At 00:41 2/09/99 +0100, you wrote:
>> Nowadays the circuit would hardly rate
>> a second glance but then it was an eye opener to me.
>
>I disagree!  I think it would most likely receive lots of admiring glances
>from modern electronics designers.  The thing is, no-one would dream of
>implementing Pong in hardware these days: it's just crying out for a
>software solution.  Similarly, video signal generation is just handed over
>to a two buck chip these days.
>
>No, I would say that for sheer ingenuity, electronics designs probably
>peaked back in the late '70s (i.e. before the widespread adoption of
>microprocessors and microcontrollers, and VLSI chips).  I've seen some
>amazing stuff done with boards chock full of CMOS and TTL chips (plus the
>inevitable analogue driver board bristling with power transistors and heat
>sinks!).  You gotta hand it to those guys, they were just brilliant.
>
>I have a pal who used to work in the games machine industry (Bell Fruit in
>the UK).  Monstrously complex non-microprocessor designs continued on for
>ages in their industry.  The manufactuers had access to a wide range of
>functional modules which they'd developed over the years and were very well
>tried and tested.  They had a tremendous amount invested in those designs,
>and they had a tremendous amount invested in the expertise and training of
>their electronics guys.  Some games machines from the late 70's and even
>early 80's were just packed with PCBs, every one plastered with CMOS and
>TTL.  You can imagine that it was pretty scary to throw that lot away and
>start again with a microprocessor!  It means a complete revamp of your
>entire development and manufacturing environment, plus a big churn of staff,
>plus another revamp of the support infrastructure........
>
>There was also an interesting interim period when they would use EPROMS -
>i.e. a microprocessor support chip - in non-micro applications.  For
>example, they would often use them to store those jazzy lighting sequences
>for the front panel.  The EPROM was built into the TTL/CMOS circuitry,
>rather than sitting on an address and data bus.
>


The ERPOMS where used to simulate complex logic, just as an FPGA or GA can
be used today
Dennis



>Ah, reminiscing is good for the soul!  Or are we old farts just being boring
>bastards?
>
>Steve Thackery
>Suffolk, England.
>Web Site: http://www.btinternet.com/~stevethack/
>
>