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https://spectrum.ieee.org/q-a-with-co-creator-of-the-6502-processor
Few people have seen their handiwork influence the world more than Bill Mensch. He helped create the legendary 8-bit 6502 microprocessor, launched in 1975, which was the heart of groundbreaking systems including the Atari 2600, Apple II, and Commodore 64. Mensch also created the VIA 65C22 input/output chip—noted for its rich features and which was crucial to the 6502's overall popularity—and the second-generation 65C816, a 16-bit processor that powered machines such as the Apple IIGS, and the Super Nintendo console.
Many of the 65x series of chips are still in production. The processors and their variants are used as microcontrollers in commercial products, and they remain popular among hobbyists who build home-brewed computers. The surge of interest in retrocomputing has led to folks once again swapping tips on how to write polished games using the 6502 assembly code, with new titles being released for the Atari, BBC Micro, and other machines.
Mensch, an IEEE senior life member, splits his time between Arizona and Colorado, but folks in the Northeast of the United States will have the opportunity to see him as a keynote speaker at the Vintage Computer Festival in Wall, N.J., on the weekend of 8 October. In advance of Mensch's appearance, The Institute caught up with him via Zoom to talk about his career.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dltaylor on Monday September 20 2021, @10:14PM
One of my favorites, made by, maybe, Rockwell, was a 6502 variant that had an embedded FORTH interpreter. That went into one of those scrolling, flashing, .. LED signs. The nice part for me was that the FORTH experience gave me enough background to, later, write Sun-compatible boot drivers for SCSI boards. At first, it seemed too complicated, but I realized I was trying write C code in FORTH, made myself stop that and think in FORTH terms. Much easier after that.
Personally, I built a time domain reflectometer using a 6502 for the compute portion back around 1980. The LCD dot matrix display that was selected took it's data as horizontal rows, while, of course, the A/D converter provided me amplitude that needed to be displayed vertically. Converting between the two meant some very careful zero-page programming to keep up with the desired repetition rate.