
A homebuilt MOS 6502 based microcomputer system - mattgodbolt
http://www.grappendorf.net/projects/6502-home-computer
======
bitwize
It's so damn cute! Part of me wants to believe that the market could really
use a Model 100-type system that is easy to carry, handles the basics and has
batteries that last forever. But that's just my inner geek; such a thing would
today be a niche product for enthusiasts and special use cases at best. What
most people want is a MacBook Air. Or an iPad.

~~~
fit2rule
I don't know that its inapplicable to todays education market, to be honest.
You can learn a lot about computing with an old 8-bit machine that is
completely _lost_ on the modern developer.

Maybe if someone put LOAD81 into a small AVR-based, portable box similar to
the one in the article, we'd have a new revolution in software development
education. Too many times students of today leave the classroom thinking "the
IDE will do all the work for me". This is a highly specious and unproductive
mindset, imho .. solved by a little contact with micro-controllers and mini-
tools.

~~~
DanBC
[http://geoffg.net/maximite.html](http://geoffg.net/maximite.html)

That project didn't seem to get much traction.

Maybe it could be achieved with a tweaked Linux on RPi? Create a specific
development environment and run a variety of competitions. Things like 1k, or
7DRL, or whatnot.

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fit2rule
An excellent project .. I'm already jealous and want one! :)

I think there is a lot of potential for machines like this to make a return to
relevance in this day and age. I'm using my old 8-bit collection (still
working) to teach my kids computing at the most basic level - I can sit them
in front of our Oric Atmos battlestation, which in the 21st Century is
fulfilling all the dreams of the 80's, and give them a few hours to figure out
how to do things without worrying about dodgy Internet distractions, overly
burdensome IDE installations, irrelevant tools and utils .. the thing just
plain works, from power on until sunrise. And the kids have a blast with
direct interaction - when they type something, something happens .. there's no
waiting, no distractions. Still an excellent learning platform - and
demonstrates just how arbitrary the value of computers is, in this day and
age.

Old computers never die - their users do!

~~~
foobarge
I agree - how old are your kids and how did you get them started in being
interested with 8-bit systems?

~~~
fit2rule
4 and 7, and all I had to do is set it up and turn it on - they took over from
there .. ;)

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exDM69
I really like reading about projects like this. If I had the means, the
patience and the time, I'd do a similar project myself.

Here's Quinn Dunki's Veronica, another 6502 homebrew computer project:
[http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?p=1937](http://quinndunki.com/blondihacks/?p=1937)

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gianlucar
Hello, nice project, just one thing, as reported here:
[http://www.grappendorf.net/projects/6502-home-
computer](http://www.grappendorf.net/projects/6502-home-computer) the author
states the 6502 was "...an 8-bit MOS 6502 CPU that was used in many popular
home computers of the 1970s and 1980s like the Commodore 64..." which is not
correct, the 6502 was on the Commodore VIC-20, when the Commodre C64 was
equipped with a 6510 :-)

~~~
kjs3
Which is a 6502 with an additional 8-bit I/O port.

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reidrac
I'm building an 8-bit microcomputer myself using the popular AtMega328p
(basically and Arduino board), as an excuse to learn electronics. Turns out
I'm mostly learning AVR stuff, because the MCU will do most of the work; but I
digress.

What I love about this project is the keyboard. I'm using the "follow the
standards" approach implementing PS2 protocol with a Mini-DIN-6 connector to
use an standard PS2 keyboard, but turns out rewiring an existing keyboard
could be a good option too (although I guess it depends on the keyboard type).

"Replicability" is a nice thing to have in this kind of project, but not
really essential. Well done!

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RRWagner
Back in the day, I wrote the first book specific to the Apple II and
programming the 6502 on that platform. It was pretty popular at the time, and
Doom's creator, John Romero, started out with it. Recently Chris Torrence
revived the book (Lulu), and it's online as well from the original articles.
[http://www.softalkapple.com/content/assembly-lines-roger-
wag...](http://www.softalkapple.com/content/assembly-lines-roger-wagner-
part-1)

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pjmlp
Very interesting project.

Although I would rather use Forth, or add Assembly capabilities to the BASIC
like BBC BASIC, instead of C.

~~~
smcl
I think you may be quite unique (impressively, I may add!) that you'd turn to
Forth ahead of C.

~~~
vidarh
On 6502-based computers, C was highly unusual. Not only was C not nearly that
widespread in hobbyist computing, but it's really painful on an 8-bit CPU with
such a tiny stack (256 bytes) and few registers.

Forth, on the other hand received lots of attention for its small size and
compact code, and e.g. I remember articles extolling Forth as easier to learn
than BASIC at the time....

~~~
jacquesm
It's not the runtime that's the problem but the compiler. Though there have
been C compilers on 8 bitters.

~~~
cicero
I used to use a C compiler for the Z-80 called BDS C. BDS stood for "Brain-
Damaged Software" because it didn't implement floating-point.

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Zardoz84
Why do you removed the monitor from the main firmware ? It's perhaps one of
the most useful things that you could have there. Also, perhaps you should
been clone Woz's monitor commands. It allow to list&edit chunks of ram in a
quickly way.

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abecedarius
Neat! There was a pretty similar-looking machine back in the day:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_100](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_100)
though with an 8085 instead.

~~~
rasz_pl
There as going to be C64 laptop, but Commodore's CEO at the time, Marshall
Smith, was a total retard (mba recruited from a company selling screws and
pipes), and canned the project after TANDY people told him its a bad idea
:))))

[http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/lcd.html](http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/lcd.html)

~~~
vidarh
There was a C64 "luggable", though: The SX-64:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_SX-64](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_SX-64)

(I've only ever seen one of them; they were crazily impractical)

~~~
rasz_pl
I learned about it only very recently thru youtube subscription to a fellow
awesome nerd PatheticComputing

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCO_3KXMde4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCO_3KXMde4)

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detaro
looked through the first few entries and it seems like a very nice step-by-
step writeup. Makes me want to build one as well.

I really shouldn't add another thing to the giant stack of projects I have
around though... (especially since I tend to treat it as a stack instead of a
FIFO, so it "somehow" doesn't ever get smaller)

