Cody Computer (now with full documentation/sources)

[Frederick]

A couple of years ago I first posted about the Cody Computer, a 65C02 and Propeller-based system inspired by the Commodore 8-bit family. I've finally gotten things finalized enough to put up all the design files and source code for the project in time for Christmas. Everything is released under the GPL aside from a PDF eBook documenting the project, but even that is freely downloadable; it's currently in draft form.

The Cody Computer supports a single 160x200 multicolor graphics mode largely inspired by the VIC-II's multicolor mode, a SID subset ported from an Arduino library, and a completely new BASIC dialect inspired by Tiny BASIC and aspects of Commodore BASIC. The machine also has a general-purpose I/O port, supports its own cartridge format (via an SPI EEPROM), and uses serial file transfers for LOADing/SAVEing programs and data. Assembly programs are standardized on 64tass. The 65C02 runs at a period-authentic 1 megahertz, all I/O except for UARTs is provided by a single 65C22 VIA, and the Propeller implements several memory-mapped peripherals completely in software. There are still a couple of enhancements I'd like to make, and of course there's a possibility of bugs.

A brief website with a handful of photos and, more importantly, a few video clips is available at https://www.codycomputer.org. Sources and design files are available on GitHub at https://github.com/fjmilens3/cody-computer.

For details read "The Cody Computer Book" that can be downloaded for free from the website at https://www.codycomputer.org/TheCodyComputerBook.pdf. I was still relatively young at the time but remember the various electronics and comp sci books we used to have in the 1980s and 1990s, and my hope with writing it up in such a fashion was to recapture a bit of how they did it back then.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

[BigEd]

That’s great news! Thanks for sharing and for open sourcing.
Your previous thread:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6210

[barnacle]

Congratulations and thanks for documenting everything. There's a lot of work in that pdf...

Neil

[barrym95838]

Frederick wrote:

For details read "The Cody Computer Book" that can be downloaded for free from the website at https://www.codycomputer.org/TheCodyComputerBook.pdf. I was still relatively young at the time but remember the various electronics and comp sci books we used to have in the 1980s and 1990s, and my hope with writing it up in such a fashion was to recapture a bit of how they did it back then.

You did an outstanding job there.

Kudos,

[Oneironaut]

Wow, what a masterpiece! The amazing amount of work in both design and publishing.
Reading the manual was like a time machine for me.

It brought me right back to 1982 when I used to sit on the cold basement floor in front of that huge tube TV, typing in VIC-20 programs from the manual.
This should be required reading along with everything from Garth's site for those wanting to jump into the world of 6502.

Cheers,
Brad