CompuServe Thread

Doug, The "buster board" is also refered to as a "tower board" and is simply a daughter board that houses the OS. From what I have read about it, it was used before they got the masked ROM's finished for the OS and if you wished to buy an OS ROM, it would directly replace it. I belive it uses EPROMs rather than ROMs. That isn't 100% positive information…someone like Dave Haynie can give you the exact answer. Don

The "Buster Tower" was used in the very first A2000s shipped, mainly if not completely dealer demo and developer units. In any case, the Buster tower houses the Rev 0 Buster chip and a single PAL. The reason for this is that one control signal created by the Buster chip is incomplete in the Rev 0 chip, and so this PAL adds that additional term. The additional term is what turns the expansion bus data buffers TOWARD the 68000 (to get them out of the way) whenever DMA action happens between two expansion cards. This is identical to the revised Buster, which is in the bulk of the units shipped. Eventually the service department should have replacement Busters for those who want to get rid of the tower; the only reason to remove the tower is if it's interfering with any extra-large card that may be used in that first slot. I seriously doubt you can still buy a machine with a Buster tower in it, unless a few dealers are selling off demo units for some reason. -Dave