General Information
The FRED (Flexible Recreational and Educational Device) concept was used by RCA for multiple prototype computers eventually resulting in the release of computers like the VIP and Studio II. The FRED 1.5 emulated by Emma 02 is based on the information found in this manual as well as games found on different tapes from the The Sarnoff Collection at TCNJ.
The FRED 1.5 was similar to the FRED 1 with the main difference that a CDP1801 was used instead of the SYSTEM00 prototype CPU.
Technical specifications
CPU: CDP1801
Clock: 1 MHz
Memory: 2 KB RAM
Video: 32x32, 64x16 or 64x32 pixels
Sound: from tapes or by toggling bit 2 in OUT 3
Keyboard: Hex keypad
Screen shot
FRED 1.5 running the Curses Foiled Again game similar to the Swords game on the RCA Video Coin Arcade.
Links
Other information about the FRED:
- Herb Johnson's COSMAC FRED2 at Sarnoff Collection - I expect the FRED 2 is very similar to the 1.5 with the main difference that it runs a CDP1802
- Original photos on the Hagley Digital Archives
Main Features FRED 1.5 Emulator
- Adjustable speed, boosting the speed of the FRED 1.5 beyond 1 MHz!
- Tape features (wav file and real cassette support) including a Turbo version
- Auto detection of the tape format and detection of stop tones
- Direct FRED 1.5 memory access to load and save software from the PC hard disk via binary files
- Support for the FRED 1.5 video with zoom and full screen option by pressing F3
- Video screen dump to a file (BMP, JPEG, PNG or PCX image)
- RAM extension up to 32KB