• Is it reasonable to include a video controller co-processor like the Amiga's Copper in a 1983 design?  As it happens, yes.  (Wikipedia)
  
  The same basic functionality was present in the Atari 400 and 800 as early as 1979, and gave the Atari 8-bit range (including the 5200) a lot of their flexibility.
  
  And it's very easy to emulate those functions - as long as the video emulator respects its virtual registers, all the co-processor needs to do is write to them.
  
  So you can set it up to switch from 32-colour mode to 512-colour mode to text mode to cell mode to Amiga-style HAM mode to Apple IIgs-style fill mode on a line-by-line basis.
  
  Reading up on the Atari architecture I noticed a number of criticisms of Atari Basic.  While the criticisms were not unfounded, the whole thing fit in an 8k ROM cartridge.  "Hello, world." doesn't fit in 8k these days.
  
  
  
• Speaking of Elite - which we were - Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is due next year.  (WCCFTech)
  
  This is a tactical expansion that lets you land, leave your ship, and shoot the bad guys in person.
  
  
  
• Google is removing fediverse apps from the Play Store on the grounds that people are saying mean things on the internet.  (Qoto)
  
  Hacker News thread here.
  
  
  
• Apple is back to playing notice me, senpai with the DOJ.  (ZDNet)
  
  You are not permitted to work around the 30% cut Apple takes of every transaction.
  
  You are also not permitted to mention the 30% cut Apple takes of every transaction.
  
  
  
• I forgot that this little beastie existed.
  
  
  
  That is the HP Series 200 Model 16.  Introduced in 1982, it's an 8MHz 68000-based system with 128k to 512k of RAM.  It's usually seen with its dual 3.5" floppy expansion - one of the first products to use 3.5" floppies - but all the system logic is packed into that little monitor unit.  The floppies reportedly ran at 600 RPM - twice as fast as normal - though I haven't found documentation to confirm that.
  
  The screen is only 9", monochrome, and 400x300 (though text mode may have had a higher effective resolution), but that aside it was an impressive system for '82.  It was not, of course, cheap, starting at around $4000.
  
  
  

Posted by: Sam P at Saturday, August 29 2020 03:12 AM (magRz)

Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, August 29 2020 05:13 AM (Iwkd4)

Posted by: Sam P. at Saturday, August 29 2020 07:52 AM (magRz)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 29 2020 11:14 AM (PiXy!)

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