MircoAngelo from SCION

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Sat Apr 14 14:06:40 2001

No, the only thing we acquired was the PC board, some firmware and a demo
program. I don't think I remember seeing the thing in operation, however. I've
got lots of high-resolution monitors and the like, so I'm not interested in
acquiring even one more until I dispose of about five of the things. From what
I remember, there was nothing particularly special about the hardware that was
available with the S-100 board. I'd be interested in seeing a picture of the
board, just to see whether it's the same board.

The number of address lines was, indeed, the ROM problem. IIRC, because we had
lots of 2732's lying about, the decision was made to add space for special
drawing routines. Unfortunately, the task was abandoned when it was determined
that the single Z80A was far too slow for what we needed.

What we used was a board of our own design, which, as it turned out, WAS able to
meet timing requirements, while the MicroAngelo board was calculated to be 10x
too slow.

Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Chomko" <chomko_at_greenbelt.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001 7:41 AM
Subject: Re: MircoAngelo from SCION


> Comments below.
>
> Richard Erlacher wrote:
>
> > Back in the late '70's there were no "high-res" systems that were common
enough
> > to provide a basis for comparison, as the Apple][ was what most folks called
> > "high-res". One of my guys bought several different graphics cards and the
> > MicroAngelo was one of them. This one, from what I could tell was intended
for
> > monochrome use, however, though I remember seeing some ads for a 16-color
> > version.
> >
> > The board has a local Z80A processor that apparently processes high-level
> > commands (line-draw, fill, etc.) as it receives them from the host
processor.
> > The fellow, a programmer, who bought the thing concluded it didn't have
enough
> > firmware space and started to hack the board for more EPROM space, but never
> > completed the job. When the dust settled, I found that I had one sheet of
the
> > schematic, which I remember seeing a month or so ago, and some other doc's,
but
> > certainly not a complete set. Also, the memory access multiplexing logic
was
> > obscured in the schematic by the folks who published it. We ended up using
a
> > graphics board of my own design since we could build ours for a fraction of
what
> > the MicroAngelo cost. This board, IIRC, produces a 512x480 raster, though
I've
> > never seen one at work.
>
> The User's Manual I have for MicroAngelo (I can upload a photo if you like) is
about
> 100 pages.
> The last six or so are schematics which appear to be complete.
>
> The first schematic shows the Z-80A CPU with four 2708/2716 EPROMs. Only the
first
> 10 address lines are used, which IS limited.
>
> Do you have the monitor?
>
> Eric
>
> >
> >
> > Dick
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Eric Chomko" <chomko_at_greenbelt.com>
> > To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> > Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:33 PM
> > Subject: Re: MircoAngelo from SCION
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Richard Erlacher wrote:
> > >
> > > > Yes, I've got one, though it has been hacked into non-functionality. I
> > haven't
> > > > got all the schematics, and the ones issued with the device were not
> > complete to
> > > > begin with.
> > > >
> > >
> > > What exactly do you have? I too have one but it lacks a controller card,
> > however the
> > > manuals
> > > are excellent. Not being an S-100 type I really have no use for it.
> > >
> > > I have the hi-res monitor, cable and docs.
> > >
> > > BTW, oneof my profs that taught the microcomputer class was VP at SCION at
the
> > time
> > > of
> > > MicroAngelo.
> > >
> > > Eric
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > It was, indeed, a high-res graphics board, for the S-100, that had its
own
> > > > resident processor and responded to high-level commands for drawing and
> > filling.
> > > >
> > > > Dick
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: "Eric Chomko" <chomko_at_greenbelt.com>
> > > > To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> > > > Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 9:06 AM
> > > > Subject: MircoAngelo from SCION
> > > >
> > > > > Anyone ever heard of it or have one? I pretty sure it was a hi-res
> > > > > graphics system (back in 1980) for S-100 systems.
> > > > >
> > > > > Eric
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>
>
Received on Sat Apr 14 2001 - 14:06:40 BST