11 Apr
2001
11 Apr
'01
8:14 a.m.
First, sorry for that first post in HTML. With luck, I've got that remedied.
Bad client, BAD!!
Ethan Dicks wrote:
Is there any chance of a revision to emulate the
appearance of the TIL311
displays when in "Elf" mode? Even though they were expensive, I always
like the way they looked (one of the early bugs I mentioned on Bill
Richman's emulator was that there was an extra row of dots in his rendered
TIL311s).
Easily done; look for it in the next release. The TIL311 *is* a cool
display. My low-budget ELF had to make due with seven segments, but what the
heck, now it's in software. It strikes me funny that the size of a bitmap
for one digit (8 bit depth) takes up several times the memory of the
original 256 byte ELF! Oh the waste of it all...
Sellam Ismail wrote:
I created a new section in the VCF Link Library for
RCA:
Thanks, Sellam, I appreciate it!
Dave Ruske
dave(a)ruske.net
11 Apr
11 Apr
8:10 p.m.
--- Dave Ruske <dave(a)ruske.net> wrote:
Ethan Dicks wrote:
Thanks.
Is there any chance of a revision to emulate the
appearance of the TIL311
displays when in "Elf" mode?
Easily done; look for it in the next release. Sellam Ismail wrote:
With the renewed interest, I'll get back to editing the Elf II article
at http://penguincentral.com/retrocomputing/ElfII (it was a work in progress
that stalled; the freebie OCR software that came with my sheet-feed B&W
scanner isn't the best).
BTW, I checked - I _do_ have a VIP 3301. What would you like to know about
it? There's wads of CMOS parts, some TTL, 5 x 2114 SRAM, ECO wires...
The RCA chips are:
1802 (CPU - facing backwards!)
1823 (128x8 450ns SRAM also backwards)
3 x 1852 (8-bit I/O port)
1854 (UART - backwards, too!)
1856 (bus buffer)
1867 (4-bit latch and memory decoder)
1869 (Video Interface System - "VIS" - computer interface)
1870 (Video Interface System - "VIS" - video sync, color subcarrier, etc.)
2 x 4059 (divide-by-N counter)
There's also a MOS chip in there, probably the ROM - p/n 302-7185-001
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
I created a new section in the VCF Link Library
for RCA:
Thanks, Sellam, I appreciate it!
12 Apr
12 Apr
3:09 a.m.
> > Is there any chance of a revision to emulate
the appearance of the
TIL311
> > displays when in "Elf" mode?
I modified the "classic" ELF skin to use a TIL311 style display last night.
I found a TIL311 data sheet so I'm pretty sure I've drawn the output
accurately, though it lacks the "slant" of the original device. One thing
the data sheet couldn't tell me is whether I colored the body of the device
correctly. Not having a real one for reference, I used the color from Bill
Richman's emulator as a reference and wound up choosing the darkest red in
the Palm's 8-bit palette. Is this pretty close to correct?
With the renewed interest, I'll get back to
editing the Elf II article
Great! Let me know when the edits have been made and I'll change the
description on the link! Do you know if that article was the basis for the
machines sold by Netronics and Quest Electronics?
BTW, I checked - I _do_ have a VIP 3301. What would
you like to know
about
it?
I'm curious about what's in the ROM... if I were a user and plugged the
VIP-3301 in, what would I see on the screen (I presume it was meant to be
connected to a TV)? Tiny BASIC, perhaps, or maybe an OS prompt that would
allow programs to be loaded from cassette? Or did this thing have a
cartridge slot somewhere ala RCA's Studio II video game? What was the serial
port meant for? A printer, perhaps?
Basically, if I were to read a sales flyer for the VIP-3301, what features
would RCA highlight?
Thanks for the assistance!
Dave Ruske
dave(a)ruske.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ethan Dicks" <ethan_dicks(a)yahoo.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 12:10 AM
Subject: Re: New 1802 (ELF) Emulator, Website
>
> --- Dave Ruske <dave(a)ruske.net> wrote:
> > Ethan Dicks wrote:
> > Is there any chance of a revision to emulate
the appearance of the
TIL311
> > displays when in "Elf" mode?
> >
> > Easily done; look for it in the next release.
>
> Thanks.
>
> > Sellam Ismail wrote:
> > > I created a new section in the VCF Link Library for RCA:
> >
> > Thanks, Sellam, I appreciate it!
>
With the renewed interest, I'll get back to
editing the Elf II article
> at http://penguincentral.com/retrocomputing/ElfII
(it was a work in
progress
> that stalled; the freebie OCR software that came with my sheet-feed B&W
> scanner isn't the best).
