About this time last year I started a simple project for the Raspberry Pi Pico to output grey-scale composite video via a simple circuit using a 5-step resistor ladder. The Pico had not been out for very long, and I was attempting to use the PIO to output the video signal. Whilst I got it working, it did feel rather hacked together. But I left it on my Github as a quick project: https://github.com/breakintoprogram/pico-mposite During …
I received my Pico a day or so after it was announced, and felt a little bit like a mule with a spinning wheel at first – was there a project I could start on this that would also serve as an introduction to key parts of the hardware, and could be completed in a few days. I was interested in the PIO feature of the Pico – this is a cut down core in …
The BBC Micro and Master computers were designed by Acorn from the outset to support a second processor via the proprietary Tube interface. Typically Acorn’s external second processors are in enclosures that matches the aesthetics of the BBC Micro and contain a power supply, processor, RAM and ROM. Essentially a computer without a keyboard and video output. The only IO is via a custom ULA that provides four bi-directional FIFO buffers. The second processors connect …
