Date   : Fri, 08 Oct 1982 1222-:00PDT
From   : Ted Shapin <BEC.SHAPIN.USC-ECLD@Usc-Ecl>
Subject: New BigBoard Info

THE FOLLOWING NOTE COMES FROM DOUG DURLAND:
- - - -
 
if anyone else was interested in acquiring a BIGBOARD II.

The pertinent information is:

Manufacturer: CAL-TEX COMPUTERS, INC.
             780 East Trimble Road
             San Jose, CA 95131
             408-942-1424
The Corp. consists of J. Ferguson, R. Smith, and Bill Siegmund
Ferguson and Smith were the designer/software writer for the 
original BIGBOARD distibuted by Digital Research (Texas)
Bill is the local assembler/trouble shooter/document writer/etc.

Board characteristics:

       4 Mhz Z80A
       64K DRAM, 4k static ram, 4k EPROM (monitor) with sockets
       for up to 24K EPROM, static ram, or EEPROM.
       Double density disk controller, 5.25 or 8" (as the board
         is configured, you cant mix - but this would be an
         easy mod.  The clock freq. is all they change.)
       SASI interface for hard disk
       STD bus
       2 serial ports
       4 parallel ports
       2 counter - timer chips
       EPROM programmer on board. ( I have written some good 
         software for it if you get that far )
       ADM 31 terminal emulation (its good)
       DMA

       Cost:  $245 bare board, $695 kit.  CBIOS $25

As I mentioned I had a bit of trouble getting mine up.  Some
board layout problems involving grounding (since corrected)
were quite a headache to iron out.  Mine has now been up for
about 2 months with no further trouble.  I purchased a Motorola
3003 monitor for $75 in order to be able to use a higher than
standard TV scan rate and get some super resolution.  It is
really beautiful.

- - - -
[And after I just got done buying the BIG BOARD 1 from Dig. Res! Sob!]