Date   : Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:49:29 +0100
From   : dm.hunt@... (David Hunt)
Subject: Emulating Econet hardware?

> Hi
> 
> Here's a completely random thought after reading a previous post.
> 
> Would it be possible to emulate an Econet server and clock 
> using a PC's parallel port, and suitable software and 
> cabling? A little bit like my Commodore 64 setup, where I 
> have a laptop and cable emulating a 1541 floppy drive. 
> (Before anyone pounces on this, please don't start a flamewar 
> about how parallel ports are obsolete, and this should be 
> done with FPGAs/USB/FireWire/ExpressCard).
> 
> I don't have enough knowledge about how these things work to 
> know if this is even possible, let alone implement it, but I 
> thought it was an interesting idea.

It would be nicer if the Econet interface was connected via Ethernet. An
FPGA would send and receive data to and from the Econet into the Ethernet
interface and then onto a PC (Mac, Linux etc.) with an Econet server running
on it.

I have a suspicion that a parallel port version would bring the PC to its
knees, judging by some horrid polling parallel port spectrometers I've had
to work with. I've got a media server that does everything and it would be
nice to just add another service to that, connect up a Beeb via Ethernet and
off you go...

I vaguely remember some people saying they were making this a reality - did
anything happen in the end ?

Cheers

Dave ;)