A8 vs C16/Plus4

[Bryan]

Well, I'm not sure the intended comparison was era specific but I can understand your point.

I'm just not sure that's true. It depends on what is considered the 8 bit era.

 

I consider the 16-bit era to be time when companies began rolling out 16-bit models and shifted the bulk of their resources toward supporting them. Basically, 1984-1986. At that point the 8-bit models were legacy products.

 

I've written code for some machines I hadn't even touched when I was young (Oric, Atom, ADAM, MC-10, Plus/4, Atari, etc...).

I just enjoy programming machines that don't require gargantuan APIs or GUIs, plus I like directly dealing with the hardware some of the time.

I guess simpler times would be my nostalgia?

Most of my development and testing is on emulators but sometimes it's nice to pull out the real hardware to see it go.

It's fun in a warped, I like programming the 6502/Z80/680X CPUs in assembly, sort of way.

I wish I had more time to do it.

 

Me too. If I could make a living at it, I'd develop for 8-bits all day long.

 

I'd like to get more experienced with the 6809. I wish there was a computer I liked based on it. I suppose the CoCo 3 is the best there is.

[+Stephen]

 

I consider the 16-bit era to be time when companies began rolling out 16-bit models and shifted the bulk of their resources toward supporting them. Basically, 1984-1986. At that point the 8-bit models were legacy products.

 

 

Me too. If I could make a living at it, I'd develop for 8-bits all day long.

 

I'd like to get more experienced with the 6809. I wish there was a computer I liked based on it. I suppose the CoCo 3 is the best there is.

The engine control computer in many old Mopar vehicles used the 6809. My 87 Daytona Shelby Z has it. People have disassembled the original code, figured out the data tables, and made modern Windows software for making custom tunes! Pretty sweet.

[Kyle22]

The engine control computer in many old Mopar vehicles used the 6809. My 87 Daytona Shelby Z has it. People have disassembled the original code, figured out the data tables, and made modern Windows software for making custom tunes! Pretty sweet.

I sure wish I had known that when I had my 89 GTC! Red, Getrag 5 speed, Turbo III (intercooled).

[Thorsten Günther]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd like to get more experienced with the 6809. I wish there was a computer I liked based on it. I suppose the CoCo 3 is the best there is.

 

Not quite a computer, but a great 6809 based piece of kit:

 

[JamesD]

...

The Plus/4's built in applications clearly suck compared to ones that aren't built in, but compared to ones that were built into other machines... they didn't have any.

For someone using cassettes for program and data storage (common at the time) the idea certainly has potential. While I haven't seen any decent drop in replacement ROMs with better applications, it is possible. Several machines at the time had carts so they could instantly load programs too, but you would need a modern cart to switch back and forth between applications without changing the cart. If Commodore had done things right it certainly would have been a more valuable feature for some people. I certainly don't see it as a liability.

...

Apparently, external ROM cart images work the same as internal ROMs and can be placed inside the Plus/4 in place of the built in apps.

A Speedscript ROM image is available that I tested in Yape, and there are several other utilities or applications.

[sack-c0s]

yep - the interal apps are basically an SYS call (SYS 1525 iirc) bound to a function key.