I've often wondered whether there's an opening to use the SAM ASIC in a simple single-board computer for electronics hobbyists... It would use up those spare ASICs and perhaps encourage people to devise hardware for the SAM bus.
I was thinking of a stripped down machine on it's own pcb, with a few (slightly modified) expansion slots -- it could have 256K RAM (much more than any SBC usually has), an ASIC, a BASIC ROM, monochrome video (needing just a transistor and a few resistors to implement, rather than an MC1377P), no sound, and no MIDI - thereby saving a few chips but permitting people to add them if they like, and using a flash memory (approx 512K) for program storage - much easier and cheaper than a disc drive. Oh, and a Z80 too! Include a printer port, and use a PC keyboard, and you'll have something much more fun to use than many of these microprocessor trainers on the market - how many have video output? And they all need connecting to a PC to program... this could be programmed in-situ by lugging a TV and PC keyboard to the installation. The whole component cost, excluding the ASIC, could be less than 25 quid. Perhaps it could prolong the life of the SAM by opening it up to a new market? Andy
