XPost: comp.sys.sinclair, comp.sys.atari.8bit, comp.sys.apple2   
   XPost: comp.sys.cbm   
   From: mjmahon@aol.com   
      
   larry@portcommodore.com wrote:   
   > Reading some of the computer history books gives some insight into   
   > that.  It depended on the compnay, graphics chips back then were pretty   
   > primitive either TTL logic or if there was sone hotshot designer in the   
   > compnay maybe a chip.  Though it took a hundred thousand (or more) to   
   > design  a custom chip.   
   >   
   > Commodore had the in-house guys from MOS to do the work and developed   
   > thier own chips, Atari had also lots of arcade machine experiece to get   
   > their job done.  Apple had color, but conparitively the Apple ][   
   > actually had a pretty primitive color system (it didn't greatly improve   
   > until the 80 column board)   
      
   As Linards points out, the Apple ][ had color long before the   
   Commodore computers.  And it was able to do so without using any   
   more memory than for a monochrome display.  It's color is all   
   NTSC "artifact" color--an extremely clever design in 1977,   
   inspired by video games.   
      
   The Apple ][ video generator is a very simple LSTTL design, using   
   a 14MHz shift register chip to generate the video signal.   
      
   -michael   
      
   Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!   
   Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/   
      
   "The wastebasket is our most important design   
   tool--and it is seriously underused."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)