Mouser Sells Classic 6502 "Antique" Processor

Status
Not open for further replies.

hoofhearted

Distinguished
Apr 9, 2004
1,020
0
19,280
Sweet, I remember the days of my Vic 20 and Commodore 64. Even wrote some assembly language games that split the raster, moved sprites, detect collision and such.

Rmember the days of compute and computes gazette and even run. Typing in all those numbers out of a magazine to play a game, then LOAD "*",8,1

Then there was the almight SID chip with square wave, sawtooth, triangle and noise.
 

Trialsking

Distinguished
Mar 2, 2007
733
0
19,010
[citation][nom]hoofhearted[/nom]Sweet, I remember the days of my Vic 20 and Commodore 64. Even wrote some assembly language games that split the raster, moved sprites, detect collision and such.Rmember the days of compute and computes gazette and even run. Typing in all those numbers out of a magazine to play a game, then LOAD "*",8,1Then there was the almight SID chip with square wave, sawtooth, triangle and noise.[/citation]
I totally remember doing that. Typing for 30-40mins to watch some program run for like 3 mins. The best was loading games from cassette tapes.
 

pedro_mann

Distinguished
Feb 23, 2010
143
0
18,680
[citation][nom]zybch[/nom]And purchasing one of these will achieve what...?[/citation]
Well, it is a CPU, and it is programmable. So I guess the limit is your own skill and creativity. Also, I could see some nice homebrew commodore project being based off this if a guy could get ahold of the original boot rooms, which really should be easy, if it isn't already floating around on the net already.
 

scannall

Distinguished
Jan 28, 2012
354
0
18,810
It would be a cool thing to put in as part of a kit, much like the old Heathkit packages. Give young kids an early exposure to computer hardware and how it all works.
 

biscuitasylum

Distinguished
Jan 5, 2012
194
0
18,690
[citation][nom]zybch[/nom]And purchasing one of these will achieve what...?[/citation]


Your comment kinda explains your IQ. Not that high, is it. lol
 
The first computer I used was a kit computer with a 6502 CPU. It came with 8K of RAM standard, but we purchased the optional 32K memory upgrade! BASIC took about three minutes to load from cassette tape. . .
 

jgutz2006

Distinguished
Jul 7, 2009
473
0
18,810
a more interesting story would be holding onto this article until someone makes something useful/fun/intereseting with this CPU and then informing everyone that they could get their own 6502 and make their own *Super fun and cool vintage widget* for $6.95!
 

jgutz2006

Distinguished
Jul 7, 2009
473
0
18,810
by the time people buy these and start to make something of them, i'll have long forgotten about it.

Mr. Perry, please keep an eye out for people making use of this as i would love to see a follow up article to this !
 

jhansonxi

Distinguished
May 11, 2007
1,262
0
19,280
With a couple thousand of these you could build a cluster! Maybe powerful enough to run a real OS!

Actually I just returned an Apple II+ I rented to recover some old floppy data. I used ADTPro (Java-based) to boot ProDOS on it. I had to use the cassette port because it didn't have a serial port and I wasn't going to pay $100+ USD for an Ethernet card (they do exist). The cassette port was hooked to my sound card. Crazy but it worked. I was able to dump the floppies (at least the ones that were readable) back to my Ubuntu desktop system and load them in a IIe emulation in MESS.

Seeing Locksmith boot brought back some fond memories. Those were the days.
 

jellico

Distinguished
Apr 17, 2009
622
0
18,980
[citation][nom]hoofhearted[/nom]Sweet, I remember the days of my Vic 20 and Commodore 64. Even wrote some assembly language games that split the raster, moved sprites, detect collision and such.Rmember the days of compute and computes gazette and even run. Typing in all those numbers out of a magazine to play a game, then LOAD "*",8,1Then there was the almight SID chip with square wave, sawtooth, triangle and noise.[/citation]
Wow, that takes me back. I remember playing Ultima 3 on the C64 and thinking how awesome the graphics and sound were (and for the time, they were really good). Seems like another lifetime ago.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Ah, but you forgot to mention that the Atari 400 & 800 computers of that "vintage" also ran off 6502 CPUs. While the Atari game consoles ran of the sibling/sister chip the 6507.
 

