Posted by jpluimers on 2014/11/17
Some great links posted last week by mos6502 about soldering your own 6502 based computer.
The videos are of Ben Heck building an Apple I replica. But others did similar builing of NINA65, Loom 6502 and others.
I wish I had soldering skills like that, but I’m more of a programmer (that started on a 6502).
Great viewing those links and videos.
–jeroen
via: Do you remember the Apple I auction results that went through the media….
Here are Ben Heck’s videos: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 6502, Apple, Apple I, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/10/14
Delphi and 3rd party tools keep some of the settings in your %AppData% directory. Much more convenient than the registry as they are easier to read and modify when needed (also easier to damage <g>). We’ll start with an overview where various versions of Delphi store their configuration files, then show how the Favourites on the Welcome Page are stored, then end with an overview of BDS, Company Names and Product Names. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Delphi, Delphi 2005, Delphi 2006, Delphi 2007, Delphi 2009, Delphi 2010, Delphi 8, Delphi XE, Delphi XE2, Delphi XE3, Delphi XE4, Development, History, Software Development | 4 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/08/14
Today yet another post in the series of BitSavers and History articles.
I already wrote a bit on the Z80 processor in XOR swap/exchange: nowadays an almost extinct means to exchange two distinct variables of the same size.
Popular Z80 powered computers were Amstrad CPC, MSX, Exidy Sorcerer, TRS-80, P2000, Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum, Kaypro, Osborne 1 and the Z-80 SoftCard for Apple II.
The Z80 was widely popular in the 1980s as it could do more than the MOS 6502 of that time:
- The 6502 (see 6502.org) had
– only 56 instructions (the 65C02 variations had a few more), and the XOR was called EOR.
– addressing memory was limited (not all instructions understood both zero-page-absolute and absolute addressing)
– only 3 registers (A, X and Y)- The Z80 (see z80.info) had:
– only 68 instructions and XOR was indeed called XOR
– many more addressing modes than the 6502
– a whopping 9 registersStill the XOR swap algorithm was used a lot back then because of register pressure in the Z80.
Compared to current processors you’d think the Z80 was so small that a few pages of documentation would suffice.
Not so: back then they had a truckload of documentation and it would all be on paper (PDF ame in 1993 and it took quite a while to become popular).
Some of the Z80 documentation has found its way to BitSavers.org:
–jeroen
Posted in Assembly Language, BitSavers.org, Development, History, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/05/02
Basic@50 would not be complete without This week: five BASICs for the 6502, to mark the 50th… from mos6502 – Google+.
–jeroen
via: Happy 50th birthday BASIC! (via: BASIC at Dartmouth) « The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff.
Posted in 6502, BASIC, Development, History, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/04/27
At USD 50, this seems like a bargain for Apple I / Apple II lovers.
From the The WOZPAK Special Edition – Overview page:
In 1978, The WOZPAK was a 300 page technical manual produced by Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange. The poor resolution of copy machines and fax machines of the era made The WOZPAK an illegible and challenging to use collection of handwritten and typed notes. This collection as a whole was provided to the A.P.P.L.E. by Apple Computer, Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak and then company president Mike Scott.
…
Thanks to the encouragement of a number of computer industry legends, and the efforts of Apple historians, Brian Wiser and Bill Martens, we now have a completely refurbished and dramatically enhanced version of The WOZPAK. The WOZPAK Special Edition comes complete with the original materials from The WOZPAK and The WOZPAK II as well as some new materials provided by Apple legends from their personal libraries.
–jeroen
via: The WOZPAK Special Edition – Overview.
Posted in //e, 6502, Apple, Apple Pascal, Apple ][, Assembly Language, Development, History, Pascal, Power User, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/04/04
Wow: 8 different javascript emulators for popular and obscure 6502 machines (most of them JavaScript based) at mos6502 – Google+ – This week: 6502 machines running in your browser.
–jeroen
Posted in 6502, History | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/03/30
Posted in History, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/03/15
The BitSavers /pdf/apple/apple_I directory now contains a PDF of the Apple I Cassette Interface Documentation.
Awesome history (:
It even has this very old Apple address on it:
APPLE COMPUTER COMPANY
770 Welch Road,
Suite 154
Palo Alto, California 94304
Phone: (415) 326-4248
(both the address and phone now have different owners now).
–jeroen
Posted in Apple, BitSavers.org, History, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/02/25
This post lists a lot of links related to the history of Pascal / Object Pascal / Delphi Language / FreePascal / etc.
No mentioning of Pascal should start without Niklaus Wirth. At the time of writing he is still alive, hopefully he still is a the time of publication.
Link clearance.
Posted in Apple Pascal, BitSavers.org, Borland Pascal, DEC Pascal, Delphi, Development, FreePascal, History, Object Pascal, Pascal, Software Development, Think Pascal, Turbo Pascal, UCSD Pascal | 7 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2014/01/02
I forgot who pointed me at this, but recently I came across a reference to the Good Ideas, Through the Looking Glass paper by Niklaus Wirth (by many known as the “father” of Pascal, though he has done a lot more – for instance the WSN – , still is involved with the ETH in Zürich, and turns 80 on February 15h).
Back when it appeared in the 2005/2006 timeframe I missed it, and I’m glad to have bumped into just for the historic perspective he offers. I can understand some will disagree with parts of his conclusions and observations, that’s why I like that MetaFilter has a nice page with discussion about it and a link to the PDF version of the paper.
I also like that Niklaus kept active in the field of computer science for so long, similar to Donald Knuth. There is a lot to having a great historic perspective to things.
–jeroen
via: Good Ideas, Through the Looking Glass | MetaFilter.
Posted in Delphi, Development, History, Pascal, Software Development | 3 Comments »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 