Creating an 8 bit/16 bit Computer Today

[vidak]

After learning 6502 assembly, I wondered what it would be like to design a new 8 bit / 16 bit computer as a platform for computing and playing games.

 

This idea came to me while I was day dreaming on the bus the other day. I don't expect this to be a very coherent idea.

 

I love the simplicity and parsimony of retro hardware architecture.

 

I wonder if it would be possible to design a kit computer that could be used to teach 8 bit concepts.

 

I know there was the MOS 6502, and the Z80, but I wonder if there are other modern 8 bit/16 bit microprocessors out there.

 

Coming up with a sound chip and a video chip would also be fun. I think the big drawback of this idea would be the lack of software. A platform is nothing without killer apps. There is an enormous library of Atari software and C64 software. Making a new platform would have to have an interesting advantage, aside from being anachronistic.

 

This idea probably just is anachronistic and nostalgic, but I love tinkering and learning new ideas.

 

There's something satisfying about 8 bit games and software - PyGame, the library for python for making games, produces very amateurish graphics, despite being easy to program for. By contrast simple 8 bit graphics are easy to produce and look better with less effort.

 

Anyway, just an idea. The computer could be sold as a kit that people assemble themselves. Some of my favourite computer concepts are in 70s and 80s hardware.

 

What do you think?

[carlsson]

It is not what you're asking for, but a couple of times I've been a little curious to get into the Pico-8. I also believe there was something called X Game Station in the early 2000's that implemented some new but retro-ish environment. Many seem to have tried but as you notice lack of software makes it hard to gain ground, when there both are "real" retro systems to develop for and newer, far less restricting ones for people who just want slightly blocky graphics in 16 million colours.

[vidak]

Wow Pico-8 looks very cool!

 

I think maybe one could justify the "restrictions" (we could design a system with much fewer restrictions, but still be 8 bit) by quoting Brian Eno:

 

Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. Its the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.

 

- A Year With Swollen Appendices

[vidak]

But yeah, you're right really.