Re: Any CBM equipment standard components?

David Murray wrote:
Believe it or not, I've designed plenty of PCBs. Just mine were done
with wire-wraps and soldered wires all over the place. When I said I
didn't know what plain glue logic meant, I was referring to this
special case, not in general. Honestly, I'm still having difficulty
imagining how you could create a video controller out of standard logic
chips. Not that I doubt it can be done, I mean all chips are designed
from smaller subsections of logic. I have no doubt it could be
designed out of plain transistors or vacuum tubes.

Not exactly what you are asking for but here is a digital clock made with just tubes:
http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/Leserbriefe/Bruegmann-Digital-Roehren-Clock/Digital-Roehrenuhr.htm

But it just seems
like the number of chips required to actually create scanlines that are
generated from screen-ram which has pre-defined characters. That is a
lot of logic.

It requires quite a few TTL chips, but it is not a dramatic amount, just take a look at the schematics of the early PET's. In fact I own a RS-232 terminal with video output made with just standard TTL chips, there isn't even an CPU inside!

Maybe somebody could design an FPGA chip (maybe with a graphics mode
too!)

No need to design such a thing yourself, VHDL code for for example the 6845 can be found on the net. (http://www.howell1964.freeserve.co.uk/logic/vhdl_6845/crtc6845_vhd.htm, http://www.opencores.org/browse.cgi/by_category )
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: looking for class D amplifier
    ... I prefer to design in parts from manufacturers where it's less likely ... you would see it at the wafer level. ... What I meant was successful chips that you've designed _and_ that are ... secret that the people off-shore really don't know a whole lot. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: looking for class D amplifier
    ... I prefer to design in parts from manufacturers where it's less likely ... Yeah, there were a few product engineers, but it was not a big ... designer would see chips that do not yield at the target. ... secret that the people off-shore really don't know a whole lot. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: looking for class D amplifier
    ... I prefer to design in parts from manufacturers where it's less likely ... designer would see chips that do not yield at the target. ... The person running packaging might not order leadframes for the ... secret that the people off-shore really don't know a whole lot. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Code density and performance? [really Part 1 of 3: Micro economics 101]
    ... Suppose it costs $50M to design a chip and get into to production. ... system profit essentially subsidizes the use of such chips. ... high margins, i.e., IBM mainframes to this day, and VAXen in the 1980s. ... amortizes not only the fab cost, ...
    (comp.arch)
  • Re: DAB 15x the cost of FM ??????
    ... And if you included the £150 million-worth of TV advertising, UK DAB ... Prices increase when custom chips have to be designed or ... There are plenty of hardware guys who could design a DAB board using ...
    (alt.radio.digital)