Re: [NTLK] URGENT: DO NOT BUY THIS.

From: Victor Rehorst (victor_at_newtontalk.net)
Date: Tue Sep 23 2003 - 06:29:26 PDT


Matthew Shepherd wrote:
> A while back Ferdi emailed me offering me some of his SER-001 clones and
> what he called "An alternative to the Pixsolution upgrade card".

This is likely something akin to a homebrew "crystal swap". You can swap the
3.6somethingMHz crystal in the Newton for a 5MHz crystal to speed it up
permanently (but serial, some PC Cards won't work) or install a switch to
change speed between the two crystals (normal and overclocked). This has
been documented for some time now, I'm pretty sure I first saw it back in
1998 for 120s and 130s:

http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/newton-faq-hardware.html#IIB4

The Pixsolution implant takes this further by packaging all the necessary
components on a little board. Instead of hacking another external switch to
change the clock speed, it latches onto the power switch to control the speed
(like hwo you hold down the power to change the backlight). I believe it
also has a controller to ensure that the clock speed isn't changed in the
middle of a cycle when it could cause the Newton to crash.

-- 
Victor Rehorst - victor_at_newtontalk.net - chuma_at_chuma.org
NewtonTalk list administrator - http://www.newtontalk.net
Will the last person to leave the platform please turn off the backlight?
-- 
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