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1977 Computers have not yet become massive. Moreover, many still do not even know what to do with them. And there is no question about any Internet and, especially, social networks in which you can sit all day and night. But there are lovers who enjoy the fact of owning a computer. So lovers and was addressed to the RCA COSMAC VIP. Relatively inexpensive and rather compact, although not very functional, even in its times. But first things first.
First of all, our readers are interested, of course, technical characteristics. So, the model wore the name-number VP-111. The RCA CDP1802 CPU could boast a clock rate of 1.76 megahertz. The RAM was 2048 bytes, and the read-only memory (ROM) was 512 bytes.
Input Interface: 16-key "hex" keyboard, that is, a device for entering hexadecimal codes. Display: composite video, resolution 16 x 32 pixels. Ports: audio, video, cassette recorder and parallel. The tape cassettes served as the drive. Accordingly, the drive - a cassette recorder, the price of which, of course, was not included in the cost of the kit. It could be purchased separately. The role of the operating system was played by the interpreter of the programming language "CHIP-8" from RCA.
All this happiness cost 275 US dollars (in the form of an assembly kit). Therefore, only an experienced radio amateur or the person who was fortunate enough to include such a wizard in the circle of his closest friends could become a RCA COSMAC VIP user.
Among the advantages of this model should emphasize its compactness. No special performance indicators RCA COSMAC VIP could not boast. Yes, and did not expect him to marvels of speed. It was intended for amateurs and possessed all the necessary characteristics: it was inexpensive, was easy to use, expandable, and was able to perform a number of simple tasks.
It was a high-tech toy that could be enjoyed by all members of the family: from the radio amateur to his school children. However, we should not forget that in the past many schoolchildren and students themselves were quite advanced radio amateurs.
COSMAC VIP was a computer assembled on a single board. It was enough to add a power supply, make a connection to a video monitor or a home TV and you could start working. That is to program. The permanent memory contained the operating system and a set of simple instructions that allowed users to start creating their own programs.
You could use the CDP1802 microprocessor machine code to create your own programs or enter programs in the supported CHIP-8 language. This language contained 31 simple instructions that were perfect for using a computer in conjunction with video displays.
The I / O interface allowed you to connect your computer to color displays and music devices, as well as use it for a variety of other tasks.
In addition, COSMAC VIP was compatible with a whole range of additional modules:
VP-114 - 4096 bytes RAM module
VP-550 Super Sound Board Super Sound. With its help they recorded quite professional music.
VP-560 - Reprogrammable (Erasable) Permanent Memory Card (EPROM)
VP-565 Programmable Memory Card (EPROM)
VP-570 - 4-kilobyte RAM module
VP-580 - Additional keyboard
VP-590 - Color board
VP-595 - The Simplest Sound Card
VP-700 - Permanent Memory Card (ROM) containing “Tiny BASIC”, a simplified BASIC dialect for small amounts of memory
VP-711 - VP-111 (VIP) in a beautiful blue plastic casing
In fact, "COSMAC" is a whole family of early simple computers based on the RCA 1802 processor (known as "COSMAC"). “COSMAC” is “COmplementary-Symmetry Monolithic-Array Computer”, that is, a complete monolithic computer.
This family includes: an earlier kit for assembling RCA COSMAC ELF, considered by us COSMAC VIP, Netronics ELF and Quest SuperELF. But that's not all. This processor was used by NASA in the Galileo (Galileo) project, during which the largest planet of the solar system, Jupiter, was studied.
Source: Oldcomputers.net
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