In the warm glow of the MicroBasement, Son of Cheap Video is Don Lancaster’s 1979 follow-up masterpiece to The Cheap Video Cookbook — subtitled “More TV Typewriter and Video Display Ideas.” Published by Howard W. Sams & Co. in 1979, this 224-page paperback took the low-budget video concept even further, refining circuits, adding color capability, improving readability, and slashing costs still more. For hobbyists who thought $20–$30 for monochrome text was already incredible, Lancaster showed how to get better performance, scrolling, cursor control, and even primitive color graphics — all while keeping the parts count tiny and the price absurdly low. It was the book that said: “You thought cheap video was good? Hold my soldering iron.”
Don Lancaster (1945–2023) — the undisputed king of practical, dirt-cheap electronics — released Son of Cheap Video in 1979 as a direct sequel to his earlier Cheap Video Cookbook. Published by Howard W. Sams & Co., it built on reader feedback from the first book and the evolving needs of homebrew computer builders. Lancaster’s goal remained the same: make video output so inexpensive and straightforward that no one had an excuse not to add a display to their 8080, 6502, or Z80 machine. The book was an instant hit among the basement tinkerer crowd and stayed in print well into the 1980s.
The book is packed with refinements and new ideas. It opens with a review of basic cheap-video principles (sync generation, dot-matrix timing, software-assisted character generation), then dives into upgrades: improved sync and timing circuits for rock-solid stability, better character fonts and readability (including proportional spacing tricks), scrolling and cursor hardware, page memory optimizations using even cheaper static RAM, direct color video generation (using simple resistor DACs for 8–16 colors), RF modulator improvements for cleaner TV hookup, and keyboard/display interfacing refinements. Lancaster includes complete schematics for several “Son of Cheap Video” designs — evolved versions of the TVT-6½ and new minimalist color-capable circuits — plus troubleshooting tips, parts lists, and expansion ideas for games, graphics, and animation. Appendices cover ASCII/Baudot conversions, pinouts, and cost-saving sourcing hacks.
The real breakthrough was pushing the envelope further: Lancaster demonstrated how to achieve stable 24×80 text (or close equivalents) with fewer ICs than before, add hardware scrolling and cursor blink, and introduce low-res color graphics using only a handful of TTL gates and resistors for a crude palette. Total parts cost for many builds stayed under $25–$40, often using surplus or junk-box components. The circuits were breadboard-friendly and forgiving, making them ideal for interfacing to the growing wave of affordable microcomputers (Sol-20, TRS-80 clones, Apple I/II, PET, etc.). It gave hobbyists the tools to turn any TV into a real terminal without spending what commercial video boards cost.
Son of Cheap Video represents one of the critical turning points in the personal computing revolution. By taking cheap video from “good enough” monochrome text to usable color and improved features — all at pocket-change prices — Don Lancaster removed yet another barrier to interactive home computing. It empowered a generation of builders to add sophisticated displays to their machines without bankrupting themselves, influencing everything from early arcade clones to educational tools to the homebrew video explosion of the late 1970s. Preserving and demonstrating this book is essential because it embodies the foundational efforts of engineers and writers who created the pathways for modern computing by proving that ingenuity could always beat cost. In the MicroBasement, its pages sit proudly beside the Cheap Video Cookbook, TV Typewriter Cookbook, early TTL chips, and Mark-8/Atair hardware — a quiet testament that sometimes the most powerful upgrades come from the simplest, cleverest refinements.