Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ncar!oddjob!gargoyle!att!mtuxo!mtgzz!drutx!druhi!dlm
From: dlm@druhi.ATT.COM (Dan Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Bitblt chips and things (was Re: Self-modifying code
Message-ID: <3250@druhi.ATT.COM>
Date: 18 Jul 88 14:43:26 GMT
References: <1110@flatline.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO
Lines: 26

in article <1110@flatline.UUCP>, erict@flatline.UUCP (j eric townsend) says:
> Isn't this in essence what CBM did with the "sprite"s on the Commodore
> 64?  (Can I mention that machine in this group?  I didn't think so. :-)
> ...
> Anybody know what home/micro computer did it first?  I'm pretty
> sure the Vic-20 could do this, but I'm not sure about the PET.
> -- 
> Skate UNIX or go home, boogie boy...
>      [Obscure joke goes here]
> J. Eric Townsend ->uunet!nuchat!flatline!erict smail:511Parker#2,Hstn,Tx,77007
>              ..!bellcore!tness1!/

	The first home system I know of with "sprites" was the Atari
2600 game machine.  They called them "players".  They were very limited
by the hardware; 128 bytes of RAM, 4K ROM, no DMA so the CPU had to do
everything in real time.  The first computers that had this capability
were the Atari 400 and 800, the machines CBM targeted with the C64.
They had 4 "players" and 4 "missles" (2 pixel wide sprites), and all of
them were DMA driven.  The chipset used in the Atari 400 and 800 was
designed by Jay Minor, the same person who designed the chipset used 
in the Amiga.

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			Dan Moore
			AT&T Denver
			ihnp4!druhi!dlm
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