Thieret.WBST@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (09/01/83)
Simpliway Products (the name is their choice...) has an excellant board (either bare ... $50 or populated $300) which satisfies your criteria #1,2,4,5,6,7?,8,9,10,11,13, & 14. Let me elaborate. 1: 80x24 is the standard package (option 1) but requires the monitor to run at 19.25 kHz hor. sync rate. 25 lines are availible (as a different EPROM) for the standard 15.75kHz but you lose the underline. 2: I'm not sure of the character matrix size. The font they provide I really like and is very readible and comfortable. 3: The software listings for the program PROM are provided in source code on a 8" CP/M floppy and you can alter them if you know Zilog Asembler codes. The source has lots of comments so there is no real problem. 4: Composite video or separate sync are provided. 5: The board has 3k of 2114s on board for the local Z80 and character memory & type ahead buffer. 6: +5 & -12 are available on the keyboard connector. 7: I don't know about this one. My system is only 6Mhz. 8: User programmable characters you can write to PROM. They gove you a HEX file on the disk along with a listing in the docs. 9: The video controller is the Intel 8275. All the modes dim, reverse, underline, & blinking are supported except as noted above for 25 lines (but you can probably overcome that too in the software.). 10: Z80, 3K 2114s, 8275 11: Jumper optional on the board (interrupts). 12: No tin the std software. Maybe in the PROM since there's lots of room there for custom stuff. PROM is 2kx8bits 2714. 13: I haven't clocked this board for speed but it's well above 9600 baud. Usually the board is waiting for the software in my modes of operation. 14: There is an alternate PROM available for graphics characters which is supported by the 8275. You can put anything there that you want. This should help. I put this board together and it's no big deal if you've done board construction before. It's really easy to customize the software if you've got an EPROM programmer and a system already up and running in order to test the board. Tracy. (Thieret.WBST @ PARC-MAXC.ARPA)
barbee@sdcsvax.UUCP (Don Coleman) (09/02/83)
I am looking for a really nice video board for an S100 based
computer. I have already looked at SD System's VDB-8024 and SSM's
VB3A.
Things I must have
1) 80 by 24 display, the more the better, a 25th status line
would be real nice.
2) high resolution char matrix, at least 7 by 10. Again the
more the better.
3) forward and reverse scrolling.
4) composite or TTL video output.
5) not steal any normal system memory. I need my 64K.
6) keyboard power and interface.
7) work is a 10Mhz system.
Things I would like
8) user programmable characters.
9) char options like inverted, blinking, underline, strike
through, blank-out, field protect, and maybe others.
10) an on board processer and on board ram.
11) keyboard interrupt.
12) windowing ability.
13) high speed, like ~700K baud( raw S100 buss speed @4Mhz ).
14) some sort of graphics ability.
I think that should be enough! Oh, the price should be < $500
or so. Of the two boards mentioned above, they both meet different
subsets of the above needs.
If any one has information on any other boards that might fit
my needs, I would greatly appreciate it if you would drop me a line.
If you have any questions, I would gladly answer them.
Thanks, in advance, for any help you may render,
-- Don Coleman
UUCP: { philabs | ucbvax }!sdcsvax!barbee
ARPA: barbee.sdcsvax@nosc
ps: keytronics sells a ascii interface version of their IBM compatible
keyboard for $269 + $5 for shipping. They have quite a large catalog
of keyboards, anyone wanting information can drop me a line.