Date   : Sat, 02 Jul 1983 12:22:00 EDT
From   : Ronald G. Fowler <RGF@mit-mc>
Subject: [RGF: Can Sinclair Be Used As CPM Board for C64?]

Date: 2 July 1983 12:20 EDT
From: Ronald G. Fowler <RGF>
To:   ihnp4!houxm!houxk!houxh!pvl at UCB-VAX
cc:   RGF
Re:   Can Sinclair Be Used As CPM Board for C64?

Well, I can't speak for the Sinclair (since I don't like it); but as
for interfacing the 64 to another computer, I have definite plans in
that arena...

I have an interface between my VIC-20 and my 160-K Z80-S100-CP/M
system that allows the CP/M system to be an intelligent peripheral to
the VIC20 --- for storage of files, andoutput to the printer (the
interface "supplants" the CBM serial bus devices #8 and 4).  I plan to
extend this interface (consisting of a pair of programs I call VICNET,
plus an 8255 on the S-100 bus connected to the VIC user port) to allow
either end to emulate a terminal for the other end, as well as an
option to effectively turn the VIC into an intelligent graphics
terminal, as seen from the S100 (CP/M) system.
  Last week, I picked up a C64 programmer's guide, and was pleasently
surprised to find that the KERNEL interface for the C64 is
functionally identical to that of the VIC! The result?  My software
should be pretty easily transported to the 64, providing a much more
powerful peripheral for the CP/M system (or vice-versa).
  I plan to somehow market the package (including a graphics package
to run on the 64 (I have one about 50% completed for the VIC), that
will effectively convert the 64 into a graphics display terminal.  A
complicating factor in this effort is that fact that the product is
not a "pure" software product; there is a hardware interface involved.
That may drastically affect any marketing considerations...

If anyone is interested in what the package does now, along with what
I plan for it to do when it's completed, let me know, and I'll write
it up and pass it along to the list.

(please don't consider this a commercial plug, as the project is not
yet -- and may well never be -- a commercially available product.)
                       --Ron Fowler