Concerning the computer. Very interesting and rare. 250 were produced. I wonder where the others are and if they were all sold.
To me it’s not a “simple computer” what most would call retro but a special video computer for broadcasters or movie makers.
In 1985 this was probably great, I wonder what computers the other broadcasters used.
In/after 1988 they probably dropped the prices, and maybe they were cheaper in France. In 1985 they were probably much higher.
The idea of modules has pro and cons. Most would need all/the best functions.
The main company was Multisoft and DeGrafe was first just a trade mark. And here are also the differences mentioned between the DAI (1980, resolution 512 x 244 and 16 colors.) https://histoire3d.siggraph.org/index.php/Multisoft
Here are some better graphic samples
And concerning the blog. I would turn it into a real blog, so the readers can see the news.
“Some tools use the file extension for identification or maybe check all formats they know”
But the problem is a different one. That pic2pcx tool didn’t have to identify the format, it was presumably written to handle that particular type of .pic file (the extension was used for several different file formats). The problem for that tool would be to identify the X and Y resolutions. There doesn’t seem to be any in that file which was linked to. It definitely isn’t in any header. It could be hidden somewhere inside but I couldn’t see anything with hexdump. But JustSomeOne says that the linked file is the actual file which pic2pcx could correctly convert, so there must be something in that file. Unless all .pic files had the exact same x/y format… 368x256 pixels. It may be as simple as that!
One of the documents (7692 - Hardware Specification Silver) on the site @EdS linked to mentioned a resolution of 368x286 with 16 bitplanes. This seems about the right size for the image.
It would be useful to have a few simple images to establish some basic properties of the format. Like a completely black image, one with a horizontal edge filled with a single colour, another with a vertical edge, and so on.
Welcome and, I have to say what a first post here. Just… I come in with anticdotal stories because I happened to have some fuzzy pre-internet memories. yo ucome in with a rare and weird system with promise of more pictures and documentation.
That document is indeed the main user manual (copy from me ). I send a lot of info to aconit regarding this machine. .
I am still working on some other documentation. One of the books is the developer’s manual for the PC-AT link. that has A LOT of technical info. Unfortunately it is also a centimeter thick. So that takes some time.
Together with the info posted here lately i will pick it up when there is time again. This week i am totally full with work, so i cannot always respond quickly. Also due to medical reasons it is very difficult for me to grasp the in depth technical stuf. my mind will not always cooperate unfortunately.
So please bear with me. I love to read all the comments and i will keep going with the documentation.
Things currently first on the list is digitising the developers manual, and creating some pictures from a video source. Waiting for a cable to connect my DSLR to the Fadec/Pal video.
Not a problem, and thanx for the compliment. The comments and responses here motivated me to go for it “one and for all” to document as much as i can for this machine. Since i do have one of the few remaining machines in a very complete set, i think i should document it as much as i can.
There’s no hurry. I was just suggesting things that might be useful, but I know how much effort it can be to get hardware set up, all the software running, create files, transfer them, and so on.
Another route might be to look at the pic2pcx tool. Is that available to download from somewhere?
There’s obviously a (black ?) border. The output picture is 368x286 but the display is 386x320.
There are different resolutions and different color depths incl b&w and 65k colors (True color palette).
But not sure if all have the same suffix .PIC. The tools might identify this by the file length.
But how does a software know which cartridge there was? Like the fonts. Maybe the header is saved in a separate file. Same for the palette. Probably there were more file formats. (Must be for the animations and videos).
BTW there’s an error in GIMP when opening the converted PCX file about the dpi in the header. So the tool is obviously not working correctly.
More files and infos are of course helpful. The file content looks quite simple, maybe not a unique format.
I did a lot of research about file formats but that was too long ago.
One good tool is deark. It currently can’t read the PIC file but the tool can be expanded with own modules and has many sources of image and other formats.
So, Wow, Can’t believe that it has been so long. Over a year again. Every time I think I have to go on with the picture format something else happens. Lack of concentration due to a medical issue also doesn’t help.
So trying to gather courage to go for the big task of describing the AT interface and the pictures I first took on something smaller.
The silver has a button on the rear that says “Autotest”. There is also a software module called Autotest. When this module is inserted in one of the slots and the button is pressed, you would not guess it, a self diagnostics software tool is started.
When the module is not present, three tones can be heard to signal that there is no autist module present.
Since I guess there are not many complete silvers left, I would say the autotest module is also very rare since it was used by suppliers who did maintenance on these systems.
Anyways, enough talk. I made a page dedicated to this autotest module.
). I send a lot of info to aconit regarding this machine. .