Mike's PCjr Page

Though not having to rely on someone for external programming is probably still worth the added cost/complexity. I think being able to program the thing in circuit via the computer itself is imperative and almost mandatory for a project like this. Once the XT-IDE was released the BIOS revisions and...

Quick question.

What about getting this card to also do the 736k hack? Is that possible?

Next up, how about the internals between the PATA header to the drive? Are we all thinking CF inside the device, or microdrive? Is there room on the PCB to mount an IDE->CF adapter, with maybe a 2" IDE cable? I was thinking a CF-IDE device like this: http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/public/wdR...

Have you got an actual board layout that you can post?

"Limiting" is in the eye of the beholder. The current version of my PCjr BIOS (based on Hargle's 0.9 BIOS) is less than 4KB, and the extended INT13 functions required for Win95 are still in there. We definitely won't need those if we get tight on space. Well, ok put that way I think you a...

The reason why I would lean towards the 32k ROM is that it seemed like the 8k was a bit limiting on the original XT-IDE. Could it be a 16k ROM? Or could it be designed so that one can use a 32k rom and then set a jumper to limit it to 8k, that way each user could decide what works best for them.

I am gonna say lets plan on putting the 32k ROM on the thing, and have it all available. Rather have too much space than too little, plus I think it leaves things a bit more open for software improvements.

Also, does your design have enough space to add a RTC option?

Personally I think the ideal for me would be a sidecar with an IDE controller that drives an SD of CF card for storage (2gb would be plenty of space), a NIC and possibly the RAM. If I have to power it with a 12v 1a wall wart thats ok. Paralell is nice, but not really all that neccesary with ethernet...

I've been thinking. Do we really need the RAM upgrade on this thing? I mean most people allready have a sidecar and if they don't jmetal88's internal upgrade would probably be a better option. This would give us more space on this PCB. So maybe we go back to the idea of a side car with IDE, Network ...

Although it's 736k the PCjr supports, not 768k. There will be 640k SRAM on the board (I'm routing a version with that right now), but only 608k will actually be usable. O right, sorry I knew that. Would a V20 work on this design? I am guessing it would. and how far are you from getting the circuit ...