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Scorpion ZS-256
The Scorpion ZS-256 was a very widespread ZX Spectrum clone produced in St. Petersburg by Sergey Zonov (same person behind the "Leningrad" clone). Introduced in 1991, it was fitted with a Zilog Z80B processor, a AY-3-8910 sound chip, whilst RAM memory options ranged from 256 to 1024 KB. The computer was usually assembled in a mini tower configuration with a standard IBM power supply, allowing the connection of peripherals, drives, etc. Various expansions were produced, including ''SMUC'' – an adapter for IDE and ISA slots, which allowed the use of IBM PC compatible hard drives and expansion cards. The Shadow Service Monitor (debugger) in the BASIC ROM was activated by pressing the Magic Button (NMI). There was also the option of fitting the machine with a ''ProfROM'' which included such software as a clock, hard disk utilities, and the ''ZX-Word'' text editor. The computer can work with TR-DOS, CP/M and IS-DOS systems. In 1996, the Scorpion ZS-256 Turbo+ version ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Z80B
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were delivered in March 1976, and it was officially introduced on the market in July 1976. With the revenue from the Z80, the company built its own chip factories and grew to over a thousand employees over the following two years. The Zilog Z80 is a software-compatible extension and enhancement of the Intel 8080 and, like it, was mainly aimed at embedded systems. Although used in that role, the Z80 also became one of the most widely used CPUs in desktop computers and home computers from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. It was also common in military applications, musical equipment such as synthesizers (like the Roland Jupiter-8), and coin-operated arcade games of the late 1970s and early 1980s, including ''Pac-Man''. Zilog license ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM PC Compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. The term "IBM PC compatible" is now a historical description only, since IBM no longer sells personal computers after it sold its personal computer division in 2005 to Chinese technology company Lenovo. The designation "PC", as used in much of personal computer history, has not meant "personal computer" generally, but rather an x86 computer capable of running the same software that a contemporary IBM PC could. The term was initially in contrast to the variety of home computer systems available in the early 1980s, such as the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore 64. Later, the term was primarily used in contrast to Apple's Macintosh computers. These "clones" duplicated almost all the significant features of the original IBM PC architectu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM PC Keyboard
The keyboard for IBM PC-compatible computers is standardized. However, during the more than 30 years of PC architecture being frequently updated, many keyboard layout variations have been developed. A well-known class of IBM PC keyboards is the Model M. Introduced in 1984 and manufactured by IBM, Lexmark, Maxi-Switch and Unicomp, the vast majority of Model M keyboards feature a buckling spring key design and many have fully swappable keycaps. Keyboard layouts The PC keyboard changed over the years, often at the launch of new IBM PC versions. Common additions to the standard layouts include additional power management keys, volume controls, media player controls (e.g. "Play/Pause", "Previous track", "Next track) and miscellaneous user-configurable shortcuts for email client, World Wide Web browser, etc. The IBM PC layout, particularly the Model M, has been extremely influential, and today most keyboards use some variant of it. This has caused problems for applications d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RS232C
In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' ('' data terminal equipment'') such as a computer terminal, and a ''DCE'' ('' data circuit-terminating equipment'' or '' data communication equipment''), such as a modem. The standard defines the electrical characteristics and timing of signals, the meaning of signals, and the physical size and pinout of connectors. The current version of the standard is ''TIA-232-F Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange'', issued in 1997. The RS-232 standard had been commonly used in computer serial ports and is still widely used in industrial communication devices. A serial port complying with the RS-232 standard was once a standard feature of many types of computers. Personal computers used them for con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centronics
Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a division of Wang Laboratories. Founded and initially operated by Robert Howard (president) and Samuel Lang (vice president and owner of the well known K & L Color Photo Service Lab in New York City), the group produced remote terminals and systems for the casino industry. Printers were developed to print receipts and transaction reports. Wang spun off the business in 1971 and Centronics was formed as a corporation in Hudson, New Hampshire with Howard as president and chairman. The Centronics Model 101 was introduced at the 1970 National Computer Conference in May. The print head used an innovative seven-wire solenoid impact system. Based on this design, Centronics later developed the first dot matrix impact printer (while the first such printer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debugger
