Date   : Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:36:36 +0100 (BST)
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Watford Co-pro adaptor

Another thing that's just turned up on the doorstep... a Watford Electronics
coprocessor adaptor.

Never heard of one before - it has a nice metal case with a hinged lid. Inside
is a 80186 board which appears to be the same as that in the Master 512; this
plugs into a board that has a trailing IDC cable that I assume plugs into the
Tube on a BBC.

I'm assuming the unit allows Master copro boards to be used on a regular BBC?
In which case, do I need anything special on the BBC side software or hardware
wise to make use of the thing? The user-added label on the case says to switch
on the adapter, then the computer, hit ctrl-A-break, and after the drive spins
to insert the boot disk (which I don't have)

Oh, the unit also has a power switch on the front and a latching switch with an
LED above; due to the latching this presumably isn't a reset - anyone know what
it does?

As an aside, what copro units were produced for the Master series? I only have
the one 80186 board (well, two now), and a few 65C102 boards. Were there others
as there were for the BBC - Z80, 68000, 32016, ARM etc.?

cheers

Jules

ps. I have no idea why they went to the trouble of nicely hinging the case - I
can't see people wanting to swap boards in the unit *that* often! (unless it
has a habit of blowing them up :-)


====
Backward conditioning: putting saliva in a dog's mouth in an attempt to make
a bell ring.

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