Pi in Apple II for $25, so why not in the 68030 socket . . .

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

.  .  .  with a CPU passthru? The Apple II hacking community rocks. They've had Apple II IDE card and we still don't. Now they've got Pi in the oven and we don't.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-II-Raspberry-card-/323506214965?oid=183514583330

 

[archer174]

Is it just getting power from the bus? I don't see anything about connectivity inside the apple II. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, that's as is from what I can tell from the pics, but so would the 68030 socket version I've been proposing. That prototyping area and thruholes/traces to the edgecard connections would be what it's about. It's a development/prototyping board like you could buy as a full length card for the ISA slot with or w/o interface logic provisions from JAMECO back in the day.

Dunno what we'd do with it offhand, Pi development really beyond my ken. But working out the form factor for a generic 68030 socket "PDS" interface card to the World of Pi would be a great start for someone and playtime for me. Any PGA CPU equipped, PDS impaired Mac like the IIx, IIcx and even the space impaired  SE/30 would be the target machines.

Just floating the notion. You'd be able to install the PGA and Socket at either location on the board. That might offer the flexibility to go for a universal fit adapter. Pads for SMT buffers and the like and a lot of other stuff that's way over my head would need to be worked out for direct interface applications etc.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

SD to PDS via Pi should blow SCSI2SD's doors off, no?

 

[CC_333]

The Apple II hacking community rocks. They've had Apple II IDE card and we still don't. Now they've got Pi in the oven and we don't.

Well, since the Apple II architecture is simpler and more open than the Mac, plus the fact that the II was designed to be expandable and the Mac originally wasn't, I suppose that has something to do with it?

Anyway, why would one do this? Wouldn't the Mac cease to be a Mac, instead basically being nothing more than a host for the Pi?

I can see why one might do it in an Apple II (back when CP/M was still a thing, people did essentially this, albeit with a much simpler Z80 card).

Now, if one devised a way to use a Pi as a coprocessor that could do things like render modern HTML and handle modern security protocols, that would be neat!

c

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, that last thing along with providing the WiFi and hopefully acting as a mass storage interface on the PDS that's faster than my JackHammer. If Pi won't do it in its current form, a later iteration may do the trick.

Think of Pi in the oven as a really fast 6502 I/O controller like the pair in the IIfx with I/O channels of its own.