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My Video Wall
Hardware
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This photo is of Video Wall hardware listed on ebay
in September 2015 as a "Memotech MTX2000 Video Wall controller PC".
This particular Video Wall system was obviously designed to be
portable and, apart from the monitors and video source, is
self-contained. As shown in the photo, an MTX512S2 keyboard was
permanently fixed inside the case.
Although the eBay photos
didn't give any indication that this was an MTX2000 system, the
module below the keyboard appears to show an integral 3.5" floppy
disk drive and suggested that this was an unusual piece of Memotech
kit. |
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This is the rear view inside the flight case,
showing :
| 1 x Control module |
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| 1 x Decoder module |
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| 2 x DDFS modules |
supporting a 4 x 4 Video Wall |
The control module appeared to be very similar to my
Reflex Controller, but with the keyboard connector
being utilised, this system definitely had a different
configuration.
Since this system appeared to be complete and
potentially built using an MTX2000 computer, I made an offer for the
equipment which was accepted. |
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Close up / detailed photos - the full size
pictures are quite large! |
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Computer - MTX2000
(Working) |
In 2012, Geoff Boyd
shed some light on the design and origin of the MTX2000 computer . .
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"The 3.5in disk CP/M MTX2000 series were originally made
in small quantities at the behest of the Italian distributor who
invested in Memotech Computers Ltd and then later used as computer
for the Videowall control systems. Many of these systems had silicon
disk/ram disk + ROM CP/M systems. There was never an attempt by
Memotech Computers Ltd to sell these as computer systems." |
| Although carrying an MTX512S" label, the keyboard in
this system is just that - a standard MTX keyboard with the rest of
the original components removed from the case. |
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| The MTX2000 system unit consists of a MTX 4000-04
computer board with the majority of the power supply components
removed and power supplied from a "Skynet",
Model Number SNP-3031 PSU as was fitted to the Reflex
Controller in my
other Video Wall system. |
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| The MTX2000 appears to have been used as an
enhancement to the Reflex Controller to support the use of a floppy
disk drive. With the Reflex, the VideoWall effects were hard coded
in the ROM and although custom effects could be programmed, they
could not be saved and would have been lost when the system was
powered off. |
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In line with Geoff
Boyd's recollections of the MTX2000, the system includes a 3.5"
floppy drive and a ROM based CP/M system using Andy's SCPM ROM.
The disk controller is the same as that used in the
second version of the SDX, it
has space for 512kB of RAM, but the sockets are unpopulated. |
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Solder side of the disk controller board
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yes, yellow wire features again! |
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A combined RS232 / EPROM board is mounted
vertically, soldered to the MTX computer board edge connector.
The EPROM sockets are unpopulated, the system would have needed
to have the Video Wall program and sequences to be loaded from disk. |
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The Video Wall
Hardware
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The Video Wall Controllers - DDFS
(Distributed Digital Frame Store)
(Working) |
When I removed the lower DDFS from the flight case,
there were no obvious markings on it, so I assumed that it was just
another unbranded DDFS.
When I started to reassemble it
after cleaning, I found that the front of the case had been fitted
upside down! - The DDFS was actually labeled as a "Memopix
Video Wall 2000 HI RES". |
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Rear view of the lower Video Wall
Controller (DDFS).
The RGB monitor output
connector labels suggest that this DDFS should be connected to
monitors 9 to 16, with an additional output labeled "0". |
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The Serial Number label from the lower Video Wall
Controller (DDFS).
The serial number (1410) is
a quite close to my other Video
Wall DDFS (1451), but the label confirms that this is a
High Resolution "200" series, rather than the
Standard Resolution of my series "150"
unit. |
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| One of the Frame Store Memory Boards (FSMB) The "Frame Store Memory Board - Double Resolution"
PCB is the same board as fitted in
my other Video Wall DDFS , although the ROMs are different. This
is also an "86/07 Issue 5 board", with what appears to be a
Date Code of "89 04". The RAM chips fitted to this board
are 22-pin 64kx1 SRAMs (256x256), rather than the 20-pin 16kx1 (128 x 128)
SRAMs in my series "150" DDFS.
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| Solder side of the Frame Store Memory Board |
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The FSMBs are uniquely addressed by configuration programmed into
the PAL in IC27, in this DDFS, the addresses are as
shown :
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FSMB Address |
| Slot |
Left Side |
Right Side |
| 5 |
FS143 |
FS139 |
| 4 |
FS142 |
FS138 |
| 3 |
FS141 |
FS137 |
| 2 |
FS140 |
FS136 |
| 1 |
(empty) |
(empty) |
| 0 |
(FSAD board) |
(FSAD board) |
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FSMB Address |
| Slot |
Left Side |
Right Side |
| 5 |
FS135 |
FS131 |
| 4 |
FS134 |
FS130 |
| 3 |
FS133 |
FS129 |
| 2 |
FS132 |
FS128 |
| 1 |
(empty) |
(empty) |
| 0 |
(FSAD board) |
(FSAD board) |
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The Serial Number label from the upper Video Wall
Controller (DDFS). |
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Video Decoder & Distribution
Amplifier
(untested) |
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