Thomson EF9345

The EF9345 from SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Inc., was a semigraphic single chip microprocessor for video image control, encapsulated in a 40-pin DIP and used primarily in the Matra Alice 32, Matra Alice 90 and Philips VG5000 microcomputers. It was also the video processor of the Minitel 1b terminals, built by either Alcatel and Philips at more than 2 million of units.

The EF9345 was capable of displaying 8 colors (RGB primaries), 128 alphanumeric characters and 128 semigraphic characters. It had one semigraphic mode and 40- and 80-column text modes. It was able to address up to 16KB of dedicated video RAM.

Video Modes

 * 50/60Hz output
 * Interlaced or progressive scan
 * Semigraphics:
 * 128 standard character set with 5x7 pixel font dimensions. User definable 8x10 pixel alphanumeric or semigraphic sets.
 * 40 characters x 25 rows text mode (similar to teletext):
 * 8 x 10 pixel font
 * Selectable background and foreground colors
 * Styles: double height, double width, blinking, reverse, underline, conceal, insert, accentuation of lowercase characters
 * 80 characters x 25 rows text mode:
 * 6 x 10 pixel font
 * Styles: blinking, underlining, reverse, color
 * 8 colors (3-bit RGB palette):
 * [[Image:RGB 3bits palette.png]]

On-Chip Character Generator
The on-chip character generator offered several character sets, including alphanumeric and videotext compatible semigraphics.