6502.org

Hello all

I was born 1966 in Prague, Czech republic in Central Europe. I began with my fathers BBC Micro (6502) and it was the only one of kind in our country at that time. Over years it got Z80 coprocessor, CP/M and I wrote my first serious program iterpreter of Karel ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_(pr ... _language) ) - over 1.000 lines, with graphics, disc save/load/export/import and all

Then came Velvet Revolution ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution ) and I was in the centre too, getting each evening handfull of discettes with unknown structures, filesystems, probabelly containing files from unknown text editors with unknown encodings (there was plenty in use use and even more just somehow hacked together) from all sources to decypher this somehow so Civic Forum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Forum could act on it next day. Somehow I managed it every night with help of improvised programs and tools and then spend day sleeping to be ready for another night shift. We won and get from East to West. Not long after I successfully finished my studies on Charles University, was able to buy my first PC (mighty 286 on stunning 16MHz with unthinkable 20GB HDD) and start creating software, mainly database related (with my own engibne writen i Pascal, which was able to use DBase 3 datafiles, but had better indexes). Everything escalated fast - computers, programs, income, prices, availability... now I have an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X (12/24 cores/threads), 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD + 8TB HDD amongth others computers.

I started on DOS and used it long after Windows introduction. I start using it around Win98, then changed to Win XP, but was not happy with it (mainly for the tendency to "know better than me" what I want a blocking my ways whenever possible). Then I met Linux and it was love at first sight - a system that did what I told (well, not everytime what I want, but it was mine mistakes, not its bad will) and had accessible source code. So I switched to it and never looked back. In this millennium I used it for everything - work, home, games, fun ... . Now I use Gentoo with Fluxbox and 12 virtual desktops, witch fits me best.

As for electronics, I started in school a little, but as there was not much to do (hunted any LEDs for few months, finally get 2 and was lucky, owned one MH111 (~7400), ...) so I didn't progress significantly. Much later Arduino was introduced here and I took another chance. Bought Starter Kit and played with it. I made lot of small gadgets, while swithing to more portable format, like Arduino Nano. I got from the historical "We bought a computer, but where on earth do we put it?" to the "I bought another computer, but where on earth did I put it?"
I found myself engrossed in Martin Malý's (Adent) series of retrocomputers OMEN. Promptly, I acquired the Alpha (8085) , Bravo (65C02), and Kilo (6809/6309) models. I successfully assembled and brought the Kilo to life (soldering pre-made parts is easy), but then happened "things" in real-world.

Few years later (last year) I started again. I recognized the need for additional storage for programs. Considering the bulkiness of punch cards and the impracticality of tape recorders, I put my eyes on SD card. Also RTS would be nice to know, what was earlier and what later. And ... also ... oh boy, I so need some devices ... But the SBC had just one RX/TX connector and I did not know, how to start with whole thing ... but I had lot of Arduinos around and anything can be connected to Arduino, so if I could somehow connect Arduino to the 6309 SBC, I would be able connect like everything

After lot of work I finished first version of Expanduino - 4 addresses for 4 read and 4 write registers, like in 6855 ACIA - 74HC165 and 74HC195 provided 8bit paralel in/out for 6309 and SPI for Arduino. Each backed up with edge-triggered RS, which kept status, who should next use the chip, all RS collected in status register. Some glue logic and LEDs around, only two errors in positive/negative logic mismatch, but it was fixable. I2C connectors for RTC, SPI connectors for SD card and Arduino socket. Thera are schemas on the enod of the page, but only in default KiCad light green and yellow. But here is KiCad source (for details and possibility of other color schemas, like black and white).

I then programmed my own EEPROM (now around 6.5kB, named Castor) which can fully boot the 6309 and work with or without Expanduino. It can make new EEPROMS from IHEX, and with Expanduino preset, read its files, type them, or run IHEX and some more tricks. Accordingly I also programmed the Arduino, to support all of this.

Here it lays - Expanduino with both modules on the left, OMEN Kilo (6309) on the right
It works, but it is slow (mainly because of the Arduino interface and its suboptimal code) and the original ACIA have no flow controll possible, so I start planning more razant improvements. Flow Controll, PS/2 keyboard, direct video output, paralel ports ... the name will be Comp24. But it needed more knowledge, so I was searching internet and many times foud GARTHWILSONs and many others pages pointing to this forum, so after some time I registered here.

