Date   : Fri, 02 Jun 2006 17:35:49 +0100
From   : "Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Subject: Re: Cheese Wedge Dating

I've been doing a bit of digging (quite literally, to get at my Beebug
Magazines!) and there is a report in the March 1984 edition on Acorn's
future developments which makes very interesting reading.  If it isn't
available anywhere, I will scan it if needed.

It says that the IEEE488 interface has been released and that the
6502 and Z80 second processors are virtually ready for release.  It
doesn't mention the Teletext Adapter although the April 1984 edition
has a report on the Teletext Adapter, so it looks like the IEEE488
wedge won, closely followed by the Teletext Adapter.

Best wishes,



Ian

----- Original Message -----
From: Jules Richardson
To:  bbc-micro@...
Sent:  Fri, 02 Jun 2006 15:14:45 +0100
Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] Cheese Wedge Dating

Ian Wolstenholme wrote:
> Can anybody give a definitive date for the release of the first
> cheese wedges, in particular the 6502 second processor?
> 
> I always thought that this was early 1984 after much delay etc but
> I have an early Econet installation pamphlet dated October 1982
> which shows a diagram of an Econet layout with what appears to be
> a System rack as the server and a BBC B with a cheese wedge sitting
> next to it!

Hmm, that is odd. I'll have to check my Econet docs when I get back to the UK 
and see if I have that one. I suppose System fileservers were probably offered 
up until 1984 or so even though the BBC B would have really taken over by then.

I suppose it'd make sense though for Acorn to design the cheese wedge case at 
the same time as the BBC one - after all, the whole point of the Tube was for 
a second processor so they knew in advance they'd need something; presumably 
Alan Boothroyd designed the cheese wedge at the same time as he did the BBC 
case - it's just there wasn't necessarily anything to put in it until a while 
after the BBC launch.

I've got no idea what order the various add-ons were released in - anyone? I'd 
guess that the 6502 and the Prestel adapter were the first, with Z80 and 
Teletext coming later, then the 32016, then the ARM1.

Give me a prod in a couple of weeks if you want and I'll check for date codes 
on my stuff. I've got a photo here of my earlier 6502 copro board and the chip 
dates suggest that one was built at the start of 1983 - that's only an issue F 
though, so presumably they existed for quite a while prior to that.

cheers

Jules