Not a fan of TMS9918, hard to get too.
As I have a large collection of CP/M base systems...
S100 several... (Altair, NorthStar, Compupro)
AmproLB+
Kaypro 2 and also 4/84
DEC VT180 (z80 board + Vt100)
Osborne portable
Epson PS-8
If one wants to copy classic S100 with front panel do the imsai it was better.
However that died rather fast leaning toward FLoppy based turnkey systems.
Most systems with video or character displays went three ways:
Sinclair ZX80 used the cpu to do it (cheap video), high cpu consumption and only
NTSC, Try to find a monitor.? Also if its small (MC in mint tin) the average 9"
monitor dwarfs it.? Most video systems had upper//lower case.
S100 and friends use either 64Char x 16line (processor tech VDM-1) and similar.
Later ones use 80x24/25? (just more parts).
TRS80 was of the VDM-1 style of 64x16 All upper for base system and later
versions added lower and 80 char.
Epson PS-8 was a 80x8 LCD with 6803 support for the display and random stuff.
Tandy trs80 M100/Koyocera,NEC8200 were all 40char wide by 8 line LCD.
Later ones use SMC5027 or 6545 CTRC chips with all the surrounding glue and
speed parts.
I happen to like a programmed atmega or two (Grant Searle) as it allows for
VGA, PS2 keyboard.
nearly all of the above had chip counts that were not small format friendly.
The most compact and complete is the ELF VT-102? but that needs the
1802 for half the task (ram and DMA refresh).? It also needs atmega for
the PS-2 keyboard.
The above also reflects that if you do video you need a keyboard.
Most common keyboards are now USB.
The alternate path is a 320x240 LCD with a 40 x 20 screen, still need
MPU to make that go.
Allison
