TI-H: Re: Extender uP for SPinTerface: Want to go into full production!


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TI-H: Re: Extender uP for SPinTerface: Want to go into full production!



Richard Piotter wrote:

> I would like to see that layout. I tried to look at the one you postes
> on the pictures page, but there were a few things that I couldn't
> distinguish. I'll most likely redesign it from scratch to support the
> SPinTerface port.

I'll probably scan it on monday. I meant to do it this week but I forgot.
The quickcam picture on the page now is already pretty clear IMHO.

> Speaking of it, I would like to build these things for people and I need
> to know how I can purchase the chips from you. I forgot how much they
> cost though, so if you can include a price for your custom PIC and for
> the other parts as well (possibly), I would appreciate it. You also

Well, the PIC is $15+S/H... take a look at the parts page off of the plans
pageon the EuP site. The memory chips are usually around $11.

> mentioned quantity discounts. What kind of discounts. I want to make as
> many of these things as people want, so I may need alot or I may only
> need a few chips. I'll see if I can't get an idea of how many people

Welp, see how many you'll need and we can take it on a case by case
basis.I really don't have any problem going down to $12 or possibly even
lower, if
you order more than, say, three at a time. Like I said, I'm not trying to make

money, I'm trying to get experience in designing and marketing an high-tech
product.

> want the device. I'm planning on a cart in cart design that allows
> multiple chips to be used, like having separate "disks" that insert into
> one "drive." I need to know if it is safe to hot swap the memory chip,
> or if the PIC needs to be shut down first. It's realy important. I don't

I'm not sure. I don't see why they couldn't be hotswapped, as long as
anoperation wasn't in progress. Its not hard to hit the off switch before, in
any
case. Since the chips I used are PLCCs, they may easily be swapped in and
out of the PLCC socket, however, this requires a PLCC extractor. I don't
know if you could make actual cartridges out of the memory chips themselves,
but I'd be interested in finding out. Right now it only works with the 92, and

I've only used 163k, and have practically every Fargo program on there... so
memory chip swapping is not a very required feature. Mel Tsai seems to like
having people think that they need 1MB, but really, I think even 256k would do

for the TI-92. :-)

> want a design that would possibly corupt the memory. I'll use a 2x4 pin
> connector like the SPinTerface, minus 2 pins. I'll probably need the
> auto power on line to route in serial through both carts, and that would
> clear up the memory cart swapping. The way it would work is a tiny, low
> profile cart attaches on top of the actual EuP cart. The SPinTerface
> version of the EuP won't have the Memory chip installed. It will have a
> memory port, so It will be expandible without needing another PIC to
> make a ton of carts. The person ordering from me would get the EuP cart
> or an EuP/SPinTerface bundle. Included would be one Memory Module that
> plugs into the EuP cart. I would allow people to order as many Memory
> Modules as they want though.

Welp, that sound neat. The entire design is basically public domain (except,of
course, for the PIC firmware and, currently, the driver source) so feel free
to modify it as you please. If its cool enough, I may even have to order one
from
you. :-)

> Curious, does your software have a software "reset" where it updates the
> data, otherwise You would need to quit and restart the driver to use the
> new Memory Module.

The software does not "cache" anything, it rescans the file system every
timeit does a dir list, or a file send/receive. So theoretically you can "hot
swap" in the
sense of leaving the driver program running.

> I especialy need the price for the PIC and the Amtel chip and the best
> source for parts.

Check out the parts page, off of the main EuP site. It lists info on
everything.
I also plan on updating the info page.

I have a lot of school work and the PSATs coming up, so I will probably be
gone
for a pretty long time. I can't promise a response to anyone.. I will try, but
it may
be a while or even never. :`(

Bye,

Bryan Rittmeyer
bryanr@flash.net


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