Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

[Swift Griggs]

On Sat, 23 Apr 2016, Chris Hanson wrote:
> I want to use the systems as a whole enough not to just live in emulation,
> but I only have a limited amount of time to spend with them, so replacing
> just a few subsystems in ways that make the use of the overall systems
> smoother seems like a reasonable compromise.

I completely agree with you and the rest of your post.  It sounds like you 
and I have a very similar attitude and use-case for our retro-hardware.  
I don't mind putting 3rd party extras on my older systems. As an example, 
I use several Acard 50-pin SCSI2 narrow adapter that can hold 2.5" SATA 
drives on older systems.  The bandwidth of the SSDs I put in these 
adapters far outstrips the capabilities of my old SGI & Amiga systems.  
The thing is the latency is _so_ much lower, and that *does* translate to 
improved performance on the old hardware.  It makes using the machines 
much more enjoyable.

Plus, I remember a tradition of modifying and extending hardware in the 
80's and 90's that's mostly been lost in the era of cheap disposable PCs. 
I'm okay with hot-rodding machines, even 20-30 years later when it doesn't 
make much difference. Why not use an emulator? Well where is the fun in 
that if I can't touch the metal ? 

I guess it's a bit like old cars.  Lots of people hate the idea of someone 
putting non-original parts onto classic cars. Others will go nuts and 
butcher them into franken-rods with a mix. To each his own. I might be 
laughed at for wanting a Fiero-Ferrari, but hey it's all in good fun.

-Swift