In its barebones 8K base configuration, this is probably not the case.
Inspired by Steve's Color board add-on, things may look different. 32KB RAM would also help in combination with some additional graphics capabilities.
For enthusiastic hobbyists from the UK101 scene, Premier Publication offered a small soundboard (also used by Basic-X). It came with a AY-3-8910 programmable sound generator.
Another available upgrade was a graphic board, like the SEB-1 High Resolution Graphics and Memory Board (for C1P and Superboard II) and the SEB-2 High Resolution Graphics and Disk Controller Board (for C2/4/8) from ORION (see MICRO - The 6502/6809 Journal 5/1982). Ohio also offered a 541 high resolution "Graphics Kit" for use on the C1P but I have never seen this specific kit version.
Actually, my SBII had an 8K High-res board wired into the character display unit providing combined output to the monitor. A bunch of crisscrossing cables, as was common for early DIY computer hobbyists for this type of open board machines. A toggle switch allowed to enable/disable the signal.
What you need:
- UK101 with color output (type of 630 board) or Steve's Color board re-design.
- A Premier Publication "AY-3-8910 Soundboard" (Practical Electronics - September 1980)
- A MA/COM 541 high resolution board from 1981 or one of the SEB Super OSI Extension Boards from the same year.
Unfortunately, these boards a hard or impossible to find and to keep in mind there is certainly no software to be found for this.
But this is exactly the strength of emulation to make such an option available to everyone.
Since all the above mention features are available in emulators, I wanted to test, how good a 1Mhz C1P or UK101 would perform in gaming application.
One thing quickly became very obvious, the sound generation had to be done by Interrupt to free up game execution but without taking too much of CPU processing time. Another important factor is fast memory transfers for graphics and color information, which must occur simultaneously to avoid artifacts.
So what is better suitable than a short demo, that impressed the media on a much more advanced computer code-named Lorraine. “Boing Ball” Amiga demo from the CES show in 1984, now 40 year later on a 1Mhz OSI Superboard.
- amiga_histoire_ces1984_4.jpg (16.75 KiB) Viewed 115 times
The attached ZIP file includes the emulator and a file called Ball_VGM_IRQ_Demo.prg. You may drag-drop the file on the emulator or load by pressing F2.
Source is included in the VGM PLAYER directory. In fact, the CPU still has a lot of processing time left because the program uses a delay of 20 ms per frame to slow down the visualization. I wasn't expecting this.