A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program used to test and debug other programs (the "target" program). The main use of a debugger is to run the target program under controlled conditions that permit the programmer to track its execution and monitor changes in computer resources that may indicate malfunctioning code. Typical debugging facilities include the ability to run or halt the target program at specific points, display the contents of memory, CPU registers or storage devices (such as disk drives), and modify memory or register contents in order to enter selected test data that might be a cause of faulty program execution. The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an ''instruction set simulator'' (ISS), a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered, but which will typically be somewhat slower than executing the code directly on the appropriate (or the same) processor. Some debuggers offer two m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turbo Mode
On IBM PC compatible computers, the turbo button selects one of two run states: the default "turbo" speed or a reduced speed closer to the Intel 8086 CPU. It was relatively common on computers using the Intel 80286, Intel 80386 and Intel 80486 processors, from the mid 1980s to mid 1990s. The name is inspired by turbocharger, a device which increases an engine's power and efficiency. When pressed, the "turbo" button is intended to let a computer run at the highest speed for which it had been designed. Purpose With the introduction of CPUs which ran faster than the original 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 used in the IBM Personal Computer, programs which relied on the CPU's frequency for timing were executing faster than intended. Games in particular were often rendered unplayable. To provide some compatibility, the "turbo" button was added. Disengaging turbo mode slows the system down to a state compatible with original 8086/ 8088 chips. Switching On most systems, turbo mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Text Mode
Text mode is a computer display mode in which content is internally represented on a computer screen in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of ''character cells'', each of which contains one of the characters of a character set; at the same time, contrasted to all points addressable (APA) mode or other kinds of computer graphics modes. Text mode applications communicate with the user by using command-line interfaces and text user interfaces. Many character sets used in text mode applications also contain a limited set of predefined semi-graphical characters usable for drawing boxes and other rudimentary graphics, which can be used to highlight the content or to simulate widget or control interface objects found in GUI programs. A typical example is the IBM code page 437 character set. An important characteristic of text mode programs is that they assume monospace fonts, where every character has th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentagon (computer)
The Pentagon (Пентагон) home computer was a clone of the British-made Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128. It was manufactured by amateurs in the former Soviet Union, following freely distributable documentation. Its PCB was copied all over the ex-USSR in 1991-1996, which made it a widespread ZX Spectrum clone. The name "Pentagon" derives from the shape of the original PCB (Pentagon 48), with a diagonal cut in one of the corners. Many simple devices (upgrades) were invented to connect to the Pentagon with some soldering. Versions *Pentagon 48K (1989 by Vladimir Drozdov) *Pentagon 128K (1991) *Pentagon 128K 2+ (1991 by ATM) *Pentagon 128K 3+ (1993 by Solon) *Pentagon 1024SL v1.x (2005 by Alex Zhabin) *Pentagon-1024SL v2.x (2006 by Alex Zhabin) *Pentagon ver.2.666 (2009 by Alex Zhabin) The Pentagon 1024SL v2.3 included most of the upgrades of the standard Spectrum architecture, including 1024 KB RAM, Beta 128 Disk Interface and ZX-BUS slots (especially for IDE and General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by modulating one or more carrier wave signals to encode digital information, while the receiver demodulates the signal to recreate the original digital information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded reliably. Modems can be used with almost any means of transmitting analog signals, from light-emitting diodes to radio. Early modems were devices that used audible sounds suitable for transmission over traditional telephone systems and leased lines. These generally operated at 110 or 300 bits per second (bit/s), and the connection between devices was normally manual, using an attached telephone handset. By the 1970s, higher speeds of 1,200 and 2,400 bit/s for asynchronous dial connections, 4,800 bit/s for synch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFETs for logic functions. CMOS technology is used for constructing integrated circuit (IC) chips, including microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory chips (including CMOS BIOS), and other digital logic circuits. CMOS technology is also used for analog circuits such as image sensors ( CMOS sensors), data converters, RF circuits ( RF CMOS), and highly integrated transceivers for many types of communication. The CMOS process was originally conceived by Frank Wanlass at Fairchild Semiconductor and presented by Wanlass and Chih-Tang Sah at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in 1963. Wanlass later filed US patent 3,356,858 for CMOS circuitry and it was granted in 1967. commercialized the technology with the trademar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
