🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct8.132937.25214@nynexst.com>, baruch@nynexst.com (Robert
Baruch) wrote:
> 
> In article <kennehra.718415785@craft.camp.clarkson.edu>, kennehra@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Rich"TheMan"Kennehan) writes:
> |> 
> |> 
> |> Hi!  Thanks for your reply!!!  I have a few questions for you:
> |> 
> |> 1)  What courses did you take in order to be able to have the technical
> |>     knowledge to build a VGA card?  I would LOVE to be able to do that!
> 
> (?) None that I know of.  I just sort of wandered around in bookstores until I found
> books that were of use.  I see no reason why anyone should not be able to 
> do the same!
> 
> |>    
> |> 2)  Can you recommend some good books on video cards that contain
> |>     skematics diagrams?
> 
> Hmmm.  That's a tough one.  No one book that I know of contains schematics,
> but a look at databooks from companies that manufacture video chips should
> give you all the information you need.  Mainly from the companies that 
> manufacture graphics chips.
>   
> |> 
> |> 3)  What kind of equipment do you need to test and debug the circuits
> |>     involved in the video cards?
> 
> Probably an oscilloscope, that would be nice.  I know that I would love
> to use a logic analyzer, but I just don't happen to have $10,000 lying around.
>   
> |> 
> |> 4)  How much does do the parts cost in general? where do I special 
> |>     order chips?
> 
> Oh, maybe a few hundred.  Maybe a bit less.  You can probably get "special
> order chips" (by which I mean non-7400/4000 series) as free samples from
> companies.
> 
> |> 
> |> I've been doing alot of thinking about the "sprite engine"  Here are
> |> the features that I'd put in if I could build one:
> |> 
> |> 1)  I'd make it comaptible with all IBMs (except the IBM pc jr.) from
> |>     the lowly 8086 to the 80486...basically, if you have a card slot 
> |>     and its an ibm, it'll run. 
> 
> Agreed.  Anyone who has an 8086 deserves it!
>  
> |> 
> |> 2)  I'd have some on-board memory for defining the sprites.  Would a
> |>     megabyte of ram do it?
> 
> Seems right.  You need to calculate the maximum number and average
> size for sprites.
>   
> |> 
> |> 3)  I'd have some scaling and rotation features for the sprites (this 
> |>     can come later...and is just wishful thinking :)
> 
> That requires some thought...
>   
> |> 
> |> 4)  It should be able to output to a regular VGA monitor
> 
> I'll say!
>  
> |> 
> |> 5)  Definitely an atari 2600 joystick port!!  (for those arcade style
> |>     gamers!)
> 
> (?) I'm not familiar with the atari 2600 joystick.  Does it have a joystick
> and a button on it?  If so, an IBM joystick will do just as well, and can
> be attached to the game port.
>   
> |> 
> |> That's all I can think of right now...I'll post the source code to my
> |> pascal program once I go back to my room and get my disk.  See ya!
> |> 
> |> - Rich
> |>   kennehra@logic.camp.clarkson.edu
> |> 
> |>