Thomson EF9345 explained

The EF9345 from SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Inc., was a semigraphic^[1] single chip microprocessor for video image control,^[1] encapsulated in a 40-pin DIP and used primarily in the Matra Alice 32,^[2] Matra Alice 90^[3] and Philips VG5000 microcomputers.^[4] It was also the video processor of the Minitel 1b terminals, built by either Alcatel and Philips at more than 2 million of units.

The EF9345 was capable of displaying 8 colors (RGB primaries), 128 alphanumeric characters and 128 semigraphic characters.^[5] It had one semigraphic mode and 40- and 80-column text modes.^[5] It was able to address up to 16KB of dedicated video RAM.

Video Modes

• 50/60Hz output
  • Interlaced or progressive scan
• Semigraphics:
  • 128 standard character set with 5x7 pixel font dimensions. User definable 8x10 pixel alphanumeric or semigraphic sets.
• 40 characters x 25 rows text mode (similar to teletext):
  • 8 x 10 pixel font
  • Selectable background and foreground colors
  • Styles: double height, double width, blinking, reverse, underline, conceal, insert, accentuation of lowercase characters
• 80 characters x 25 rows text mode:
  • 6 x 10 pixel font
  • Styles: blinking, underlining, reverse, color
• 8 colors (3-bit RGB palette):

On-Chip Character Generator

The on-chip character generator offered several character sets, including alphanumeric and videotext compatible semigraphics.^[1]

G0 Alphanumeric Character Set in 40 or 80 Character/Row Mode
	0x	1x	2x	3x	4x	5x	6x	7x
0	⸮	º	SP	0	@	P	-	p
1	Â	±	!	1	A	Q	a	q
2	É	é	"	2	B	R	b	r
3	£	ë		3	C	S	c	s
4	â	ï	$	4	D	T	d	t
5	Ç	ç	%	5	E	U	e	u
6	Ë	û	&	6	F	V	f	v
7	À	à	'	7	G	W	g	w
8	Ù	÷	(	8	H	X	h	x
9	È	è	)	9	I	Y	i	y
A	Œ	œ			J	Z	j	z
B	Ê	ê	+		K	[| k | ▏ |- ! C | ← | ¼ |, | < | L | \ | l | │ |- ! D | î | ½ | - | = | M | ]	m	▕
E	→	¾	.	>	N	↑	n	▔
F	↓	ô	/	?	O	▁	o	█

G0 Alphanumeric Character Set in 40 Character/Row Mode - R003
	0x	1x	2x	3x	4x	5x	6x	7x
0	▔	º	SP	0	@	P	-	p
1	¨	±	!	1	A	Q	a	q
2	É	é	"	2	B	R	b	r
3	£	§		3	C	S	c	s
4	÷	`	$	4	D	T	d	t
5	Ç	ç	%	5	E	U	e	u
6	Ä	ä	&	6	F	V	f	v
7	Ö	ẞ	´	7	G	W	g	w
8	Ü	à	(	8	H	X	h	x
9	È	è	)	9	I	Y	i	y
A	Œ	œ			J	Z	j	z
B	ü	ù	+		K	[| k | { |- ! C | ← | ¼ |, | < | L | \ | l | │ |- ! D | î | ½ | - | = | M | ]	m

|-! E| →| ¾| .| >| N| ^| n| ~|-! F| ↓| ô| /| ?| O| ▁| o| █|}

G0 Alphanumeric Character Set in 40 Character/Row Mode - R005
	0x	1x	2x	3x	4x	5x	6x	7x
0	~	º	SP	0	@	P	-	p
1	§	±		1	A	Q	a	q
2	ü	é	"	2	B	R	b	r
3	£	ë		3	C	S	c	s
4	â	ï	$	4	D	T	d	t
5

|ç|%|5|E|U|e|u|-!6|ä|û|&|6|F|V|f|v|-!7|ö|à|'|7|G|W|g|w|-!8|ù|÷|(|8|H|X|h|x|-!9|ẞ|è|)|9|I|Y|i|y|-!A|Œ|œ|*|:|J|Z|j|z|-!B|

G10 Semigraphic Character Set (videotex compatible)
	4x	5x	6x	7x
0	SP
1
2
3
4
5		▌
6
7
8
9
A			▐
B
C
D
E
F				█

G11 Stroke Set
	0x	1x
0
1		╵
2		╶
3		└
4		╷
5		│
6		┌
7		├
8		╴
9		┘
A		─
B		┴
C		┐
D		┤
E		┬
F		┼

G20 Accentued Character Set
	0x	1x	2x	3x
0		¯	´	`
1		˙	¨	,

G21 Accentued Character Set - R000
	0x	1x
0	-	p
1	a	q
2	b	r
3	c	s
4	d	t
5	e	u
6	f	v
7	g	w
8	h	x
9	i	y
A	j	z
B	k	▏
C	l	│
D	m	▕
E	n	▔
F	o	█

G21 Accentued Character Set - R003
	0x	1x
0	-	p
1	a	q
2	b	r
3	c	s
4	d	t
5	e	u
6	f	v
7	g	w
8	h	x
9	i	y
A	j	z
B	k
E	n	~
F	o	█

See also

• Thomson EF936x
• Thomson EF9340 [VIN] & EF9341 [GEN] (precursory couple for this video processor)
• Thomson EF9347 (successor of this video processor)
• Motorola 6847
• Motorola 6845
• TMS9918
• MOS Technology VIC-II
• List of home computers by video hardware

External links

• EF9345 datasheet

Notes and References

1. Book: Graphic Processors Databook . SGS Thomson . March 1989 . 13.
2. Web site: MATRA HACHETTE ALICE . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20211003223344/https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=60 . 2021-10-03 . 2021-10-03 . old-computers.com.
3. Web site: MATRA HACHETTE ALICE 90 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20211003223344/https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=61 . 2021-10-03 . 2021-10-03 . old-computers.com.
4. Web site: Hervier . Carl . Vanlierde . Stéphane . 2023 . http://vg5k.free.fr/index.php?gosub=sEJ-gF15FdO5WnKt4BAeCwE La vidéo du VG5000 ]. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210821174114/http://vg5k.free.fr/index.php?gosub=sEJ-gF15F]dO5WnKt4BAeCwE . 2021-08-21 . 2021-10-03 . La page de fans du VG 5000µ.
5. Book: EF9345 HMOS2 SINGLE CHIP SEMI-GRAPHIC DISPLAY PROCESSOR . SGS Thomson . March 1995.