>
BTW, I checked - I _do_ have a VIP 3301. What would
you like to know
about
it? There's wads of CMOS parts, some TTL, 5 x
2114 SRAM, ECO wires...
The RCA chips are:
1802 (CPU - facing backwards!)
1823 (128x8 450ns SRAM also backwards)
3 x 1852 (8-bit I/O port)
1854 (UART - backwards, too!)
1856 (bus buffer)
1867 (4-bit latch and memory decoder)
1869 (Video Interface System - "VIS" - computer interface)
1870 (Video Interface System - "VIS" - video sync, color subcarrier,
etc.)
2 x 4059 (divide-by-N counter)
There's also a MOS chip in there, probably the ROM - p/n 302-7185-001
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
4:52 a.m.
Basically, if I were to read a sales flyer for the VIP-3301, what features
would RCA highlight?
I remember seeing one ad for the VP 3301 in one issue of Kilobaud. I'll try
to find it again. Basically... It was advertised as a TV ASCII Terminal
that could be upgraded to a computer.
;)
- Mike: dogas(a)bellsouth.net
7:04 p.m.
--- Mike <dogas(a)bellsouth.net> wrote:
I'm looking in one now and don't see where it could be upgraded. There are
no unpopulated sockets, no edge connector, no internal mezannine pins. The
DIP switches are labelled as follows...
UC U & LC Upper Case only vs Upper and Lower Case, presumably
E/O M/S Even/Odd vs Mark/Space
E/M O/S Even/Mark vs Odd/Space
2SB 1SB 1 vs 2 Stop Bits
F-DPX H-DPX Full vs Half Duplex
CTRL OFF Working vs Not Working CTRL Key?
CD OFF Carrier Detect on vs off?
40/24 20/12 Screen size in X by Y?
----------------
CL EIA 20mA vs RS-232
LOCAL LINE Local vs Online
110 --+
300 B
1200 A
4800 U
9600 D
19.2K --+
So nothing there relating to computer functions. I'm stumped. It doesn't
mean a marketdroid didn't claim it was convertable, but I just don't see
where it's possible.
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
Basically, if I were to read a sales flyer for the VIP-3301, what features
would RCA highlight?
I remember seeing one ad for the VP 3301 in one issue of Kilobaud. I'll try
to find it again. Basically... It was advertised as a TV ASCII Terminal
that could be upgraded to a computer.
5:03 a.m.
--- Dave Ruske <dave(a)ruske.net> wrote:
The dots are what I was after.
Will do.
Don't know yet. I figured out how to power it up last night, looking at the
innards (DIN-5 power plug, two grounds, two N.C., one going into the power
switch then off to a 7805 regulator)
Something I learned while looking up he 1869/1870, is that it may be color,
not B&W as I originally assumed. The chipset supports color; I have no idea
about the firmware.
> > Is
there any chance of a revision to emulate the appearance of the
> > TIL311 displays when in "Elf" mode?
I modified the "classic" ELF skin to use a TIL311 style display last night.
I found a TIL311 data sheet so I'm pretty sure I've drawn the output
accurately, though it lacks the "slant" of the original device. One thing the data sheet couldn't tell me is
whether I colored the body of
the device correctly. Not having a real one for reference, I used the color
from Bill Richman's emulator as a reference and wound up choosing the darkest
red in the Palm's 8-bit palette. Is this pretty close to correct?
I have a few of them and they are not all the same shade of red. One is
nearly orange. I suspect lack of QA in the plastics department.
With the
renewed interest, I'll get back to editing the Elf II article
Great! Let me know when the edits have been made and I'll change the
description on the link! Do you know if that article was the basis for the
machines sold by Netronics and Quest Electronics?
It appears that the article is about the Netronics Elf II, as it suggests
using a double-sided PCB or wirewrapping your own. I always wanted to
build it, but I never found a source of the keyboard chip (74C923?)
BTW, I checked
- I _do_ have a VIP 3301. What would you like to know
about it?
I'm curious about what's in the ROM... if I were a user and plugged the
VIP-3301 in, what would I see on the screen (I presume it was meant to be connected to a TV)?
TV (RCA jack) and/or presumably some other kind of monitor (DIN-5 with the
middle pin connected to the RCA jack via ECO-type wire on the back side of
the board).
Tiny BASIC, perhaps, or maybe an OS prompt that would
allow programs to be loaded from cassette? Or did this thing have a
cartridge slot somewhere ala RCA's Studio II video game? What was the serial
port meant for? A printer, perhaps?
No slots. There are a series of DIP switches along one edge for baud rate,
etc. The serial port is there because this is some kind of ASCII terminal.
-ethan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
8484
days inactive
8485
days old
5 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
dave＠ruske.net -
dogas＠bellsouth.net -
ethan_dicks＠yahoo.com