The 8563 Video Display Controller (VDC) was an integrated circuit produced by MOS Technology. It was used in the Commodore 128 (C128) computer to generate an 80-column (640 × 200 pixel) RGB video display, running alongside a VIC-II which supported Commodore 64-compatible graphics. The DCR models (as well as a few D-models) of the C128 used the later and more technically advanced 8568 [D]VDC controller.

The VDC was designed with office suite applications in mind. Shown here is SpeedScript 128, a word processor.

History and characteristics

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Originally intended for a planned (but unreleased) UNIX-based business computer based around the Zilog Z8000, Commodore designed the VDC into several prototype machines. Of these, only the Commodore 128 ever saw production. Unlike earlier MOS video chips such as the popular VIC-II, the VDC had dedicated video memory, 16 kilobytes (16,384 bytes; upgradable to 64 kilobytes, 65,536 bytes) in the original or "flat" C128 and 64 kilobytes in the C128DCR. This RAM was not directly accessible by the microprocessor.

The 8563 was more difficult to produce than most of the rest of the MOS Technology line, and initial yields were very low. The early units also had significant reliability problems and tended to self-destruct from overheating.[1] Also, there were timing issues with the VDC that would cause indirect load and store operations on its registers to malfunction.

Officially, the VDC was a text-only chip, although a careful reading of the technical literature by MOS Technology that was given to the early C128 developers did indicate that a high-resolution bitmap mode was possible—it simply wasn't described in any detail. BASIC 7.0, the C128's built-in programming language, only supported high-resolution graphics in 40-column mode via the legacy VIC-II chip.

 
This Ultra Hi-Res demo showcases the VDC's blitter capabilities with a simple 3D animation of a wire frame model of a cube.

Shortly after the release of the C128 the VDC's bitmap mode was described in considerable detail in the Data Becker book "Commodore 128 - Das große GRAFIK-Buch" (published in late 1985 in the United States by Abacus Software), and an assembly language program was provided by the German authors Klaus Löffelmann and Dieter Vüllers, in which it was possible to set or clear any pixel or, using BASIC to perform the necessary calculations, generate bitmapped geometric shapes on the 80 column screen.[2] In February 1986, less than a year after the Commodore 128's release, RUN magazine published "Ultra Hi-Res Graphics", an article describing the VDC's bitmapped mode and including a type-in program (written in 8502 assembly language) that extended BASIC 7.0's capabilities to support 640×200 high-resolution graphics using the 8563.[1] Authors Lou Wallace and David Darus later developed the Ultra Hi-Res utility into a commercial package, BASIC 8. One of the most popular third-party utilities for the C128, this offered more advanced VDC high-resolution capabilities to a wide audience of programmers.

Commodore finally offered complete official documentation on the VDC in the Commodore 128 Programmer's Reference Guide. VDC bitmap modes were used extensively in the C128 version of the GEOS operating system.

The VDC lacked sprite capabilities, which limited its use in gaming applications. However, it did contain blitting capabilities to autonomously perform small block memory copies within its dedicated video RAM. While the VDC is performing such a copy, the system CPU can continue running code, provided no other VDC accesses are attempted before the copy is finished. These functions were used by the C128's screen editor ROM to rapidly scroll or clear screen sections.

Technical specifications

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The 8563 VDC and related ICs on the C128 motherboard.
  • RGBI output (RGB plus Intensity) compatible with IBM's CGA video standard.
  • 16 or 64 kilobyte address space for display, character shape and display attribute memory (dedicated, separate from system memory).
  • Up to 720 × 700 pixel video resolution in interlaced mode (maximum with 64 kilobyte video RAM). Other image sizes are possible, depending on programmer's needs, such as 640 × 200 non-interlaced, 640 × 400 interlaced, etc.
  • 80 × 25 characters text resolution (C128 kernal default); other sizes such as 80 × 50 or 40 × 25 are possible.
  • 8 colors at 2 intensities.

* This applies to US 60 Hz C128s only. 50 Hz C128 machines output a signal with a 50 Hz vertical refresh. Although not conforming to the CGA standard, most CGA monitors were capable of displaying the 50 Hz signal without problems. However, some monitors either failed to resolve the signal or succeeded in resolving it, but sooner or later their deflection circuits would fail due to electrical or thermal stress, requiring repair.

