PMS ELECTRON 2ND PROCESSOR (E2P)
|
| "The E2P has an on-board bank of 64K RAM, 30K of which can be used from BASIC or any ROM (or images of other languages)... If, like me, you end up writing machine code for the Beeb/Electron, you can fit in a massive 60K providing you use a ROM-based assembler/disassembler."
- Clive Grace, A&B Computing, April 1986 |
What It Does
The E2P-6502 is a circuit-board roughly 14cm x 9cm x 1cm and fits into one of the cartridge slots of the ACORN PLUS 1/AP1. It features 64K of memory on-board, and lowers page to &400 when installed. The second processor doubles the speed of any Acorn Electron it is connected to. It requires code on a tape or floppy disc in order to initialise.
The E2P-6502 is perhaps the Electron addon with the most complicated history. It was originally designed back in 1983 by a partner in what went on to become Jafa Systems and published as a buildable electronic circuit-board in the June/July issues of Electronics Today magazine. The board was then re-designed and produced commercially by Permanent Memory Systems the following year.
When PMS withdrew the product, Jafa Systems produced their own version of the E2P-6502 in a "neater and more compact" design. All of this adds up to an interface which performs in exactly the same way but comes in a variety of designs.
The commercially available E2P-6502 units, some coming cased, were originally available by mail order for around £89.95. Extremely difficult to find, a second hand E2P-6502 will usually sell on eBay for around £80-£150.
Artwork And Images
The E2P-6502 home-made version from Electronics Today:
|
|
|
| Front View | Rear View |
