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There was not much left to be learned and it's time to build Zwölf 02. This time around we are going to have 64k RAM and 32k EEPROM, as well as the first I/O devices like a IDE port with up to two storage devices that support the old 8 bit mode. For starters, I have two 8 gb compact flash memory cards. Zwölf 02 is going to have two 'SSDs' with a total 16 gb of storage space. A lot for a humble 8 bit computer.
Ahh, and my little 1802BCE has maxed out at 7.39 MHz at VCC = VDD = 5V. The only way to reach more is to raise VDD (the processor's core voltage) to up to 10V. Overclocking the 1802 works exactly like overclocking a much more modern processor. But I doubt that I will ever go there. It's very easy to kill the processor and I don't want to have any active or passive cooling. Besides that, further on I will also have to take care of more periphery and the I/O devices may have problems keeping up with the processor. For example, a TMS9918 graphics chip only worked with a CDP1802 up to 4 MHz and I'm already going twice as fast. At the moment my only option left is the MC6847, which makes my eyes bleed.
Hardware work to do: Finish wiring everything up on the breadboard. I swear, it's the last time I will do that on a breadboard. Zwölf 03 with megabytes of RAM will get a real circuit board.
Programming work to do: I need drivers to access the memory card(s) (actually already finished) Ancient file systems like CP/M can't handle 8 gb storage space and that's be far not the biggest memory card around. And I might also want to stay compatible to a PC to make transfering files a little easier. FAT16 seems barely up to the job, so will I really have to go all the way and at least use FAT32 on a 8 bit computer? Has anybody here ever messed with something like that?
Am I happy when all this is over and everything is ready for Zwölf 03. Then I can concentrate on the memory expansion, wich will not be very gard on the hardware side. it's just more of the stuff that I already designed for Zwölf 02. On the software side it's going to be another story.
It's a good thing that the CDP1802 does not have any CALL or RETURN instructions. You have to use simple procedures to implement a more elaborate calling convention. And elaborate it is already. Actual memory addresses are not needed anymore to call a routine and there are two stacks, a call stack and a parameter stack. The only thing still missing is to extend the whole thing to support my simple 'MMU' and I can call any routine that has been loaded into any 48k memory page without knowing its memory address, nor the page to which it has been loaded.
The code gets portioned into modules, like DLLs, and I have trouble forcing traditional assemblers to generate that kind of code with possible external references, dependencies and not knowing actual addresses. And a higher level language for the more complicated stuff would also be nice. We have a C compiler, but it also is rooted firmly in the old memory model. So I picked a flavor of FORTH if I will have to implement it myself. The 1802 and FORTH are old friends. Just ask the Galileo space probe. But let's forget the whole FORTH as an OS and also the interpreter stuff. Let's implement it as a cross compiler on the PC. I think I will not call it FORTH. Maybe ZWÖLFTH.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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It is time to write an article on such a stuff.
"In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?"
-- Rigoletto
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More like a book 
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Or maybe a TV series. You could have a 'tube channel! 
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Great stuff, you're making good headway.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer is finally available for download.
JaxCoder.com
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Long live Zwölf!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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 Beat me to it!
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<evil grin> 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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CodeWraith wrote: There was not much left to be learned and it's time to build Zwölf 02
Not DreiZehn?
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Because it's based on the COSMAC Elf[^] and there alredy have been countless takes on the original design. And the names are just as diverse as the hardware. So what would you call your modernized versions of the Elf?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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You misunderstand me. I meant that the next version after zwölf should be dreizehn.
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But Zwölf is not finished yet and will not be any time soon, if ever. After almost 45 years I'm still not done with the old Elf. Besides that, maybe you understand too well. Elf (as in pointy ears), Zwölf...
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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The survey question reminded me that I've always wondered about this. Does it use the computer's memory or the existing graphics card memory? Is the computer's graphics card involved in any way? It seems so because on my latest laptop I can really up the resolution of Skyrim, but how in the world does that work? And it seems like this is a ton of data to be transmitting constantly - is it optimized in some way?
When I ask this question on Google, the links I get are really stupid and don't explain any of the technical details that are what I'm interested in. Maybe my Google Fu is not awake this morning yet.
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The cheap USB3 version just has your system output an HDMI signal over the USB wires. This needs support on the host system; and probably won't work with a PCIe GPU and USB3 slot on your mobo.
