[HN Gopher] My MEGA65 is finally here
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       My MEGA65 is finally here
        
       Author : harel
       Score  : 199 points
       Date   : 2024-09-27 14:13 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (lyonsden.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (lyonsden.net)
        
       | IronWolve wrote:
       | Thats pretty cool, expensive but nice features and so expandable.
       | Looks like a large community too.
        
         | the_af wrote:
         | Interesting. How many MEGA65 units exist out there?
        
           | layer8 wrote:
           | The three batches produced so far are 400 + 400 + 1000 = 1800
           | units.
        
       | mass_and_energy wrote:
       | Didn't one-byte man do a good review on this product?
        
         | unwind wrote:
         | Yes, here is the MEGA65 video from The 8-Bit Guy:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qHdTKjPXww.
        
           | MarkusWandel wrote:
           | Speaking of whom, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned his
           | Commander X16 project yet. Much in the same spirit, a
           | "fantasy C64 successor", just not based on the C65. Looks
           | like about the same market penetration too (on the order of
           | 1K units to date).
        
             | timbit42 wrote:
             | MEGA65 is around 1,800.
        
       | PaulHoule wrote:
       | My favorite modern retrocomputer these days is
       | https://www.olimex.com/Products/Retro-Computers/AgonLight2/o...
       | which is orders of magnitude more powerful than the computers it
       | is modeled on but affordable.
        
         | NikkiA wrote:
         | The ez80 is nice, but it's not 'orders of magnitude' more
         | powerful than a regular z80, especially clocked at 20Mhz (the
         | CMOS Z80C was available up to 20MHz).
         | 
         | (The ez80 is capable of 50MHz, I'm not entirely sure why they
         | limited it to 20Mhz in the Agon Light).
        
           | Lerc wrote:
           | A just had a quick look at the ez80 it and it seems like it's
           | pipelined, so the instructions per clock will be a lot better
           | than the z80. A 20MHz ez80 is probably one order of magnitude
           | improvement than the oftentimes 4MHz z80.
           | 
           | Wikipedia says three times faster at the same clock speed. So
           | 20*3/4=15 give or take.
           | 
           | As an aside, last time I did napkin math estimation on the
           | 8-bit AVR it was faster than a 68000 at the same clock speed.
           | The 68k took 4 clocks to do register to register, AVR is
           | mostly one clock so could do most 32 bit operations as fast
           | or faster using multiple instructions.
        
             | PaulHoule wrote:
             | I love AVR8 assembly so much and how AVR8 is so much better
             | than any of the 8-bit micros in so many ways except for the
             | small RAM size (though it does make it up in ROM)
        
               | Lerc wrote:
               | Me too, I made a silly fantasy console using it
               | 
               | https://k8.fingswotidun.com/static/ide/?gist=78d170a65bc6
               | c9d...
               | 
               | In hindsight, it's not the best for emulation, I think
               | most of the emulator time goes into extracting the bits
               | from instructions. I really should make a translator that
               | turns it instruction by instruction into something easier
               | to decode.
        
               | wk_end wrote:
               | On a CPU with 8- or even 16-bit instructions, if at all
               | possible (I don't know much about AVR8) it's probably
               | better to use jump tables than to try to decode bit-wise
               | when emulating I think.
        
               | PaulHoule wrote:
               | I've thought about making an AVR-8 emulator in AVR-8
               | assembly language that would let me run tiny programs out
               | of RAM where the emulator (host) would use some of the
               | registers and the others would be be available to the
               | guest. This way you could upload a function over the
               | serial port and run it. I figured it would be a good way
               | to really master AVR-8 assembly.
               | 
               | The ESP32 has a huge amount of potential for emulating
               | other things, see
               | 
               | https://github.com/breakintoprogram/agon-vdp
               | 
               | For a display controller implemented for ESP32.
        
           | talideon wrote:
           | Look, if you're going to get picky, it literally is at least
           | an order of magnitude faster. And in addition, Hz for Hz, the
           | eZ80 is much faster than the Z80A, which is what people would
           | actually be comparing it to.
        
         | the_af wrote:
         | Is that just a board or a full computer with a case, keyboard,
         | etc?
         | 
         | I find the all-in-one kind of retrocomputers more appealing
         | than the DIY projects (knowing nothing of electronics or of
         | sourcing parts, cases, etc, DIY is not for me).
        
