Back in the late '70's there were no "high-res" systems that were common
enough
to provide a basis for comparison, as the Apple][ was what most folks called
"high-res". One of my guys bought several different graphics cards and the
MicroAngelo was one of them. This one, from what I could tell was intended for
monochrome use, however, though I remember seeing some ads for a 16-color
version.
The board has a local Z80A processor that apparently processes high-level
commands (line-draw, fill, etc.) as it receives them from the host processor.
The fellow, a programmer, who bought the thing concluded it didn't have enough
firmware space and started to hack the board for more EPROM space, but never
completed the job. When the dust settled, I found that I had one sheet of the
schematic, which I remember seeing a month or so ago, and some other doc's, but
certainly not a complete set. Also, the memory access multiplexing logic was
obscured in the schematic by the folks who published it. We ended up using a
graphics board of my own design since we could build ours for a fraction of what
the MicroAngelo cost. This board, IIRC, produces a 512x480 raster, though I've
never seen one at work.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Chomko" <chomko(a)greenbelt.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:33 PM
Subject: Re: MircoAngelo from SCION
Richard Erlacher wrote:
> Yes, I've got one, though it has been hacked into non-functionality. I
haven't
> got all the schematics, and the ones issued with
the device were not
complete to
begin with.
What exactly do you have? I too have one but it lacks a controller card,
however
the
manuals
are excellent. Not being an S-100 type I really have no use for it.
I have the hi-res monitor, cable and docs.
BTW, oneof my profs that taught the microcomputer class was VP at SCION at the
time
of
MicroAngelo.
Eric
>
> It was, indeed, a high-res graphics board, for the S-100, that had its own
> resident processor and responded to high-level commands for drawing and
filling.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Chomko" <chomko(a)greenbelt.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 9:06 AM
Subject: MircoAngelo from SCION
> Anyone ever heard of it or have one? I pretty sure it was a hi-res
> graphics system (back in 1980) for S-100 systems.
>
> Eric
>
>