C64-C128 CP-M Cartridge Interest

[Chuck Guzis]

On 25 Dec 2010 at 14:30, allison wrote:

> You could if the EZ80 was compatible, in the extended mode its a
> different beast.  Since most CP/M apps are available as source
> it's doable and could result in an interesting hybrid.

Since the eZ80 also has SPI, interfacing to a SDHC card is easy and 
gives one gigabytes of storage--a virtual embarrassment of storage.

I seem to recall, however, that the single-density Osborne 1 existed 
with two 90KB floppies.

> The biggest issue is not the memory or mass storage system anymore.
> It's IO, such as serial line for terminal (did that using FTDI serial
> to usb) I've done both bit bash serial and various serial devices
> (8250, SIO, 8251). I've also tried memory mapped (16x64 like PT s100
> board) video, 8Lx40char LCD (cramped), and so on.  The ideal here
> would be USB keyboard input (mac mini key board is very short) and VGA
> video where the logic is I'm always near a VGA display and a USB
> keyboard.  Then with CMOS Z80 and and other parts, coompact portable
> is doable. I believe something that is portable (battery or wall wart
> power) is likely to appeal more to many with the right IO.

The eZ80 Acclaim has UARTs and I think there are more recent members 
of the family with USB.

Of course, making use of the 100BaseT ethernet capabilities would 
seem to make I/O support rather academic.

But you're probably right about people not wanting to deal with a 144 
pin QFP and that's probably the root of the matter.

One could probably do a good job of running 8-bit CP/M with scarcely 
more than a suitably-equipped ARM CPU running emulation code and 
maybe some external flash device.  But that would probably really rub 
some semsitivities the wrong way.

All the best,
--Chuck