Re: RE: Space Wars

On Thu, 03 Feb 2000 14:39:47 PST, you wrote:

>>I do realize that I'm oversimplifying here, but if the problem is that the
>>6502
>>takes too much time to do multiplication (because of a lack of a multiply
>>instruction) why don't you try using a version that DOES have a multiply
>>instruction? There must be one out there somewhere. At last look Rockwell
>>and
>>Western Design Center were still making 6502 variants. In fact WDC had a
>>16-bit
>>version.
>
>Not much out there to just go and buy unfortunately. Pretty much all
>obsolete. (Actually, I don't know of *anywhere* to get a new 6502 that's
>pin compatible or close-- 65816 or otherwise.) Winbond had some 6502-like
>chips a while back, but I think they were just COB packaged... If I recall,
>the Doctor64 used one...
>
>Now if I just won the lottery I'd go buy a core from WDC and make my own for
>fun. ;-) You'd think that someone somewhere must have made a 6502 in
>Verilog or VHDL for some class project... Should be able to drop it into an
>FPGA, but when we start doing that the complexity starts approaching the
>"it'll never get finished" level... :-/

I was told by a distributor at the last company I worked at (about a year ago)
that the two highest selling CPU's (and their derivatives) are the 6502 and
Z80. Which in quantity completely dwarfs the 80x86's and 68x00's.

They're still used in *many* high quantity consumer items. For instance the
Franklin spell checker's and electronic books (like the Bible etc.) are all
based on the 6502. (I know it's true I tore mine open to see for myself.)

A lot of microwaves, TVs, cheap phones, toys, etc. Still use the Z80 and 6502
simply because they're so damn cheap in high quantity. These consumer items
can easily account for 10 to 100's of millions of CPUs per year!

The same guy told me that WDC supposedly has a VHDL core for the 6502 that
runs in excess of 150mhz. Would that be fast enough? ;^)

-Zonn

(Everything in this message is hearsay...)
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Received on Thu Feb 3 18:38:57 2000