       | lastdong wrote:
       | Great job! Anyone knows of similar projects but for the Amiga?
        
         | icedchai wrote:
         | Have you seen the Vampire? https://www.apollo-
         | computer.com/v4standalone.php
        
       | jandrese wrote:
       | According to other sources on the internet that 12 pin header by
       | the removable access cover connects to GPIO pins on the FPGA.
       | 
       | https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/media/pdf/ca/ca/31/Mega65-P...
        
         | jsheard wrote:
         | It looks like the standard-ish PMOD expansion connector found
         | on a lot of FPGA development boards. Maybe it's compatible with
         | those.
        
           | unwind wrote:
           | Links for the lazy: PMOD at Digilent [1] and Wikipedia [2].
           | There are a lot of modules using it!
           | 
           | [1]: https://digilent.com/reference/pmod/start [2]:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pmod_Interface
        
       | stonethrowaway wrote:
       | A fully assembled computer? Get out of here with your fancy X2
       | safety caps and shock proof solder joints.
       | 
       | Now where'd I leave those Galaksija resistors...
        
       | bezkom wrote:
       | Doesn't that name risks to be confused with Atmel Mega CPUs used
       | in Arduinos?
       | 
       | https://www.microchip.com/en-us/product/atmega64
        
         | ziddoap wrote:
         | I don't think there is much risk of confusion between a
         | microcontroller and an all-in-one retro computer. They also
         | have different numbers (64/64A vs. 65) and the Mega65 isn't
         | prefixed with an 'AT'.
        
       | mcejp wrote:
       | I am mildly impressed that the floppy drive is not a supply chain
       | liability nowadays.
        
         | reaperducer wrote:
         | I've never understood why retro computer enthusiasts go through
         | such effort to replace their floppy drives with CF cards, when
         | Sony had a solution almost 25 years ago.
         | 
         | My DSC-30 came with a metal floppy disk that has no moving
         | parts. But you could insert a Memory Stick into it, and then
         | stick it in any 3.5" floppy drive and read the stick as FAT.
         | 
         | Every time I see someone on the VCF forums struggling with the
         | latest floppy drive replacement board I wonder what ever
         | happened to that technology.
        
           | an-unknown wrote:
           | Simple: a real 3.5" floppy disk drive has moving parts and
           | various things that age and eventually break. For example I
           | have an old device with a broken floppy disk drive which
           | can't even read a real floppy anymore. With the metal floppy
           | "emulator disk" you mentioned, the FDD itself still has to be
           | fully functional in order to read this "emulator disk".
           | 
           | A floppy emulator board which reads SD/CF cards or USB sticks
           | doesn't have that problem at all since it's purely solid
           | state electronics and directly connected to the electronic
           | interface of the FDD instead of the real FDD, and usually you
           | can put thousands of floppy disk images onto such a memory
           | card/stick and select which disk image is to be put into the
           | emulated floppy disk drive = there is simply no need for the
           | "emulator disk" technology you mentioned anymore.
        
           | JPLeRouzic wrote:
           | > " _metal_ floppy disk "
           | 
           | That's an interesting combination of words!
        
           | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
           | Those floppy disk emulators require special drivers to
           | prevent the drive head moving off the transducer. It isn't
           | worth the hassle to get them working on non-PCs.
        
         | topspin wrote:
         | That floppy drive looks like it was deliberately designed to
         | support a coffee cup.
        