Edit: IIRC this one needs a USB C port in order to use both the normal and inverted pins to have enough high speed IO outputs, and a 3.0 USBA port would still need the below. IIRC This gives the output bandwidth for 1440p60 signalling. 4k60 would require the fastest USB3 mode that can do 20gps (the 10gbps mode is just doing the same use both sets of data pins as HDMI over USBC).
The expensive version that also works on USB2 is from a company called Display Link. I'm not sure if their software captures video being rendered by the onboard GPU and then compresses it to fit in USB2 bandwidth, or if they have a crappy GPU on the other end of the USB cable and just send draw commands over it.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
modified 22-Aug-22 10:24am.
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There are a number of different ways to do it.
I have a couple of modern TV's for example, that have HDMI inputs where there is actually little to no video data sent over the link. Instead, the TV actually includes the GPU, and all that's used on the HDMI connection is a high speed serial bit stream of GPU commands.
Like wise I also have USB3 to HDMI/DVI/VGA adapters that basically have the same GPU inside the adapter, and take a serial bit stream from the USB3 port, in much the same way my TV takes it's GPU input over the HDMI serial link.
Broadcom make a LOT of SOC's that can do this decoding in real time, and many of the devices I open and investigate (esp the older ones) tend to have broadcom chips in them.
In some cases though, yes it is just a straight through high speed serial link, USB3 to HDMI, you tend to be able to spot these ones though, they are generally smaller than the GPU based ones, and they won't work with some makes of monitors (EG: ones that don't have their own on-board GPU)
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Marc - your google fu has not failed. Something has happened to google search that has made it useless. Most of the results are ads, companies, etc but no information.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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i do not know if my google chop any use, or just ad blocks. Also im plagued with quora results now 
snippet from article
Quote: The USB to HDMI active adapter basically works like an external graphics or video card as an interface between the computer and monitor. Most computers will have a USB 2.0 or 3.0 Type A port. This is the slender rectangular port.
How to Connect a Laptop to a Monitor with a USB Port | Exhibit Edge
so sounds like for this specific device, driver captures output somehow, transmits to usb, and usb device has converter to hdmi signal. the USb / HDMI devices iv used tend to have a chunky block in them to mean have some kind of processor in them along with with the connectors.
so what doing work, cpu, to capture output, but gpu might still be doing number crunching
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You apparently have to register as an HDMI "adopter" at www.hdmi.org to get these specifications. I used DuckDuckGo to find this site.
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Call what you will, I'll call it "Nope, no, no, NO, no way, mad, crazy insane, never in a million trillion years".
I've just watched a couple of videos, like this one The worst claustrophobic caving you will ever see. *TRIGGER WARNING - YouTube[^].
I don't flinch when watching horror/slasher movies, but this just creeps me out to the max. I'm still shuddering just at the thought of being underground like that, crawling through spaces barely body width.
I think I'm going to have nightmares for weeks. If I can't drive a car through it, then I'm not going near it.
// TODO: Insert something here Top ten reasons why I'm lazy
1.
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NO, NO, NO !!!
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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I couldn't even finish watching it, I'm claustrophobic.
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer is finally available for download.
JaxCoder.com
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The task itself is interesting and I would sign up for it if I was fit. The video is boring after a while.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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I remember exploring a cave on the hill above our town many years ago. My friend and I (aged about 13) walked in with a torch and a candle. after about half an hour we reached a large hole filled with water, which was passable by walking across a wooden plank. I started across but the plank felt a little unstable so we called it a day and worked our way back out.
At the age of 55, my wife and I went to the Kango caves in South Africa. There was a guided tour through the caves which we joined. It included climbing, sliding and crawling. It was only when we came out at the end that we realised we were about 20 years older than all the other participants.
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I've been in public caves such as Carlsbad Caverns, but I have no desire to go spelunking. As for potholing, I try to avoid them as they're heck on wheels and suspensions.
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I've been exploring, surveying and mapping caves in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky since I was 10 years old. I love the quiet, the beauty, and the thrill of being somewhere no one, or very few, have gone before. Hence my username and avatar. 
Having said that, I don't care for tight squeezes either. When I'm already crawling on my belly and I start to feel the ceiling on my back and I've got more than a few feet to crawl that way, that's where I stop.
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.
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