Chaps make working 6502 CPU by hand. Because why not? (With discretes on a 12"x15" PCB)

The Register ^ | May 18, 2016 | Richard Chirgwin

[dayglored]

The MOS Technology 6502 was my first real love as a microprocessor. Had an early KIM-1, and built a few homebrew wirewrapped machines using 6502s. So this is a treat to read about...

[dayglored]

Tech and Apple ][ Pings?

[dayglored]

Not really Windows, but some of you must have played with an Apple ][, right? ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

[HamiltonJay]

The 6502 and its derivatives drove the home computer market.... yes a few z80 based machines existed, but the vast majority of the early personal computer market were 6502 based.... In fact they still manufacture an ancestor of this chip, it is used extensively to this day in various ways...

http://westerndesigncenter.com/wdc/w65c02s-chip.cfm

[Dr. Sivana]

I was a Z-80/CPM guy, m’self:

Coleco Adam
Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I
Spectravideo SV-318
Kaypro II
Osborne I
Timex 2000

[ctdonath2]

Z80 rocked.

[rjsimmon]

Add the Sequa Chameleon to your list. Had the 8088 and Z80.

[HangnJudge]

Bunch of N00bs

I remember the Alrair 8800 (1975)
With the mighty Intel 8080

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8080

[Seruzawa]

I used to work on an 80 era Texas Instruments system built for the military. The CPU was 48K memory all with dip chips. Special 15 bit microprocessor (I am not making this up). The normal current draw was 40 amps. It was a two man lift to carry it around.

[bigbob]

using SMT seems like cheating...

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

OMG. This reminds me of folks who build clocks out of NIXIE tubes. Yeah, OK, they are kinda cool.

When you can buy an LED clock new for $7 which is what each digit of a clock in Nixie costs......never mind wiring the things together....

Or you can buy an LED clock in a thrift store for $2.

[Dr. Sivana]

but the vast majority of the early personal computer market were 6502 based

Besides the Z-80/Z-80A computers mentioned earlier (and omitting the earlier 8080 and 8080A first generation home computers), There were a number of none of the above, some of them selling very well. The TI-99/4A was a good seller, and of course sported TI's own processor (16 bits!)

Apple/Commodore/Atari were a good chunk of the market, but I wouldn't call it vast. More like Chevy vs. Ford vs. Chrysler than Cisco.

[Dr. Sivana]

Add the Sequa Chameleon to your list. Had the 8088 and Z80.

I couldn't afford that one. I knew someone who had one. It's Seequa, I believe.

[bigbob]

Odd numbers of bits was de rigeur in many customer processors, even DEC built PDPs ranging from 12 go 36 bits. And the bit-slice CPUs like the AMD 2900 family gave you whatever you wanted, in 4 bit increments.

[bigbob]

Keyboard Input Monitor aka KIM-1. A sweetheart of minimalism.

[Dr. Sivana]

Well, everyone knew of the Altair, but I didn’t find the thing interesting until I read an article on the CompuColor, which sported the 8080A. I also helped key in Teeny BASIC for a fellow who built his own 10K Z80 computer back in the ‘80s, hooked up to a 9” Sanyo B/W Monitor with a raw keyboard with no case. The fellow went to Harvard and on to found his own dot-com in Massachusetts.

My pal at the time who also helped key in Teeny BASIC, wanted an Exidy Sorcerer. I went for color, he went for hi-res (768x256 B/W) and the Sorcerer had a Z-80 processor.

[IronJack]

One of the first low-level languages I learned was 6502 and 65C02 machine code. On an Apple II and IIc.

Then I stepped up to a Motorola 68000.

[Talisker]

It's neat to think of plugging the MOnSter 6502's in-circuit emulator (ICE) cable directly into a socket inside an Apple ][, but that wouldn't actually work. The Apple ][ design relies on a number of clever tricks that derive timing for video generation and peripheral control from the main clock signal — all of which will fail if you need to run at a slower speed.

In other words, Woz really was a wiz.

[Kommodor]

I’m surprised they didn’t find a way to work in legos and ball bearings/water clock mechanisms there...

[edh]

“And the bit-slice CPUs like the AMD 2900 family gave you whatever you wanted, in 4 bit increments.”

These were used in Atari vector games like Red Baron, Battlezone, and Tempest :-). They were a hardware accelerator that handled all of the matrix math for scaling, zooming, and rotations while a 6502 ran the show :-).