The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘6502’ Category

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MCL65 – a cycle exact 6502 in an FGPA

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/11/24

Cool stuff: [WayBack] MCL65

MicroCore Labs MCL65 6502 core

The MC65 is an ultra-small footprint, microsequencer-based, 100% instruction-set compatible, cycle-exact NMOS 6502 core that can be implemented in any FPGA or ASIC technology which can utilize as little as 252 LUTs  (0.77%) of a Xilinx Spartan-7 FPGA. It has also been ported to a Xilinx Spartan-3 device where it uses about 10% of the part.

The MCL65 is instruction set compatible with the original NMOS version of the 6502 which was the processor used in computers and game machines such as the Commodore VIC20, Apple II, Atari-2600, and the Commodore-64 as well as  many others.

It runs inside an Apple ][ fine: see the below videos by MicroCore Labs

  • [WayBack] Download
  • [WayBack] MCL65 Working!: The MCL65 is currently running inside of a Commodore VIC-20 computer!  I have no game cartridges at the moment, so I am just running the classic a=a+1 BASIC counting program…
  • [WayBack] MCL65 running on VIC-20: Here are a few pictures of the MCL65 running on a VIC20. Video is available at MicroCore Labs YouTube Channel
  • [WayBack] MCL65 in a Spartan-3: Just ported the MCL65 to a Xilinx Spartan-3 board which contains an XC3S250E. 490 LUTs are used, which is 10% of the device.
  • [WayBack] MCL65 running on Atari 2600: The Atari 2600 just arrived in the mail, so replaced the MOS6507 CPU with the MCL65 core which is fitted the Xilinx Spartan-7 board and then to a 28-pin header for the 6507 package…
  • [WayBack] MCL65 works in Apple II+: Received the Apple II+ in the mail today but it did not come with any diskettes. I used a terrific tool, ADTPro, to transfer disk images from my PC over to the Apple using the cassette port…
  • [WayBack] MCL65 running Apple II+ Programs:I uploaded some videos of the system running a few applications and games. My hope was to test the MCL65 on a variety of programs that could demonstrate the instruction as well as cycle accuracy…

Via:

–jeroen

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Applefritter | Applefritter

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/11/20

History: Applefritter | Applefritter

Posted in 6502, Apple I, History | Leave a Comment »

For everyone who still loves and uses old computers.

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/11/13

For everyone who still loves and uses old computers.

Quite a few nice products for your vintage Apple II, //e and //c machines.

Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, Apple I, Apple ][, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »

6502 CPU replacement board: more on how to repair 6502 systems.

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/07/17

I love the idea of a 6502 CPU replacement board: more on how to repair 6502 systems.

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Warning: C64 geek pr0n! A Mind Is Born

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/04/20

Geek pr0n on the C64:

Making a demo in just 256 bytes would be a formidable challenge regardless of platform. A Mind Is Born is my attempt to do it on the Commodore 64. In the absence of an actual 256-byte compo, it was submitted to the Oldskool 4K Intro compo at [WayBack] Revision 2017, where it ended up on 1st place.

Source: [WayBack] A Mind Is Born

Via:

–jeroen

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Posted in 6502, C64, Commodore, Development, History, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Please Help Us Track Down Apple II Collections « ASCII by Jason Scott

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/04/03

Conditions are very, very good right now for easy, top-quality, final ingestion of original commercial Apple II Software and if you know people sitting on a pile of it or even if you have a small handful of boxes, please get in touch with me to arrange the disks to be imaged. apple@textfiles.com.

For example, piles and piles of educational software has returned from potential oblivion, because it’s about the preservation, not the title. Wonderfully done works are being brought back to life and are playable on the Internet Archive.

In other words: if you have or know someone who has disks with original, uncracked software that cannot be copied easily, let the team at the WayBack machine know as they have the resources that can help preserve that software.

