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VDM-1
The Processor Technology VDM-1, for Video Display Module, was the first video card for S-100 bus computers. Created in 1975, it allows an S-100 machine to produce its own display, and when paired with a keyboard and their 3P+S card, it eliminates the need for a separate video terminal. Using a 7 x 9 dot matrix and ASCII characters, it produces a 64-column by 16-row text display. The VDM-1 is a complex card and was soon replaced by an increasing number of similar products from other companies. An early competitor was the Solid State Music VB-1, which offers an identical display from a much simpler card. Later cards using LSI chips have enough room to include the keyboard controller as well. History TV Typewriter In September 1973, the cover article of Radio Electronics magazine was Don Lancaster's "Build a TV Typewriter", which allows users to type characters on a keyboard and have them appear on a conventional television. Given this limited functionality, they initially est ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Processor Technology
Processor Technology Corporation was a personal computer company founded in April 1975 by Gary Ingram and Bob Marsh in Berkeley, California. Their first product was a 4K byte RAM board that was compatible with the MITS Altair 8800 computer but more reliable than the MITS board. This was followed by a series of memory and I/O boards including a video display module. A Processor Technology advertisement showing a motherboard with eight add-in boards. Popular Electronics magazine wanted a feature article on an intelligent computer terminal and Technical Editor Les Solomon asked Marsh and Lee Felsenstein to design one. It was featured on the July 1976 cover and became the Sol-20 Personal Computer. The first units were shipped in December 1976 and the Sol-20 was a very successful product. The company failed to develop next generation products and ceased operations in May 1979.Freiberger (2000), 153-155 History Bob Marsh, Lee Felsenstein and Gordon French started designing the Sol-20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trek-80
''Trek-80'' is a text-based video game written by Steve Dompier in 1976 and sold by Processor Technology for their Sol-20 computer and suitable S-100 bus machines. ''Trek-80'' combines features of the seminal ''Star Trek'' game by Mike Mayfield with the unrelated ''Trek73''. In contrast to the originals, which were designed to run on teletypes, Trek-80 used the VDM-1 video card to produce a character-based real-time display. Compatible 3rd party versions of the VDM-1 became the ''de facto'' display for most early S-100 bus machines, as well as the TRS-80. A version known as ''Invasion Force'' was sold by Tandy for the TRS-80. An unrelated '' Trek-80'' for the TRS-80 was sold by Judges Guild, but this was a port of the original Mayfield game with few changes. Gameplay Dompier's ''Trek-80'' was mostly based on Mike Mayfield's original version, with only minor changes in the underlying gameplay concepts. The game took place in a section of the galaxy divided into "quad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Felsenstein
Lee Felsenstein (born April 27, 1945) is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of the personal computer. He was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club and the designer of the Osborne 1, the first mass-produced portable computer. Before the Osborne, Felsenstein designed the Intel 8080 based "SOL" computer from Processor Technology, the PennyWhistle modem, and other early "S-100 bus" era designs. His shared-memory alphanumeric video display design, the Processor Technology VDM-1 video display module board, was widely copied and became the basis for the standard display architecture of personal computers. Many of his designs were leaders in reducing costs of computer technologies for the purpose of making them available to large markets. His work featured a concern for the social impact of technology and was influenced by the philosophy of Ivan Illich. Felsenstein was the engineer for the Community Memory project, one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3P+S
3P or 3p may refer to: * 3P, People Planet Profit, or Triple bottom line * 3P, Aruban Tiara Air's IATA airline designator * 3P, proved plus probable plus possible Oil reserves * 3p, an arm of Chromosome 3 (human) * People's Policy Project, a US think tank See also * P3 (other) P3, P-3, P.3, or P03 may refer to: Entertainment * ''Persona 3'', a 2006 video game * ''Postal III'', a 2011 video game * Third (Portishead album), ''Third'' (Portishead album), 2008 music album * P3 Club, a fictional nightclub in the television s ... * Third party (other), often abbreviated 3P {{Letter-NumberCombDisambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennywhistle Modem
The Pennywhistle was an early acoustic coupler modem originally designed and built by Lee Felsenstein in 1973, and later commercialized and offered for sale in 1976. It was one of the earliest modems available for hobbyist computer users. Like most acoustic coupler modems, the Pennywhistle was replaced by the Hayes Smartmodem and similar models from the early 1980s. History Prior modem As part of the effort that would lead to the Community Memory bulletin board system, Lee Felsenstein had found an Omnitech modem ("or something like that"). Designed to operate at rates as high as 300 bits per second (bit/s), the modem was able to change its speed to match conditions or differences in the modems at either end. In general it was good for only 100 bit/s, the speed that was used for much of its operational life. The modem was attached to a Teletype Model 33 ASR machine at Leopold's Records in Berkeley, California and connected to the SDS 940 mainframe computer in San Franc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dual-ported RAM
