The Ins & Outs of the Amstrad

Frontpage

A firmware manual and a guide to the workings of the various chips in the CPC at I/O level. The compact size of this book made it, for many programmers, a more practical reference than the bulky Soft 968 official firmware guide. Useful reference pages on the CRTC and other chips completed the work.

Introduction

The Ins
   System Overview
   The Memory System
   The Inner Peripherals
      The I/O Address Map
      The Video Gate Array
      The CRT Controler
      The Parallel Peripheral Interface
      The Printer Port
   The Other Peripherals
      The Programmable Sound Generator
      The Keyboard
      The Cassette Recorder
   The Operating System
      The RST Area
      Jumpblock Entries
      Interrupts and Events
      Operating System Calls

The Interface

The Outs
   General Principles
   Parallel Interfaces
      Interface Rules
      Alternative Printer Port
      Software Support
      Communicating Computers
   Serial Interfaces
   Analog Interfaces
   Sideways ROMs
      ROM Types and Formats
      Applications
      External ROM Hardware
   A Second Processor

Overview