Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Wish list

Just a thought as a newbe but would a USB device meet the needs of the list?
Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Shaver <mshaver@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 11:08 PM
Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Wish list


> > From: Bruce Hassell <bmachine@...>
> > One comment I would like to throw out, concerns the use of the ISA bus.
It
> > is true that there are truck loads of old pc's around and will be for
> > awhile. But we need to keep in mind that the specs from Intel and MS
call
> > for doing away with ISA slots in the pc. I am seeing many new machines
> > which do not have any ISA slots in them and this trend will continue.
Just
> > a thought.
>
> I'll grant that what you say is true, but I think it's less of an
immediate
> problem for the following reasons:
>
> 1. Since Microsoft doesn't manufacture PCs, their minimum specs are only a
> baseline, and most motherboard manufacturers are conscious of their
> customer's need for ISA slots to host legacy peripheral cards. Since broad
> appeal is important to them, I think they'll likely continue to provide
one
> or two at least for as long as ISA is supported by the chipsets they use.
I
> like to think of the switch to PCI only systems like the switch to the
metric
> system...
>
> 2. I use, sell, and recommend Intel motherboards and processors
exclusively
> (although I may rethink this position sometime soon). Intel wants to be
rid
> of the ISA bus, and that's bad news for me. Some of their newest boards
are
> PCI only, but these are mainly their "corporate" boards intended to be
used
> to build low cost desktop PCs, usually in microATX or NLX form factors.
They
> still make combination ISA/PCI boards in the ATX size. Intel will be the
> first to kill off ISA completely, and when they do I'll have to switch to
> another brand :( .
>
> 3. If we build an ISA card today, that work is usable in future boards
that
> have a PCI interface, or for that matter any other interface, because the
ISA
> bus is basically the CPU bus with buffering. Adding a PCI interface would
> involve adding another layer of hardware to allow our ISA design to sit on
> the PCI bus. See:
>
> http://www.plxtech.com/products/9050/faqs/9050faq.htm
>
> I know that an ISA card is not the ultimate answer, but it's AN answer
that
> can be realized soon, and used with minimal changes to existing software.
> Once we have this in hand, further enhancements are possible without
throwing
> away too much of the preceding work.
>
> Matt
>
>
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