Recently Discovered MOS Technology Documents

[JEN WINOGRAD]

Hello,
I am the daughter of Terry Holdt, project manager for the 6502. My Dad was on the team that left Motorola with Chuck Peddle to go to MOS Technology. I just cleaned out my father's garage and discovered several shelves of MOS Technology binders/files which contain a wealth of historical documents relating to the production of the 6502, including test results, notes from brainstorming sessions, detailed, step-by-step instructions for the processes that went into making/testing it, letters to customers, instruction books released to public with errata and errata edits, interoffice memos, and more. You may view those I have posted on twitter @nwinograd.

[GARTHWILSON]

Wow, thanks! I don't do twitter; but is it ok if Mike Naberezny, the owner of this website and forum, scans and posts them? There's probably a greater volume of material there than you yourself would want to try to scan, and Mike has a very efficient, rather automated way to do it, if I understand it correctly. 6502.org ought to be the hub of all things 65xx. Several of us have our own related websites, and there are other forums too, for example for specific computer models using the 6502, or for games, etc., but I hope you will let him scan and post the material here. He can of course return it when he's done, if you need it back.

[BigEd]

Thanks Jen for reaching out and trying to preserve these documents! It's certain that there is interest and it can be done.

For reference, the two twitter threads are these:
https://twitter.com/nwinograd/status/10 ... 5056957440
https://twitter.com/nwinograd/status/10 ... 0343408640

[BigDumbDinosaur]

I don't do social media of any kind, so it would be useful if we could get copies here.

[Mike Naberezny]

JEN WINOGRAD wrote:

Hello,
I am the daughter of Terry Holdt, project manager for the 6502. My Dad was on the team that left Motorola with Chuck Peddle to go to MOS Technology. I just cleaned out my father's garage and discovered several shelves of MOS Technology binders/files which contain a wealth of historical documents relating to the production of the 6502, including test results, notes from brainstorming sessions, detailed, step-by-step instructions for the processes that went into making/testing it, letters to customers, instruction books released to public with errata and errata edits, interoffice memos, and more. You may view those I have posted on twitter @nwinograd.

Hi Jen,

I would be happy to scan these documents and post them online in the 6502.org documents archive. I sent you an email off the forum.

Thank you,
Mike

[whartung]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

I don't do social media of any kind, so it would be useful if we could get copies here.

That doesn't mean you can't go and browse those threads.

They won't bite. The URLs aren't radioactive or poison.

[cbmeeks]

whartung wrote:

They won't bite. The URLs aren't radioactive or poison.

Some of them are. Every time I see a Facebook page that has pictures of trashy people behaving stupid I die a little inside.

[BigEd]

Aargh. Jen has reached out to 6502.org - and to others - about the best place to serve for repository and display of some important and interesting historical documents. Mike has collected and curated many documents which are now available in the archive, at http://6502.org/documents - I imagine most of us here has made use of the archive over the years.

It might happen that someone makes a comment which is less than helpful in an important thread. How to respond? How to show that we're sensible, professional, responsible, interested in and enthusiastic about original historical documents? Well, not all of us are - but I am. I very much hope the documents find a good home, and can be scanned and made available, and I believe Mike is able and willing to do that, if he's given the chance.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

whartung wrote:

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

I don't do social media of any kind, so it would be useful if we could get copies here.

That doesn't mean you can't go and browse those threads.

They won't bite. The URLs aren't radioactive or poison.

My experiences with trying to find technical information on social media sites have been negative. Such sites aren't really geared to acting as resources.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

BigEd wrote:

How to show that we're sensible, professional, responsible, interested in and enthusiastic about original historical documents?

I'm certainly interested in historical technical documents.

[ttlworks]

whartung wrote:

They won't bite. The URLs aren't radioactive or poison.

Just being a bit paranoid doesn't mean that nobody is out to play fast and loose with your private user data.
Nowaday, it seems that the internet has turned into a too hostile environment for being of much "practical use" anymore.
Not to mention, that "colorful websites" and the AdBlockers in my browser don't seem to like each other.

;---

But back on topic:
While some of us tried to dig into the silicon of the NMOS 6502, we sometimes started to wonder why it was built the way it was built,
and what the original ideas and intentions of the designers probably had been.
It's been 43 years now that the 6502 had been introduced, so we assumed that the plans and the memories of the designers mostly went lost.

Looks like the material that Jen dug out there might be able to provide an answer to some of our questions.

Jen, welcome to the forum and thanks for trying to preserve these documents, looking forward to reading some more scans...
...just, please, not on social media sites if possible.

[BigEd]

It's clear to me from Jen's tweets and her post here that she wants to have these documents preserved by some suitably responsibile outfit. There's no hint anywhere that social media is a suitable place. She has helpfully shared some snaps to indicate the nature of the documents.

In the case of the post here, she is not reaching out to the general membership, but to Mike and to anyone who might represent an archive or a museum.

[ttlworks]

Ed, please don't take me wrong:
Just mentioning "social media" could provoke (probably inappropriate) "grumpy responses" from the one or other forum member,
and I felt a need to point out one of the reasons, why.

If she is not reaching out to the general membership, maybe we should at least offer something like "Membership Honoris Causa".
Edit: Imagine a parallel universe, in which Terry Holdt didn't exist, the 6502 design team didn't form up... and we all would be tinkering with (godforbid) Intel CPUs.

6502.org ought to be the hub for all things 65xx, and I hope/wish that the scans go into the archive.

[GARTHWILSON]

Quote:

...that she wants to have these documents preserved by some suitably responsible outfit.

For something this valuable, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have it on multiple sites, particularly if anyone has any concerns about a site going down permanently for any reason. Mike is super responsible about taking care of things and returning them; so I hope he will get them in his hands to scan and post, and then one or more other hosts can do so also. If the Computer History Museum is the black hole I've heard that it is and things become inaccessible, it would be awful to have that be the only place these documents go. Same for even the Smithsonian.

[BigEd]

There's certainly a disadvantage to handing over the only copy directly to a museum: they have an obligation to preserve, but not to display or present, and they probably have a big backlog too.

Having Mike scan them, preserve the data and serve it here on the web, and then pass the physical materials to a museum, would be ideal.

With Mike putting the materials on the web, others could take mirrors too, and surely would.