6502.org

Hi!
I’m not sure if posting this kind of thing here is okay, or whether this was already posted, but this guy built a demo that runs 100% on the commodore 1541 disk drive : http://www.quiss.org/freespin/

I wonder how one acquires the skill set to pull off that sort of thing...

I think possessing the potential ability to acquire that skill set might be pre-determined before birth.

That is a pretty interesting project. Granted, it's a chunk of 6502 code and a fair amount of data stored on the diskette. Cool idea using the clock output for sync and the data output for luminous levels.

However, I just can't see why anyone would chop up a pair of cables with a knife .... it would be more useful to simply make an adapter with a couple connectors, some wire and the 100-ohm resistor

I see it as more of a humorous flourish than a serious suggestion. If you want practical, you're not going to be generating video on a floppy drive in the first place.

Adding extra components, even if they're just connectors, goes against the purity of a demo that runs on unmodified hardware. Yes, cutting the cable is technically a modification, and suggesting that the resistor be taken from the C64 is just cheeky. But this way he can at least acknowledge the rules (while bending them past their limit).

The reason for the brutal cutting of the cord: once you get a taste of coding directly on the 1541, you'll never go back.

That was really neat. Thanks for posting.