I know, that HD63C09 is not exactly 65C02, but the hardware around is not so different and I also plan to awake the Alpha (8085) and Bravo(65C02) kits and then integrate them to one versatible computer system. At least I hope now to do it someday

I am sorry for my English, but it is forth language I learned and I can read in it much better, than I can write. But I hope, that even if not fluent, it could be understood somehow

Great intro! (No problem at all with your English)

Hello All,

I'm 54, semi retired IT nerd who started out with my first computer, the C-64 way back in 1983.
Got interested in electronics as my older brother was in university studying electrical engineering and he had the garage full of all the cool toys that were a complete mystery to me at the time.
Moved on to the Amiga series in my twenties after high school and then onto x86 when I started working in IT. I started IT as a job scheduler for a bank using an IBM mainframe running MVS/ESA and JES3, don't ask what versions as that has long since faded from memory

Was inspired to get back into electronics and 6502 assembly again after seeing the ben eater videos on youtube during the great pandemic of 2020, built a functional sbc on bread board with my own tweaks and also designed a pcb for it but made some rookie mistakes and it didn't work

Since I understood the basic fundamentals of the h/w and was more interested in the code (and impatient), I bought a WDC W65C02SXB board from mouser as it had everything I was going to do myself (and more). I had a play and instantly hated the software they provided. I don't run 'doze (I'm a Linux boy though and through) and got sick of spinning up a vm just to run their dev environment that sometimes would not work and was badly documented. What I really wanted was a simple monitor/assembler via the USB interface. I broke out my trusty TLS866 II+, pulled the sxb eeprom, made a backup and began to experiment with my own code. Which is where I'm up to today.

I didn't want to say anything too disparaging as you never know who was involved with it. I can see what they were trying to achieve but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired.
I guess they have very limited resources to update the firmware and tools. At least they provided decent hardware documentation to figure things out.

Welcome! It'd be great to see a new thread for your current explorations.

The WDC code isn't in the EEPROM - it's burned into a PROM inside the W65c134 CPU on the SXB board.

So you can change the EEPROM all you like and the WDC monitor is still there, lurking, hating your every move.

There is a way to get your own code going though and I've written about it here and on my own site: https://projects.drogon.net/porting-my- ... 5c134-sxb/

You can get all the code I wrote for it - which includes a stub replacement "kernel" for their EEPROM - it's not a monitor really just interrupt driven serial IO and timer routines to enable my TinyBasic to run on the interesting little device.

Good luck.. and Welcome!

-Gordon

Ps. Edit to add all my own workflow is Linux. I do not use the WDC tools whatsoever. The CC65 suite - mainly CA65 and LD65 - see the Makefiles...

Different board. Mine is the 6502SXB which has MPU, ACIA, PIA & two VIA chips. It's not a soc like yours, so all the wdc software is held in the eprom.
Same here CC65 and minipro for the TL866. I'm still learning the CC65 suite and progressing nicely

A-Ha. Missed that. As you were...
Same here CC65 and minipro for the TL866. I'm still learning the CC65 suite and progressing nicely

If you're used to that environment (editor/makefiles/gcc type thing, etc.) then it's very easy to get to grips with.

-Gordon

Sup im a 14 yr old self proclaimed "computer nerd" despite knowing almost nothing about how to use a computer i still really want to (and currently am) building ben eaters 8 bit 6502 computer modified for more I/O :).

I own a arduino mega.

I really like german pre unification history. And that general era.

I really like retro computing (despite growing up decades after)

Anyways i have nothing else i can think of so bye!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the nerd nest, 2020jj600andmore!

-- Jeff

My name is Raghu Prabhu 64. I retired in 2019 at 59 after 30 years of work administrative work.

My boss at home told me I can not stay at home. Her logic was retired men climb on ladders and fall and break their heads or backs.

So in enrolled into online instructor led courses and did java, python, django. In 2021 I enrolled into Advanced diploma in Mechatronics. I completed that in Nov 2022. Took a year off to travel.

In Feb I enrolled to do a double degree in Mechatronics and Computer Science.

Now I am into basics of electronics. Need help.

Logisim help.

Thanks

Kind regards

Raghu from Melbourne.

Welcome Raghu! Nice idea to dive deep into education for your retirement!

Please do start a new topic for each specific query you come up with, there's plenty of good people here who can offer pointers.