Re: C65 on Ebay

Den Sun, 5 Nov 2017 13:03:48 +0000 skrev smf <smf@null.net>:
> On 05/11/2017 11:45, Mia Magnusson wrote:
> 
> >
> > Commodore really had two advantages at the time as they owned MOS.
> > Not only did it make sure they had a good price and steady supply
> > of the IC's but they could also design custom IC's that most other
> > companies couldn't. (Atleast in theory Texas could also have done
> > that, I don't know how their TI99/4A works. Most other companies
> > had no such connection between an actual consumer product and
> > semiconductor manufaturing).
> 
> TI99/4A used the TMS9918A in america, which output composite @ 60hz.
> The PAL versions used a TMS9929A which output Y, R-Y, B-Y @ 50hz

Oh, interesting.

At the time it might actually have been a bit hard for the chip
manufactures to get a PAL TV and a good PAL signal generator, i.e. they
might have had do order it somehow from Europe, and a signal generator
generating a perfect PAL image might have been rather expensive.

But at the time, in the late 70's, there were probably no real market
for home computers in Europe. TI99/4A (and also the Atari 8 bit series)
were designed/sold before VIC-20.
 
> The oric one looks like it runs rgb from the ula adds sync, then puts
> it through a prom and resistors to generate the video.
> 
> commodore were lucky that they weren't trying to run MOS/CSG as a
> proper semiconductor business, texas started off trying to keep make
> profits at each stage. Which is ironic as commodore only bought MOS
> because texas launched their own calculators cheaper than they were
> selling the chips for, which drove Jack into war with them.

Well, both lucky and unlucky at the same time as they had great success
for a rather long period but then just owned a bankrupt company with an
environmental disaster :)

-- 
(\_/) Copy the bunny to your mails to help
(O.o) him achieve world domination.
(> <) Come join the dark side.
/_|_\ We have cookies.

       Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing list