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AY-3-8910
The AY-3-8910 is a 3-voice programmable sound generator (PSG) designed by General Instrument (GI) in 1978, initially for use with their 16-bit CP1610 or one of the PIC1650 series of 8-bit microcomputers. The AY-3-8910 and its variants were used in many arcade games—Konami's ''Gyruss'' contains five—and Bally pinball machines as well as being the sound chip in the Intellivision and Vectrex video game consoles, and the Amstrad CPC, Oric-1, Colour Genie, Elektor TV Games Computer, MSX, Tiki 100 and later ZX Spectrum home computers. It was also used in the Mockingboard and Cricket sound cards for the Apple II and the Speech/Sound Cartridge for the TRS-80 Color Computer. After GI's spinoff of Microchip Technology in 1987, the chip was sold for a few years under the Microchip brand. It was also manufactured under license by Yamaha (with a selectable clock divider pin and a double-resolution and double-rate volume envelope table) as the YM2149F; the Atari ST uses thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mockingboard
The Mockingboard (a pun on "Mockingbird") is a sound card built by Sweet Micro Systems for the Apple II microcomputers. It improves on the Apple II's limited sound capabilities, as did other Apple II sound cards. In 1981, Sweet Micro Systems began designing products not only for creating music, but speech and general sound effects as well, culminating in the release of the Mockingboard in 1983. The Sound II was introduced at , and the Sound/Speech I at . The Mockingboard's hardware allowed programmers to create complex, high-quality sound without need for constant Central processing unit, CPU attention. The Mockingboard could be connected to the Apple's built-in speaker or to external Loudspeaker, speakers. However, as the quality of the built-in speaker was not high, the instruction manual recommended obtaining external speakers. The Mockingboard was available in various models for either the slot-based Apple II / Apple II Plus / Apple IIe systems or in one special model for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intellivision
The Intellivision (a portmanteau of intelligent television) is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. It distinguished itself from competitors with more realistic sports and strategic games. By 1981, Mattel Electronics had close to 20% of the domestic video game market, selling more than 3.75 million consoles and 20 million cartridges through 1983. At its peak Mattel Electronics had about 1800 employees in several countries, including 110 videogame developers. In 1984, Mattel sold its video game assets to a former Mattel Electronics executive and investors, eventually becoming INTV Corporation. Game development ran from 1978 to 1990, when the Intellivision was discontinued. In 2009, IGN ranked the Intellivision No. 14 on their list of the greatest video game consoles of all time. History The Intellivision was developed at Mattel in Hawthorne, California. By 1969, multiple research and development groups came together as the Preliminary Design departme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Instrument
General Instrument (GI) was an American electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, Pennsylvania, specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. They formed in New York City in 1923 as an electronics manufacturer. During the 1950s, the company began a series of acquisitions under the direction of Moses Shapiro. Among the more notable purchases was General Transistor in 1960, which led to GI becoming a major producer of transistors, and later, integrated circuits (ICs). By the late 1960s, the company was mostly depending on sales into the television industry, which was further bolstered by the 1967 purchase of Jerrold Electronics. The company changed markets continually. Through the 1970s they focused mostly on the off-track betting market through their purchase of American Totalisator, but this market faced significant competition in the late 1970s. At this time, GI became well known for their ICs including the CP1600 used in the Mattel Intellivision game con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Programmable Sound Generator
A programmable sound generator (PSG) is a sound chip that generates (or synthesizes) audio wave signals built from one or more basic waveforms, and often some kind of noise. PSGs use a relatively simple method of creating sound compared to other methods such as frequency modulation synthesis or pulse-code modulation. Technical details PSGs are controlled by writing data to dedicated registers on the chip via an external CPU; hence the name programmable sound generator. One or more basic waveforms are generated (typically a square, triangle or saw-tooth wave) and often a noise signal. The waveforms' frequency and volume (and noise's tone and volume) are typically shaped using an envelope and/or mixed before being sent to the audio output stage. Many PSGs feature three tone channels and one noise channel including the AY-3-8910, SN76489 and MOS Technology 6581. History In the late 1970s, more electronic consumer devices began to be designed with audio features. PSGs were part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colour Genie
The EACA EG2000 Colour Genie was a computer produced by Hong Kong–based manufacturer EACA, and introduced in Germany in August 1982 by ''Trommeschläger Computer Service'' and ''Schmidtke Electronic''. It followed their earlier Video Genie I and II computers and was released around the same time as the business-oriented Video Genie. The Microsoft BASIC#TRS-80 Level II/III BASIC, LEVEL II BASIC was compatible with the Video Genie I and II and the TRS-80, except for graphic and sound commands; most of the routines for Video Genie I BASIC commands were left over in the Colour Genie's BASIC ROM. Programs were provided to load TRS-80 programs into the Colour Genie. Colour Genie disks could be read in a TRS-80 floppy disk drive and vice versa, editing the commands. The original Video Genies had been based upon (and broadly compatible with) the then-current TRS-80 Model I. As the Colour Genie was descended from this architecture, it was incompatible with Tandy's newer TRS-80 Color Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari ST
Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available in July. It was the first personal computer with a bitmapped color graphical user interface, using a version of Digital Research's GEM (desktop environment), GEM environment from February 1985. The Atari 1040ST, released in 1986 with Megabyte, 1 MB of memory, was the first home computer with a cost per kilobyte of RAM under US$1/KB. After Jack Tramiel purchased the assets of the Atari, Inc. consumer division in 1984 to create Atari Corporation, the 520ST was designed in five months by a small team led by Shiraz Shivji. Alongside the Mac (computer), Macintosh, Amiga, Apple IIGS and Acorn Archimedes, the ST is part of a mid-1980s generation of computers with 16 or 16/32-bit processors, 256 kilobyte, KB or more of RAM, and computer m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyruss
is shoot 'em up arcade video game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. ''Gyruss'' was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion kits for the game. Parker Brothers released contemporary ports for home systems. An enhanced version for the Family Computer Disk System was released in 1988, which was released to the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in early 1989. The gameplay is similar to that of ''Galaga'' in a tube shooter format, with the player's ship facing into the screen and able to move around the perimeter of an implicit circle. Stars come into view at the centre of the screen and fly outward, giving the impression of the player's ship moving through space. ''Gyruss'' is the second and last game Yoshiki Okamoto designed for Konami, after ''Time Pilot''. Due to pay disputes, he was fired after the release of this game, and he soon joined Capcom, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiki 100
Tiki-100 was a desktop home/personal computer manufactured by Tiki Data of Oslo, Norway. The computer was launched in the spring of 1984 under the original name Kontiki-100, and was first and foremost intended for the emerging educational sector, especially for primary schools. Early prototypes had 4 KB ROM, and the '100' in the machine's name was based on the total amount of memory in kilobytes. Development It was decided by the Norwegian government that Norwegian schools should all use the same standardized computer in education. The Tiki-100 was developed as a direct response to this decision, and was as such greatly influenced by the specifications laid out by the government. One of the most influential of these specifications was compatibility with CP/M and the Z80 CPU. Being designed as a computer intended for education, interactivity was prioritized. The machine was given good audiovisual capabilities for its time. While other educational computers at the time had a main ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vectrex
The Vectrex is a vector display-based home video game console, the only one ever designed and released for the home market, that was developed by Smith Engineering and manufactured and sold by General Consumer Electronics. It was first released for the North America market in October 1982 and then Europe and Japan in 1983. Originally produced by General Consumer Electronics, it was later licensed to Milton Bradley after they acquired the company. Bandai released the system in Japan under the name 光速船, meaning Lightspeed. The Vectrex, in contrast to other video game systems at the time, did not need to be hooked up to a television set; it had an integrated (vertically oriented) monochrome CRT monitor. A detachable wired control pad could be folded into the lower base of the console. Games came with translucent color overlays to place over the screen. Optional peripherals include a pair of 3D goggles known as the "3D Imager" and a light pen for drawing directly on the screen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texas Instruments SN76489
The Texas Instruments SN76489 is a programmable sound generator chip from the 1980s, used to create music and sound effects on computers and video game systems. Initially developed by Texas Instruments for its TI-99/4A home computer, it was later updated and widely adopted in systems like the BBC Micro, ColecoVision, IBM PCjr, Sega's Master System and Game Gear, and the Tandy 1000. Competing with the General Instrument AY-3-8910, the SN76489 offered three tone generators for musical notes and a noise generator for sound effects like static and explosions, all with adjustable frequencies and volume levels. Overview The SN76489 was originally designed to be used in the TI-99/4 computer, where it was first called the TMS9919 and later SN94624, and had a 500 kHz max clock input rate. A version was made for sales outside TI, the SN76489, which added a divide-by-8 to the clock input, allowing a clock input rate up to which allowed it to use the crystal for the NTSC colorburst wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TRS-80 Color Computer
The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer, is a series of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Computer is a completely different system and a radical departure in design based on the Motorola 6809, Motorola 6809E processor rather than the Zilog Z80 of earlier models. The Tandy Color Computer line, nicknamed CoCo, started in 1980 with what is now called the Color Computer 1. It was followed by the Color Computer 2 in 1983, then the Color Computer 3 in 1986. All three models maintain a high level of software and hardware compatibility, with few programs written for an older model being unable to run on the newer ones. The Color Computer 3 was discontinued in 1991. All Color Computer models shipped with Color BASIC, an implementation of Microsoft BASIC, in ROM. Variants of the OS-9 computer multitasking, multitasking operating system were available from third parties ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
