• Source: Philips VG5000

The VG5000μ is a computer created by Philips in 1984. It was manufactured in Le Mans by Radiotechnique (RTS) and marketed under the Philips, Radiola and Schneider brands.
Not compatible with any other machines, it offered VG5000 BASIC (derived from Microsoft BASIC-80) as the operating system upon boot, with Logo available on cartridge.
Graphic ability was limited to a semigraphic symbol display, with the equivalent resolution of 320 x 250 pixels in 8 colors.
It had some hardware compatibility with the Philips VG 8000, such as power supply connectors, cassette player interface and cartridges.




History


Aimed at schools, it was unsuccessful and production ended in 1986. 300 000 units were sold in 1984 according to an internal Philips report, with 500 000 predicted for 1985. There are about forty games available for the system.
As of 2022, enthusiasts remain active in developing new homebrew software and emulators for the system.




= Peripherals

=

Several peripherals were developed to support the VG5000μ operation:

VY0030: cassette player
VG5200: joystick interface
VU0001: joystick
VU0011: RF modulator
VU0022: power supply
VG5216: 16KB RAM memory expansion with joystick and printer ports
VU0031: 16KB RAM memory expansion
VW0010: 40 column printer
VW0020: 80 column printer
VW0030: 80 column printer




Specifications


Zilog Z80A processor running at 4 MHz
RAM: 24KB, including 16KB of system memory (expandable to 48KB) and 8KB of dedicated memory for the video processor
ROM: 18KB, including 16KB containing the VG5000 BASIC (derived from Microsoft BASIC-80) and 2KB of character bitmaps built into the video processor
Video processor: SGS Thomson EF9345P
Graphics: semigraphics based on 8 × 10 pixel characters (equivalent to 320 × 250 pixels) in 8 colors
Sound: 1 voice, 5 octave range
Keyboard: Built-in 63 keys AZERTY keyboard with BASIC keywords
Ports: DIN5 cassette player connector (1200/2400 baud), DIN8 SCART connector
Expansion: 2×25 pins bus connector




List of video games


There are 33 commercial video games for Philips VG5000.




References






External links


Old Computers:
le greniers informatique
French VG5000μ fan site
Logiciels et développement 2017 (VG5000μ)
My VG5000 - site dedicated to the VG5000 micro
Emulation of VG5000
The VG5000 shop
pages dedicated to programming the VG5000

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Philips VG5000
• Loriciel
• Z88DK
• Semigraphics
• Thomson EF9345
• List of home computers
• List of 8-bit computer hardware graphics
• List of home computers by video hardware