Hello!

Since i have more than one 6502 cpu, i would like to build some other projects.
I thought about building something more useful. Something that would fit in a plastic box, with a keypad, and with a display(i have some vfd 7 segment displays). First i thought about building a 6502 based geiger counter, but it is a bit of a waste to use an entire computer to just count clicks... So i thought what also could i add to it to be more useful. Maybe something digital-related or other measuring devices... I am not interested in building games or similar stuff for this project.
For this projects i plan to use the following components:
6502 cpu
RIOT chip
8kb EEPROM
VFD 7-segment display
4x4 keypad
ACIA chip with rs232 or usb interface
Ni-Cd 12V battery pack
and some other components...

If you have any interesting ideas please write about it.

What would be wrong with a Gieger counter? You get some mathematical programming and display the result on a numeric basis in several different types of units such as roentgens and millisieverts. And by changing the input, you can set up as a thermometer or other input device requiring numeric or processed output.

you can also have it send back a data stream back to a host computer using the RS232.

My one recommendation, ditch the 6532 and go to the 65C22 instead and add in a RAM chip. the 6532 will only give you 128 bytes of RAM and the 6532 isn't as well supported.

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"My biggest dream in life? Building black plywood Habitrails"

I might also make a random number generator from the gm counter, but i don't know how to convert clicks to other units, i noticed that the gm tube reads more clicks when voltage is increased. I really don't have any point of reference for the gm tube readings. I think i will use the riot chip, because it is a bit hard for me to get any 65xx or related chip...
Any other ideas?

the riot is more for the memory gig. Can you get a 6116 which gives 2k of ram?

for converting clicks, maybe as a voltage reference vs. a time constraint?

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"My biggest dream in life? Building black plywood Habitrails"

I can get extra memory, but only if it will be required, if the device will have only 10, 20 variables 128 bytes is more that enough...
For the gm counter i don't have any known radiation source for comparison.

Stack. Any time you do a JSR, it uses memory for the return address. but yup, with good planning, you can definitely get away with 128 bytes. My bad. (I like to spoil myself by using variables like there is no tomorrow)

radiation source, old glow in the dark watch?

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"My biggest dream in life? Building black plywood Habitrails"

I don't have any...
If i am going to jump in few subroutines, i don't really need more than a few bytes of stack...
Except for radiation measuring, it is not like a i have gamma radiation sources and nuclear disasters around town, any other ideas for the project?

4 by 4 keypad, combination lock?
have the display give pass or fail then open a solonoid...

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"My biggest dream in life? Building black plywood Habitrails"

Maybe it could calculate something useful...

You might be able to locate an ionization type smoke detector. Very popular, so lots of them around. Even an old one would do as Am(241) has a half life of more than 430 years..

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Bill

No such luck, i can't even remember seeing any smoke detectors... They are not very common here..
Maybe when i finish the gm counter circuit, i can start looking around and hope to find something...

A bag of potassium chloride (sold as non-sodium salt substitute) emits beta radiation.

Uranium marbles might do as well, i found them on ebay for a few $...
Ok, it is not that i only plan to make a gm counter of this project... Other suggestions?

Edit: I bought the marbles from ebay, they look kinda cool, and now i can test the gm tube(i hope)...
Could i make a em frequency counter, for example a coil and a amplifier with a frequency counter, so when i get it close to some component it could read its frequency...
Or maybe i could make something more useful, like a programmable clock generator, the 6502 could setup come oscillators, so they generate some kind of programmable impulses(or the opposite thing(reader))?
The last idea could be a little hard to make for me since i don't have a oscilloscope to test my circuits...

I was going to suggest stopwatch, and then I remembered that shoe computer thing, where the miscreants timed the passes of the ball on a roulette wheel, to place late bets in a complicated way... and win!

Which, it seems, was a 6502 project.

So, a stopwatch, and then a roulette computer.

I think for a roulette computer the best thing would be the atmega8 or a pic16f...
Did anyone considered building Bender with a 6502 controller?(just asking i am not going to build him)...
I edited the previous post...