MOS Technology TED

TED connection diagram

The MOS 7360 TED ( TE xt D isplay ) is an electronic specialty module, which in 1983 for Commodore International, headed by Dave DiOrio for Commodore 16 , Commodore 116 and Commodore Plus / 4 was developed. Among other things, it contains all function groups for generating sound, graphics and input / output operations. With this chip, the number of components in the Commodore 16, Commodore 116 and Commodore Plus / 4 could be significantly reduced compared to their predecessors Commodore VC 20 and 64 , thus saving costs and space. For example, the color SRAM has been clearly replaced by buffering the current line of color attributes on the chip. The cache on the chip thus comprised 75 bytes instead of 40 bytes (only the character codes).

TED has a higher priority than the CPU when accessing memory. The CPU must therefore be able to run with the full system clock in the picture frame, but is throttled to half the clock in the pixel area. The TED breaks quickly if it gets too hot. To prevent this from happening, make sure that the cooling tabs of the shielding plates rest on the housing of the TED. In the Commodore 16 with aluminum-coated cardboard as a shield, a heat sink should be applied.

Technical specifications

Video:
- Signal generation for PAL or NTSC
- 16 colors with 8 brightnesses each (which do not merge linearly), that results in 121 different colors (the color black is black in all 8 brightness levels)
- Raster line interrupt
- Text mode:
  - 24 or 25 lines with 38 or 40 characters each
  - programmable character generator
  - Standard mode with 121 colors, 1 general background color
  - Inverse representation
  - flash
  - advanced mode with 4 background colors
  - Multicolor mode
  - Cursor control
- Graphics mode:
  - Hires with 320 × 200 pixels , with 2 colors out of 121 per 8 × 8 pixel field
  - Multicolor with 160 × 200 pixels, with 2 colors per 4 × 8 pixel field and 2 screen-wide colors (from 121)
- 46 µs of the 52 µs long visible part of the raster line are filled with pixels.
Sound:
- 2 square wave oscillators (100 Hz to 23 kHz)
- a noise generator ( white noise )
- Volume adjustable in eight levels
Others:
- Keyboard buffer
- 2 timers (16 bit, counting down), interrupt capable
- DRAM refresh
- Clock generator
- DMA signaling (AEC / BA)
- Address encoder for two 16 KiB ROM areas at $ 8000 and $ C000 (CS0 / CS1)

Individual evidence

↑ TED System Hardware Manual. (PDF, scan, partially searchable) Exact title is unclear. P. 11 , accessed on September 28, 2018 (English): "This chapter will discuss various aspects of the 7360 TExt Display chip."
^ Brian Bagnall, Boris Kretzinger, Winnie Forster: Volkscomputer . Gameplan, 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-023848-2 , pp. 182-185 .
↑ The original Commodore Business Machines PLUS / 4 docs. (PDF) Accessed December 1, 2016 (English).
↑ Thorsten Kuphaldt: TED 7360. In: Commodore Computer Online Museum. February 1, 2015, accessed December 1, 2016 .

[1] TED System Hardware Manual. (PDF, scan, partially searchable) Exact title is unclear. P. 11 , accessed on September 28, 2018 (English): "This chapter will discuss various aspects of the 7360 TExt Display chip."

[2] Brian Bagnall, Boris Kretzinger, Winnie Forster: Volkscomputer . Gameplan, 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-023848-2 , pp. 182-185 .

[3] The original Commodore Business Machines PLUS / 4 docs. (PDF) Accessed December 1, 2016 (English).

[4] Thorsten Kuphaldt: TED 7360. In: Commodore Computer Online Museum. February 1, 2015, accessed December 1, 2016 .