Dual-ported RAM (DPRAM) is a type of random-access memory that allows multiple reads or writes to occur at the same time, or nearly the same time, unlike single-ported RAM which allows only one access at a time. Video RAM or VRAM is a common form of dual-ported dynamic RAM mostly used for video memory, allowing the CPU to draw the image at the same time the video hardware is reading it out to the screen. Apart from VRAM, most other types of dual-ported RAM are based on static RAM technology. Most CPUs implement the processor registers as a small dual-ported or multi-ported RAM (see Register File A register file is an array of processor registers in a central processing unit (CPU). Register banking is the method of using a single name to access multiple different physical registers depending on the operating mode. Modern integrated circuit ...). Computer memory {{Compu-hardware-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Trek (1971 Video Game)
''Star Trek'' is a text-based strategy video game based on the ''Star Trek'' television series and originally released in 1971. In the game, the player commands the USS ''Enterprise'' on a mission to hunt down and destroy an invading fleet of Klingon warships. The player travels through the 64 quadrants of the galaxy to attack enemy ships with phasers and photon torpedoes in turn-based battles and refuel at starbases. The goal is to eliminate all enemies within a random time limit. Mike Mayfield wrote the game in the BASIC programming language for the SDS Sigma 7 mainframe computer with the goal of creating a game like '' Spacewar!'' (1962) that could be played with a teleprinter instead of a graphical display. He then rewrote it for the HP 2000C minicomputer in 1972, and it was included in Hewlett-Packard's public domain software catalog the following year. It was picked up from there by David H. Ahl, who ported it with Mary Cole to BASIC-PLUS and published the sour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Shack
RadioShack, formerly RadioShack Corporation, is an American retailer founded in 1921. At its peak in 1999, RadioShack operated over 8,000 worldwide stores named RadioShack or Tandy Electronics in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Outside of those territories, the company licensed other companies to use the RadioShack brand name in parts of Asia, North Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. In February 2015, RadioShack Corporation filed for Chapter 11 protection under United States bankruptcy law after 11 consecutive quarterly losses. By then, it was operating only in the United States and Latin America. In May 2015, General Wireless Inc., an affiliate of Standard General, bought the company's assets, including the RadioShack brand name and related intellectual property, for US$26.2 million. General Wireless Operations Inc. was formed to operate the RadioShack stores, and General Wireless IP Holdings LLC was formed to hold the intellectual pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intel 8080
The Intel 8080 (''"eighty-eighty"'') is the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. It first appeared in April 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibility.'' Electronic News'' was a weekly trade newspaper. The same advertisement appeared in the May 2, 1974 issue of ''Electronics'' magazine. The initial specified clock rate or frequency limit was 2 MHz, with common instructions using 4, 5, 7, 10, or 11 cycles. As a result, the processor is able to execute several hundred thousand instructions per second. Two faster variants, the 8080A-1 (sometimes referred to as the 8080B) and 8080A-2, became available later with clock frequency limits of 3.125 MHz and 2.63 MHz respectively. The 8080 needs two support chips to function in most applications: the i8224 clock generator/driver and the i8228 bus controller. It is implemented in N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic (NMOS ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feature Creep
Feature creep is the excessive ongoing expansion or addition of new features in a product, especially in computer software, video games and consumer and business electronics. These extra features go beyond the basic function of the product and can result in software bloat and over-complication, rather than simple design. The definition of what qualifies as "feature creep" does vary among end users, where what is perceived as such by some users may be considered practical functionality by others. Causes The most common cause of feature creep is the desire to provide the consumer with a more useful or desirable product, in order to increase sales or distribution. However, once the product reaches the point at which it does everything that it is designed to do, the manufacturer is left with the choice between adding functions some users might consider unneeded (sometimes at the cost of efficiency), and sticking with the old version (at the cost of a perceived lack of improvement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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