–jeroen

Source: [WayBack] Please Help Us Track Down Apple II Collections « ASCII by Jason Scott

Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, Apple ][, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Interesting historic read of notes on end 1970s Apple SSAFE project – how it started and ended

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/02/27

This appeared a few days back: [WayBack] http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/apple/ssafe/Apple_SSAFE_Project.pdf

It’s about “Software and Security from Apple Friends and Enemies” an early exchange of ideas and possibilities for DRM in the Apple ][ and Apple III era.

I got it via my bitsavers.org RSS subscription, but it has been over the net in quite a few other places as well:

I think the most important quote is from the one on reddit, submitted 20170223 by vadermeer  for which I added some WayBack/Archive.is links:

[WayBack] Found Internal Apple Memos about copy protection for Apple II, SARA, LISA(self.VintageApple)

Yesterday at the Seattle Goodwill Outlet, where everything is sold by the pound, I noticed the Apple logo on letterhead sticking out from a bin of books, so I started digging. What I found were the 1979-1980 files of Jack MacDonald, manager of system software for the Apple II and /// at the time

They tell the story of project “SSAFE” or “Software Security from Apples Friends and Enemies.” This was a proposal to bring disk copy protection in-house to sell as a service to outside developers. Inter-office memos, meeting notes and progress reports all give a good idea of what a project lifecycle was like. Different schemes and levels of protection are considered, as well as implementation primarily on the Apple II+ and the upcoming SARA (The Apple ///) and Lisa computers. [WayBack] Randy Wigginton is featured prominently throughout, along with mentions of Woz and many other familiar names.

The documents were all a jumble so I’ve put them in chronological order and scanned the collection, please enjoy. [Archive.is]

The reddit thread is very nice reading as it explains how close we are now to this Level 1:

Level 1. Totally secure. Absolutely no method of stealing the software. 100% effective. Note that the ideal, level 1, is achievable only through disallowing any access of any kind to the software and the computer. Not very practical in our circumstances.

and this one from boingboing:

It’s so neatly packaged and well-documented it could be a Harvard Business Review case-study.

Edit 20240819: the above Googl links pointed to [Wayback/Archive] Apple SSAFE Project.pdf – Google Drive.

--jeroen

Posted in 6502, Apple, Apple ][, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Ultimate Micro Releases the Universal PSU Kit and Upgrade – Call-A.P.P.L.E.

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/02/24

I might buy this as a preventive measure: Ultimate Micro Releases the Universal PSU Kit and Upgrade – Call-A.P.P.L.E. [WayBack]

Videos of how to install are below.

–jeroen

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Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Apple ][ history – Nibble magazine

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/02/16

I recently found some old magazine issues of my early programming escapades. It reminded me of the really old days where – as a school kid – I tried to buy Nibble magazine at a regular base. It was expensive (I think it was around 8 Dutch Guilders (or NLG) – close to EUR 4 – which was a lot for me, though less expensive than diskettes that were like NLG 10 each).

But it was fun as the magazine focussed at computer programs and programming transitioned my life. From Integer Basic via AppleSoft Basic (and various smaller attempts in FORTH, MuSimp, LISA Assembler and LOGO) to Turbo Pascal on CP/M.

Recently I learned that all issues (16k pages total!) have been scanned and OCR-ed and can be obtained on DVD for a modest price. Even better: all their software is available for free.

Just follow these links:

For some history:

–jeroen

Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, Apple ][, Development, History, Pascal, Power User, Software Development, Turbo Pascal | Leave a Comment »

Want for birthday or X-mas: “The Lamp” and “BBS: The documentary”

Posted by jpluimers on 2017/02/13

Via KansasFest 2009 Keynote with Jason Scott | KansasFest [WayBack] I bumped into these documentaries by Jason Scott Sadofsky:

The BBS Documentary DVDs are No Longer for Sale [WayBack] though “There will be digital copies sold in the future!” and there is “BBS The.Documentary Part 1 – Baud – YouTube”

There are upcoming documentaries as well, including one on the 6502.

–jeroen

Posted in 6502, History | Leave a Comment »

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