       | tines wrote:
       | I love this project.
       | 
       | I've been feeling lately that as computers have become more
       | advanced and software has become more inscrutable, our
       | relationship with our computers has changed, for the worse. This
       | essay hit home for me:
       | https://explaining.software/archive/transparent-like-frosted...
       | 
       | These old-school computers viewed their users as creators, as
       | developers. Modern computers (read: smartphones) _are_ the users,
       | and the "used" are just ad-watching revenue cows. I passionately
       | hate this arrangement.
       | 
       | When I have children, I want them to know what computing should
       | feel like---empowering, creative and stimulating, not controlled,
       | consumptive, compulsive and mindless. I want to give them a
       | computer that builds up their spirit, rather than grinding it
       | down.
       | 
       | I think this computer should have several qualities:
       | 
       | 0. The computer should be about _creation_ and not consumption.
       | 
       | 1. The computer should be _local_, not global. Intranet should be
       | prioritized over Internet.
       | 
       | 1.5 A corollary, the computer should be _personal_. It should
       | encourage and reward in-person interaction, physical sharing of
       | information and programs, and short-range connection between
       | computers.
       | 
       | 2. The computer should be _limited_. Because the medium is the
       | message, we have to restrict the capabilities of our media to
       | better promote the messages we value.
       | 
       | 2.5. A corollary, the computer should be _text-oriented_.
       | Graphics shouldn't be impossible, but text should be primary. The
       | computer should cultivate a typographic mind, not a graphic mind
       | (in Marshall McLuhan's terminology).
       | 
       | 3. The computer should be _focused_. It should never distract you
       | from what you want to work on.
       | 
       | 4. The computer should be _reactive_, not proactive. It should
       | never give you a notification. You should be in charge of
       | retrieving all information yourself, like a library, not a call
       | center.
       | 
       | 5. The computer should be _physical_. It should be oriented
       | around physical media.
       | 
       | 6. The computer should be _modifiable_. It should encourage and
       | reward inspection into its internals, and be easy to change.
       | 
       | 7. The computer should be _simple_, understandable by a single
       | person in its entirety with time and study.
       | 
       | The Mega65 is amazing and checks these boxes, but unfortunately
       | it's a tad expensive for me. What other machines are out there
       | like this?
        
         | GenericDev wrote:
         | I agree with you a million percent, so you're not alone in
         | this. But we are very much the minority :(
         | 
         | It feels like people aren't interested in being creators. Just
         | consumers. And that shows in how media and companies refer to
         | people as consumers.
         | 
         | I wish there was a way to reverse this trend. It feels in many
         | ways like a Plato's cave kind of situation.
        
           | sfjailbird wrote:
           | Even back when all the kids had C64s, most only knew enough
           | about it to load up games from the tape drive. Personally I
           | was intrigued by the built-in basic, and that got me started
           | programming (and I absolutely loathed the mindless consoles
           | like the Nintendo Entertainment System), but I was very much
           | in the minority.
        
         | andai wrote:
         | I've wanted an e-paper laptop ever since I saw a Kindle ad in
         | 2008. I'm also interested in ultra low power computing (solar
         | charging, daylight readable, months of battery life, offline-
         | first, mostly text...). So your list has a lot of overlap with
         | mine!
         | 
         | Such a thing doesn't seem to have been invented yet. The
         | remarkable might come close (or that weird typewriter like
         | thing?) but I haven't been able to justify any of those
         | purchases yet...
         | 
         | I'm not 100% sure about e-paper (the lag may actually be a
         | feature reducing addictiveness), I'm also amenable to those
         | transflective Sharp LCDs! (Though I think they're a bit too
         | small for a daily driver.)
        
         | wvenable wrote:
         | I grew up before the Internet and we still craved connectivity
         | with our computers. I remember dialing into BBSes and playing
         | turn-based text games and it was amazing. It was also the best
         | way to get software; my computer would be pretty boring if the
         | only software I had was what I created myself or purchased in a
         | box.
         | 
         | I also could have done so much more with all my computers, from
         | my Commodore 64 to my 286, if had I had the vast information
         | resources that are available now.
        
           | tines wrote:
           | I think the difference is that in the days of the nascent
           | internet, connecting with people meant much more than it does
           | now. You dial into a BBS or log into a MUD and you have a
           | small-ish community of real people that you can develop
           | relationships with. Modern internet connectivity almost means
           | the opposite: all the major services are oriented toward
           | moneymaking, nothing is genuine, there is no sincerity, most
           | behavior is motivated by accumulation of worthless social
           | capital.
           | 
           | So, the society that you craved connection with no longer
           | exists now that you are able to connect. This is another
           | thing that, seemingly, has to be rebuilt from the ground up
           | locally.
        
             | icedchai wrote:
             | I got started with a 1200 baud modem, back in the late
             | 80's. I miss the local community found on BBSes and the
             | early, text-oriented Internet providers. There seems to be
             | no replacement for that at all. Any "local" oriented sub-
             | reddit, Discord, etc. is full of bots and spammers.
        
