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Matra Alice
The Matra & Hachette Ordinateur Alice is a home computer sold in France beginning in 1983. It was a clone of the TRS-80 MC-10, produced through a collaboration between Matra and Hachette in France and Tandy Corporation in the United States. The Alice is distinguished by its bright red casing. Functionally, it is equivalent to the MC-10, with a Péritel (SCART) connector replacing the RF modulator for video output. The Alice never became a popular computer in its home country. It tried to invade schools by being part of the country's '' Plan Informatique pour Tous'' ("Information technology for everyone") programme, but Thomson won the whole deal. The original model had 4 kB of RAM and used a Motorola 6847 video display generator chip, as used in the Dragon 32 and Acorn Atom among others. At least three emulators for the system exist. Specifications The machine is similar to the TRS-80 MC-10, with the following specifications: * CPU: Motorola 6803 at 0.89 Mhz * RAM: 4 Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matra Alice
The Matra & Hachette Ordinateur Alice is a home computer sold in France beginning in 1983. It was a clone of the TRS-80 MC-10, produced through a collaboration between Matra and Hachette in France and Tandy Corporation in the United States. The Alice is distinguished by its bright red casing. Functionally, it is equivalent to the MC-10, with a Péritel (SCART) connector replacing the RF modulator for video output. The Alice never became a popular computer in its home country. It tried to invade schools by being part of the country's '' Plan Informatique pour Tous'' ("Information technology for everyone") programme, but Thomson won the whole deal. The original model had 4 kB of RAM and used a Motorola 6847 video display generator chip, as used in the Dragon 32 and Acorn Atom among others. At least three emulators for the system exist. Specifications The machine is similar to the TRS-80 MC-10, with the following specifications: * CPU: Motorola 6803 at 0.89 Mhz * RAM: 4 Ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semigraphics
Text-based semigraphics or pseudographics is a primitive method used in early text mode video hardware to emulate raster graphics without having to implement the logic for such a display mode. There are two different ways to accomplish the emulation of raster graphics. The first one is to create a low-resolution all points addressable mode using a set of special characters with all binary combinations of a certain subdivision matrix of the text mode character size; this method is referred to as block graphics, or sometimes mosaic graphics. The second one is to use special shapes instead of glyphs (letters and figures) that appear as if drawn in raster graphics mode, sometimes referred to as semi- or pseudo-graphics; an important example of this is box-drawing characters. Semigraphical characters (including some block elements) are still incorporated into the BIOS of any VGA compatible video card, so any PC can display these characters from the moment it is turned on, even whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range are unchanged, however. In fact, according to the Intel documentation, the 8086 and 8088 have the same execution unit (EU)—only the bus interface unit (BIU) is different. The original IBM PC is based on the 8088, as are its clones. History and description The 8088 was designed at Intel's laboratory in Haifa, Israel, as were a large number of Intel's processors. The 8088 was targeted at economical systems by allowing the use of an eight-bit data path and eight-bit support and peripheral chips; complex circuit boards were still fairly cumbersome and expensive when it was released. The prefetch queue of the 8088 was shortened to four bytes, from the 8086's six bytes, and the prefetch algorithm was s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assembly Language
In computer programming, assembly language (or assembler language, or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as Assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architecture's machine code instructions. Assembly language usually has one statement per machine instruction (1:1), but constants, comments, assembler directives, symbolic labels of, e.g., memory locations, registers, and macros are generally also supported. The first assembly code in which a language is used to represent machine code instructions is found in Kathleen and Andrew Donald Booth's 1947 work, ''Coding for A.R.C.''. Assembly code is converted into executable machine code by a utility program referred to as an ''assembler''. The term "assembler" is generally attributed to Wilkes, Wheeler and Gill in their 1951 book ''The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Read-only Memory
Read-only memory (ROM) is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be electronically modified after the manufacture of the memory device. Read-only memory is useful for storing software that is rarely changed during the life of the system, also known as firmware. Software applications (like video games) for programmable devices can be distributed as plug-in cartridges containing ROM. Strictly speaking, ''read-only memory'' refers to memory that is hard-wired, such as diode matrix or a mask ROM integrated circuit (IC), which cannot be electronically changed after manufacture. Although discrete circuits can be altered in principle, through the addition of bodge wires and/or the removal or replacement of components, ICs cannot. Correction of errors, or updates to the software, require new devices to be manufactured and to replace the installed device. Floating-gate ROM semiconductor memory in the form of erasab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomson EF9345
