CGA/MDA Video Adapter Lab - Engineering Application
Restoration and validation workflow for monochrome and color text-era adapters, including monitor timing and character ROM behavior.
- Adapter Modes
- MDA, Hercules-compatible, CGA text and graphics
- Output Paths
- TTL monochrome, composite, RGBI output checks
- Clock Profiles
- 14.31818MHz domain checks and divider validation
- ROM Handling
- Character ROM preservation and checksum workflow
- Display Validation
- Geometry, sync, and phosphor persistence tests
- Field Scope
- Pre-286 display stack bring-up and troubleshooting
Coding the scene
Typical categories
Bullet: 4k / 64k intros (size-coding) Bullet: Trackmo / demo (multi-part) Bullet: Music disk Bullet: Graphics collection
Workflow
Bullet: Choose a target and constraints (speed, memory, chipset) Bullet: Build a minimal framework (sync, input, timing, loader) Bullet: Iterate effects + transitions Bullet: Profile early, optimise late, then profile again
Notes by platform
Bullet: Amiga: copper/blitter, C2P, AGA bandwidth, timing on real hardware Bullet: C64: cycle-exact raster timing, stable IRQ, sprite multiplexing Bullet: Atari ST: sync tricks, low-level video, DMA sound constraints Bullet: PC: DOS timing, VBL sync, fixed-point, software rendering, or modern GPU