Lynx
From CPCWiki - THE Amstrad CPC encyclopedia!
The Camputers Lynx was an 8-bit British home computer that was first released in early 1983 as a 48 KB model. Not to be confused with the Atari Lynx gaming console.
Several models were available with 48 KB, 96 KB or 128 KB RAM. It was possible to reach 192 KB with RAM expansions on board.
Hardware
The machine was based around a Z80A CPU clocked at 4 MHz (6 MHz for the 128/192 KB models) and featured a Motorola 6845 as video controller. It was possible to run CP/M with the optional 5.25" floppy disk-drive on the 96 KB and 128 KB models.
Unique features of this computer (compared to other home computers at the time) include:
- All numbers were floating point BCD numbers (even line numbers).
- The computer always ran in "high" resolution graphics mode (256x252 pixels in eight colours) using a 6 x 10 pixel font. Only a few bytes of graphic memory could be manipulated during the horizontal sync period, and thus graphics were extremely slow compared to most other computers.
- Up to 192 KB of RAM and 20 KB of ROM (16 KB on the smallest model) on a 16-bit address bus was implemented using special hardware. As a consequence, certain RAM areas shadowed by ROM could only be used for data storage and the video memory had a green and alternative green bank that could be switched by a hardware register.
- For sound it had a simple (6-bit) DAC. A comparator was included to serve as an ADC (primarily used for reading from tape drives).
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