AntiC

: This article refers to the ANTIC display chip inside the 8-bit Atari home computers. There was also a magazine of the same name (ANTIC) for those computers.

Related Topics:
8-bit Atari - Home computers - ANTIC

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ANTIC (Alpha-Numeric Television Interface Circuit) was an early video system chip used in the Atari 8-bit family of microcomputers as well as some of Atari's video game consoles of the 1980s.

Related Topics:
Atari 8-bit family - Microcomputer - Atari - Video game console - 1980s

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ANTIC was a microprocessor dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. It was a true microprocessor, in that it had an instruction set to run programs (called display lists) to process data.

Related Topics:
Microprocessor - 2D computer graphics - Television - Computer display - Instruction set - Display list - Data

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The display list and the display data were written into RAM by a 6502-compatible CPU. The ANTIC retrieved that information from RAM using a technique known as direct memory access (DMA). It processed the higher level instructions in the display list and translated these instructions into a real-time stream of simpler instructions to the CTIA chip, a combination providing for 12 graphics modes. With the more advanced GTIA, 16 modes were available.

Related Topics:
RAM - 6502 - CPU - Direct memory access (DMA) - CTIA chip - GTIA

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