600XL Expansion module

[+Allan]

[+kheller2]

I've never seen this before.  But they show a picture of a 600/800 XL, not a 1200XL.

Must be some PBI device.

[+Allan]

Opps. Your right. But yea I never seen it before either. I want one.

[+Allan]

Here is another ad for the same device from a DAL-ACE Newsletter.

[_The Doctor__]

Maybe Allen will modify his the words of the topic.

[+Allan]

11 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Maybe Allen will modify his the words of the topic.

Maybe he won't.

 

 

 

 

Just joking. I just did. I didn't think you could edit the subject heading after you posted it but it probable has a time limit like the body of text.

[+Stephen]

Looks to be like the 1090 but for the XL line.  The CP/M part obviously would require a Z-80 module.  Also - it sounds like this was someone's "wouldn't it be cool if" product.  RGB solution?  Burglar alarm?  Robot control?  All pressing the LMAO button now!

[+Allan]

It was included a number of DAL-ACE issues so maybe it was something real but didn't sell well. It was expensive.

[Sugarland]

$329 seems very reasonable for the day. Looks great. Never seen one or even heard of it before. Would buy today.  Thanks for posting the ads!

[+Allan]

I'm not saying it was over-priced, just expensive.

 

It would be nice to know more about this and the people who made, assuming it was actually made.

[+Allan]

I just did a search and turns out they did. I knew the name sounded familiar.

 

 

 

[SS]

Wow! That thing is both huge and awesome!  I have also never heard of this before but now I wish that I owned one.  Thanks for sharing this image. 

[Rybags]

Have to wonder how many of those expansion options ever existed?

RGB interface with or without 80 columns - that's something we've only just gotten to in the last 15 years.

 

64K printer buffer/interface - sounds a bit wasteful if the Ram isn't configured as PORTB accessable as per traditional upgrades.

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 3/26/2021 at 7:07 PM, Stephen said:

Looks to be like the 1090 but for the XL line.

This one strikes me as the 1090 that actually made it to market, though it may have been in equally-tiny numbers as the 1090's prototypes.

On 3/26/2021 at 7:07 PM, Stephen said:

The CP/M part obviously would require a Z-80 module.  Also - it sounds like this was someone's "wouldn't it be cool if" product.

Yep.  And both of these are what make me think that this was basically a third-party 1090 equivalent.  I'm wondering if this wasn't being developed in parallel with the 1090 and designed to match its capabilities.

On 3/26/2021 at 7:07 PM, Stephen said:

RGB solution?  Burglar alarm?  Robot control?  All pressing the LMAO button now!

Yeah, but I can see where the burglar alarm could've been workable: X10 supported dry contacts from not terribly long after its inception, and burglar alarms have handled them since the 1960s or thereabouts.  With X10 being a target for the 1090, it wouldn't be surprising if these folks were looking to replicate that functionality and 'burglar alarm' was just a way of saying 'dry contacts, X10 if you want.'

 

Then again, it's not like there was never pie in the sky in peripheral advertising of the 1980s, so, y'know...

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, Rybags said:

64K printer buffer/interface - sounds a bit wasteful if the Ram isn't configured as PORTB accessable as per traditional upgrades.

True, but there were more than a couple of print buffer devices that sat between the printer and the A8.  The A8 would dump everything to the print buffer, and when that was complete the A8 would be freed up for other uses while the print buffer handled getting data down to the printer.

 

Wish I could remember the one that I used with my Epson FX-80; I was so incredibly pissed-off when it was replaced with a 1029 and the print buffer wasn't SIO-compatible.  Having to sit there doing nothing through an entire printout sucked.

[+MrFish]

That thing's awesome. Love to see some better pictures of it -- including the guts.

 

I wonder if many of those cards were actually produced: hard disk controller, eprom programmer, (and some of the others already mentioned)... personally, I was hoping for: top-mount coffee maker & sandwich griddle, weather balloon monitor, satellite telescope controller...

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by MrFish