Does the CPC have a viewdata client, with SAA5050 display emulation?
Quote from: retro space on 21:57, 05 June 24Does the CPC have a viewdata client, with SAA5050 display emulation?
I only know about this:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Schneider_BTX_Modul
But I have no idea, if this is using a similiar display technology or if it is a completely different thing.
Quote from: Prodatron on 11:13, 06 June 24Quote from: retro space on 21:57, 05 June 24Does the CPC have a viewdata client, with SAA5050 display emulation?
I only know about this:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Schneider_BTX_Modul
But I have no idea, if this is using a similiar display technology or if it is a completely different thing.
It is the same, but this solution seems to have its complete own video circuit that probably only receives binary data from the main processor. It is a challenge though, the CPC delivers 4 colours at 320x240, where you need 40x24 characters with 2 colours per character, but 8 in total. But you could at least simulate it with dithering I guess. You could even use the palette change per line, as these viewdata pages rarely have more than 4 colours on a single line.
Quote from: retro space on 12:18, 06 June 24It is a challenge though, the CPC delivers 4 colours at 320x240, where you need 40x24 characters with 2 colours per character, but 8 in total. But you could at least simulate it with dithering I guess. You could even use the palette change per line, as these viewdata pages rarely have more than 4 colours on a single line.
For emulating this with the normal CPC graphic, you could also use 160x200 with 4x8 pixel chars (often used in games). Then you even have 16 colours in total at the same time.
Quote from: retro space on 21:57, 05 June 24Does the CPC have a viewdata client, with SAA5050 display emulation?
You might find these reviews (courtesy of CPCRulez) of interest:
https://cpcrulez.fr/applications_util_comm-cage_comms_ROM__AA.htm
https://cpcrulez.fr/applications_util_comm-cage_comms_rom__aa.htm?t=Uw==
Quote from: Prodatron on 11:13, 06 June 24But I have no idea, if this is using a similiar display technology or if it is a completely different thing.
Afaik it has its complete BTX logic and screen circuit. The CPCs monitor signal is just passed through and according to a test I read, the signal strength isn't even similar so that you have to adjust the monitor when switching from CPC to BTX mode.
I'm not even sure how much the CPC does, it's likely that it's more or less just the keyboard and local storage for an otherwise full BTX client.