Microvision

The Microvision was a hand-held cartridge based game system sold by Milton Bradley between 1979 and 1981. It featured a 16x16 monochrome LCD display, 12 key keypad and paddle control. One unique feature of it's design was that not only did the cartridges hold the ROM code for the game, they also contained the microprocessor, and acted as an overlay for the screen and keypad.

Technical Specs

Main PCB

Links

Chip Pinouts

Cartridge Connector

Cartridge Information

 


System Specs

(Note: There where two different processor used in the Microvision cartridges each with different specs)

Processor: Intel 8021
Speed: 100Khz (unconfirmed)
RAM: 64 bytes
ROM: 1K

Processor: TMS1100
Speed: 100Khz (unconfirmed)
RAM: 128x4 bits
ROM: 2K

Sound: Piezo speaker controlled by CPU

Graphics: 16x16 monochrome LCD

 


Main PCB

Schematics


Links

Hand Held Museum - This site has good pictures of the system and it's cartridges, boxes and manuals. You will also find the Microvision FAQ here.

Wikipedia - Wikipedia entry for the Microvision

Microvision Patent



Chip Pinouts


TMS1100 CPU
<- R8 1   28 R7 ->
<- R9 2 27 R6 ->
<- R10 3 26 R5 ->
  Vdd 4 25 R4 ->
-> K1 5 24 R3 ->
-> K2 6 23 R2 ->
-> K4 7 22 R1 ->
-> K8 8 21 R0 ->
-> Init 9 20 Vss  
<- O7 10 19 OSC2 ->
<- O6 11 18 OSC1 <-
<- O5 12 17 O0 ->
<- O4 13 16 O1 ->
<- O3 14 15 O2 ->

 

Pin Name Function
Vss Ground
Vdd Power Supply Input
Init Processor reset
OSC1 Oscillator input
OSC2 Oscillator output
K1-K8

Data input lines

O0-O7 Data output lines
R0-R10 Data output lines

 

Intel 8021 CPU

<-> P22 1   28 Vcc  
<-> P23 2 27 P21 <-> 
<- PROG 3 26 P20 <-> 
<->  P00 4 25 P17 <-> 
<->  P01 5 24 P16 <-> 
<->  P02 6 23 P15 <-> 
<->  P03 7 22 P14 <-> 
<->  P04 8 21 P13 <-> 
<->  P05 9 20 P12 <-> 
<->  P06 10 19 P11 <-> 
<->  P07 11 18 P10 <-> 
<- ALE 12 17 RESET -<
-> T1 13 16 XTAL2 <-
  Vss 14 15 XTAL1 <-

 

Pin Name Function
Vss Ground
Vcc Power Supply Input
RESET Processor reset
XTAL1,XTAL2 Oscillator input
P00-P07 Bi-directional I/O port
P10-P17

Bi-directional I/O port

P20-P23 Bi-directional I/O port
T1 Input line
ALE Output clock = Input clock/30

 

SCUS0488 LCD Controller

<- R12 1   40 Vcc  
<- R11 2 39 R15 -> 
<- R10 3 38 R14 -> 
->  CTRL5 4 37 R13 -> 
->  CTRL4 5 36 C15 -> 
->  CTRL3 6 35 C14 -> 
->  CTRL2 7 34 C13 -> 
->  CTRL1 8 33 C12 -> 
->  CTRL0 9 32 C11 -> 
<-  R0 10 31 C10 -> 
<-  R1 11 30 C9 -> 
<- R2 12 29 C8 ->
<- R3 13 28 C7 ->
<-  R4 14 27 C6 ->
<- R5 15 26 C5 ->
<-  R6 16 25 C4 ->
<-  R7 17 24 C3 ->
<-  R8 18 23 C2 ->
<-  R9 19 22 C1 ->
  GND 20 21 C0 ->

 

Pin Name Function
GND Ground
Vcc Power Supply Input
CTRL0-CTRL5 CPU Interface
R0-R15 LCD Row
C0-C15 LCD Column

 

 


Cartridge Connector


  24 +9V ->
23 +9V in <- 
22 Vlcd -> 
21 NC  
20 GND  
19 LCD0 <- 
18 LCD1 <-
17 LCD2 <- 
16 LCD3 <-
15 LCD4 <- 
14 LCD5 <- 
13 KEY0 ->
12 KEY1 ->
11 KEY2 ->
10 KEY3 <-
9 KEY4 <-
8 KEY5 <-
7 KEY6 <-
6 SPKR1 <-
5 SPKR2 <-
4 POT1 ->
3 POT0 ->
2 CAP1 ->
1 CAP2 ->

Pin Name Function
+9V +9V supply from battery
+9V in +9V interlock
Vlcd LCD Voltage
LCD0-LCD5 LCD control
KEY0-KEY2 Keypad column select
KEY3-KEY6 Keypad row return
SPKR1,SPKR2 Speaker inputs
POT1,POT0 Potentiometer output
CAP1-CAP2 Capacitor used to read potentiometer

Click here for more information on the cartridges

 



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Dan Boris - danlb_2000@yahoo.com