Hi there,
just wanted to drop a note. I have been using 6502 & 65C02 varieties for almost 20 years, on and off. Started with Synertek bare board computer, enjoyed it immensely. I like to develop gadgets using 65xx that I sell to industry, mainly sonar type instruments. I used to buy 65xx in quantity directly from GTE, then California Micro Devices (CMD), but since they had stopped making it, I thought I was in trouble. I didn't think WDC would be selling actual chips, so contacted Mike Naberezny first. Yesterday, I purchased 150 of 65C02 from WDC, this will last a few years. I have bought enough (300 pc) CMD's G65SC22 from Arrow, they have thousands of them, but none 65C02. All sold out.
I hope WDC will continue to supply this micro for a long time, if not, I will have to look for a different microprocessor. I have been using Microchip for small products, so probably I would consider these first.
To my surprise, I have discovered today a web site dedicated to C compiler for 65xx. Here is the link:
http://www.cc65.org/#Tools
Hope the link works, if not, delete the #tools and try again. I do not use C (know nothing about it), I am confortable with assembly, have a better control of timing.
Good luck to you all,
Icy

Welcome.

I'm not exactly new here, of course, but I am starting a new venture. I'm trying to establish an electronics kit manufacturing business. (I laugh whenever I see "Kit" and "Manufacturing" in the same sentence, but I digress!) I'm hoping a number of my future products will be based on the 65C816 microprocessor.

That being said, I haven't seen anything indicating that WDC will stop selling discrete components anytime too soon. They've obviously been selling in large enough numbers that they're still on the market today (well, except the 65C802). Maybe they're not as cheap as they could be (~$6 for a 65816 when a higher performance CPU like the 68010 costs about the same, in units of one), but at least they're available. And for that, I'm thankful. While I love the 68010 microprocessor, I feel the 65816 is easier to use (comparable performance with an 8-bit data bus and only single cycle memory cycle is compelling) in a circuit built with a limited budget.

Thanks for the welcome and for assurance that WDC intends to keep making their products. I would like to believe that. However, we need to be cautious. For example, I called California Micro Devices last year to ask if they had any plans to phase out their G65SCxx in future. The answer: "not at all, as long as they are selling, we'll keep making them." Less than a year later, they have canned the chips.
The rationale from this experience might be that we should maintain enough chips in our posession for at least one year. We should not deplete our stock to point where we need to buy 65xx in a hurry, as was my case.
I agree that price ~$6 for a 65816 is not excessive, in fact it is quite inexpensive by comparison. The same goes for the Motorola micro you mentioned. For example, tiny Microchip 8-bit microcontrollers with 2K program memory sell for that much. From what I have experienced, the cost of microprocessors is not important when it is used in a marketable product. The microprocessor cost is only a tiny, insignificant fraction of the product selling price.

By the way, the link I have posted in my previous message has been posted on this site for a long time, I appologize for my oversight.
Cheers!
Icy

There's a big difference though. CMD has loads of other products. The 65 family was just a small percentage of everything they discontinued last year. In contrast, the 65 family is WDC's entire business. Their business does not seem to be declining either, since they're saying that now at over 200,000,000 65c02 cores per year going into products, it's more than at any previous time in history. So will they continue selling parts and not just licensing IP (intellectual property)? I expect they will, since it helps potential IP customers evaluate the IP. What if Bill Mensch decides to retire? (not that I've heard any rumors like that though). I'm sure the business will continue with whoever inherits or buys it. Will the new party be as successful and be able to keep it going indefinitely? That's where I'm not quite as confident. Implementing the parts in programmable logic is becoming easier each year though. I don't think the technology will ever become unavailable.

Yes, IP in this context stands for Intellectual Property, not Internet Packet.

Internet Protocol?

That's what I meant. Thanks.