If you’ve ever thought about getting down to bare metal and building a homebrew computer from scratch [Garth Wilson] put up a great primer to the 6502, the same CPU found in Apple ][ computers, BBC Micros, Vic-20s, and the venerable Commodore 64 (a 6510 in the C64, but it’s close enough).
In his guide to building a 6502 computer, [Garth] goes over all the basics – what you want the computer to do, how to decode addresses, and other important technical requirements for getting a homebrew project running.
If that’s not enough, [Garth] directs his readers to the fabulous 6502.org forums where just about every topic is discussed. The guys on the forum have a standardized I2C pinout for the 6502, allowing noobs to easily connect pre-designed keyboards, displays, and storage devices to their projects. There are a ton of tutorials on the 6502.org site, more than enough to get a homebrew project off the ground.
If you’d like to see what you can do with a homebrew 6502, check out the homebrew projects page featuring a 6502 Nixie clock and CLPD-based 65816 single board computer. There’s a treasure trove of information here, just waiting to be pulled from the vine.
Don’t forget the Atari 800!
That’s 65816, not 65186 (which would be a hybrid of a 6502 and a 80186?) 😉
You would be correct. Sorry about that one.
Remember kids, anything you could do with a 6502 could be done better with a 6809 😉
Let’s not forget the venerable RCA 1802 ..
@NES, didn’t the NES have a 6502 in it ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System
Yep is did, a MOS Technology 6502 core.
🙂
And don’t forget the 6507! And lets not forget everyone’s favorite cursing drinking smoking robot, Bender http://spectrum.ieee.org/image/57489
“anything you could do with a 6502 could be done better with a 6809” — as long as it’ll fit in 64K and you don’t mind 1980s clock rates. I like the 6809, but among other perks the 65c816 (latest-gen 6502) features a linear, 16MB address space. The Programming Model is a major step up from the 6502 — with a full 16-bit ALU for starters, and you can do 6809-ish tricks such as indexing into the stack to reference an indirect pointer to an operand in memory. Best of all there’s current production silicon available (65c02 and 65c816) which is *conservatively* rated at 14 MHz.
If the 6502/6809 architecture isn’t your cup of tea (or, you like to build many different types), there is the Build Your Own Z80 Computer.
I haven’t actually ever built my own computer, but I think I might start with the Z80. It has been a couple of decades since I even looked at the different types of computer architectures. (My first introduction to computers was the AN/UYK-7 (yuck seven) in the US Navy. Those things were WIERD, and the moniker is very apt.) I don’t have any real reason to choose the Z80, but I think I would like to at least play around with a couple different architectoures before building my very own computer. Does anyone have any advice in choosing an architecture?
Dabble in as many of them as possible, and then realize there’s only so many ways to AND, OR, NOT, and jump on carry.
It just depends on what you grew up on, really. This includes not just the CPU architecture, but memory, graphics, sound, storage (mmm, cassettes!), I/O, and ROM monitors/OSen.
Anyone happen to know where I might get hardware or technical/schematic information on a NCR 8100 minicomputer? This was my first machine and I’d love to get one working again, or build a replica.
Did anyone mention the Kim I sbc?
(shameless self-plug:) There’s even work underway to expand the 6502 to a 32bit or even 64bit CPU in the form of a VHDL core 🙂
Many forum threads discuss the 65org16 and 65org32 cores, while I have written a 64bit core… http://www.6502.org/users/andre/65k
André
Remember kids, anything you could do with a 6502 could be done better with a 6809 😉
couldn’t prove it by me. My MPU of choice is the much more versatile 65C816. No way the 6809 is going to compete with the ‘816 at any level.