The EF9345 from SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Inc., was a semigraphic microprocessor for video image control, encapsulated in a 40-pin DIP and used primarily in the Matra Alice 32, Matra Alice 90 and Philips VG5000 microcomputers. The EF9345 was capable of displaying 8 colors ( RGB primaries), 128 alphanumeric characters and 128 semigraphic characters. It had one semigraphic mode and 40- and 80-column text modes. It was able to address up to 16KB of dedicated video RAM. Video Modes * 50/60Hz output ** Interlaced or progressive scan *Semigraphics: ** 128 standard character set with 5x7 pixel font dimensions. User definable 8x10 pixel alphanumeric or semigraphic sets. *40 characters x 25 rows text mode (similar to teletext): ** 8 x 10 pixel font ** Selectable background and foreground colors ** Styles: double height, double width, blinking, reverse, underline, conceal, insert, accentuation of lowercase characters *80 characters x 25 rows text mode: ** 6 x 10 pixel font ** Styles: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matra Alice All
Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and weaponry. Following the acquisition of vehicle manufacturer Automobiles René Bonnet, the company formed Matra Automobiles during the 1960s and made the Matra brand famous through the production of a range of racing cars and sports cars. Its car division worked closely with other vehicle manufacturers, most significantly Renault, prior to the decline and sale of Matra Automobiles during the early 2000s. In addition to road cars, Matra entered into a wide range of businesses, eventually diversifying into Media (communication), media, weaponry, aeronautics, automobiles, and music distribution. Matra was at one point owned by the Floirat family. Throughout much of the company's existence, French businessman Jean-Luc Lagar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AZERTY
AZERTY () is a specific keyboard layout, layout for the characters of the Latin alphabet on typewriter keys and computer keyboard (computing), keyboards. The layout takes its name from the first six letter (alphabet), letters to appear on the first row of alphabetical keys; that is, ( ). Similar to the QWERTZ layout, it is modelled on the English QWERTY layout. It is used in France and Belgium, and even Russia, although each of these countries has its own national variation on the layout. Luxembourg and Switzerland use the Keyboard layout#Switzerland, Swiss QWERTZ keyboard. Most of the residents of Quebec, the mainly French-speaking province of Canada, use a QWERTY keyboard that has been adapted to the French language such as the Multilingual Standard keyboard CAN/CSA Z243.200-92 which is stipulated by the government of Quebec and the Government of Canada. The competing layouts devised for French (e.g., the ZHJAY layout put forward in 1907, Claude Marsan's 1976 layout, the 200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acorn Atom
The Acorn Atom is a home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd from 1980 to 1982, when it was replaced by the BBC Micro. The Micro began life as an upgrade to the Atom, originally known as the Proton. The Atom was a progression of the MOS Technology 6502-based machines that the company had been making from 1979. The Atom was a cut-down Acorn System 3 without a disk drive but with an integral keyboard and cassette tape interface, sold in either kit or complete form. In 1980 it was priced between £120 in kit form, £170 () ready assembled, to over £200 for the fully expanded version with 12 KB of RAM and the floating-point extension ROM. Hardware The minimum Atom had 2 KB of RAM and 8 KB of ROM, with the maximum specification machine having 12 KB of each. An additional floating-point ROM was also available. The 2 KB of RAM was divided between 1 KB of Block Zero RAM (including the 256 bytes of " zero page") and 512 bytes for the screen (text ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon 32
The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before moving to Port Talbot, Wales (until 1984) and by Eurohard S.A. in Casar de Cáceres, Spain (from 1984 to 1987), and for the US market by Tano of New Orleans, Louisiana. The model numbers reflect the primary difference between the two machines, which have 32 and 64 kilobytes of RAM, respectively. Product history Dragon Data entered the market in August 1982 with the Dragon 32. The Dragon 64 followed a year later. The computers sold well initially and attracted the interest of independent software developers including Microdeal. A companion magazine, ''Dragon User'', began publication shortly after the microcomputer's launch. Despite this initial success, there were two technical impediments to the Dragon's acceptance. The graphics capabilitie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomson Computers
In the 1980s the French Thomson company produced a range of 8-bit computers based on the 6809E CPU. They were released in several variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or color of the casing) covering the MO and TO series from late 1982 to 1989. While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the peripherals and hardware were compatible. These machines were common in France due to the 1980s governmental educational program '' Computing for All (Informatique pour Tous)''.' Around 100,000 MO5 and TO7/70 computers were ordered and installed in schools. Export attempts to Germany, Italy, Algeria, USSR, India, Argentina and Spain were unsuccessful. It is reported that there were 450,000 Thomson computers in France in 1986. By 1988 Thomson had only sold 60,000 of the predicted 150,000 computers, abandoning computer development the following year. About 84 games were released for the TO7, 194 for the MO5, 3 for the TO7/70, 10 for the TO9, 21 for the MO6, and 128 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
