Re: Visual 1050 Memory Map / ROM disassembly tips?

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:08:08 -0800 (PST), roche182@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Visual Technology was one of the largest OEM and graphics terminal
manufacturers during the 1980's.
The following units were all Z80 based systems.

V-100 / 110
V-200 --- Actually their first model
V-220
SRI-100
V-230
V-3xx - (SPR170, 383, 320, 330)
V-400
V-420 -- Graphics BW - V-430 was color
V-500 / 550 - Graphics BW
V-102 and V-102G - Graphics BW (G option)
V-50 / 55/ 60 /65 - the housing was actually the case from the V-1050
monitor (9" green).
The low profile keyboard was the same too.

You forgot the V950, 955 and an oddball I have the 945.


Their units were found all over the world and were custom made (SPR
units) for long lost companies such as Burroughs, Infinet (Intertel),
Microtouch, etc. During the early 80's (1982 or 1983) they bought
Ontel Corporation and merged their product lines into Visuals. Ontel
continued to manufacture their own equipment until 1985 when all
manufacturing was moved to Lowell, Massachusetts. Ontel made all kinds
of terminal and pc-like products. Among them was the Amigo - a CP/M
2.2 based system that was quite small and really odd shaped. It had an
IBM style keyboard, and came loaded with a ton of other software.
Visual's answer to this model was their V-1050. The V-1050 was a
square-ish unit with a nice 9" monitor that fit on top. The keyboard
was the same - low-profile one used on many of their terminals built
around the same time - as in the one for the V-50/55 and 60/65 and
V-102. The V-1050 also sported more memory which was accessed via
paging or bank-swapping. The software bundle was about the same - Word
Star, DR-Graph, Microsoft Multi-plan, C-Basic, and a Z80 Assembler.
The only thing is that the 1050 ran CP/M Plus (3.3 not 2.2) Through a
special utility you could insert, and read, disks from Kaypro, DEC,
Osborne, and IBM, Ontel Amigo, etc. Both the Amigo and the 1050 used a
Z-80 for the main cpu and a 6502 for the graphics.

(ROCHE> Notice the "CP/M 3.3" mentioned above... Probably a typo.)

It would run both 3.0 and 2.2, it was supplied with CP/M 3.0.

Memory extension was by paging the lower 48K.

The utility was supplied to read multiple formats.

Lowell was the offices, Tewksbury was the plant and engineering.
The V1050 is nearly square if viewed from overhead. Its profile is
pizza box 4.75Hx156wx16D. the monitor was 9" horizonal or 12"
diagonal and it's base fit a recess in the cpu box top. It was
equipped with two 5.25" floppied along the front edge. The
V1050 was also a monoboard, large board with all the Z80 and
6502 hardware.

Of the three I have one has a ugly case thats full of holes and rough
cuts. Its life was that of an engineering unit. Two of the holes in
the front are for th Amigo badge. Also one of the hard disks still
has the Amigo badge where the other only has the holes to mount it.
I have a case and loose boards and power supply to build a third
drive also in that collection. The spares and examination show the
shared history of the Ontel to Visual.

FYI of the CRTs I have for them two are green and one is a basic
white. I prefer to use the white one as the green has too long a
persistance.


Allison
.

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