[ColorForth] The Cheap Video Cookbook

[Roger Ivie <IVIE@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> There are two "collectible" copies of this book on Amazon. Basically how 
> to bit
> bang a video interface.  I can't remember if he used color, probably not.
> Probably just text based monochrome. But worth a read for the techniques, and
> we've got a lot more power than an 8 bit 1978 micro =)

The book does discuss color. Chapter 4 goes over the hardware for 
TVT 6 5/8, a video interface for the KIM-2. Quoting:

: Chart 4-1. What your TVT 6 5/8 Can Do
:
: Alphanumeric Displays:
:  * 1 line of 8, 16, 32, or 40 characters
:  * 12 lines of 80 characters
:  * 16 lines of 32, 40, or 64 characters
:  * 24 lines of 80 characters
:  * 32 lines of 32, 40, or 64 characters
:  * PLUS ... most any other combination you can dream up
: Graphics Displays:
:  * 128x128 and 256x256 black and white
:  * 48x64 and 96x128 color
:  * PLUS ... most any other combination you can dream up

It's a bit of a stretch to call it bit-banging video, though. It's more
like character-banging; the video system gets a character at a time from
memory. Graphics are done by using character sets of graphic blocks; a bit
like the 160x100 16 color graphic mode on the original CGA. That was
done by setting the 6845 to display two scan lines per character and using
space and the half-on character for the pixels.

Doesn't mean it's not a good book, though. Another excellent book on the
subject is its companion, TVT Typewriter Cookbook.
-- 
Roger Ivie
ivie@xxxxxxxxxx
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