Date   : Sun, 20 Jun 2004 09:40:05 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: PC/Econet

On Sat, 2004-06-19 at 20:43, Charles Blackburn wrote:
> Hi...
> 
> This has probably been asked before, but has anyone ever 
> thought of/succeeded in creating an PC econet interface? 

That already exists - I've got an Econet ISA card for a PC. I read
somewhere (possibly on this list!) that it has it's own 6502 CPU on
board and then a buffer between the CPU and the ISA bus because the PCs
of the day couldn't cope with the speed.

Drivers only work on DOS <= 3.3 though IIRC. Luckily I got box, manuals
and disk with it...

I was actually wondering if a PC parallel port had enough speed to just
drive one of the Master-type Econet modules. Raw-speed-wise I think it
should have, but timing could be a problem due to the nature of the
polled-IO approach to driving a parallel port. Another back-burner
project I'd like to fiddle with sometime though...

> My B hasnt got any econet h/w atm, can I retrofit it? what would I 
> need etc...

Couple of line drivers, and a 68B54 chip IIRC. I've got a few of the
Master-type modules with those parts soldered on, but no spare chips on
their own.

Terminators and clock box you can build without any trouble if you know
a bit of electronics. 

I've got one school who says they have some Econet hardware for me which
I'll probably pick up at the end of this week. I imagine it's a clock
box, terminators, cabling etc. but there might be a pile of 68B54's I
suppose.

Seperately I should be able to do a clearance from another school soon -
I get the impression there's piles of BBCs there, no doubt with Econet
bits fitted. So chances are reasonable I should have the chips soon if
you can't find them anywhere else...

cheers

Jules