Programming

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Addressing the VDC's internal registers and dedicated video memory must be accomplished by indirect means. First the program must tell the VDC which of its 37 internal registers is to be accessed. Next the program must wait until the VDC is ready for the access, after which a read or write on the selected internal register may be performed. The following assembly code is typical of a register read:

         ldx #regnum       ;VDC register to access
         stx $d600         ;write to control register
 loop    bit $d600         ;check bit 7 of status register
         bpl loop          ;VDC not ready
         lda $d601         ;read from VDC register
         ...

The following code is typical of a register write operation:

         ldx #regnum       ;VDC register to write to
         stx $d600         ;write to control register
 loop    bit $d600         ;check bit 7 of status register
         bpl loop          ;VDC not ready
         sta $d601         ;write to VDC register
         ...

The same is feasible in BASIC language, calling specific KERNAL routines :

This code is typical of a VDC register read, where register it's a number between 0 and 36, as show below.

BANK15
...
SYS DEC("CDDA"),, register : RREG VDC
REM $ccda aka 52698 in decimal
PRINT VDC
         ...

this code is typical of a VDC register write, where register it's a number between 0 and 36, and value it's a number between 0 and 255, that you wish to place in that register.

BANK15
...
SYS DEC("CDCC"), value, register
REM $ccdc aka 52684 in decimal
         ...

Owing to this somewhat cumbersome method of controlling the VDC, the maximum possible frame rate in bitmapped mode is generally too slow for arcade-style action video games, in which bit-intensive manipulation of the display is required.

In standard text mode, the VDC behaves much like the VIC-II except with 2k of screen memory instead of 1k. The power on default configuration places screen memory in $0-$7FF and the color memory at $800-$9FF and they can be moved anywhere in VDC memory as long as it's on a 2k boundary. Attributes are handled like the VIC-II's high resolution mode with a global background color and each character foreground color set individually per the color RAM. In addition to color data, the latter also contains attribute data for each character. Bit 4 causes the character to blink if enabled, Bit 5 produces underlined characters, and Bit 6 inverts the character's bitmap pattern. Bit 7 enables the alternate character set. The VDC can use as many as 512 characters. When the alternate character flag for a given character is enabled, the character pattern will be drawn from characters 256–511. Thus if character 65 is displayed, enabling the alternate character flag will display character 321 instead. The alternate character flag is normally used when upper/lowercase mode is set—the flag is enabled for all VDC screen positions, causing the upper/lowercase character set and its reverse video versions to be displayed instead of the default uppercase/graphics character set.

The VDC does not use a character ROM, instead the VIC-II's character ROM patterns are simply copied into VDC RAM as part of the C128's power on initialization including the patterns for reverse video characters even though the VDC is capable of inverting characters in hardware. Character patterns take 16 bytes instead of 8 to store as the VDC has adjustable character height. Since the screen is 25 lines, in practice character height is limited to 8 lines meaning that half the space for character data is left unused and wasted. The power on default configuration places the character data in $2000-$3FFF. $2000-$23FF contain the patterns for the uppercase/graphics characters, $2C00-$33FF the upper/lowercase characters, while $2400-$2BFF and $3400-$3FFF contain the reverse video patterns for each set. The user may freely define any custom characters and map them into VDC memory.

Register listing

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This information was adapted from the Commodore 128 Programmer's Reference Guide[3]

