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Sprinter (computer)
The Sprinter (also called "Peters Plus Sprinter" or PPS ) is a microcomputer made by Russian firm Peters Plus, Ltd. It was the last "clone" of ZX Spectrum produced in a factory. It was built using what the company called a "Flex architecture". This uses an Altera PLD as part of the core logic, allowing the machine's hardware to be reconfigured on the fly for several ZX-Spectrum models' compatibility or its own enhanced native mode (set by default on boot and running the Estex operating system). This design is comparable to the design of Jeri Ellsworth's C-One reprogrammable computer. Specifications The computer is built on a standard PC tower configuration, using regular floppy disc, CD and hard disk drives. *CPU: Z84C15 at 21 MHz or 3.5 MHz, Altera Altera Corporation was a manufacturer of programmable logic devices (PLDs) headquartered in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1983 and acquired by Intel in 2015. The main product lines from Altera were the fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altera
Altera Corporation was a manufacturer of programmable logic devices (PLDs) headquartered in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1983 and acquired by Intel in 2015. The main product lines from Altera were the flagship Stratix series, mid-range Arria series, and lower-cost Cyclone series system on a chip field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); the MAX series complex programmable logic device and non-volatile FPGAs; Quartus design software; and Enpirion PowerSoC DC-DC power solutions. The company was founded in 1983 by semiconductor veterans Rodney Smith, Robert Hartmann, James Sansbury, and Paul Newhagen with $500,000 in seed money. The name of the company was a play on "alterable", the type of chips the company created. In 1984, the company formed a long-running design partnership with Intel, and 1988, became a public company via an initial public offering. In 1994, Altera acquired the PLD business of Intel for $50 million. On December 28, 2015, the company was acquired by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Programmable Logic Device
A programmable logic device (PLD) is an electronic component used to build reconfigurable digital circuits. Unlike digital logic constructed using discrete logic gates with fixed functions, a PLD has an undefined function at the time of manufacture. Before the PLD can be used in a circuit it must be programmed to implement the desired function. Compared to fixed logic devices, programmable logic devices simplify the design of complex logic and may offer superior performance. Unlike for microprocessors, programming a PLD changes the connections made between the gates in the device. PLDs can broadly be categorised into, in increasing order of complexity, Simple Programmable Logic Devices (SPLDs), comprising programmable array logic, programmable logic array and generic array logic; Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs) and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). History In 1969, Motorola offered the XC157, a mask-programmed gate array with 12 gates and 30 uncommitted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinclair BASIC
Sinclair BASIC is a dialect of the programming language BASIC used in the 8-bit home computers from Sinclair Research and Timex Sinclair. The Sinclair BASIC interpreter was made by Nine Tiles Networks Ltd. History Sinclair BASIC was originally developed in 1979 for the ZX80 by Nine Tiles. The programmers were John Grant, the owner of Nine Tiles, and Steve Vickers. It was initially an incomplete implementation of the 1978 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) minimal BASIC standard with integer arithmetic only, termed the 4K BASIC (for its ROM size) for the ZX80. It evolved through the floating-point 8K BASIC for the ZX81 and TS1000 (which was also available as an upgrade for the ZX80), and became an almost complete version in the 16 KB ROM ZX Spectrum (known as 48K BASIC). It is present in all ZX Spectrum compatibles, with more advanced systems also offering expanded versions like 128K BASIC, +3 BASIC, T/S 2000 BASIC, BASIC64 or Timex Extended Basic. As of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CGA Monitor
The Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), originally also called the ''Color/Graphics Adapter'' or ''IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter'', introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card for the IBM PC and established a De facto standard, de facto computer display standard. Hardware design The original IBM CGA graphics card was built around the Motorola 6845 display controller, came with 16 kilobytes of video memory built in, and featured several graphics and text modes. The highest display resolution of any mode was 640×200, and the highest color depth supported was 4-bit (16 colors). The CGA card could be connected either to a direct-drive Cathode ray tube, CRT monitor using a 4-bit computing, 4-bit digital (Transistor-transistor logic, TTL) RGB(I), RGBI interface, such as the IBM 5153 color display, or to an NTSC-compatible television or composite video computer