I agree with Van and others: TDOCK needs to be a Dock (not portable) and may be powered with a wall wart. For me, an 80 X 25 display would be the ultimate goal, not just duplicating the ModelT screen on a larger display. For instance, I think one might already be able to run VirtualT on a Raspberry Pi and have a virtual ModelT on a larger screen, but what is the point in that.
I want to have the great ModelT keyboard, serial & parallel ports, etc, on my desk while looking at a full screen of characters. The hardest part of that might be the changes to the ROM. I will point out that Steve's REX can be operated in ROM replacement mode such that a custom modified "soft" ROM (adjusted for 80 X 25 display) can be used without actually creating or requiring a new physical ROM. SD card storage in TDOCK would also be terrific freeing the serial port for BlueM. I think that HDMI may be the best video solution for TDOCK, and there are many small HDMI screen choices available. For example, see http://www.adafruit.com/category/63 If you only have a VGA screen, then an HDMI to VGA adapter could be used. I am doing this now with a RPi and a VGA screen. I think that Wifi and internet connectivity delivered directly from TDOCK might be way down the road, but Ken's initial design could allow design "space" for that later enhancement. As to Ken's question about I/O capability (like A/D and digital pins), that would be nice but not necessary. If you want to touch the real world of sensors, motors, and the like, a serial connection to an Arduino will suffice (cheap hardware and easier programming on the ModelT end). Of course, if a Raspberry Pi were to be used as the engine under the TDOCK hood, I/O pins and HDMI are already there, as well as USB ports for add-ons like Wifi. From: M100 [mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com] On Behalf Of Joe Grubbs Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 8:25 AM To: Bitchin100 Subject: Re: [M100] TDock I'd also like to add that your original idea of making this interface with the parallel port is a definite must. For one thing, it eliminates the need for multiple iterations of TDock--one size fits all. Also, to accommodate the <5 people that still use a printer and would even buy a TDock in the first place, there should be the parallel port pass-thru option, thus making everyone happy :) This would keep the system bus free for some memory upgrades or something, as originally suggested by Stephen Adolph. _____ From: jsgru...@hotmail.com To: m100@lists.bitchin100.com Date: Tue, 19 May 2015 14:45:00 -0400 Subject: Re: [M100] TDock Hey Ken, I'm so glad you posted this because I've been wondering how the project is going. Personally I'd like to see a modern video interface. Maybe not the old VGA standard specifically, but something fresh like HDMI that would work with a myriad of high res TVs and monitors nowadays. WiFi and RJ-45 network interfaces, as well as SD storage are also high on my list. Additional sound hardware would be nice but it's not a priority to me. Just my $0.02 :) _____ Date: Tue, 19 May 2015 10:50:34 -0700 From: petti...@gmail.com To: m100@lists.bitchin100.com Subject: [M100] TDock Hey gang, Bob asked about the status of TDock the other day and it made me think about it with the very ew background cycles of spare though time that I have. But it made me wonder, what should be the focus of such a device? Long battery life with WiFi and SD card access capability (along with VGA)? An added HDMI output and USB Host port with shorter battery life? Added support for generic digital and /or analog I/O (DACs, ADCs, etc.)? Ken
