lesser needs or who can't afford the memory. I could live without a
graphics processor and that would certainly make the design simpler, but could
everyone else ? Is dual-port RAM worth the cost (circa 4 times I think) ? I
would have thought that most of this could be acheived with off-the-shelf
components, though I doubt if I am up to doing it myself. I am sure someone
in this group would be able to though, and the result would be a real
Sun killer once Unix is going !

Regards ... David