monitor, monitor via an RCA connector. The RCA connector provided only baseband video, so to connect the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour'' and ''ZX82'', it was launched as the ''ZX Spectrum'' to highlight the machine's colour display, which differed from the black and white display of its predecessor, the ZX81. The Spectrum was released as six different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 Kilobyte, KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting List of ZX Spectrum clones, unofficial clones). The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the United Kingdom aimed at a mainstream audience, and it thus had similar significance to the Commodore 64 in the US and the Thomson MO5 in France. The introduction of the ZX Spect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Microcomputers became popular in the 1970s and 1980s with the advent of increasingly powerful microprocessors. The predecessors to these computers, mainframes and minicomputers, were comparatively much larger and more expensive (though indeed present-day mainframes such as the IBM System z machines use one or more custom microprocessors as their CPUs). Many microcomputers (when equipped with a keyboard and screen for input and output) are also personal computers (in the generic sense). An early use of the term ''personal computer'' in 1962 predates microprocessor-based designs. ''(See "Personal Computer: Computers at Companies" reference below)''. A ''microcomputer'' used as an embedded control system may have no human-readable input ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operating System
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting software for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, printing, and other resources. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and frequently makes system calls to an OS function or is interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on many devices that contain a computer from cellular phones and video game consoles to web servers and supercomputers. The dominant general-purpose personal computer operating system is Microsoft Windows with a market share of around 74.99%. macOS by Apple Inc. is in second place (14.84%), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeri Ellsworth
Jeri Janet Ellsworth (born August 14, 1974) is an American entrepreneur, computer chip designer and inventor. She gained fame in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 emulator system on a chip housed within a joystick, called Commodore 30-in-1 Direct to TV. It runs 30 video games from the 1980s, and at peak, sold over 70,000 units in a single day via the QVC shopping channel. Ellsworth was hired by Valve Corporation to develop augmented reality hardware, but was terminated in 2013. She co-founded CastAR to continue the work—with permission—but the company shut down on June 26, 2017 without completing development. She started another company, Tilt Five, to create AR hardware based on the same principles. Ellsworth has publicly talked about various homebrew projects, such as how to manufacture semiconductor chips at home. Early life Ellsworth was born in Georgia and grew up in the towns of Dallas, Oregon and Yamhill, Oregon. Her mother died when she was one. Ellswort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
C-One
The C-One is a single-board computer (SBC) created in 2002 as an enhanced version of the Commodore 64, a home computer popular in the 1980s. Designed by Jeri Ellsworth and Jens Schönfeld from Individual Computers, who manufactured the boards themselves, the C-One has been re-engineered to allow cloning of other 8-bit computers. Design The machine uses a combination of configurable Altera field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chips and modular CPU expansion cards to create compatibility modes that duplicate the function of many older home computers. The default CPU is the W65C816S (by Western Design Center) which is used in Commodore 64 compatibility mode as well as the C-One's native operating mode. The C-One is not merely a software emulator, it loads various core files from a card to configure the FPGA hardware to recreate the operation of the core logic chipsets found in vintage computers. This provides for a very accurate and customizable hardware emulation platform. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Computer Remakes
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be performed such as sleeping, preparing food, eating and hygiene as well as providing spaces for work and leisure such as remote working, studying and playing. Physical forms of homes can be static such as a house or an apartment, mobile such as a houseboat, trailer or yurt or digital such as virtual space. The aspect of ‘home’ can be considered across scales; from the micro scale showcasing the most intimate spaces of the individual dwelling and direct surrounding area to the macro scale of the geographic area such as town, village, city, country or planet. The concept of ‘home’ has been researched and theorized across disciplines – topics rangi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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