3 ms·
160 x 102 is also the resolution of the Bally Astrocade (1977) and at 2 bits per pixel it takes up almost all of the 4KB of RAM. Luckily, you can adjust the num
by sehugg 7y ago
160 x 102 is also the resolution of the Bally Astrocade (1977) and at 2 bits per pixel it takes up almost all of the 4KB of RAM. Luckily, you can adjust the number of visible lines, otherwise you'd have only 16 bytes for your data and stack. Lynx has an 8KB frame buffer (4 bits/pixel) out of 64KB.
- RetroSpark 7y agoThat's another interesting thing about the Lynx - it has so much RAM compared to other 8-bit game systems (the Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear and PC Engine all have 8KB, the NES has just 2KB). Those other systems all work by memory-mapping the ROM cartridge so that it can be seen by the CPU directly, whereas the Lynx requires ROM data to be read into RAM first. In that way, its programming model is more like a system with a disc drive (either magnetic or optical) than one which takes ROM cartridges.