22
votes
Accepted
How did Altair 8800 interrupts work?
I feel like I'm fundamentally misunderstanding something very important here, but the manual isn't much help.
Yes, looks quite like it.
The Altair is a very basic 8080 computer, so any handling is ...
- 213k
15
votes
Testing "8-bit readiness" with an emulator or pre-packaged kit
Ever thought about using an 8086?
Wait, hear me out:
The 8086 is exactly what your requirements seem to be:
8 Bit registers
(and 8 bit bus in case of an 8088)
16 bit pointers
64 KiB address space
...
- 213k
7
votes
Accepted
Testing "8-bit readiness" with an emulator or pre-packaged kit
Your computer needs input and output. You can provide this in a great number of ways, but emulating an entire screen is probably too much work. One of the simplest approaches is an asynchronous serial ...
- 2,230
5
votes
What made some 8-bit BASIC interpreters especially slow?
I'll add my $0.02 since I've written a few performant BASIC-like interpreters for work for the S08, ColdFire and ARM7TDMI. Everything below is generally NOT what BASIC interpreters did in the 80's.
...
- 321
5
votes
Testing "8-bit readiness" with an emulator or pre-packaged kit
I would definitely go for an emulated ZX Spectrum 48K because:
There are tons of free emulators for it
No need for injection of code
You simply create and load *.tap file with your code into ...
- 7,228
4
votes
8-bit home computers without BASIC
Victor Lambda in France was a clean ROM micro-computer. It had only 2K of ROM which contained a loader. Languages would be loaded from compact cassette. It was delivered with a BASIC interpreter. ...
- 3,649
3
votes
Is there really any implementation of a Ada compiler/cross-compiler/interpreter for 6502?
There is an Ada for the 6502 for the Commodore 64 but it is sold out at The Computer Bargain Store: Abacus Software for Commodore 64 & 128. It looks like they once had a used copy but sold it. The ...
- 4,643
2
votes
Back in the late 1980s, how was commercial software for 8-bit home computers developed?
In the April 1987 edition of Sinclair User, Greg Follis of Gargoyle Software describes their development environment at the time:
[A]t Gargoyle, 99% of all game development is done on Amstrad PCW8512'...
- 6,925
2
votes
Copying tapes "back in the day"
I have a lot of Oric game cracking/cloning experience
Even without any kind of complex protection, I don't remember even succeeding duplicating a tape. The Oric hadn't any kind of error correction, ...
- 10.7k
2
votes
Would some BASIC interpreters for microcomputers be considered operating systems?
Although you ask specifically about microcomputers and interpreted BASIC, note that the category of machines with BASIC as the basic command interface included minicomputers such as the Pick systems.
...
- 287
2
votes
Were there any bitmap-based 8080 computers?
The Z80-based Camputers Lynx was notable for only having a bitmapped display, with no character-cell mode.
Because the graphics memory had to be manipulated during the horizontal and vertical sync ...
- 12.4k
2
votes
What made some 8-bit BASIC interpreters especially slow?
I will add the special case of TI-99/4A TI-basic which is probably one of the worst offender in the category of slow interpreters.
TI-Basic (and also TI-Extended Basic) are especially slow because ...
- 3,649
1
vote
Testing "8-bit readiness" with an emulator or pre-packaged kit
If you want to use a Z80 emulator under Linux I am currently looking at RunCPM for doing some hobby work in assembly where the plan is ending up with a Github Action (but that is another story!)
The ...
- 2,107
1
vote
What made some 8-bit BASIC interpreters especially slow?
There are many things that could slow an interpreter to death, I can list them but here are a few:
How it does manages the variables in memory - if the access method is fast or slow, and the number ...
- 703
1
vote
Were there any bitmap-based 8080 computers?
Not a home computer per se, but the first time I messed with a bitmap display was modifying the rom of the original Space Invaders Arcade. It just used a straight b/w bitmap display with color ...
- 111
1
vote
8-bit home computers without BASIC
The Exidy Sorcerer (American, 1978) would boot into a 4-kbyte monitor program when there was no ROM Pac or disk drive. The monitor allowed you to examine and change memory, so if you understood z80 ...
- 8,663
1
vote
Would some BASIC interpreters for microcomputers be considered operating systems?
It's worth recalling that when the IBM-PC was first launched, the minimal system had only ROM-Basic in addition to the BIOS. (DOS and floppy disks were optional extras.) At start-up, the user was ...
- 111
1
vote
Back in the late 1980s, how was commercial software for 8-bit home computers developed?
Both 1983 Oric games Xenon and Zorgon's Revenge were developped by John S Sinclair on a BBC micro (both machines had 6502 CPUs)
Because the BBC assembler was so great, some Oric games (Xenon, Zorgon's ...
- 10.7k
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