1 The Acorn Electron ULA
2 ======================
3
4 Principal Design and Feature Constraints
5 ----------------------------------------
6
7 The features of the ULA are limited in sophistication by the amount of time
8 and resources that can be allocated to each activity supporting the
9 fundamental features and obligations of the unit. Maintaining a screen display
10 based on the contents of RAM itself requires the ULA to have exclusive access
11 to various hardware resources for a significant period of time.
12
13 Whilst other elements of the ULA can in principle run in parallel with the
14 display refresh activity, they cannot also access the RAM at the same time.
15 Consequently, other features that might use the RAM must accept a reduced
16 allocation of that resource in comparison to a hypothetical architecture where
17 concurrent RAM access is possible at all times.
18
19 Thus, the principal constraint for many features is bandwidth. The duration of
20 access to hardware resources is one aspect of this; the rate at which such
21 resources can be accessed is another. For example, the RAM is not fast enough
22 to support access more frequently than one byte per 2MHz cycle, and for screen
23 modes involving 80 bytes of screen data per scanline, there are no free cycles
24 for anything other than the production of pixel output during the active
25 scanline periods.
26
27 Another constraint is imposed by the method of RAM access provided by the ULA.
28 The ULA is able to access RAM by fetching 4 bits at a time and thus managing
29 to transfer 8 bits within a single 2MHz cycle, this being sufficient to
30 provide display data for the most demanding screen modes. However, this
31 mechanism's timing requirements are beyond the capabilities of the CPU when
32 running at 2MHz.
33
34 Consequently, the CPU will only ever be able to access RAM via the ULA at
35 1MHz, even when the ULA is not accessing the RAM. Fortunately, when needing to
36 refresh the display, the ULA is still able to make use of the idle part of
37 each 1MHz cycle (or, rather, the idle 2MHz cycle unused by the CPU) to itself
38 access the RAM at a rate of 1 byte per 1MHz cycle (or 1 byte every other 2MHz
39 cycle), thus supporting the less demanding screen modes.
40
41 Timing
42 ------
43
44 According to 15.3.2 in the Advanced User Guide, there are 312 scanlines, 256
45 of which are used to generate pixel data. At 50Hz, this means that 128 cycles
46 are spent on each scanline (2000000 cycles / 50 = 40000 cycles; 40000 cycles /
47 312 ~= 128 cycles). This is consistent with the observation that each scanline
48 requires at most 80 bytes of data, and that the ULA is apparently busy for 40
49 out of 64 microseconds in each scanline.
50
51 (In fact, since the ULA is seeking to provide an image for an interlaced
52 625-line display, there are in fact two "fields" involved, one providing 312
53 scanlines and one providing 313 scanlines. See below for a description of the
54 video system.)
55
56 Access to RAM involves accessing four 64Kb dynamic RAM devices (IC4 to IC7,
57 each providing two bits of each byte) using two cycles within the 500ns period
58 of the 2MHz clock to complete each access operation. Since the CPU and ULA
59 have to take turns in accessing the RAM in MODE 4, 5 and 6, the CPU must
60 effectively run at 1MHz (since every other 500ns period involves the ULA
61 accessing RAM) during transfers of screen data.
62
63 The CPU is driven by an external clock (IC8) whose 16MHz frequency is divided
64 by the ULA (IC1) depending on the screen mode in use. Each 16MHz cycle is
65 approximately 62.5ns. To access the memory, the following patterns
66 corresponding to 16MHz cycles are required:
67
68 Time (ns): 0-------------- 500------------- ...
69 2 MHz cycle: 0 1 ...
70 16 MHz cycle: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ...
71 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ...
72 ~RAS: /---\___________/---\___________ ...
73 ~CAS: /-----\___/-\___/-----\___/-\___ ...
74 Address events: A B C A B C ...
75 Data events: F S F S ...
76
77 ~RAS ops: 1 0 1 0 ...
78 ~CAS ops: 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 ...
79
80 Address ops: a b c a b c ...
81 Data ops: s f s f ...
82
83 ~WE: ......W ...
84 PHI OUT: \_______________/--------------- ...
85 CPU (RAM): L D ...
86 RnW: R ...
87
88 PHI OUT: \_______/-------\_______/------- ...
89 CPU (ROM): L D L D ...
90 RnW: R R ...
91
92 ~RAS must be high for 100ns, ~CAS must be high for 50ns.
93 ~RAS must be low for 150ns, ~CAS must be low for 90ns.
94 Data is available 150ns after ~RAS goes low, 90ns after ~CAS goes low.
95
96 Here, "A" and "B" respectively indicate the row and first column addresses
97 being latched into the RAM (on a negative edge for ~RAS and ~CAS
98 respectively), and "C" indicates the second column address being latched into
99 the RAM. Presumably, the first and second half-bytes can be read at "F" and
100 "S" respectively, and the row and column addresses must be made available at
101 "a" and "b" (and "c") respectively at the latest. Data can be read at "f" and
102 "s" for the first and second half-bytes respectively.
103
104 For the CPU, "L" indicates the point at which an address is taken from the CPU
105 address bus, on a negative edge of PHI OUT, with "D" being the point at which
106 data may either be read or be asserted for writing, on a positive edge of PHI
107 OUT. Here, PHI OUT is driven at 1MHz. Given that ~WE needs to be driven low
108 for writing or high for reading, and thus propagates RnW from the CPU, this
109 would need to be done before data would be retrieved and, according to the
110 TM4164EC4 datasheet, even as late as the column address is presented and ~CAS
111 brought low.
112
113 The TM4164EC4-15 has a row address access time of 150ns (maximum) and a column
114 address access time of 90ns (maximum), which appears to mean that ~RAS must be
115 held low for at least 150ns and that ~CAS must be held low for at least 90ns
116 before data becomes available. 150ns is 2.4 cycles (at 16MHz) and 90ns is 1.44
117 cycles. Thus, "A" to "F" is 2.5 cycles, "B" to "F" is 1.5 cycles, "C" to "S"
118 is 1.5 cycles.
119
120 Note that the Service Manual refers to the negative edge of RAS and CAS, but
121 the datasheet for the similar TM4164EC4 product shows latching on the negative
122 edge of ~RAS and ~CAS. It is possible that the Service Manual also intended to
123 communicate the latter behaviour. In the TM4164EC4 datasheet, it appears that
124 "page mode" provides the appropriate behaviour for that particular product.
125
126 The CPU, when accessing the RAM alone, apparently does not make use of the
127 vacated "slot" that the ULA would otherwise use (when interleaving accesses in
128 MODE 4, 5 and 6). It only employs a full 2MHz access frequency to memory when
129 accessing ROM (and potentially sideways RAM). The principal limitation is the
130 amount of time needed between issuing an address and receiving an entire byte
131 from the RAM, which is approximately 7 cycles (at 16MHz): much longer than the
132 4 cycles that would be required for 2MHz operation.
133
134 See: Acorn Electron Advanced User Guide
135 See: Acorn Electron Service Manual
136 http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Manuals/Acorn_ElectronSM.pdf
137 See: http://mdfs.net/Docs/Comp/Electron/Techinfo.htm
138 See: http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=120438#p120438
139 See: One of the Most Popular 65,536-Bit (64K) Dynamic RAMs The TMS 4164
140 http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/augarten/p64.htm
141
142 A Note on 8-Bit Wide RAM Access
143 -------------------------------
144
145 It is worth considering the timing when 8 bits of data can be obtained at once
146 from the RAM chips:
147
148 Time (ns): 0-------------- 500------------- ...
149 2 MHz cycle: 0 1 ...
150 8 MHz cycle: 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 ...
151 /-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_/-\_ ...
152 ~RAS: /---\___________/---\___________ ...
153 ~CAS: /-------\_______/-------\_______ ...
154 Address events: A B A B ...
155 Data events: E E ...
156
157 ~RAS ops: 1 0 1 0 ...
158 ~CAS ops: 1 0 1 0 ...
159
160 Address ops: a b a b ...
161 Data ops: f s f ...
162
163 ~WE: ........W ...
164 PHI OUT: \_______/-------\_______/------- ...
165 CPU: L D L D ...
166 RnW: R R ...
167
168 Here, "E" indicates the availability of an entire byte.
169
170 Since only one fetch is required per 2MHz cycle, instead of two fetches for
171 the 4-bit wide RAM arrangement, it seems likely that longer 8MHz cycles could
172 be used to coordinate the necessary signalling.
173
174 Another conceivable simplification from using an 8-bit wide RAM access channel
175 with a single access within each 2MHz cycle is the possibility of allowing the
176 CPU to signal directly to the RAM instead of having the ULA perform the access
177 signalling on the CPU's behalf. Note that it is this more leisurely signalling
178 that would allow the CPU to conduct accesses at 2MHz: the "compressed"
179 signalling being beyond the capabilities of the CPU.
180
181 Note that 16MHz cycles would still be needed for the pixel clock in MODE 0,
182 which needs to output eight pixels per 2MHz cycle, producing 640 monochrome
183 pixels per 80-byte line.
184
185 An obvious consideration with regard to 8-bit wide access is whether the ULA
186 could still conduct the "compressed" signalling for its own RAM accesses:
187
188 Time (ns): 0-------------- 500------------- ...
189 2 MHz cycle: 0 1 ...
190 16 MHz cycle: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ...
191 /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ...
192 ~RAS: /---\___________/---\___________ ...
193 ~CAS: /-----\___/-\___/-----\___/-\___ ...
194 Address events: A B C A B C ...
195 Data events: 1 2 1 2 ...
196
197 ~RAS ops: 1 0 1 0 ...
198 ~CAS ops: 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 ...
199
200 Address ops: a b c a b c ...
201 Data ops: s f s f ...
202
203 ~WE: ......W ...
204 PHI OUT: \_______/-------\_______/------- ...
205 CPU: L D L D ...
206 RnW: R R ...
207
208 Here, "1" and "2" in the data events correspond to whole byte accesses,
209 effectively upgrading the half-byte "F" and "S" events in the existing ULA
210 arrangement.
211
212 Although the provision of access for the CPU would adhere to the relevant
213 timing constraints, providing only one byte per 2MHz cycle, the ULA could
214 obtain two bytes per cycle. This would then free up bandwidth for the CPU in
215 screen modes where the ULA would normally be dominant (MODE 0 to 3), albeit at
216 the cost of extra buffering. Such buffering could also be done for modes where
217 the bandwidth is shared (MODE 4 to 6), consolidating pairs of ULA accesses into
218 single cycles and freeing up an extra cycle for CPU accesses.
219
220 CPU Clock Notes
221 ---------------
222
223 "The 6502 receives an external square-wave clock input signal on pin 37, which
224 is usually labeled PHI0. [...] This clock input is processed within the 6502
225 to form two clock outputs: PHI1 and PHI2 (pins 3 and 39, respectively). PHI2
226 is essentially a copy of PHI0; more specifically, PHI2 is PHI0 after it's been
227 through two inverters and a push-pull amplifier. The same network of
228 transistors within the 6502 which generates PHI2 is also tied to PHI1, and
229 generates PHI1 as the inverse of PHI0. The reason why PHI1 and PHI2 are made
230 available to external devices is so that they know when they can access the
231 CPU. When PHI1 is high, this means that external devices can read from the
232 address bus or data bus; when PHI2 is high, this means that external devices
233 can write to the data bus."
234
235 See: http://lateblt.livejournal.com/88105.html
236
237 "The 6502 has a synchronous memory bus where the master clock is divided into
238 two phases (Phase 1 and Phase 2). The address is always generated during Phase
239 1 and all memory accesses take place during Phase 2."
240
241 See: http://www.jmargolin.com/vgens/vgens.htm
242
243 Thus, the inverse of PHI OUT provides the "other phase" of the clock. "During
244 Phase 1" means when PHI0 - really PHI2 - is high and "during Phase 2" means
245 when PHI1 is high.
246
247 Bandwidth Figures
248 -----------------
249
250 Using an observation of 128 2MHz cycles per scanline, 256 active lines and 312
251 total lines, with 80 cycles occurring in the active periods of display
252 scanlines, the following bandwidth calculations can be performed:
253
254 Total theoretical maximum:
255 128 cycles * 312 lines
256 = 39936 bytes
257
258 MODE 0, 1, 2:
259 ULA: 80 cycles * 256 lines
260 = 20480 bytes
261 CPU: 48 cycles / 2 * 256 lines
262 + 128 cycles / 2 * (312 - 256) lines
263 = 9728 bytes
264
265 MODE 3:
266 ULA: 80 cycles * 24 rows * 8 lines
267 = 15360 bytes
268 CPU: 48 cycles / 2 * 24 rows * 8 lines
269 + 128 cycles / 2 * (312 - (24 rows * 8 lines))
270 = 12288 bytes
271
272 MODE 4, 5:
273 ULA: 40 cycles * 256 lines
274 = 10240 bytes
275 CPU: (40 cycles + 48 cycles / 2) * 256 lines
276 + 128 cycles / 2 * (312 - 256) lines
277 = 19968 bytes
278
279 MODE 6:
280 ULA: 40 cycles * 24 rows * 8 lines
281 = 7680 bytes
282 CPU: (40 cycles + 48 cycles / 2) * 24 rows * 8 lines
283 + 128 cycles / 2 * (312 - (24 rows * 8 lines))
284 = 19968 bytes
285
286 Here, the division of 2 for CPU accesses is performed to indicate that the CPU
287 only uses every other access opportunity even in uncontended periods. See the
288 2MHz RAM Access enhancement below for bandwidth calculations that consider
289 this limitation removed.
290
291 A summary of the bandwidth figures is as follows (with extra timing details
292 described below):
293
294 Standard ULA % Total Slowdown BBC-10s BBC-34s
295 MODE 0, 1, 2 9728 bytes 24% 4.11 43s 105s
296 MODE 3 12288 bytes 31% 3.25 34s
297 MODE 4, 5 19968 bytes 50% 2 20s
298 MODE 6 19968 bytes 50% 2 20s 50s
299
300 The review of the Electron in Practical Computing (October 1983) provides a
301 concise overview of the RAM access limitations and gives timing comparisons
302 between modes and BBC Micro performance. In the above, "BBC-10s" is the
303 measured or stated time given for a program taking 10 seconds on the BBC
304 Micro, whereas "BBC-34s" is the apparently measured time given for the
305 "Persian" program taking 34 seconds to complete on the BBC Micro, with a
306 "quick" mode presumably switching to MODE 6 using the ULA directly in order to
307 reduce display bandwidth usage while the program draws to the screen.
308 Evidently, the measured slowdown is slightly lower than the theoretical
309 slowdown, most likely due to the running time not being entirely dominated by
310 RAM access performance characteristics.
311
312 Video Timing
313 ------------
314
315 According to 8.7 in the Service Manual, and the PAL Wikipedia page,
316 approximately 4.7µs is used for the sync pulse, 5.7µs for the "back porch"
317 (including the "colour burst"), and 1.65µs for the "front porch", totalling
318 12.05µs and thus leaving 51.95µs for the active video signal for each
319 scanline. As the Service Manual suggests in the oscilloscope traces, the
320 display information is transmitted more or less centred within the active
321 video period since the ULA will only be providing pixel data for 40µs in each
322 scanline.
323
324 Each 62.5ns cycle happens to correspond to 64µs divided by 1024, meaning that
325 each scanline can be divided into 1024 cycles, although only 640 at most are
326 actively used to provide pixel data. Pixel data production should only occur
327 within a certain period on each scanline, approximately 262 cycles after the
328 start of hsync:
329
330 active video period = 51.95µs
331 pixel data period = 40µs
332 total silent period = 51.95µs - 40µs = 11.95µs
333 silent periods (before and after) = 11.95µs / 2 = 5.975µs
334 hsync and back porch period = 4.7µs + 5.7µs = 10.4µs
335 time before pixel data period = 10.4µs + 5.975µs = 16.375µs
336 pixel data period start cycle = 16.375µs / 62.5ns = 262
337
338 By choosing a number divisible by 8, the RAM access mechanism can be
339 synchronised with the pixel production. Thus, 256 is a more appropriate start
340 cycle, where the HS (horizontal sync) signal corresponding to the 4µs sync
341 pulse (or "normal sync" pulse as described by the "PAL TV timing and voltages"
342 document) occurs at cycle 0.
343
344 To summarise:
345
346 HS signal starts at cycle 0 on each horizontal scanline
347 HS signal ends approximately 4µs later at cycle 64
348 Pixel data starts approximately 12µs later at cycle 256
349
350 "Re: Electron Memory Contention" provides measurements that appear consistent
351 with these calculations.
352
353 The "vertical blanking period", meaning the period before picture information
354 in each field is 25 lines out of 312 (or 313) and thus lasts for 1.6ms. Of
355 this, 2.5 lines occur before the vsync (field sync) which also lasts for 2.5
356 lines. Thus, the first visible scanline on the first field of a frame occurs
357 half way through the 23rd scanline period measured from the start of vsync
358 (indicated by "V" in the diagrams below):
359
360 10 20 23
361 Line in frame: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
362 Line from 1: 0 22 3
363 Line on screen: .:::::VVVVV::::: 12233445566
364 |_________________________________________________|
365 25 line vertical blanking period
366
367 In the second field of a frame, the first visible scanline coincides with the
368 24th scanline period measured from the start of line 313 in the frame:
369
370 310 336
371 Line in frame: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
372 Line from 313: 0 23 4
373 Line on screen: 88:::::VVVVV:::: 11223344
374 288 | |
375 |_________________________________________________|
376 25 line vertical blanking period
377
378 In order to consider only full lines, we might consider the start of each
379 frame to occur 23 lines after the start of vsync.
380
381 Again, it is likely that pixel data production should only occur on scanlines
382 within a certain period on each frame. The "625/50" document indicates that
383 only a certain region is "safe" to use, suggesting a vertically centred region
384 with approximately 15 blank lines above and below the picture. However, the
385 "PAL TV timing and voltages" document suggests 28 blank lines above and below
386 the picture. This would centre the 256 lines within the 312 lines of each
387 field and thus provide a start of picture approximately 5.5 or 5 lines after
388 the end of the blanking period or 28 or 27.5 lines after the start of vsync.
389
390 To summarise:
391
392 CSYNC signal starts at cycle 0
393 CSYNC signal ends approximately 160µs (2.5 lines) later at cycle 2560
394 Start of line occurs approximately 1632µs (5.5 lines) later at cycle 28672
395
396 See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL
397 See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_television#Structure_of_a_video_signal
398 See: The 625/50 PAL Video Signal and TV Compatible Graphics Modes
399 http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~f76998/video/modes/
400 See: PAL TV timing and voltages
401 http://www.retroleum.co.uk/electronics-articles/pal-tv-timing-and-voltages/
402 See: Line Standards
403 http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/World-TV-Standards/Line-Standards.html
404 See: Horizontal Blanking Interval of 405-, 525-, 625- and 819-Line Standards
405 http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/World-TV-Standards/HBI.pdf
406 See: Re: Electron Memory Contention
407 http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=134109#p134109
408
409 RAM Integrated Circuits
410 -----------------------
411
412 Unicorn Electronics appears to offer 4164 RAM chips (as well as 6502 series
413 CPUs such as the 6502, 6502A, 6502B and 65C02). These 4164 devices are
414 available in 100ns (4164-100), 120ns (4164-120) and 150ns (4164-150) variants,
415 have 16 pins and address 65536 bits through a 1-bit wide channel. Similarly,
416 ByteDelight.com sell 4164 devices primarily for the ZX Spectrum.
417
418 The documentation for the Electron mentions 4164-15 RAM chips for IC4-7, and
419 the Samsung-produced KM41464 series is apparently equivalent to the Texas
420 Instruments 4164 chips presumably used in the Electron.
421
422 The TM4164EC4 series combines 4 64K x 1b units into a single package and
423 appears similar to the TM4164EA4 featured on the Electron's circuit diagram
424 (in the Advanced User Guide but not the Service Manual), and it also has 22
425 pins providing 3 additional inputs and 3 additional outputs over the 16 pins
426 of the individual 4164-15 modules, presumably allowing concurrent access to
427 the packaged memory units.
428
429 As far as currently available replacements are concerned, the NTE4164 is a
430 potential candidate: according to the Vetco Electronics entry, it is
431 supposedly a replacement for the TMS4164-15 amongst many other parts. Similar
432 parts include the NTE2164 and the NTE6664, both of which appear to have
433 largely the same performance and connection characteristics. Meanwhile, the
434 NTE21256 appears to be a 16-pin replacement with four times the capacity that
435 maintains the single data input and output pins. Using the NTE21256 as a
436 replacement for all ICs combined would be difficult because of the single bit
437 output.
438
439 Another device equivalent to the 4164-15 appears to be available under the
440 code 41662 from Jameco Electronics as the Siemens HYB 4164-2. The Jameco Web
441 site lists data sheets for other devices on the same page, but these are
442 different and actually appear to be provided under the 41574 product code (but
443 are listed under 41464-10) and appear to be replacements for the TM4164EC4:
444 the Samsung KM41464A-15 and NEC µPD41464 employ 18 pins, eliminating 4 pins by
445 employing 4 pins for both input and output.
446
447 Pins I/O pins Row access Column access
448 ---- -------- ---------- -------------
449 TM4164EC4 22 4 + 4 150ns (15) 90ns (15)
450 KM41464AP 18 4 150ns (15) 75ns (15)
451 NTE21256 16 1 + 1 150ns 75ns
452 HYB 4164-2 16 1 + 1 150ns 100ns
453 µPD41464 18 4 120ns (12) 60ns (12)
454
455 See: TM4164EC4 65,536 by 4-Bit Dynamic RAM Module
456 http://www.datasheetarchive.com/dl/Datasheets-112/DSAP0051030.pdf
457 See: Dynamic RAMS
458 http://www.unicornelectronics.com/IC/DYNAMIC.html
459 See: New old stock 8x 4164 chips
460 http://www.bytedelight.com/?product=8x-4164-chips-new-old-stock
461 See: KM4164B 64K x 1 Bit Dynamic RAM with Page Mode
462 http://images.ihscontent.net/vipimages/VipMasterIC/IC/SAMS/SAMSD020/SAMSD020-45.pdf
463 See: NTE2164 Integrated Circuit 65,536 X 1 Bit Dynamic Random Access Memory
464 http://www.vetco.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2806
465 See: NTE4164 - IC-NMOS 64K DRAM 150NS
466 http://www.vetco.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=3680
467 See: NTE21256 - IC-256K DRAM 150NS
468 http://www.vetco.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2799
469 See: NTE21256 262,144-Bit Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)
470 http://www.nteinc.com/specs/21000to21999/pdf/nte21256.pdf
471 See: NTE6664 - IC-MOS 64K DRAM 150NS
472 http://www.vetco.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5213
473 See: NTE6664 Integrated Circuit 64K-Bit Dynamic RAM
474 http://www.nteinc.com/specs/6600to6699/pdf/nte6664.pdf
475 See: 4164-150: MAJOR BRANDS
476 http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_41662_-1
477 See: HYB 4164-1, HYB 4164-2, HYB 4164-3 65,536-Bit Dynamic Random Access Memory (RAM)
478 http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ProdDS/41662SIEMENS.pdf
479 See: KM41464A NMOS DRAM 64K x 4 Bit Dynamic RAM with Page Mode
480 http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ProdDS/41662SAM.pdf
481 See: NEC µ41464 65,536 x 4-Bit Dynamic NMOS RAM
482 http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ProdDS/41662NEC.pdf
483 See: 41464-10: MAJOR BRANDS
484 http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_41574_-1
485
486 Interrupts
487 ----------
488
489 The ULA generates IRQs (maskable interrupts) according to certain conditions
490 and these conditions are controlled by location &FE00:
491
492 * Vertical sync (bottom of displayed screen)
493 * 50MHz real time clock
494 * Transmit data empty
495 * Receive data full
496 * High tone detect
497
498 The ULA is also used to clear interrupt conditions through location &FE05. Of
499 particular significance is bit 7, which must be set if an NMI (non-maskable
500 interrupt) has occurred and has thus suspended ULA access to memory, restoring
501 the normal function of the ULA.
502
503 ROM Paging
504 ----------
505
506 Accessing different ROMs involves bits 0 to 3 of &FE05. Some special ROM
507 mappings exist:
508
509 8 keyboard
510 9 keyboard (duplicate)
511 10 BASIC ROM
512 11 BASIC ROM (duplicate)
513
514 Paging in a ROM involves the following procedure:
515
516 1. Assert ROM page enable (bit 3) together with a ROM number n in bits 0 to
517 2, corresponding to ROM number 8+n, such that one of ROMs 12 to 15 is
518 selected.
519 2. Where a ROM numbered from 0 to 7 is to be selected, set bit 3 to zero
520 whilst writing the desired ROM number n in bits 0 to 2.
521
522 See: http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136686#p136686
523
524 Keyboard Access
525 ---------------
526
527 The keyboard pages appear to be accessed at 1MHz just like the RAM.
528
529 See: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=254155#p254155
530
531 Shadow/Expanded Memory
532 ----------------------
533
534 The Electron exposes all sixteen address lines and all eight data lines
535 through the expansion bus. Using such lines, it is possible to provide
536 additional memory - typically sideways ROM and RAM - on expansion cards and
537 through cartridges, although the official cartridge specification provides
538 fewer address lines and only seeks to provide access to memory in 16K units.
539
540 Various modifications and upgrades were developed to offer "turbo"
541 capabilities to the Electron, permitting the CPU to access a separate 8K of
542 RAM at 2MHz, presumably preventing access to the low 8K of RAM accessible via
543 the ULA through additional logic. However, an enhanced ULA might support
544 independent CPU access to memory over the expansion bus by allowing itself to
545 be discharged from providing access to memory, potentially for a range of
546 addresses, and for the CPU to communicate with external memory uninterrupted.
547
548 Sideways RAM/ROM and Upper Memory Access
549 ----------------------------------------
550
551 Although the ULA controls the CPU clock, effectively slowing or stopping the
552 CPU when the ULA needs to access screen memory, it is apparently able to allow
553 the CPU to access addresses of &8000 and above - the upper region of memory -
554 at 2MHz independently of any access to RAM that the ULA might be performing,
555 only blocking the CPU if it attempts to access addresses of &7FFF and below
556 during any ULA memory access - the lower region of memory - by stopping or
557 stalling its clock.
558
559 Thus, the ULA remains aware of the level of the A15 line, only inhibiting the
560 CPU clock if the line goes low, when the CPU is attempting to access the lower
561 region of memory.
562
563 Hardware Scrolling (and Enhancement)
564 ------------------------------------
565
566 On the standard ULA, &FE02 and &FE03 map to a 9 significant bits address with
567 the least significant 5 bits being zero, thus limiting the scrolling
568 resolution to 64 bytes. An enhanced ULA could support a resolution of 2 bytes
569 using the same layout of these addresses.
570
571 |--&FE02--------------| |--&FE03--------------|
572 XX XX 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 XX XX XX XX XX
573
574 XX 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 XX
575
576 Arguably, a resolution of 8 bytes is more useful, since the mapping of screen
577 memory to pixel locations is character oriented. A change in 8 bytes would
578 permit a horizontal scrolling resolution of 2 pixels in MODE 2, 4 pixels in
579 MODE 1 and 5, and 8 pixels in MODE 0, 3 and 6. This resolution is actually
580 observed on the BBC Micro (see 18.11.2 in the BBC Microcomputer Advanced User
581 Guide).
582
583 One argument for a 2 byte resolution is smooth vertical scrolling. A pitfall
584 of changing the screen address by 2 bytes is the change in the number of lines
585 from the initial and final character rows that need reading by the ULA, which
586 would need to maintain this state information (although this is a relatively
587 trivial change). Another pitfall is the complication that might be introduced
588 to software writing bitmaps of character height to the screen.
589
590 See: http://pastraiser.com/computers/acornelectron/acornelectron.html
591
592 Enhancement: Mode Layouts
593 -------------------------
594
595 Merely changing the screen memory mappings in order to have Archimedes-style
596 row-oriented screen addresses (instead of character-oriented addresses) could
597 be done for the existing modes, but this might not be sufficiently beneficial,
598 especially since accessing regions of the screen would involve incrementing
599 pointers by amounts that are inconvenient on an 8-bit CPU.
600
601 However, instead of using a Archimedes-style mapping, column-oriented screen
602 addresses could be more feasibly employed: incrementing the address would
603 reference the vertical screen location below the currently-referenced location
604 (just as occurs within characters using the existing ULA); instead of
605 returning to the top of the character row and referencing the next horizontal
606 location after eight bytes, the address would reference the next character row
607 and continue to reference locations downwards over the height of the screen
608 until reaching the bottom; at the bottom, the next location would be the next
609 horizontal location at the top of the screen.
610
611 In other words, the memory layout for the screen would resemble the following
612 (for MODE 2):
613
614 &3000 &3100 ... &7F00
615 &3001 &3101
616 ... ...
617 &3007
618 &3008
619 ...
620 ... ...
621 &30FF ... &7FFF
622
623 Since there are 256 pixel rows, each column of locations would be addressable
624 using the low byte of the address. Meanwhile, the high byte would be
625 incremented to address different columns. Thus, addressing screen locations
626 would become a lot more convenient and potentially much more efficient for
627 certain kinds of graphical output.
628
629 One potential complication with this simplified addressing scheme arises with
630 hardware scrolling. Vertical hardware scrolling by one pixel row (not supported
631 with the existing ULA) would be achieved by incrementing or decrementing the
632 screen start address; by one character row, it would involve adding or
633 subtracting 8. However, the ULA only supports multiples of 64 when changing the
634 screen start address. Thus, if such a scheme were to be adopted, three
635 additional bits would need to be supported in the screen start register (see
636 "Hardware Scrolling (and Enhancement)" for more details). However, horizontal
637 scrolling would be much improved even under the severe constraints of the
638 existing ULA: only adjustments of 256 to the screen start address would be
639 required to produce single-location scrolling of as few as two pixels in MODE 2
640 (four pixels in MODEs 1 and 5, eight pixels otherwise).
641
642 More disruptive is the effect of this alternative layout on software.
643 Presumably, compatibility with the BBC Micro was the primary goal of the
644 Electron's hardware design. With the character-oriented screen layout in
645 place, system software (and application software accessing the screen
646 directly) would be relying on this layout to run on the Electron with little
647 or no modification. Although it might have been possible to change the system
648 software to use this column-oriented layout instead, this would have incurred
649 a development cost and caused additional work porting things like games to the
650 Electron. Moreover, a separate branch of the software from that supporting the
651 BBC Micro and closer derivatives would then have needed maintaining.
652
653 The decision to use the character-oriented layout in the BBC Micro may have
654 been related to the choice of circuitry and to facilitate a convenient
655 hardware implementation, and by the time the Electron was planned, it was too
656 late to do anything about this somewhat unfortunate choice.
657
658 Pixel Layouts
659 -------------
660
661 The pixel layouts are as follows:
662
663 Modes Depth (bpp) Pixels (from bits)
664 ----- ----------- ------------------
665 0, 3, 4, 6 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
666 1, 5 2 73 62 51 40
667 2 4 7531 6420
668
669 Since the ULA reads a half-byte at a time, one might expect it to attempt to
670 produce pixels for every half-byte, as opposed to handling entire bytes.
671 However, the pixel layout is not conducive to producing pixels as soon as a
672 half-byte has been read for a given full-byte location: in 1bpp modes the
673 first four pixels can indeed be produced, but in 2bpp and 4bpp modes the pixel
674 data is spread across the entire byte in different ways.
675
676 An alternative arrangement might be as follows:
677
678 Modes Depth (bpp) Pixels (from bits)
679 ----- ----------- ------------------
680 0, 3, 4, 6 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
681 1, 5 2 76 54 32 10
682 2 4 7654 3210
683
684 Just as the mode layouts were presumably decided by compatibility with the BBC
685 Micro, the pixel layouts will have been maintained for similar reasons.
686 Unfortunately, this layout prevents any optimisation of the ULA for handling
687 half-byte pixel data generally.
688
689 Enhancement: The Missing MODE 4
690 -------------------------------
691
692 The Electron inherits its screen mode selection from the BBC Micro, where MODE
693 3 is a text version of MODE 0, and where MODE 6 is a text version of MODE 4.
694 Neither MODE 3 nor MODE 6 is a genuine character-based text mode like MODE 7,
695 however, and they are merely implemented by skipping two scanlines in every
696 ten after the eight required to produce a character line. Thus, such modes
697 provide a 24-row display.
698
699 In principle, nothing prevents this "text mode" effect being applied to other
700 modes. The 20-column modes are not well-suited to displaying text, which
701 leaves MODE 1 which, unlike MODEs 3 and 6, can display 4 colours rather than
702 2. Although the need for a non-monochrome 40-column text mode is addressed by
703 MODE 7 on the BBC Micro, the Electron lacks such a mode.
704
705 If the 4-colour, 24-row variant of MODE 1 were to be provided, logically it
706 would occupy MODE 4 instead of the current MODE 4:
707
708 Screen mode Size (kilobytes) Colours Rows Resolution
709 ----------- ---------------- ------- ---- ----------
710 0 20 2 32 640x256
711 1 20 4 32 320x256
712 2 20 16 32 160x256
713 3 16 2 24 640x256
714 4 (new) 16 4 24 320x256
715 4 (old) 10 2 32 320x256
716 5 10 4 32 160x256
717 6 8 2 24 320x256
718
719 Thus, for increasing mode numbers, the size of each mode would be the same or
720 less than the preceding mode.
721
722 Enhancement: Display Mode Property Control
723 ------------------------------------------
724
725 It is rather curious that the ULA supports the mode numbers directly in bits 3
726 to 5 of &FE07 since these would presumably need to be decoded in order to set
727 the fundamental properties of the display mode. These properties are as
728 follows:
729
730 * Screen data retrieval rate: number of fetches per pair of 2MHz cycles
731 * Pixel colour depth
732 * Text mode vertical spacing
733
734 From these, the following properties emerge:
735
736 Property Influences
737 -------- ----------
738 Character row size (bytes) Retrieval rate
739
740 Number of character rows Text mode setting
741
742 Display size (bytes) Retrieval rate (character row size)
743 Text mode setting (number of rows)
744
745 Pixel frequency Retrieval rate
746 Horizontal resolution (pixels) Colour depth
747
748 One can imagine a register bitfield arrangement as follows:
749
750 Field Values Formula
751 ----- ------ -------
752 Pixel depth 00: 1 bit per pixel log2(depth)
753 01: 2 bits per pixel
754 10: 4 bits per pixel
755
756 Retrieval rate 0: twice 2 - fetches per cycle pair
757 1: once
758
759 Text mode enable 0: disable/off text mode enabled
760 1: enable/on
761
762 This arrangement would require four bits. However, one bit in &FE07 is
763 seemingly inactive and might possibly be reallocated.
764
765 The resulting combination of properties would permit all of the existing modes
766 plus some additional ones, including the missing MODE 4 mentioned above. With
767 the bitfields above ordered from the most significant bits to the least
768 significant bits providing the low-level "mode" values, the following table
769 can be produced:
770
771 Screen mode Depth Rate Text Size (K) Colours Rows Resolution
772 ----------- ----- ---- ---- -------- ------- ---- ----------
773 0 (0000) 1 twice off 20 2 32 640x256 (MODE 0)
774 1 (0001) 1 twice on 16 2 24 640x256 (MODE 3)
775 2 (0010) 1 once off 10 2 32 320x256 (MODE 4)
776 3 (0011) 1 once on 8 2 24 320x256 (MODE 6)
777 4 (0100) 2 twice off 20 4 32 320x256 (MODE 1)
778 5 (0101) 2 twice on 16 4 24 320x256
779 6 (0110) 2 once off 10 4 32 160x256 (MODE 5)
780 7 (0111) 2 once on 8 4 24 160x256
781 8 (1000) 4 twice off 20 16 32 160x256 (MODE 2)
782 9 (1001) 4 twice on 16 16 24 160x256
783 10 (1010) 4 once off 10 16 32 80x256
784 11 (1011) 4 once on 8 16 24 80x256
785
786 The existing modes would be covered in a way that is incompatible with the
787 existing numbering, thus requiring a table in software, but additional text
788 modes would be provided for MODE 1, MODE 5 and MODE 2. An additional two lower
789 resolution modes would also be conceivable within this scheme, requiring the
790 stretching of 16MHz pixels by a factor of eight to yield 80 pixels per
791 scanline. The utility of such modes is questionable and such modes might not
792 be supported.
793
794 Enhancement: 2MHz RAM Access
795 ----------------------------
796
797 Given that the CPU and ULA both access RAM at 2MHz, but given that the CPU
798 when not competing with the ULA only accesses RAM every other 2MHz cycle (as
799 if the ULA still needed to access the RAM), one useful enhancement would be a
800 mechanism to let the CPU take over the ULA cycles outside the ULA's period of
801 activity comparable to the way the ULA takes over the CPU cycles in MODE 0 to
802 3.
803
804 Thus, the RAM access cycles would resemble the following in MODE 0 to 3:
805
806 Upon a transition from display cycles: UUUUCCCC (instead of UUUUC_C_)
807 On a non-display line: CCCCCCCC (instead of C_C_C_C_)
808
809 In MODE 4 to 6:
810
811 Upon a transition from display cycles: CUCUCCCC (instead of CUCUC_C_)
812 On a non-display line: CCCCCCCC (instead of C_C_C_C_)
813
814 This would improve CPU bandwidth as follows:
815
816 Standard ULA Enhanced ULA % Total Bandwidth Speedup
817 MODE 0, 1, 2 9728 bytes 19456 bytes 24% -> 49% 2
818 MODE 3 12288 bytes 24576 bytes 31% -> 62% 2
819 MODE 4, 5 19968 bytes 29696 bytes 50% -> 74% 1.5
820 MODE 6 19968 bytes 32256 bytes 50% -> 81% 1.6
821
822 (Here, the uncontended total 2MHz bandwidth for a display period would be
823 39936 bytes, being 128 cycles per line over 312 lines.)
824
825 With such an enhancement, MODE 0 to 3 experience a doubling of CPU bandwidth
826 because all access opportunities to RAM are doubled. Meanwhile, in the other
827 modes, some CPU accesses occur alongside ULA accesses and thus cannot be
828 doubled, but the CPU bandwidth increase is still significant.
829
830 Unfortunately, the mechanism for accessing the RAM is too slow to provide data
831 within the time constraints of 2MHz operation. There is no time remaining in a
832 2MHz cycle for the CPU to receive and process any retrieved data once the
833 necessary signalling has been performed.
834
835 The only way for the CPU to be able to access the RAM quickly enough would be
836 to do away with the double 4-bit access mechanism and to have a single 8-bit
837 channel to the memory. This would require twice as many 1-bit RAM chips or a
838 different kind of RAM chip, but it would also potentially simplify the ULA.
839
840 The section on 8-bit wide RAM access discusses the possibilities around
841 changing the memory architecture, also describing the possibility of ULA
842 accesses achieving two bytes per 2MHz cycle due to the doubling of the memory
843 channel, leaving every other access free for the CPU during the display period
844 in MODE 0 to 3...
845
846 Standard display period: UUUUUUUU
847 Modified display period: UCUCUCUC
848
849 ...and consolidating accesses in MODE 4 to 6:
850
851 Standard display period: UCUCUCUC
852 Modified display period: UCCCUCCC
853
854 Together with the enhancements for non-display periods, such an "Enhanced+ ULA"
855 would perform as follows:
856
857 Standard ULA Enhanced+ ULA % Total Bandwidth Speedup
858 MODE 0, 1, 2 9728 bytes 29696 bytes 24% -> 74% 3.1
859 MODE 3 12288 bytes 32256 bytes 31% -> 81% 2.6
860 MODE 4, 5 19968 bytes 34816 bytes 50% -> 87% 1.7
861 MODE 6 19968 bytes 36096 bytes 50% -> 90% 1.8
862
863 Of course, the principal enhancement would be the wider memory channel, with
864 more buffering in the ULA being its contribution to this arrangement.
865
866 Enhancement: Region Blanking
867 ----------------------------
868
869 The problem of permitting character-oriented blitting in programs whilst
870 scrolling the screen by sub-character amounts could be mitigated by permitting
871 a region of the display to be blank, such as the final lines of the display.
872 Consider the following vertical scrolling by 2 bytes that would cause an
873 initial character row of 6 lines and a final character row of 2 lines:
874
875 6 lines - initial, partial character row
876 248 lines - 31 complete rows
877 2 lines - final, partial character row
878
879 If a routine were in use that wrote 8 line bitmaps to the partial character
880 row now split in two, it would be advisable to hide one of the regions in
881 order to prevent content appearing in the wrong place on screen (such as
882 content meant to appear at the top "leaking" onto the bottom). Blanking 6
883 lines would be sufficient, as can be seen from the following cases.
884
885 Scrolling up by 2 lines:
886
887 6 lines - initial, partial character row
888 240 lines - 30 complete rows
889 4 lines - part of 1 complete row
890 -----------------------------------------------------------------
891 4 lines - part of 1 complete row (hidden to maintain 250 lines)
892 2 lines - final, partial character row (hidden)
893
894 Scrolling down by 2 lines:
895
896 2 lines - initial, partial character row
897 248 lines - 31 complete rows
898 ----------------------------------------------------------
899 6 lines - final, partial character row (hidden)
900
901 Thus, in this case, region blanking would impose a 250 line display with the
902 bottom 6 lines blank.
903
904 See the description of the display suspend enhancement for a more efficient
905 way of blanking lines than merely blanking the palette whilst allowing the CPU
906 to perform useful work during the blanking period.
907
908 To control the blanking or suspending of lines at the top and bottom of the
909 display, a memory location could be dedicated to the task: the upper 4 bits
910 could define a blanking region of up to 16 lines at the top of the screen,
911 whereas the lower 4 bits could define such a region at the bottom of the
912 screen. If more lines were required, two locations could be employed, allowing
913 the top and bottom regions to occupy the entire screen.
914
915 Enhancement: Screen Height Adjustment
916 -------------------------------------
917
918 The height of the screen could be configurable in order to reduce screen
919 memory consumption. This is not quite done in MODE 3 and 6 since the start of
920 the screen appears to be rounded down to the nearest page, but by reducing the
921 height by amounts more than a page, savings would be possible. For example:
922
923 Screen width Depth Height Bytes per line Saving in bytes Start address
924 ------------ ----- ------ -------------- --------------- -------------
925 640 1 252 80 320 &3140 -> &3100
926 640 1 248 80 640 &3280 -> &3200
927 320 1 240 40 640 &5A80 -> &5A00
928 320 2 240 80 1280 &3500
929
930 Screen Mode Selection
931 ---------------------
932
933 Bits 3, 4 and 5 of address &FE*7 control the selected screen mode. For a wider
934 range of modes, the other bits of &FE*7 (related to sound, cassette
935 input/output and the Caps Lock LED) would need to be reassigned and bit 0
936 potentially being made available for use.
937
938 Enhancement: Palette Definition
939 -------------------------------
940
941 Since all memory accesses go via the ULA, an enhanced ULA could employ more
942 specific addresses than &FE*X to perform enhanced functions. For example, the
943 palette control is done using &FE*8-F and merely involves selecting predefined
944 colours, whereas an enhanced ULA could support the redefinition of all 16
945 colours using specific ranges such as &FE18-F (colours 0 to 7) and &FE28-F
946 (colours 8 to 15), where a single byte might provide 8 bits per pixel colour
947 specifications similar to those used on the Archimedes.
948
949 The principal limitation here is actually the hardware: the Electron has only
950 a single output line for each of the red, green and blue channels, and if
951 those outputs are strictly digital and can only be set to a "high" and "low"
952 value, then only the existing eight colours are possible. If a modern ULA were
953 able to output analogue values (or values at well-defined points between the
954 high and low values, such as the half-on value supported by the Amstrad CPC
955 series), it would still need to be assessed whether the circuitry could
956 successfully handle and propagate such values. Various sources indicate that
957 only "TTL levels" are supported by the RGB output circuit, and since there are
958 74LS08 AND logic gates involved in the RGB component outputs from the ULA, it
959 is likely that the ULA is expected to provide only "high" or "low" values.
960
961 Short of adding extra outputs from the ULA (either additional red, green and
962 blue outputs or a combined intensity output), another approach might involve
963 some kind of modulation where an output value might be encoded in multiple
964 pulses at a higher frequency than the pixel frequency. However, this would
965 demand additional circuitry outside the ULA, and component RGB monitors would
966 probably not be able to take advantage of this feature; only UHF and composite
967 video devices (the latter with the composite video colour support enabled on
968 the Electron's circuit board) would potentially benefit.
969
970 Flashing Colours
971 ----------------
972
973 According to the Advanced User Guide, "The cursor and flashing colours are
974 entirely generated in software: This means that all of the logical to physical
975 colour map must be changed to cause colours to flash." This appears to suggest
976 that the palette registers must be updated upon the flash counter - read and
977 written by OSBYTE &C1 (193) - reaching zero and that some way of changing the
978 colour pairs to be any combination of colours might be possible, instead of
979 having colour complements as pairs.
980
981 It is conceivable that the interrupt code responsible does the simple thing
982 and merely inverts the current values for any logical colours (LC) for which
983 the associated physical colour (as supplied as the second parameter to the VDU
984 19 call) has the top bit of its four bit value set. These top bits are not
985 recorded in the palette registers but are presumably recorded separately and
986 used to build bitmaps as follows:
987
988 LC 2 colour 4 colour 16 colour 4-bit value for inversion
989 -- -------- -------- --------- -------------------------
990 0 00010001 00010001 00010001 1, 1, 1
991 1 01000100 00100010 00010001 4, 2, 1
992 2 01000100 00100010 4, 2
993 3 10001000 00100010 8, 2
994 4 00010001 1
995 5 00010001 1
996 6 00100010 2
997 7 00100010 2
998 8 01000100 4
999 9 01000100 4
1000 10 10001000 8
1001 11 10001000 8
1002 12 01000100 4
1003 13 01000100 4
1004 14 10001000 8
1005 15 10001000 8
1006
1007 Inversion value calculation:
1008
1009 2 colour formula: 1 << (colour * 2)
1010 4 colour formula: 1 << colour
1011 16 colour formula: 1 << ((colour & 2) + ((colour & 8) * 2))
1012
1013 For example, where logical colour 0 has been mapped to a physical colour in
1014 the range 8 to 15, a bitmap of 00010001 would be chosen as its contribution to
1015 the inversion operation. (The lower three bits of the physical colour would be
1016 used to set the underlying colour information affected by the inversion
1017 operation.)
1018
1019 An operation in the interrupt code would then combine the bitmaps for all
1020 logical colours in 2 and 4 colour modes, with the 16 colour bitmaps being
1021 combined for groups of logical colours as follows:
1022
1023 Logical colours
1024 ---------------
1025 0, 2, 8, 10
1026 4, 6, 12, 14
1027 5, 7, 13, 15
1028 1, 3, 9, 11
1029
1030 These combined bitmaps would be EORed with the existing palette register
1031 values in order to perform the value inversion necessary to produce the
1032 flashing effect.
1033
1034 Thus, in the VDU 19 operation, the appropriate inversion value would be
1035 calculated for the logical colour, and this value would then be combined with
1036 other inversion values in a dedicated memory location corresponding to the
1037 colour's group as indicated above. Meanwhile, the palette channel values would
1038 be derived from the lower three bits of the specified physical colour and
1039 combined with other palette data in dedicated memory locations corresponding
1040 to the palette registers.
1041
1042 Interestingly, although flashing colours on the BBC Micro are controlled by
1043 toggling bit 0 of the &FE20 control register location for the Video ULA, the
1044 actual colour inversion is done in hardware.
1045
1046 Enhancement: Palette Definition Lists
1047 -------------------------------------
1048
1049 It can be useful to redefine the palette in order to change the colours
1050 available for a particular region of the screen, particularly in modes where
1051 the choice of colours is constrained, and if an increased colour depth were
1052 available, palette redefinition would be useful to give the illusion of more
1053 than 16 colours in MODE 2. Traditionally, palette redefinition has been done
1054 by using interrupt-driven timers, but a more efficient approach would involve
1055 presenting lists of palette definitions to the ULA so that it can change the
1056 palette at a particular display line.
1057
1058 One might define a palette redefinition list in a region of memory and then
1059 communicate its contents to the ULA by writing the address and length of the
1060 list, along with the display line at which the palette is to be changed, to
1061 ULA registers such that the ULA buffers the list and performs the redefinition
1062 at the appropriate time. Throughput/bandwidth considerations might impose
1063 restrictions on the practical length of such a list, however.
1064
1065 A simple form of palette definition might be useful in text modes. Within the
1066 blank region between lines, the foreground palette could be changed to apply
1067 to the next line. Palette values could be read from a table in RAM, perhaps
1068 preceding the screen data, with 24 2-byte entries providing palette
1069 redefinition support in 2- and 4-colour modes.
1070
1071 Enhancement: Display Synchronisation Interrupts
1072 -----------------------------------------------
1073
1074 When completing each scanline of the display, the ULA could trigger an
1075 interrupt. Since this might impact system performance substantially, the
1076 feature would probably need to be configurable, and it might be sufficient to
1077 have an interrupt only after a certain number of display lines instead.
1078 Permitting the CPU to take action after eight lines would allow palette
1079 switching and other effects to occur on a character row basis.
1080
1081 The ULA provides an interrupt at the end of the display period, presumably so
1082 that software can schedule updates to the screen, avoid flickering or tearing,
1083 and so on. However, some applications might benefit from an interrupt at, or
1084 just before, the start of the display period so that palette modifications or
1085 similar effects could be scheduled.
1086
1087 Enhancement: Palette-Free Modes
1088 -------------------------------
1089
1090 Palette-free modes might be defined where bit values directly correspond to
1091 the red, green and blue channels, although this would mostly make sense only
1092 for modes with depths greater than the standard 4 bits per pixel, and such
1093 modes would require more memory than MODE 2 if they were to have an acceptable
1094 resolution.
1095
1096 Enhancement: Display Suspend
1097 ----------------------------
1098
1099 Especially when writing to the screen memory, it could be beneficial to be
1100 able to suspend the ULA's access to the memory, instead producing blank values
1101 for all screen pixels until a program is ready to reveal the screen. This is
1102 different from palette blanking since with a blank palette, the ULA is still
1103 reading screen memory and translating its contents into pixel values that end
1104 up being blank.
1105
1106 This function is reminiscent of a capability of the ZX81, albeit necessary on
1107 that hardware to reduce the load on the system CPU which was responsible for
1108 producing the video output. By allowing display suspend on the Electron, the
1109 performance benefit would be derived from giving the CPU full access to the
1110 memory bandwidth.
1111
1112 Note that since the CPU is only able to access RAM at 1MHz, there is no
1113 possibility to improve performance beyond that achieved in MODE 4, 5 or 6
1114 normally. However, if faster RAM access were to be made possible (see the
1115 discussion of 8-bit wide RAM access), the CPU could benefit from freeing up
1116 the ULA's access slots entirely.
1117
1118 The region blanking feature mentioned above could be implemented using this
1119 enhancement instead of employing palette blanking for the affected lines of
1120 the display.
1121
1122 Enhancement: Memory Filling
1123 ---------------------------
1124
1125 A capability that could be given to an enhanced ULA is that of permitting the
1126 ULA to write to screen memory as well being able to read from it. Although
1127 such a capability would probably not be useful in conjunction with the
1128 existing read operations when producing a screen display, and insufficient
1129 bandwidth would exist to do so in high-bandwidth screen modes anyway, the
1130 capability could be offered during a display suspend period (as described
1131 above), permitting a more efficient mechanism to rapidly fill memory with a
1132 predetermined value.
1133
1134 This capability could also support block filling, where the limits of the
1135 filled memory would be defined by the position and size of a screen area,
1136 although this would demand the provision of additional registers in the ULA to
1137 retain the details of such areas and additional logic to control the fill
1138 operation.
1139
1140 Enhancement: Region Filling
1141 ---------------------------
1142
1143 An alternative to memory writing might involve indicating regions using
1144 additional registers or memory where the ULA fills regions of the screen with
1145 content instead of reading from memory. Unlike hardware sprites which should
1146 realistically provide varied content, region filling could employ single
1147 colours or patterns, and one advantage of doing so would be that the ULA need
1148 not access memory at all within a particular region.
1149
1150 Regions would be defined on a row-by-row basis. Instead of reading memory and
1151 blitting a direct representation to the screen, the ULA would read region
1152 definitions containing a start column, region width and colour details. There
1153 might be a certain number of definitions allowed per row, or the ULA might
1154 just traverse an ordered list of such definitions with each one indicating the
1155 row, start column, region width and colour details.
1156
1157 One could even compress this information further by requiring only the row,
1158 start column and colour details with each subsequent definition terminating
1159 the effect of the previous one. However, one would also need to consider the
1160 convenience of preparing such definitions and whether efficient access to
1161 definitions for a particular row might be desirable. It might also be
1162 desirable to avoid having to prepare definitions for "empty" areas of the
1163 screen, effectively making the definition of the screen contents employ
1164 run-length encoding and employ only colour plus length information.
1165
1166 One application of region filling is that of simple 2D and 3D shape rendering.
1167 Although it is entirely possible to plot such shapes to the screen and have
1168 the ULA blit the memory contents to the screen, such operations consume
1169 bandwidth both in the initial plotting and in the final transfer to the
1170 screen. Region filling would reduce such bandwidth usage substantially.
1171
1172 This way of representing screen images would make certain kinds of images
1173 unfeasible to represent - consider alternating single pixel values which could
1174 easily occur in some character bitmaps - even if an internal queue of regions
1175 were to be supported such that the ULA could read ahead and buffer such
1176 "bandwidth intensive" areas. Thus, the ULA might be better served providing
1177 this feature for certain areas of the display only as some kind of special
1178 graphics window.
1179
1180 Enhancement: Hardware Sprites
1181 -----------------------------
1182
1183 An enhanced ULA might provide hardware sprites, but this would be done in an
1184 way that is incompatible with the standard ULA, since no &FE*X locations are
1185 available for allocation. To keep the facility simple, hardware sprites would
1186 have a standard byte width and height.
1187
1188 The specification of sprites could involve the reservation of 16 locations
1189 (for example, &FE20-F) specifying a fixed number of eight sprites, with each
1190 location pair referring to the sprite data. By limiting the ULA to dealing
1191 with a fixed number of sprites, the work required inside the ULA would be
1192 reduced since it would avoid having to deal with arbitrary numbers of sprites.
1193
1194 The principal limitation on providing hardware sprites is that of having to
1195 obtain sprite data, given that the ULA is usually required to retrieve screen
1196 data, and given the lack of memory bandwidth available to retrieve sprite data
1197 (particularly from multiple sprites supposedly at the same position) and
1198 screen data simultaneously. Although the ULA could potentially read sprite
1199 data and screen data in alternate memory accesses in screen modes where the
1200 bandwidth is not already fully utilised, this would result in a degradation of
1201 performance.
1202
1203 Enhancement: Additional Screen Mode Configurations
1204 --------------------------------------------------
1205
1206 Alternative screen mode configurations could be supported. The ULA has to
1207 produce 640 pixel values across the screen, with pixel doubling or quadrupling
1208 employed to fill the screen width:
1209
1210 Screen width Columns Scaling Depth Bytes
1211 ------------ ------- ------- ----- -----
1212 640 80 x1 1 80
1213 320 40 x2 1, 2 40, 80
1214 160 20 x4 2, 4 40, 80
1215
1216 It must also use at most 80 byte-sized memory accesses to provide the
1217 information for the display. Given that characters must occupy an 8x8 pixel
1218 array, if a configuration featuring anything other than 20, 40 or 80 character
1219 columns is to be supported, compromises must be made such as the introduction
1220 of blank pixels either between characters (such as occurs between rows in MODE
1221 3 and 6) or at the end of a scanline (such as occurs at the end of the frame
1222 in MODE 3 and 6). Consider the following configuration:
1223
1224 Screen width Columns Scaling Depth Bytes Blank
1225 ------------ ------- ------- ----- ------ -----
1226 208 26 x3 1, 2 26, 52 16
1227
1228 Here, if the ULA can triple pixels, a 26 column mode with either 2 or 4
1229 colours could be provided, with 16 blank pixel values (out of a total of 640)
1230 generated either at the start or end (or split between the start and end) of
1231 each scanline.
1232
1233 Enhancement: Character Attributes
1234 ---------------------------------
1235
1236 The BBC Micro MODE 7 employs something resembling character attributes to
1237 support teletext displays, but depends on circuitry providing a character
1238 generator. The ZX Spectrum, on the other hand, provides character attributes
1239 as a means of colouring bitmapped graphics. Although such a feature is very
1240 limiting as the sole means of providing multicolour graphics, in situations
1241 where the choice is between low resolution multicolour graphics or high
1242 resolution monochrome graphics, character attributes provide a potentially
1243 useful compromise.
1244
1245 For each byte read, the ULA must deliver 8 pixel values (out of a total of
1246 640) to the video output, doing so by either emptying its pixel buffer on a
1247 pixel per cycle basis, or by multiplying pixels and thus holding them for more
1248 than one cycle. For example for a screen mode having 640 pixels in width:
1249
1250 Cycle: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1251 Reads: B B
1252 Pixels: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1253
1254 And for a screen mode having 320 pixels in width:
1255
1256 Cycle: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1257 Reads: B
1258 Pixels: 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7
1259
1260 However, in modes where less than 80 bytes are required to generate the pixel
1261 values, an enhanced ULA might be able to read additional bytes between those
1262 providing the bitmapped graphics data:
1263
1264 Cycle: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1265 Reads: B A
1266 Pixels: 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7
1267
1268 These additional bytes could provide colour information for the bitmapped data
1269 in the following character column (of 8 pixels). Since it would be desirable
1270 to apply attribute data to the first column, the initial 8 cycles might be
1271 configured to not produce pixel values.
1272
1273 For an entire character, attribute data need only be read for the first row of
1274 pixels for a character. The subsequent rows would have attribute information
1275 applied to them, although this would require the attribute data to be stored
1276 in some kind of buffer. Thus, the following access pattern would be observed:
1277
1278 Reads: A B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B ...
1279
1280 In modes 3 and 6, the blank display lines could be used to retrieve attribute
1281 data:
1282
1283 Reads (blank): A _ A _ A _ A _ A _ A _ A _ A _ ...
1284 Reads (active): B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ ...
1285 Reads (active): B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ ...
1286 ...
1287
1288 See below for a discussion of using this for character data as well.
1289
1290 A whole byte used for colour information for a whole character would result in
1291 a choice of 256 colours, and this might be somewhat excessive. By only reading
1292 attribute bytes at every other opportunity, a choice of 16 colours could be
1293 applied individually to two characters.
1294
1295 Cycle: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
1296 Reads: B A B -
1297 Pixels: 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7
1298
1299 Further reductions in attribute data access, offering 4 colours for every
1300 character in a four character block, for example, might also be worth
1301 considering.
1302
1303 Consider the following configurations for screen modes with a colour depth of
1304 1 bit per pixel for bitmap information:
1305
1306 Screen width Columns Scaling Bytes (B) Bytes (A) Colours Screen start
1307 ------------ ------- ------- --------- --------- ------- ------------
1308 320 40 x2 40 40 256 &5300
1309 320 40 x2 40 20 16 &5580 -> &5500
1310 320 40 x2 40 10 4 &56C0 -> &5600
1311 208 26 x3 26 26 256 &62C0 -> &6200
1312 208 26 x3 26 13 16 &6460 -> &6400
1313
1314 Enhancement: Text-Only Modes using Character and Attribute Data
1315 ---------------------------------------------------------------
1316
1317 In modes 3 and 6, the blank display lines could be used to retrieve character
1318 and attribute data instead of trying to insert it between bitmap data accesses,
1319 but this data would then need to be retained:
1320
1321 Reads: A C A C A C A C A C A C A C A C ...
1322 Reads: B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ B _ ...
1323
1324 Only attribute (A) and character (C) reads would require screen memory
1325 storage. Bitmap data reads (B) would involve either accesses to memory to
1326 obtain character definition details or could, at the cost of special storage
1327 in the ULA, involve accesses within the ULA that would then free up the RAM.
1328 However, the CPU would not benefit from having any extra access slots due to
1329 the limitations of the RAM access mechanism.
1330
1331 A scheme without caching might be possible. The same line of memory addresses
1332 might be visited over and over again for eight display lines, with an index
1333 into the bitmap data being incremented from zero to seven. The access patterns
1334 would look like this:
1335
1336 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 0)
1337 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 1)
1338 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 2)
1339 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 3)
1340 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 4)
1341 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 5)
1342 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 6)
1343 Reads: C B C B C B C B C B C B C B C B ... (generate data from index 7)
1344
1345 The bandwidth requirements would be the sum of the accesses to read the
1346 character values (repeatedly) and those to read the bitmap data to reproduce
1347 the characters on screen.
1348
1349 Enhancement: MODE 7 Emulation using Character Attributes
1350 --------------------------------------------------------
1351
1352 If the scheme of applying attributes to character regions were employed to
1353 emulate MODE 7, in conjunction with the MODE 6 display technique, the
1354 following configuration would be required:
1355
1356 Screen width Columns Rows Bytes (B) Bytes (A) Colours Screen start
1357 ------------ ------- ---- --------- --------- ------- ------------
1358 320 40 25 40 20 16 &5ECC -> &5E00
1359 320 40 25 40 10 4 &5FC6 -> &5F00
1360
1361 Although this requires much more memory than MODE 7 (8500 bytes versus MODE
1362 7's 1000 bytes), it does not need much more memory than MODE 6, and it would
1363 at least make a limited 40-column multicolour mode available as a substitute
1364 for MODE 7.
1365
1366 Using the text-only enhancement with caching of data or with repeated reads of
1367 the same character data line for eight display lines, the storage requirements
1368 would be diminished substantially:
1369
1370 Screen width Columns Rows Bytes (C) Bytes (A) Colours Screen start
1371 ------------ ------- ---- --------- --------- ------- ------------
1372 320 40 25 40 20 16 &7A94 -> &7A00
1373 320 40 25 40 10 4 &7B1E -> &7B00
1374 320 40 25 40 5 2 &7B9B -> &7B00
1375 320 40 25 40 0 (2) &7C18 -> &7C00
1376 640 80 25 80 40 16 &7448 -> &7400
1377 640 80 25 80 20 4 &763C -> &7600
1378 640 80 25 80 10 2 &7736 -> &7700
1379 640 80 25 80 0 (2) &7830 -> &7800
1380
1381 Note that the colours describe the locally defined attributes for each
1382 character. When no attribute information is provided, the colours are defined
1383 globally.
1384
1385 Enhancement: Character Generator Support and Vertical Scaling
1386 -------------------------------------------------------------
1387
1388 When generating a picture, the ULA traverses screen memory, obtaining 40 or 80
1389 bytes of pixel data for each scanline. It then proceeds to the next row of
1390 pixel data for each successive scanline, with the exception of the text modes
1391 where scanlines may be blank (for which the row address does not advance).
1392 This arrangement provides a conventional bitmapped graphics display.
1393
1394 However, the ULA could instead facilitate the use of character generators. The
1395 principles involved can be demonstrated by the Jafa Mode 7 Mark 2 Display Unit
1396 expansion for the Electron which feeds the pixel data from a MODE 4 screen to
1397 a SAA5050 character generator to create a MODE 7 display. The solution adopted
1398 involves the replication of 40 bytes of character data across as many pixel
1399 rows as is necessary for the character generator to receive the appropriate
1400 character data for all scanlines in any given character row. If only a single
1401 40-byte row of character data were to be present for the first scanline of a
1402 character row, the character generator would only produce the first scanline
1403 (or the uppermost pixels of the characters) correctly, with the rest of the
1404 character shapes being ill-defined.
1405
1406 Here, the ULA could facilitate the use of memory-efficient character mode
1407 representations (such as MODE 7) by holding the row address for a number of
1408 scanlines, thus providing the same row of screen data for those scanlines,
1409 then advancing to the next row. Visualised in terms of pixel data, it would be
1410 like providing a display with a very low vertical resolution. Indeed, being
1411 able to reduce the vertical resolution of a display mode by a factor of eight
1412 or ten would be equivalent to the above character generation technique in
1413 terms of the ULA's screen reading activities.
1414
1415 By combining this vertical scaling or scanline replication with a circuit
1416 switchable between bitmapped graphics output and character graphics output,
1417 MODE 7 support could be made available, potentially as a hardware option
1418 separate from the ULA.
