Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 12150 from 2003/5/22
From: Germany
> IBM is printed on my PA6T
That‘s interesting. I have seen many photographs of PA6T-1682M chips and all looked like this (with P.A. Semi logo and name):
http://www.amigaos.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/pasemi.jpgCan you make a photo of yours and upload somewhere?
> Why not another southbridge type chip with some different functions for example.
Which other southbridge chip with what different functions that was available a decade ago are you imagining?
> When I say the SE/XE are not that much different from the X1k I'm speaking of functionality
> not 10 years of technological advancement.
Me neither. I was speaking about the quality of the board design and the quality of certain components. Nothing to do with technological advancement.
> Does it have a PPC CPU?
Yes, of course it does. Using a non-PPC CPU would have made it unsupported by OS4, which wouldn‘t have made much sense for a board specifically designed with running OS4 in mind, would it?
> Does it have card slots?
Yes, of course it does. The users are supposed to be able to expand the functionality of the computer, after all.
> Does it have a southbridge?
Yes, because the PA6T is just a minimal SoC and doesn’t provide the required I/O functionality except Ethernet, opposed to Cyrus‘ P5 or Tabor‘s P1. Another possibility would have been to use a dedicated chip for each I/O function, which was the original plan, but Varisys ultimately decided for an all-in-one package as the cheaper and technologically superior solution.
As I see it, there were no alternatives to incorporating a PPC CPU and card slots. And it made good sense to incorporate a southbridge chip like the SB600, given the restrictions of the PA6T.
