4 Nov
2001
4 Nov
'01
11:38 a.m.
Phil and Mac junkies;
The MicronEye was in production for a very short time as far as
I know. It claimed to use a "video RAM" - a light sensitive
RAM that they claim they discovered by accident. The MicronEye
was a bit larger than a 35MM film cannister and had a focusable
lens and iris at one end and a ribbon cable coming out the other
end, which plugged into a tan flat controller box. The controller
box connected to the printer or modem serial port on the Mac.
The camera came with a small foot-high tripod so you could aim it
and a diskette with the application sofware on it. The software
let you take black and white pictures and save them as either
PICT files or MacPaint files. If I recall correctly, the picture
that it took was half of an original Mac size screen and was
definitely black and white only.
Also FYI - the MicronEye was released and available when the
original 128K Mac was released, which was when I got mine.
I still have it all along with the software. It all worked last
time I fired it up.
I also have an interesting game call Chipwits for the 128K Mac.
It let you program a robot to navigate itself through various
environments. The programming language was innovative and was
call "IBOL", as it was all icon based.
I also have Musicworks - which let you write music and play it
back, etc.
And of course I have Macwrite and Macpaint in the original box.
Both work on the Mac OS system version 1.0.
I have an original IBM PC from the same era. I boot both of
them up side by side and wonder why in the hell the PC won.
(and yes, I know why, before you send your reasons)
As much as I love my Macs, real programming died the day
they invented the GUI. Give me an assembler and some silicon
and a mission, and I'm a happy guy.
From: Phil Beesley
<beesley(a)mandrake.demon.co.uk>
Subject: MicronEye
Please don't tease, Craig. Tell us a bit more about the MicronEye --
Google doesn't throw up much more than "camera from 8 bit era".
Phil
5 Nov
5 Nov
5:56 a.m.
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9:49 a.m.
New subject: MicronEye
The MicronEye was in production for a very short time
as far as
I know. It claimed to use a "video RAM" - a light sensitive
RAM that they claim they discovered by accident. The MicronEye
Micron is the big memory maker, parent of Crucial etc. and a long time ago
in a place far away Steve Ciarcia of Circuit Cellar Ink wrote of series of
project articles on using a I think, 64k ram chip as a video camera. IIRC
Micron was convinced to make a batch with a clear plastic resin, or maybe
just in a eprom body, but a number of little projects and products grew out
of it. I "believe" you can still buy them new, but haven't looked in some
time.
Here is a link, but I didn't find specifics on the Microneye.
http://www.circuitcellar.com/
1:38 p.m.
New subject: MicronEye
On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Mike Ford wrote:
Just for interest, I found the MicroMint version of this for the Apple
][ at TRW years ago.. I thought at the time it would make a nice 'C' mount
lens extension barrel. It had the card, original software and manual. It
sat on a shelf in my lab, forgotten,for years, until I got into
classiccmping, and *then* I realized exactly what it was. I have a pic of
it that I could send if someone needs visual regognition.
The device now resides in Germany somewhere, deep in a secret warehouse,
gaurded by Dobermans. No one really knows what's in there, save one
deranged German Engineer, but he will not talk about it much.
c'est la vie.
Cheers
John
The MicronEye
was in production for a very short time as far as
I know. It claimed to use a "video RAM" - a light sensitive
RAM that they claim they discovered by accident. The MicronEye
Micron is the big memory maker, parent of Crucial etc. and a long time ago
in a place far away Steve Ciarcia of Circuit Cellar Ink wrote of series of
project articles on using a I think, 64k ram chip as a video camera. IIRC
Micron was convinced to make a batch with a clear plastic resin, or maybe
just in a eprom body, but a number of little projects and products grew out
of it. I "believe" you can still buy them new, but haven't looked in some
time.
Here is a link, but I didn't find specifics on the Microneye.
http://www.circuitcellar.com/
1:59 p.m.
New subject: MicronEye
On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, John Lawson wrote:
Just for interest, I found the MicroMint version of
this for the Apple
][ at TRW years ago.. I thought at the time it would make a nice 'C' mount
lens extension barrel. It had the card, original software and manual. It
sat on a shelf in my lab, forgotten,for years, until I got into
classiccmping, and *then* I realized exactly what it was. I have a pic of
it that I could send if someone needs visual regognition.
It was, indeed, C mount.
BUt, ... if you were to use that much extension on a lens, do you know
what you would be in focus for? IF it were a 25mm focal length, and you
were to ADD 25mm extension in addition to what would be needed for
infinity focus, then it would then be focused for 2 inches away, and give
you 1:1 size of image:subject. With a 12mm lens, it would provide
substantial magnification.
(D * F)
WD = -------
(D - F)
The device now resides in Germany somewhere, deep in
a secret warehouse,
gaurded by Dobermans. No one really knows what's in there, save one
deranged German Engineer, but he will not talk about it much.
I had one of the Micromint ones, until about a year ago. It was never
anywhere near any Apple products.
I don't know where it is now - Sellam probably has it.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
NOTE: My ISP is having some problems. If you have difficulty reaching me
at this e-mail address, you can leave a message at:
fcisin(a)merritt.edu
cisin(a)info.sims.berkeley.edu
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