Register Hexadecimal Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 Description
0
$00
HT7 
HT6 
HT5 
HT4 
HT3 
HT2 
HT1 
HT0 
Horizontal Total
1
$01
HD7 
HD6 
HD5 
HD4 
HD3 
HD2 
HD1 
HD0 
Horizontal Displayed
2
$02
HP7 
HP6 
HP5 
HP4 
HP3 
HP2 
HP1 
HP0 
Horizontal Sync Position
3
$03
VW3 
VW2 
VW1 
VW0 
HW3 
HW2 
HW1 
HW0 
Vertical/Horizontal Sync Width
4
$04
VT7 
VT6 
VT5 
VT4 
VT3 
VT2 
VT1 
VT0 
Vertical Total
5
$05
VA4 
VA3 
VA2 
VA1 
VA0 
Vertical Adjust
6
$06
VD7 
VD6 
VD5 
VD4 
VD3 
VD2 
VD1 
VD0 
Vertical Displayed
7
$07
VP7 
VP6 
VP5 
VP4 
VP3 
VP2 
VP1 
VP0 
Vertical Sync Position
8
$08
IM1 
IM0 
Interlace Mode
9
$09
CTV4
CTV3
CTV2
CTV1
Character Total Vertical
10
$0A
CM1 
CM0 
CS4 
CS3 
CS2 
CS1 
CS0 
Cursor Mode, Start Scan
11
$0B
CE4 
CE3 
CE2 
CE1 
CE0 
Cursor End Scan Line
12
$0C
DS15
DS14
DS13
DS12
DS11
DS10
DS9 
DS8 
Display Start Address High Byte
13
$0D
DS7 
DS6 
DS5 
DS4 
DS3 
DS2 
DS1 
DS0 
Display Start Address Low Byte
14
$0E
CP15
CP14
CP13
CP12
CP11
CP10
CP9 
CP8 
Cursor Position High Byte
15
$0F
CP7 
CP6 
CP5 
CP4 
CP3 
CP2 
CP1 
CP0 
Cursor Position Low Byte
16
$10
LPV7
LPV6
LPV5
LPV4
LPV3
LPV2
LPV1
LPV0
Light Pen Vertical Position
17
$11
LPH7
LPH6
LPH5
LPH4
LPH3
LPH2
LPH1
LPH0
Light Pen Horizontal Position
18
$12
UA15
UA14
UA13
UA12
UA11
UA10
UA9 
UA8 
Update Address High Byte
19
$13
UA7 
UA6 
UA5 
UA4 
UA3 
UA2 
UA1 
UA0 
Update Address Low Byte
20
$14
AA15
AA14
AA13
AA12
AA11
AA10
AA9 
AA8 
Attribute Start Address High Byte
21
$15
AA7 
AA6 
AA5 
AA4 
AA3 
AA2 
AA1 
AA0 
Attribute Start Address Low Byte
22
$16
CTH3
CTH2
CTH1
CTH0
CDH3
CDH2
CDH1
CDH0
Character Total Horizontal, Character Display Horizontal
23
$17
CDV4
CDV3
CDV2
CDV1
CDV0
Character Display Vertical
24
$18
COPY
RVS 
CBRATE
VSS4
VSS3
VSS2
VSS1
VSS0
Vertical Smooth Scrolling
25
$19
TEXT
ATR 
SEMI
DBL 
HSS3
HSS2
HSS1
HSS0
Horizontal Smooth Scrolling
26
$1A
FG3 
FG2 
FG1 
FG0 
BG3 
BG2 
BG1 
BG0 
Foreground/Background color
27
$1B
AI7 
AI6 
AI5 
AI4 
AI3 
AI2 
AI1 
AI0 
Address Increment per Row
28
$1C
CB15
CB14
CB13
RAM 
Character Base Address
29
$1D
UL4 
UL3 
UL2 
UL1 
UL0 
Underline Scan Line
30
$1E
WC7 
WC6 
WC5 
WC4 
WC3 
WC2 
WC1 
WC0 
Word Count
31
$1F
DA7 
DA6 
DA5 
DA4 
DA3 
DA2 
DA1 
DA0 
Data Register
32
$20
BA15
BA14
BA13
BA12
BA11
BA10
BA9 
BA8 
Block Start Address High Byte
33
$21
BA7 
BA6 
BA5 
BA4 
BA3 
BA2 
BA1 
BA0 
Block Start Address Low Byte
34
$22
DEB7
DEB6
DEB5
DEB4
DEB3
DEB2
DEB1
DEB0
Display Enable Begin
35
$23
DEE7
DEE6
DEE5
DEE4
DEE3
DEE2
DEE1
DEE0
Display Enable End
36
$24
DRR3
DRR2
DRR1
DRR0
DRAM Refresh Rate

References

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  1. ^ "Commodore.ca | Products | Commodore 128, 128D, 128DCR, History, Manuals, Pictures & Time Line". www.commodore.ca. Archived from the original on 2003-07-26.
  2. ^ Chapter 3.9.1 "VDC HI-RES-Grafik" Page 213ff
  3. ^ Commodore Capital, Inc., (1986). Commodore 128 programmer's reference guide. New York, NY: Bantam Books, Inc.
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