6502.org

Memory lane ..

My favorite computer of all time was my OSI Superboard II. 6502 based, approachable and totally understandable in every respect.

However, this was my 2nd favorite: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/gimix/GMX_ ... ochure.pdf

In the mid+ 80's I was working my way through university by being the IT department for Cycle World. The largest motorcycle retailer in Toronto back then. In fact .. ever.

I started them off on a couple of Apple II clones equipped to run CPM, then moved them to a DEC Rainbow 100 running CPM/86, then to a multi-user Plessy (DEC partner) PDP/11-73 running RSTS/E and expanded operations to include accounting, sales, parts, accessories and service. From the Apple II clones to the PDP-11 only took 2 years. The PDP-11 lasted another 2 years, but they wanted to upgrade and move to a platform that had a bit more of a future. We looked at a MicroVAX 3100 but management balked at the cost and asked me to look for something less costly.

I came up with the GMIX.

For about 1/20 the cost of the MicroVAX + VMS + VAXBASIC + DB software I was able to build a POC with the GMX built into an IBM PC style case with a 50MB HD, two FD's, UniFLEX OS, C, Fortran and a relational DB called Sculptor. It was a magical moment in my life. There is a lot more to the story, but in the end the time it would take to port all their functionality from the DEC environment to the GMX was more than they wanted to take .. so .. they opted for the MicroVAX to move ahead. That was an easy port and despite the capital costs the labor was quick and cheap.

A couple of years later I was working elsewhere but stopped into Cycle World for a visit and look for a new bike. I asked about the GMX and was told it was thrown in a dumpster over a year ago.

Sigh! Something quite unique lost forever. I'd love to have that back today.

BTW, my 3rd and 4th favorite computers ever were that PDP/11-73 and the MicroVAX 3100 (respectively).

So, assuming a 6502 of some sort was your favorite, what was your 2nd favorite?

I mostly grew up with Apple IIs (first a IIe, and later a IIgs), but my very first computer was a TI-99/4A. My GS will always be my favorite but I'd have to say that TI is my second favorite.

Hmm, a favourite that's not a 6502... I think for me it would have to be the Amiga, mainly because of the software architecture. I bought a C compiler (well, bought a half-share with a friend) and so that gave me a multitasking machine which I could write code on. I never wrote very much code, but I did subsequently buy a 1200, which put me in the luxurious position of having a hard drive. (In fact I subsequently bought a CPU upgrade card for the 1200, although by the time I did that, as it turned out, I was almost ready to shift to the Pentium, and Linux. Again, it was the software which drew me.)

Edit: notably, since I moved back by way of retrocomputing, the 6502 has held far far more interest to me than the Amiga - I still have both the 500 and the 1200, but never use them.

My favorite computer is the one that does what I tell it. My second-favorite computer is the one that does what I mean.

My second favorite computer was also the second computer I owned: The 6502-based Atari 800XL.

The first computer I owned was a Z80-based Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The Spectrum was the computer on which I first learned assembly language. You might think that would make it my favorite, but not so. I'm fond of it, but it was too primitive. The first computer I used, and wrote BASIC for, was the Z80-based (not that I knew what that meant at the time) Sinclair ZX81. and that's never going to make it on to any list... with it's wobbly 16k RAM pack that you'd nudge and it would wipe out hours of typing.

I taught myself 6502 assembly on the 800XL, and it was a great minimalist instruction set having come from the (relatively) luxurious Z80. What made the 800XL special, though, was its ATIC and GTIA graphics chips. Colors, sprites, scrolling, raster interrupts... Having come from the Spectrum, the 800XL was immense fun to explore, and it kept me engrossed after school, at weekends, and holidays, for about 18 months.

My favorite computer of all time, though, was my next one, the 68000-based Atari ST. What made the ST special was that it introduced me to the 68000 instruction set, which to this day is my favorite, and the one I've probably written the most lines of code in. The step up from 6502 to 68000 was massive. 16 32-bit registers, so many addressing modes, MUL/DIV, user and supervisor modes, exception vectors, exception stack frames, and even more interrupts. Although the ST didn't have the fancy chips to play with, there was so much to learn. The Atari ST held my attention through university until I entered industry... which happened to also use 68000 CPUs, and later 68360 microcontrollers. Over the years I've worked professionally on embedded systems with PowerPC, MIPS32, and most recently ARM64, but 68000 is where my "big CPU" journey began, with the Atari ST.

Didn’t know about GMX Micro-20 but my favorite computer is similar 68020 with 68881 math coprocessor. That was my first computer design back in 1985 – an embedded 68020/68881 multiprocessor called SANDAC V for guidance and control applications. I have regressed in my old age so now 8-bit CPU are my second favorite.
Bill

Nice. I believe the '020 has the scaled index addressing modes, and bit-field instructions. Very nice indeed.

Has to be the TI-99/4A. It could have been much better than it was which is unfortunate. But a fully kitted-out TI-99 is a sight to behold

Atari ST was my second favorite computer. It had 1 MB of RAM a powerful processor and my first hard drive. Overall a great machine.

The Atari 800 XL was my favorite. I learned basic programming, assembly language, and the graphics hardware was too cool. The hardware sprites, color pallets, and video interrupts were too cool.

The PDP-11 and VAX are probably 3 and 4. My first job out of school was working for DEC and that hardware was generally pretty solid.

To echo BigEd my second favorite was the Amiga. It was a great transition into modern-ish software architecture and tool chains without being as complex as a UNIX variant or as monolithic as MacOS. And you could always go and bang directly on registers if you needed to get something done the old fashioned way.

I actually picked up a Peripheral Expansion Box for mine few months ago. I have no use for it but as a kid I always wanted one.

Now I just need to get something to actually put in it.

Might I suggest a Myarc Geneve 9640.

Favorite ever? It hasn't been invented yet. However, in decreasing preference, my current favorites are:

• Eris due to its hardware design, filing system and application support. In particular, the ABI across all applications can be modified by only changing macros.
• 6502GPD which has most influenced my hardware design.
• Planck due to its extensive application and peripheral support.

Nice one. As a kid, I had a TI-99/4A with a PEB. I have no idea what happened to it though