30
votes
Was AGP only ever used for graphics cards?
While working on upgrading my Super Socket 7 based NAS, trying to get as much performance out of the platform as possible, I asked myself the same question. As an obviously headless NAS won't need a ...
- 301
22
votes
What is the history and development of memory caching?
The concept of cache memory was formalised by Maurice Wilkes in his 1965 paper, Slave Memories and Dynamic Storage Allocation. This describes a hierarchical memory setup with a small amount of fast ...
- 113k
16
votes
Why does MOS 6502 require an external clock if it has an internal oscillator?
I have a trouble understanding how the MOS 6502 clock works.
Erm, reading through the question it seems you're actually asking why different 6500 CPU variants each need a different clock setup.
...
- 199k
15
votes
What was the last terminal to include a physical bell?
To my memory real bells were only a thing with TTYs. After all, ringing a bell is just another lever to be moved when a character comes along - the very same way as any other printable character.
I ...
- 199k
14
votes
Accepted
What is the history and development of memory caching?
Preface: This focuses on real machines, available as production units, not prototypes or experimental designs. Nor are the examples exhaustive. I will also spare any discussion of memory hierarchy but ...
- 199k
14
votes
Why does MOS 6502 require an external clock if it has an internal oscillator?
I think there's one point that needs to be sorted first: Your Wikipedia quote suggests that there's an on-chip oscillator in the 6502. There isn't. [1] What there is is a clock generator, which takes ...
- 8,892
14
votes
Is there something like Retr0bright but already made and trustworthy?
The 8-Bit Guy gets good results from using 40 Volume Developer (essentially 12% peroxide, either as a cream or liquid) from the beauty salon and it's apparently available in jurisdictions where you ...
- 6,106
13
votes
Why was the VIC-II restricted to a hard-coded palette?
We can of course only guess why, but with a fixed palette, it only needs to implement the circuits you need to get the 16 predesigned colors based on the color index. Cheaper, faster, and they were ...
- 25.6k
12
votes
Information about the Hollywood Hardware Graphics Card for Apple II+
It appears that Hollywood Hardware was a subsidiary of special effects house Apogee, itself formed by ex-employees of Industrial Light And Magic.
This Apple's Apprentice magazine article from 1984 ...
- 3,503
12
votes
Accepted
Sending video to Telerate 9" Green Monitor
It is unsure if this will help, but it might just be the monitor after all.
The termination switch on the monitor is incorrect.
It must be set to 75 ohms. It is currently set to no termination which ...
- 25.6k
11
votes
Was there ever a monospace display system (eg terminal) that used a vertical cursor?
I am going to suggest a reframe of the entire question.
Before addressing the question of what the earliest cursors looked like, I want to ask what the cursor represented. From the very earliest text ...
- 5,093
11
votes
Accepted
Why audio of Prince of Persia (1989) produce in CPU rather than audio speaker?
This happens presumably because your Prince of Persia installation was configured to produce audio using the PC speaker, not a sound card. In later versions, the setup tool (SETUP.EXE) can be used to ...
- 113k
11
votes
Why does MOS 6502 require an external clock if it has an internal oscillator?
All 6502-family processors subdivide each cycle into two active periods, controlled by wires called phi1 and phi2. For each cycle, it's necessary that phi1 goes high and low for a certain period of ...
- 32.8k
11
votes
Why was the VIC-II restricted to a hard-coded palette?
While I would doubt that a 16x8 ROM would be cheaper than an 8-bit register or even four of them (which is probably why the Atari 2600 allows a wide range of colors, but leaves me puzzled at the SID ...
- 32.8k
11
votes
Accepted
How can I repair a sketchy video signal on a 1977 Pong unit?
The main thing is that the signal changed when you handled the board. That implies to me there’s a loose connection (or more than one). See if you can figure out which it is:
wiggle each wire
inspect ...
- 2,190
10
votes
What did game programmers and journalists mean by a "hardware trick"?
Some turned to hardware tricks to simulate 3D worlds, and the Super NES's Mode 7 could be considered a rudimentary form of texture mapping.
Note the following passage later on to give some context:
...
- 6,106
9
votes
I have old hardware; what can I use it for?
So, you need to translate the IDE interface to something. Since the controller on the hard drive can't just be easily swapped (can't just put the platters into some random SATA drive), your options ...
- 1,020
9
votes
Sending video to Telerate 9" Green Monitor
If you can see the test screen from the converter, the converter is generating a signal the monitor understands, but the converter does not understand the input from the computer.
You are most likely ...
- 1,937
8
votes
Why did the Vic-20 need special chips for I/O?
Sinclair was a company particularly sensitive to BOM¹ costs. They were
willing to put in quite a lot of development effort to have a machine that
was a cheap as possible to manufacture, and selling ...
- 23.9k
8
votes
What would it take for a 6502 system to use an 8 bit ISA bus
Another possibility for VGA to not work - the chipset is not enabled at all until cpu runs the code from the card's bios. The code typically writes few i/o registers before the card will start ...
- 1,521
8
votes
Accepted
Fire button of Timex TC/TS 2068 Joystick
Androids Timex cartridge game disassembled machine code using bit 7, for checking the Timex joystick 1 0x1F6 port for the fire button:
ld a,00eh
out (0f5h),a
ld a,001h
in a,(0f6h)
...
- 2,501
7
votes
Was there a hard disk type that had a SMART overflow crash/bug?
25 year old recalls may be a bit hard to search but the problem is as true today:
SanDisk SSDs had a 40,000 hour failure
HPE had some that died on 32,768 hours
The more paranoid data centre people ...
- 981
7
votes
Fire button of Timex TC/TS 2068 Joystick
You are reading it right. The schematics do not match the description.
- 25.6k
7
votes
Fire button of Timex TC/TS 2068 Joystick
According to the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Third Party Software Guide, it’s D7. 0 indicates the button has been pushed.
Also, here's the Timex tech manual (from Timex).
7
votes
What did game programmers and journalists mean by a "hardware trick"?
Magicians show magic tricks but it is not really magic as it only creates an illusion of magic because of some detail you don't yet know or have just not thought about it. So it's a trick.
Same ...
- 25.6k
7
votes
How did relay computers handle inductor flyback?
From electronics point of view, the simplest part that can be used for this purpose is a resistor across the relay coil. The inductive voltage spike will then have a maximum voltage of I · R, where I ...
- 1,586
6
votes
Looking for an 8-bit microcomputer with a hardware-accelerated database
I believe you are referring to the seminal CAFS system introduced by ICL in the 1970s.
This was a combination of a hard drive and a custom computer that performed database searches without the data ...
- 18.5k
6
votes
Is it possible to chain TMS9918 chips to get better graphics?
Yes, the datasheet explains how to do it in section 3.5.
You need to share the clock and reset circuit. The two VDPs will then stay synchronized in an open loop (i.e. they’re both just counting cycles ...
- 2,190
6
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to view hardware-reported device identifiers on Windows ME?
The operating system’s device tree can be enumerated by looking it up directly in the Registry under the key HKEY_DYN_DATA\Config Manager\Enum. Each direct subkey corresponds to a loaded device ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
What was the last terminal to include a physical bell?
I think the Teletype Model 43, ~ 1980, included a mechanical bell. It has been a while - I got rid of mine around 1986. The service manual references a "bell coil" and "bell plunger&...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible