Visual 1050

Visual 1050
ManufacturerVisual Technology
Release date1983; 42 years ago (1983)
Media2 400kb 5¼-inch floppy disks
Operating systemCP/M Plus
CPUZilog Z80 clocked at 4 MHz with a MOS Technology 6502 graphics coprocessor
Memory128kB RAM, 8kb ROM
Displaymonochrome 80 chars. × 25 lines, 640 × 300 pixels
GraphicsMOS Technology 6502
InputKeyboard Keytronic full stroke 93-key with numeric key pad & 17 function keys
DimensionsCPU - 5H × 17W × 17Din
Mass15lbs

The Visual 1050 was an 8-bit desktop computer sold by Visual Technology in the early 1980s.[1][2] The computer ran under the CP/M operating system and used 2 400KB, 5¼, SSDD, 96tpi floppy disk drives (TEAC FD-55E) for mass storage with an optional 10MB external Winchester hard disk drive. In addition to the Zilog Z80A processor clocked at 4 MHz, the Visual 1050 also included a MOS Technology 6502 used as a graphics coprocessor.[3][4]

Overview

The Visual 1050 featured a dual-processor architecture; Z80A processor as the main CPU and a 6502 to drive the display.[5]

In addition to the Z80 and 6502 chips, the system also included a Intel 8255A PIO, a Intel 8251A USART, a Intel 8214 Programmable Interrupt Controller, a Motorola 6845 CRT controller, a Western Digital 1793 floppy disk controller, and a OKI MSM5832 real time clock.[6]

160K of RAM was included with the system, with 128K of this programmable and 32K reserved for use by the display processor.[5]

The display was bit-mapped at a resolution of 640 × 300 pixels with 80 × 25 characters (at 8 × 12 pixel each) on a green monochrome CRT. The display offered programmable features which could be invoked from the main processing unit via a character-stream interface built in between the Z80 CPU and 6502 coprocessor.[7]

Two communication ports were available: an RS-232C serial port and a Centronics parallel port.[7]

The machine had a Keytronic full stroke 93-key keyboard with numeric keypad and 17 function keys.[7]

A standard Visual 1050 shipped with CP/M Plus operating system, a CP/M source disk, a copy of WordStar word processor with MailMerge software, Microsoft Multiplan spreadsheet, Digital Research DR Graph charting software, Digital Research CBASIC computer language, and an RS-232C communications program.[7] Optionally there was support for a 10MB Winchester hard-drive via a Xebec S1410 Disk Controller.[6]

See also

  • Visual 50 - a video display terminal produced by Visual Technology

Sources

  1. ^ "Visual Technology Visual 1050". v1050.classiccmp.org. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  2. ^ "Visual 1050 Visual Technology". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
  3. ^ Wierzbicki, Barbara (1983-07-18). "Graphics-terminal firm promises 8-bit micro with lots of software". InfoWorld. p. 14.
  4. ^ "Visual 1050 Personal Computer System" (PDF). BYTE. April 1984. p. 407.
  5. ^ a b Visual 1050 User's Guide (PDF). Visual Technology, Inc. 1983.
  6. ^ a b Visual 1050 Programmer's Technical Document (PDF). Visual Technology Incorporated. 1984.
  7. ^ a b c d Visual 1050 Operating Manual