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Forum 6502 Video Out
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  • composite
  • mos
  • 6502
  • video out
Related

6502 Video Out

nick123
nick123 over 9 years ago

Hello,

I've been working on a 6502 SBC recently, and I wanted it to output to a composite video signal. I looked around the internet and didn't find much of anything. Anyone know a way I can do this?

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  • bwelsby
    bwelsby over 9 years ago in reply to nick123 +5 suggested
    Some info of what used to be here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_display_controller The video subsystems of these oldies used to make up the bulk of the electronics in those machines and the display…
  • DAB
    DAB over 9 years ago +4 suggested
    Hi Nick, As I recall, the Commodore PET that I have used a batch of memory to hold the video data. All you need is a couple of counter chips to run through the addresses of the RAM chips. You take the…
  • michaelkellett
    michaelkellett over 9 years ago +4 suggested
    If you want to remain "classic" you would need to use a video controller MC6845 or perhaps 6569: MOS 6569R3 C64 VIC-II PAL chip, Mutant Caterpillar Games Ltd Retro Store Google for the 6845 data sheet…
  • shabaz
    0 shabaz over 9 years ago

    Hi Nick,

     

    Generally the 6502 can't do that, it cannot generate a 6MHz signal on its own with the right timings and content (there may be some hacks I'm sure that might obtain a low-res image onto a display however, through clever coding in assembler etc). Usually the old home computers used separate ICs and sometimes custom logic for that, but of course they are not manufactured nowadays. You could look at old home computer schematics and hope to find the parts on e-bay. Or you could use slightly more modern parts to create a video encoder (Analog Devices has some parts) but you still need a way of getting data from memory to the encoder, and that entails using a CPLD or FPGA usually.

    Basically times have moved on, and if you just want to display very simple information to a screen then you might want to consider (say) LCD displays with in-built memory and a simplified interface. If you're trying to recreate a vintage computer then you may need to consider programmable logic.

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  • clem57
    0 clem57 over 9 years ago

    Might check out http://www.6502.org/homebuilt Bet someone has way to output.

    Clem

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  • clem57
    0 clem57 over 9 years ago

    Saw this Retro Computing – Page 6502 – About small SBC systems which reminded me of the KIM-1. We never output to video, but did write data to a serial teletype. They were only 4K memory of which 1/2 was dedicated to a simple OS.

    Clem

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  • mconners
    0 mconners over 9 years ago in reply to clem57

    Shoot you can get the schematics to the Commodore 64 /pub/cbm/schematics/computers/c64/

     

    They had to interface to the VIC chip IIRC.

     

    Mike

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  • DAB
    0 DAB over 9 years ago

    Hi Nick,

     

    As I recall, the Commodore PET that I have used a batch of memory to hold the video data.

    All you need is a couple of counter chips to run through the addresses of the RAM chips.

    You take the digital output and run it into a transistor with a couple of capacitors and resisters to create the analog out, synchronize the Horizontal and vertical sync waveforms and you have video output.

     

    Back in the OLD days we used this approach for all types of microprocessors.

    Later, people came out with digital to video out chips.

     

    Plus you always have the option of hacking an old PC video card.  Most of them allowed you to load digital information into the onboard ram and the card took care of the sync.

     

    DAB

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  • nick123
    0 nick123 over 9 years ago in reply to DAB

    This sounds interesting, do you have example schematics?

     

    Thanks

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  • michaelkellett
    0 michaelkellett over 9 years ago

    If you want to remain "classic" you would need to use a video controller MC6845 or perhaps 6569:

     

     

    MOS 6569R3 C64 VIC-II PAL chip, Mutant Caterpillar Games Ltd Retro Store

     

    Google for the 6845 data sheet which is useful for understanding how these things work. You'll probably end up with a lot of glue logic as well.

     

    What's the point/aim ?

     

    You can replicate all this stuff in an FPGA (including the 6502) and it will crank at 10x the original speed as well - if you want to run old software this may be better route.

     

    MK

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  • bwelsby
    0 bwelsby over 9 years ago in reply to nick123

    Some info of what used to be here  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_display_controller

    The video subsystems of these oldies used to make up the bulk of the electronics in those machines and the display resolutions were only something like 320x240 .

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  • DAB
    0 DAB over 9 years ago in reply to nick123

    Maybe.

     

    I will have a quick look in my basement to see if there are any schematics of this basic design.

     

    DAB

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  • dougw
    0 dougw over 9 years ago

    I interfaced an MC6847 to a 6502 way back in the day. I think I still have the wire-wrapped display card I built for my AIM65.

    This was one of the simplest ways to implement a video display back then, probably still is.

    These chips are still available on the net.

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