
In Memoriam of Charles “Chuck” Peddle - coloneltcb
https://wdc65xx.com/in-memoriam-of-chuck-peddle/
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cmrdporcupine
Bill Mensch's memorial: [https://wdc65xx.com/in-memoriam-of-chuck-
peddle/](https://wdc65xx.com/in-memoriam-of-chuck-peddle/)

~~~
dang
That's much more personal than a Wikipedia page, so we'll switch to that from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Peddle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Peddle).
Thanks!

(Beware the pop up chat windows though.)

~~~
Retr0spectrum
PSA: click the small X that appears on hover to dismiss the chat window.
Clicking "No Thanks" makes it bigger!

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protomyth
The number of computers that were launched and number of people who learned to
program on his chips was amazing. Hitting the market with a low cost chip
allowed a whole generation to be able to afford to program.

Rest in Peace and thanks for building the road that allowed me to get on the
programming highway.

~~~
porsupah
Indeed - from the earlier, pioneering home computers like the PET and Apple
II, through to the generation that followed, with the likes of the Commodore
64, VIC-20, and BBC Micro, the 6502 influenced a boggling number of
programmers, myself included.

(And without the BBC Micro, would Acorn have eventually designed the Acorn
RISC Machine, itself having since proven quite influential?)

~~~
stephbu
Yes, this. From this small seed grew a huge industry, the careers of millions
of people, and products that literally changed the world. RIP.

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drallison
It is sad to learn Chuck Peddle has died. I remember him at WESCON in 1975
selling single units of the 6502 off the floor for $20 cash. He was an iconic
visionary character, nearly always excited. His efforts created Apple and a
bunch of other computer companies and introduced the joys of computing to lots
of people. We need more people like him.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
Nitpick. The 6502 was $25. The 6501 was $20.

The 6501 was almost the same thing as the 6502. However it was more-or-less
pin compatible with the Motorola 6800 while the 6502 wasn't. The 6501 never
became popular because

a) Motorola objected

b) the 6501 needed two-phase non-overlapping 5V rail-to-rail clocks, so it
needed external clock generator circuitry, while the 6502 had a single TTL
compatible clock input.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502#Introducin...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502#Introducing_the_6501_and_6502)

~~~
drallison
I am pretty sure that I paid $20 at WESCON, a "conference special" but I could
have dropped a bit.

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thought_alarm
RIP Chuck Peddle, co-creator of the 6502 CPU, and a true Silicon Valley
pioneer.

His story is as pure a SV story as it gets, from white-shirt Motorola
engineer, to cost-cutting start-up entrepreneur, to legend with a cemented
place in history.

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sokoloff
Reading this and reflecting on my own history, I realized that it doesn’t make
much sense to current learners to even _know_ what CPU is in the computer
they’re learning on. It was almost unthinkable to _not know_ when I learned.

Personal 6502 anecdote: My first paid programming gig was an XModem CRC
calculator function in 6502 assembly for a local BBS. When 1200baud modems
first came out, the upload on this BBS was gated by the speed of CRC
calculation in Atari BASIC. I got $20 and “level 7” on the BBS for what was
probably under 20 bytes of relocatable machine code plus the BASIC USR$
invocation wrapper. (Imagine if we made $1/byte for shipping code today. ;) )

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jmccorm
He and the rest of the MOS team’s efforts had such an amazingly positive
impact on the lives of myself and so many others. NOP (EA) in peace, Chuck.

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newnewpdro
Well that's unexpected, it seems like it was just yesterday I was listening to
his interview on The Amp Hour[0] and he was touting his excellent health,
running daily, and how different age is today.

Does anyone happen to know how he died?

[0] [https://theamphour.com/241-an-interview-with-chuck-peddle-
ch...](https://theamphour.com/241-an-interview-with-chuck-peddle-charismatic-
chipmaking-coryphaeus/)

~~~
djmips
That 'just yesterday' is almost 5 years ago. I believe the amp hour interview
was March 2015.

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jacquesm
Ah that seriously sucks, the man who got me started on all this with my - or
rather, his - KIM-1. What a pity.

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pjbk
So sad. I learned to program with my Atari 130XE, mainly in 6502 Assembly.
Truly respected him and his constant engineering and entrepreneurship efforts.

The Computer History Museum interviewed him back in 2014 and posted the video
on YT earlier this year:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enHF9lMseP8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enHF9lMseP8)

Scene World Magazine also did an extensive interview 6 years ago:
[https://vimeo.com/89640027](https://vimeo.com/89640027)

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8bitsrule
Big, long-held salute to Mr. Peddle and his team for their remarkable
achievement. Their chip changed the lives of millions of us. We can only
imagine the number of friendships and careers spawned by their little startup.

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ddingus
Sad day. Thanks Chuck, and friends, for all the fun and the start to great
careers.

I think I am going to fire up my Apple 2 and reminisce.

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DC-3
Sounds like a man worthy of a black banner.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Agreed. I was sad to hear of Chuck's passing. His MOS Technology was a huge
thorn in Intel's side in the early days. That company punched way above its
weight class because the chip was so simple it made a huge number of things
possible.

I got to meet him when he did this interview
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enHF9lMseP8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enHF9lMseP8))
with the Computer History Museum and really was impressed at how he understood
and expressed computation.

