Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!news.miami.edu!rcf.rsmas.miami.edu!miller From: miller@rcf.rsmas.miami.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: Cheap accelerator for a Mac+? Message-ID: <1991Mar21.102401.11503@rcf.rsmas.miami.edu> Date: 21 Mar 91 15:24:00 GMT References: <3510@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu> Lines: 37 In article , hankin@sauron.osf.org (Scott Hankin) writes: > [...] > Too good to be true? Perhaps, but consider: the product only has two > chips. one of which is a 16MHz 68000. This is not exactly a high > demand, low supply, low yield chip - I don't know what it goes for, but > my guess is that it's pretty low. The other chip is a custom ASIC, > which also shouldn't cost that much. I actually expect the profit > margin is fairly high on this product. What is an ASIC and what is it good for? [...] > Of course, > people have said the Dove accelerator doesn't significantly speed up > your Mac+, probably because they are still dealing with an 8MHz bus. Does the Brainstorm upgrade have this same limitation? I am interested in upgrading my Mac Plus, have (at least) one lingering doubt though... I use my Plus primarily for word processing (Macwrite II) and terminal emulation (Versaterm Pro) so I don't really do CPU-intensive number crunching. The reason I want more speed is for scanning (i.e., reading as it flies by on the screen - not scanning as in using a scanning device for input) large text files which reside on our mainframe via my terminal emulator. Even at a nomimal 19.2k baud rate, the plus is a lot slower than a "real" terminal connected to the same mainframe port. So, I basically want Versaterm to go faster. The question here is will the faster cpu do that for me or will I still have some kind of i/o bottleneck due to slow bus speed or some such? Or put another way, are emulators like Versaterm cpu limited or i/o limited? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jerry L. Miller /\ Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science #\ o O \/ /\ University of Miami #/ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ / 4600 Rickenbacker Cwsy. / / o O \/ Miami, FL 33149 USA Phone: (305) 361-4762 INTERNET: miller@rcf.rsmas.miami.edu