Fairchild Channel F units

From: Matt Pritchard <MPritchard_at_EnsembleStudios.com>
Date: Tue Oct 13 12:30:05 1998

> < The Odyssey^2 had an Intel 8048 with a 512 byte BIOS, 128 bytes of RAM
> < (don't recall the chip) and the video (& sound) was driven by the Intel
> < chip - the only application the chip was ever used in; (trivia - multipl
> < 8244's could be hooked together with the output of one (slave/master mod
>
> The part I believe is a programmed 8044 RUPI. the 8044 is a 8051 core
> with a slave interface and a SDLC controller. 8051s could be serially
> connected via their 9bit serial port (also present on the RUPI). It would
>
> be the first place of comparison. Intel DId this with the 8041/2 in the
> form of printer controller, 8278 (keyboard and display driver), also the
> GPIB controller (8291) and the well known 8042 AT keybord controller found
>
> in AT and X86 systems.
>
> Allison
>
>
-----------------
Nope. Trust me on this; I've got the docs. and the story of it's
development from an Intel person responsible for it. Some parts of the
silicon may be similar, but it was designed from the ground up as a video
display chip for some sort of consumer electronics. My point was that it
wound up being used is just this one application (the Maganvox
Odyssey^2/Phillips G7000) and never made available through other channels.
I was just pointing out that the 8244 has some capabilites that were not
used in that application.

What I find so attractive about it (and all the stuff that era), is that it
respresents a window in time where the basic foundation blocks for todays
stuff (which we take practically for granted) was developed; and the
limitations they had to work under (i.e. not practical to have enough memory
for a direct bit mapped display, the state of chip fabrication and design,
etc) which were unique to that time. I comapre it _alot_ to the automobile
industry between 1898 and 1914. Do you guys have any idea how many car
compaines sprang up (and faded away)?


-Matt Pritchard
Graphics Engine and Optimization Specialist
MS Age of Empires & Age of Empires ][
Received on Tue Oct 13 1998 - 12:30:05 BST