1 Jun
2000
1 Jun
'00
9:20 a.m.
On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Doug Coward wrote:
Hi All,
One the nice things about this list is the variety of
first hand experience that can be called upon to clear
up those nagging second hand rumors that you keep dragging
around for years, unable to track down a definitive answer.
[snip]
2. About 1982 I started hearing that it was possible
to
build a camera for your pc by "cooking" an EPROM under
UV light for an extended period until the memory cells
were still light sensitive but would no long hold a
charge. Then by placing a len over the EPROM's window,
you had a real time low-res video image mapped right into
memory. Again this is one that quite a few people had
heard about but no one knew anyone that had ever done it.
In the very early 80's. Steve Ciarcia (Micromint) designed an Apple
II 'camera' that used this concept... it had a the chip behind a
common c-mount TV lens, an interface board, and software to manage
the image, do simple dithering, print the images, etc.
The one I owned is now on it's way to Hans Franke... so he might
be able to report on it if he gets it up and running.
Cheers
John