Toggling computers Was: Re: FW: Back to the gas question... -Reply

From: Jon Steiger (steiger@ait.fredonia.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 25 1997 - 12:27:42 EST


At 01:27 PM 2/25/97 -0800, you wrote:
[...]
>All in all, it'd be far easier (and more fun) to dump everything from
>both sets of ROMs, reverse engineer the program, and re-implement them on
>a laptop. Then you could tweak all sorts of parameters, add additional
>capabilities... the possibilities are endless.
>
>Any newer Pentium or PowerPC laptop would have plenty of horsepower to
>replace the SBEC's CPU. You'd probably want to have a modified SBEC for
>some of the analog circuitry, as well as buffers and interfaces to the
>engine and sensors.
>

  Hmmm... Now *that* would be neat! :)

  I've heard of setups that were available for certain motorcycles that
were similar to this. There was a computer and display that allowed you
to play with a bunch of stuff.

   Speaking of tweaking parameters, what does the SBEC control?

  Quite frankly, I'm surprised that performance increases can be had just
by changing a chip. I would have thought some manual intervention would
be required. The computer must have a fairly important role if changing it
can so drastically affect the operation of the engine. For years, I thought
that all computer chip upgrades were a scam, but obviously they're not.

   How is that little piece of silicon able to affect the operation of a
bigger than life, mechanical beast? I've always wondered this. Maybe
I'll finally get the answers I've been looking for. :)

                                              -Jon-

    Jon Steiger - Network Administrator for Academic Information Technology
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