The TV Typewriter (TVT) was an early computer kit, introduced by Don Lancaster in 1973. It was very similar to the 1976 Apple I and 1977 Apple II in its design and aims. The TV Typewriter displayed 2 pages of 16 lines of 32 characters each. It was featured in 1973 on the cover of Radio Electronics magazine. A Lego RCX Computer is an example of an embedded computer used to control mechanical devices. ... Don Lancaster is an author, inventor, and microcomputer pioneer, best known for his magazine columns. ... The Apple I was an early personal computer, and the first to combine a keyboard with a microprocessor and a connection to a monitor. ... The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... Radio electronics is the sub-field of electrical engineering concerning itself with the class of electronic circuits which receive or transmit radio signals. ...

The TV Typewriter was extremely ingenious but showed a tremendous lack of understanding about the aims and purposes of embedded development. The ingenious part of the design was the way Lancaster ‘tricked’ the microprocessor into acting as the CRT Controller (to save on costs and complexity). Basically, a TV sync generator generated an interrupt that dropped the 6502 into a routine that emitted a series of NOPs starting at a convenient address. Those addresses were used to access display memory. In mathematics, see embedding. ... Microprocessors, including an Intel 80486DX2 and an Intel 80386. ... CRT can mean: Cathode Ray Tube, in electronics, a display device (such as those used in one type of television) C Run-Time, in computing Charitable Remainder Trust, in Law Chinese Remainder Theorem, in mathematics Corneal Refractive Therapy, in medicine Criterion-referenced test, in U.S. schools Critical race theory...

Lancaster never applied for a patent for his design. A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and...

See also

• Home computer
• Personal computer
• History of computing hardware (1960s-present)

TRS-80 Color Computer II The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the second generation of microcomputers (the technical term that was previously used), entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s. ... The history of computing hardware (continued from history of computing hardware) picks up with the development of the integrated circuit. ...

External links

• Don Lancaster's TV Typewriter