belardo

Splendid
Nov 23, 2008
3,540
2
22,795
My first computer was a VIC-20, and I used to dream "If I only had that 8K ram expander, I'd be set - FOR LIFE!", a year later - I get the C=128 for Christmas, as I didn't want the breadbox old C64. But I did have to use my cassette TAPE drive for months. Since I was a kid, and worked at $3.75 an hour it took many many months to save enough to buy the $280 360k 5.25" Floppy Disc Drive!

So when people COMPLAIN about the high prices of technology (which we are used to nowadays) - they don't know squat! I still have my 1571 drive, its bigger and much heavier than my ThinkPad.
$400 iPad is expensive... blah!

14Mhz 6502 CPU?! geez! Talk about serious upgrade for a C=64!

But yeah, when Apple was buying 6502s for their APPLE IIs, they are buying them from C= :) This also allowed C= to sell their computers a bit cheaper since their made their own CPUs. The C=64 put the AppleII to shame. It was a lot cheaper ($600 vs $1200~$2500 depending on memory), it included upper and lower characters, sound and color graphics without requiring add-on cards. Ugh, Apple II was SOOO horrible compared to a C=. But Apple made the profits while the C= sold millions of more units (even at Toys R Us).

And yes Hoofhearted, I remember the days of LOAD "*",8,1 - I don't miss them. :) But it was a neat time to learn a whole new era of inventions.

I of course upgraded to the Amiga 1000 (7Mhz / 512K of RAM / 880k 3.5 floppy drive) which very quickly meant my C=128 was soon put in the closet. Back in 1986~87, the 2MB ram expander for my A1000 had a retail price of about $1600! I got mine used for $300, still have it and its HEAVIER than my ThinkPad, it can be used as a murder weapon. I still use my 1986 era C= 1802C RGB monitor for my video equipment... its the only CRT I still have left. This 12~13" monitor does 640x200 folks, 640x400 in flickering interlace, the picture was far better than a TV, but crap compared to a 60hz VGA screen... but back then, a VGA monitor was $600~1200.
 

CKKwan

Distinguished
Dec 29, 2010
162
0
18,680
65C02.... Bring back my memory of my 1st computer ... Apple ][e, when I was in Primary school. There hardly any computer users here back in my country. I started to learn Apple Soft basic, and then 6502 Assemlby language myself.

I still remember how to turn on / off the Auxilary Memory (in order for the 16bit address space to address 128k of memory)

How to to bootstrapping, hack games with the *monitor* (entry point call -151)

How to turn on and off the FDD stepper motor, and writing into 1/2 of track when truning on two magent at the same time. (Disk protection technique)

How to calculate and draw in the Hires and Double Hires memory buffer.

Use of the undocumented instruction in the 65C02 instruction set for anti debugging.

etc...etc...etc....
 

ukulele97

Distinguished
Nov 10, 2011
23
0
18,510
[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]A positive rating says someone will ask, "Will it run Crysis?"[/citation]
or "Does it blend?"
 

lightbulbsocket

Distinguished
Feb 23, 2010
60
0
18,630
[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]A positive rating says someone will ask, "Will it run Crysis?"[/citation]

No. The question is, will it run Oregon Trail?!

I wonder what kind of effect those 13 extra MHz would have on one of those old systems. I wonder if it would have an effect like overclocking.
 

klockwerk

Distinguished
Mar 25, 2008
41
1
18,535
I learned machine code on a 6503 based PAIA 8700 micro-controller. I'd love to have that puppy up and running again today.
 
[citation][nom]zybch[/nom]And purchasing one of these will achieve what...?[/citation]If anyone still has one of these machines anywhere, it could be amusement well worth $6.95. I bet my local Department of Education probably still has some in service. A lot of their office computers still are green-and-black screens running DOS apps.

On a side note: I kinda wish Technology and Education were more closely tied.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.