About the debug station that I saw on the E$b$a$y site (it's called SHARP
X-1 DE-BUG Station or something like that). Doing some thinking on this,
let's talk about it (I only had a semi-private conversation with MKM on it
a little earlier). My memory is hazy and I need to have this kind of
stuff fresh in my mind (why?).
We were talking about the possbility that the unit is (1) a fake or
(2) useless because the owner doesn't mention develo/debug software.
About (1), it looks hokey and low-quality and could be fake, but if the
PCE came out in 1988 and the CDROM unit came out in 1990 or 1991, then
that means a programming system would have to come out 1-2 years before
that, putting the thing in the 1986 age range. It's not like now where we
get a development environment 1 day and software the next. So it does
look like it could be the height of 1986 technology and if it's 15 years
old that could be responsible for the look of it too.
About (2), does anyone truly know if the development system had
"everything you need" in firmware, or do you need a special HuCard to make
it do what it does? Some folks on the TGHack list (which is all-too quiet
lately) are creating code now without having such a system, so maybe it's
not needed for this beast.
Finally, since the system is being posted from Hong Kong, that could be a
reason it is/not legit. You don't have any buying protection if the
seller is in Hong Kong (esp if you are USA), so the thing could be a
decent Photoshop job. Then again, since NEC reportedly recalled all of
these systems "with a vengeance", if one was going to turn up anywhere, I
would think it would be in Hong Kong; anybody remember those HuCards Keith
Lee (I think it was him) discovered that had Mario Bros on them? They
came from a Hong Kong venture I believe.
Folks Who Know (TM), please refresh my memory and straighten me out. And
if it really is legit, somebody figure out how to get it into David
Shadof(sp)'s hands. :)
Thanks.
Steve Craft
mailto:xxxxxx@nothinbut.net