[vcf-midatlantic] 8-bits and 80 columns

[Ethan Dicks]

On Sat, Jun 25, 2022 at 9:32 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
> Apple II - supported via cards.  If 80 column support became common, when
> did it become common?  what was normal for color count, etc?

Apple IIe was frequently 80 col-capable.  No colors in text mode
(graphics mode was still lores 16 color, hires ~6 color)

> PET - no 80 column?

8032, 8096 and SuperPET were all 80 col.  No way to add 80 col to
older PETs.  The 80 col CRT on the 8032 line was 20Khz, not 15KHz, so
you couldn't just "upgrade".

> TRS-80 - no native 80 column support?

TRS-80 Model I and III were 64 columns.  Model 4 was native 80 col (or
could also do 64 for compatibility mode, and could do double-sized
chars, so also 40 or 32 chars wide).

For other platforms, hmm...

1802 - either no video modes, or 1861 "Pixie" chip, which was limited
to 128 pixels wide, or could have an external serial terminal, many of
which were 80 columns.

Pretty much any 8-bit machine that used a dumb terminal could have 80
columns, but those aren't the ones with integral color graphics.

-ethan