MarkO Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 In the last 48 Hours, Steven Howell of applelogic.org posted in comp.sys.apple2 that he is getting ready to make another run of the Carte Blanche II.This will be for the Card Only, no Extras... He is ESTIMATING a price of US$195.00, which would not include shipping...If you missed getting one from before, now is your chance--> Carte Blanche IIMarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 First I have heard of this device. It looks like an accelerator for the IIGS. Am I correct? A "Vampire" of sorts? If so I am SO on board. Is the developer taking emails expressing interest of purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlowingGhoul Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 First I have heard of this device. It looks like an accelerator for the IIGS. Am I correct? A "Vampire" of sorts? If so I am SO on board. Is the developer taking emails expressing interest of purchase? I don't think it can be used as an accelerator (there's a 1mhz 'proof of concept', but that's it). The card seems to have impressive capabilities, but looking at the list of projects you can turn it into an expensive sound card, ram expansion....that's about it from a practical standpoint. I would have thought an accellerator or video output card would have been done by now, but apparently not. I'm interested but don't see any good uses for this thing, considering how little has been done with it after all these years. maybe I'm looking int he worng place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 First I have heard of this device. It looks like an accelerator for the IIGS. Am I correct? A "Vampire" of sorts? If so I am SO on board. Is the developer taking emails expressing interest of purchase? An FPGA is Programmable Hardware... The concept of making an Apple Accelerator, should be possible, but no one has attempted that yet.. These are the Projects, ( so far ) that would benefit the typical Apple ][ user: Project 25: ][gs VGA Video Card Project 31: Circuit Cellar's TMS9918A Video Card. Project 33: ALF Apple Music Card, MC1. Project 34: Z80 SoftCard with Z80 Softcore. Project 37: MockingBoard Audio Card. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 I don't think it can be used as an accelerator (there's a 1mhz 'proof of concept', but that's it). The card seems to have impressive capabilities, but looking at the list of projects you can turn it into an expensive sound card, ram expansion....that's about it from a practical standpoint. While it should be possible to make an Accelerator out of the Carte Blanche II, no one has, ( yet ).. Run #01 shipped with a 14MHz 65816 chip, and if the ASIC Logic of the Zip Chip was implemented on the FPGA, it should be very possibly to make an Accelerator. I would have thought an accellerator or video output card would have been done by now, but apparently not. I'm interested but don't see any good uses for this thing, considering how little has been done with it after all these years. maybe I'm looking int he worng place. VGA and HDMI were available when in originally shipped in JUL-2015.. I ordered my Unit with Option #4 ( out of 4 ): 4. IIe VGA video card + Apple speaker circuit + Mockingboard + 1Mhz 65C816 replacement processor (motherboard processor disabled and replaced with CBII's 65C816). MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Is there an ordering page that describes all options and cables and daughtercards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dummi Posted October 24, 2017 Share Posted October 24, 2017 While it should be possible to make an Accelerator out of the Carte Blanche II, no one has, ( yet ).. Run #01 shipped with a 14MHz 65816 chip, and if the ASIC Logic of the Zip Chip was implemented on the FPGA, it should be very possibly to make an Accelerator. Unfortunately, Apple II FPGA designers have a tendency to keep the design closed, especially accelerator projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 Is there an ordering page that describes all options and cables and daughtercards? Not that I have seen... Contact Steven directly or on UseNet. The Daughter Cards, like the I/O Board have Gerbers available. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 Unfortunately, Apple II FPGA designers have a tendency to keep the design closed, especially accelerator projects. For Run #01, one of the options was to use the supplied WDC65815, but it was limited to 1MHz. Essentially the Carte Blanche II is setup as a Alternate Processor Card, with the WDC65816, ( Instead of a Z80 or the MC6809 ). This is the Schematic for the Carte Blanche II. This is found on the Carte Blanche II Developer Resources page. This is the WDC65816 Accelerator Card ( Project #41 ) in Altium Designer 10 (27009). This is found on the Carte Blanche II Demo Project, Page - 6. Because of the Zip Chip, the Rocket Chip and the Applied Engineering Trans Warp Cards, as well as the Modern Boards, making an Accelerator is totally feasible.. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlowingGhoul Posted November 1, 2017 Share Posted November 1, 2017 And yet in all this time an acclerator hasn't been made using the Carte Blanche. What gives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 And yet in all this time an acclerator hasn't been made using the Carte Blanche. What gives? For me it's the lack of knowing VHDL or Verilog.... I would suspect that it the Issue with most of the other adopters of the Carte Blanche II, so far.. MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0op3r Posted November 2, 2017 Share Posted November 2, 2017 I sent an email and was able to get on the list for the card - thanx MarkO for getting me that email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted November 2, 2017 Author Share Posted November 2, 2017 The research I have done so far, indicates that FPGAs can work in Parallel, so the Programming Language reflect that.. And that Varilog is a lot like 'C', verses VHDL.... MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 I am ON the list! Woot! Each simulated data line from a classic console implementation can be considered 1 pathway out of 8 or 16 parallel lines. So massive parallelism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted November 3, 2017 Share Posted November 3, 2017 Anyone care to talk about what they plan on doing with their CB boards when they get them? I like the look of AltiumDesigner and how it incorporates schematic and code in one tool, essentially. Some of my plans include getting up to speed on a modern language and doing experiments in real-time fractals. And it'd be cool to make an ornery out of electronic parts. Among other things exploring periodic patterns. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMenard Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Anyone care to talk about what they plan on doing with their CB boards when they get them? I like the look of AltiumDesigner and how it incorporates schematic and code in one tool, essentially. Some of my plans include getting up to speed on a modern language and doing experiments in real-time fractals. And it'd be cool to make an ornery out of electronic parts. Among other things exploring periodic patterns. Rule the world? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dummi Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Anything new? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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