IBM MCGA Gate Array Reverse Engineering

(github.com)

53 points | by userbinator 2 days ago ago

9 comments

  • fredoralive 2 days ago ago

    It’s interesting that the gate arrays are supplied by Seiko, and the only known MCGA systems apart from IBM are from Epson. The bit of Seiko that made the gate arrays appears to be… Seiko Epson. So is it a coincidence? Sub-licensing? Skullduggery?

    • andrewshadura a day ago ago

      Not sure what you're trying to say. The full name of Epson is Seiko Epson.

      • fredoralive a day ago ago

        Seiko can cover a fairly large group of companies, Seiko Epson is a particular subgroup of it (now somewhat detached from the main group).

  • bananaboy a day ago ago

    Wow this is amazing work!

  • bitwize 2 days ago ago

    A fucking built-in genlock? For years I thought only Amigas had those!

    • ggm 2 days ago ago

      Put on the die, but only expose on the $$$$ builds using it?

      • skissane a day ago ago

        Maybe it's buggy or something? Unreliable? Use causes overheating or RF interference issues?

        Maybe IBM added it for project X, and then project X got cancelled, and everyone else forgot it was ever there...

      • fredoralive 2 days ago ago

        The article mentions that it is brought out to the connector, multiplexed with the monitor ID pins.

  • pavlov a day ago ago

    [flagged]