1419
1420 Enhancement: Compressed Character Data
1421 --------------------------------------
1422
1423 Another observation about text-only modes is that they only need to store a
1424 restricted set of bitmapped data values. Encoding this set of values in a
1425 smaller unit of storage than a byte could possibly help to reduce the amount
1426 of storage and bandwidth required to reproduce the characters on the display.
1427
1428 Enhancement: High Resolution Graphics
1429 -------------------------------------
1430
1431 Screen modes with higher resolutions and larger colour depths might be
1432 possible, but this would in most cases involve the allocation of more screen
1433 memory, and the ULA would probably then be obliged to page in such memory for
1434 the CPU to be able to sensibly access it all.
1435
1436 Enhancement: Genlock Support
1437 ----------------------------
1438
1439 The ULA generates a video signal in conjunction with circuitry producing the
1440 output features necessary for the correct display of the screen image.
1441 However, it appears that the ULA drives the video synchronisation mechanism
1442 instead of reacting to an existing signal. Genlock support might be possible
1443 if the ULA were made to be responsive to such external signals, resetting its
1444 address generators upon receiving synchronisation events.
1445
1446 Enhancement: Improved Sound
1447 ---------------------------
1448
1449 The standard ULA reserves &FE*6 for sound generation and cassette input/output
1450 (with bits 1 and 2 of &FE*7 being used to select either sound generation or
1451 cassette I/O), thus making it impossible to support multiple channels within
1452 the given framework. The BBC Micro ULA employs &FE40-&FE4F for sound control,
1453 and an enhanced ULA could adopt this interface.
1454
1455 The BBC Micro uses the SN76489 chip to produce sound, and the entire
1456 functionality of this chip could be emulated for enhanced sound, with a subset
1457 of the functionality exposed via the &FE*6 interface.
1458
1459 See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_SN76489
1460 See: http://www.smspower.org/Development/SN76489
1461
1462 Enhancement: Waveform Upload
1463 ----------------------------
1464
1465 As with a hardware sprite function, waveforms could be uploaded or referenced
1466 using locations as registers referencing memory regions.
1467
1468 Enhancement: Sound Input/Output
1469 -------------------------------
1470
1471 Since the ULA already controls audio input/output for cassette-based data, it
1472 would have been interesting to entertain the idea of sampling and output of
1473 sounds through the cassette interface. However, a significant amount of
1474 circuitry is employed to process the input signal for use by the ULA and to
1475 process the output signal for recording.
1476
1477 See: http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/A%20Hardware%20Guide%20for%20the%20BBC%20Microcomputer/bbc_hw_03.htm#3.11
1478
1479 Enhancement: BBC ULA Compatibility
1480 ----------------------------------
1481
1482 Although some new ULA functions could be defined in a way that is also
1483 compatible with the BBC Micro, the BBC ULA is itself incompatible with the
1484 Electron ULA: &FE00-7 is reserved for the video controller in the BBC memory
1485 map, but controls various functions specific to the 6845 video controller;
1486 &FE08-F is reserved for the serial controller. It therefore becomes possible
1487 to disregard compatibility where compatibility is already disregarded for a
1488 particular area of functionality.
1489
1490 &FE20-F maps to video ULA functionality on the BBC Micro which provides
1491 control over the palette (using address &FE21, compared to &FE07-F on the
1492 Electron) and other system-specific functions. Since the location usage is
1493 generally incompatible, this region could be reused for other purposes.
1494
1495 Enhancement: Increased RAM, ULA and CPU Performance
1496 ---------------------------------------------------
1497
1498 More modern implementations of the hardware might feature faster RAM coupled
1499 with an increased ULA clock frequency in order to increase the bandwidth
1500 available to the ULA and to the CPU in situations where the ULA is not needed
1501 to perform work. A ULA employing a 32MHz clock would be able to complete the
1502 retrieval of a byte from RAM in only 250ns and thus be able to enable the CPU
1503 to access the RAM for the following 250ns even in display modes requiring the
1504 retrieval of a byte for the display every 500ns. The CPU could, subject to
1505 timing issues, run at 2MHz even in MODE 0, 1 and 2.
1506
1507 A scheme such as that described above would have a similar effect to the
1508 scheme employed in the BBC Micro, although the latter made use of RAM with a
1509 wider bandwidth in order to complete memory transfers within 250ns and thus
1510 permit the CPU to run continuously at 2MHz.
1511
1512 Higher bandwidth could potentially be used to implement exotic features such
1513 as RAM-resident hardware sprites or indeed any feature demanding RAM access
1514 concurrent with the production of the display image.
1515
1516 Enhancement: Multiple CPU Stacks and Zero Pages
1517 -----------------------------------------------
1518
1519 The 6502 maintains a stack for subroutine calls and register storage in page
1520 &01. Although the stack register can be manipulated using the TSX and TXS
1521 instructions, thereby permitting the maintenance of multiple stack regions and
1522 thus the potential coexistence of multiple programs each using a separate
1523 region, only programs that make little use of the stack (perhaps avoiding
1524 deeply-nested subroutine invocations and significant register storage) would
1525 be able to coexist without overwriting each other's stacks.
1526
1527 One way that this issue could be alleviated would involve the provision of a
1528 facility to redirect accesses to page &01 to other areas of memory. The ULA
1529 would provide a register that defines a physical page for the use of the CPU's
1530 "logical" page &01, and upon any access to page &01 by the CPU, the ULA would
1531 change the asserted address lines to redirect the access to the appropriate
1532 physical region.
1533
1534 By providing an 8-bit register, mapping to the most significant byte (MSB) of
1535 a 16-bit address, the ULA could then replace any MSB equal to &01 with the
1536 register value before the access is made. Where multiple programs coexist,
1537 upon switching programs, the register would be updated to point the ULA to the
1538 appropriate stack location, thus providing a simple memory management unit
1539 (MMU) capability.
1540
1541 In a similar fashion, zero page accesses could also be redirected so that code
1542 could run from sideways RAM and have zero page operations redirected to "upper
1543 memory" - for example, to page &BE (with stack accesses redirected to page
1544 &BF, perhaps) - thereby permitting most CPU operations to occur without
1545 inadvertent accesses to "lower memory" (the RAM) which would risk stalling the
1546 CPU as it contends with the ULA for memory access.
1547
1548 Such facilities could also be provided by a separate circuit between the CPU
1549 and ULA in a fashion similar to that employed by a "turbo" board, but unlike
1550 such boards, no additional RAM would be provided: all memory accesses would
1551 occur as normal through the ULA, albeit redirected when configured
1552 appropriately.
1553
1554 ULA Pin Functions
1555 -----------------
1556
1557 The functions of the ULA pins are described in the Electron Service Manual. Of
1558 interest to video processing are the following:
1559
1560 CSYNC (low during horizontal or vertical synchronisation periods, high
1561 otherwise)
1562
1563 HS (low during horizontal synchronisation periods, high otherwise)
1564
1565 RED, GREEN, BLUE (pixel colour outputs)
1566
1567 CLOCK IN (a 16MHz clock input, 4V peak to peak)
1568
1569 PHI OUT (a 1MHz, 2MHz and stopped clock signal for the CPU)
1570
1571 More general memory access pins:
1572
1573 RAM0...RAM3 (data lines to/from the RAM)
1574
1575 RA0...RA7 (address lines for sending both row and column addresses to the RAM)
1576
1577 RAS (row address strobe setting the row address on a negative edge - see the
1578 timing notes)
1579
1580 CAS (column address strobe setting the column address on a negative edge -
1581 see the timing notes)
1582
1583 WE (sets write enable with logic 0, read with logic 1)
1584
1585 ROM (select data access from ROM)
1586
1587 CPU-oriented memory access pins:
1588
1589 A0...A15 (CPU address lines)
1590
1591 PD0...PD7 (CPU data lines)
1592
1593 R/W (indicates CPU write with logic 0, CPU read with logic 1)
1594
1595 Interrupt-related pins:
1596
1597 NMI (CPU request for uninterrupted 1MHz access to memory)
1598
1599 IRQ (signal event to CPU)
1600
1601 POR (power-on reset, resetting the ULA on a positive edge and asserting the
1602 CPU's RST pin)
1603
1604 RST (master reset for the CPU signalled on power-up and by the Break key)
1605
1606 Keyboard-related pins:
1607
1608 KBD0...KBD3 (keyboard inputs)
1609
1610 CAPS LOCK (control status LED)
1611
1612 Sound-related pins:
1613
1614 SOUND O/P (sound output using internal oscillator)
1615
1616 Cassette-related pins:
1617
1618 CAS IN (cassette circuit input, between 0.5V to 2V peak to peak)
1619
1620 CAS OUT (pseudo-sinusoidal output, 1.8V peak to peak)
1621
1622 CAS RC (detect high tone)
1623
1624 CAS MO (motor relay output)
1625
1626 ÷13 IN (~1200 baud clock input)
1627
1628 ULA Socket
1629 ----------
1630
1631 The socket used for the ULA is a 3M/TexTool 268-5400 68-pin socket.
1632
1633 References
1634 ----------
1635
1636 See: http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/A%20Hardware%20Guide%20for%20the%20BBC%20Microcomputer/bbc_hw.htm
1637
1638 About this Document
1639 -------------------
1640
1641 The most recent version of this document and accompanying distribution should
1642 be available from the following location:
1643
1644 http://hgweb.boddie.org.uk/ULA
1645
1646 Copyright and licence information can be found in the docs directory of this
1647 distribution - see docs/COPYING.txt for more information.