         | bluescrn wrote:
         | So much of the effort and expense has gone into creating a
         | large plastic shell and custom keyboard, though, resulting in a
         | costly product targeting a very small niche of the already
         | fairly niche hobby that is retro computing/gaming (or even
         | retro Commodore enthusiasts)
         | 
         | And that large plastic shell of the C65 was always an ugly
         | design, and I can't imagine it's comfortable to type on with
         | that floppy drive protrusion so close to the arrow keys?
        
         | ruk_booze wrote:
         | Sounds like you may want a Commodore 64? Preferably equipped
         | with an Ultimate 1541.
         | 
         | Or if that it is too limited, go for the Amiga. It is more
         | modifiable.
         | 
         | As a sidenote, I got my Mega65 just the other day. Been waiting
         | almost a year for it :)
        
           | tines wrote:
           | Real Commodore hardware is going to break down eventually,
           | I'd love to have something that uses modern parts so we
           | aren't dependent on rare parts that are going to disappear or
           | become super expensive.
        
             | ruk_booze wrote:
             | There are modern FPGA-based options like the Ultimate64.
             | 
             | https://ultimate64.com/Ultimate64
             | 
             | Got one of these too (the now discontinued non-Elite
             | version) and it is pretty cool running stuff at 48MHz:
             | 
             | https://youtube.com/shorts/fF2IXTwWDPQ?si=ww3IXp7CVWDT3SZy
             | 
             | In above video, I hacked the awesome demo Andropolis to
             | utilize U64's turbo mode during vblank.
             | 
             | This clip shows it running in full turbo mode:
             | 
             | https://youtube.com/shorts/hvmNnwz7ENQ?si=6idbUgRYikXHh25O
        
             | varjag wrote:
             | They are extremely repairable due to low level of
             | integration and commodity components. And many ICs (outside
             | DRAM or PROM) can potentially last for centuries.
        
           | DowagerDave wrote:
           | vintage hardware is too expensive. I'm not sure why, or who's
           | buying it, but if you want to actually run & program on it
           | you're better off with emulators
        
             | thijson wrote:
             | There's a project called MisterFPGA, there's probably a C64
             | core available.
        
               | unwind wrote:
               | Of course there is: https://github.com/MiSTer-
               | devel/C64_MiSTer.
        
         | hajile wrote:
         | Mega65 is a nostalgia project aimed at targeting a specific
         | kind of older computer system.
         | 
         | If practical and simple were the goals, it wouldn't be using an
         | 8-bit chip nor would it be focused on things like BASIC as
         | these kinds of things make things harder rather than easier.
         | 
         | Mega65 is about working within constraints, but (to me), the
         | bend of the complexity curve where things are simple enough to
         | understand, but powerful enough to do necessary tasks requires
         | much larger software and hardware resources than what a system
         | like Mega65 offers.
         | 
         | At a bare minimum, I believe you'd want a much more powerful
         | single-core machine with the ability to do floating point and
         | vector calculations while having access to at least a couple
         | hundred megabytes of RAM and a few gigabytes of storage.
         | Something more along the lines of a Pi Zero, but based on open
         | hardware and open chip designs seems to be around the point
         | where it is powerful enough to do all the common, non-connected
         | tasks a user might need to do while still being simple enough
         | that you could understand most of the moving parts if you
         | wanted to take the time.
        
           | tines wrote:
           | I agree completely. I've looked at designing a system around
           | the Pi Zero, but it's so much work for someone with the time
           | and skills that I (don't) have. And the Pi Zero doesn't seem
           | to have the kind of I/O capability that I'm looking for.
        
             | thijson wrote:
             | I feel like the RP2040 or RP2350 approach the simplicity of
             | these older machines.
             | 
             | https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/rp2350/
             | 
             | The documentation is pretty good. Reading it reminds me of
             | going through the documentation provided with my Tandy
             | Color Computer as a kid.
        
               | 082349872349872 wrote:
               | I appreciate that when BCPL got its first floating point
               | support, almost half a century after initial release, it
               | was only because Martin Richards was writing a flight
               | simulator for his Pi.
        
           | nine_k wrote:
           | Actually, something comparable to the original Symbolics Lisp
           | Machines could be at the sweet spot where you still
           | understand the whole system from the hardware up, but have
           | powerful enough tools to be actually productive.
        
           | Mr_Minderbinder wrote:
           | >If practical and simple were the goals, it wouldn't be using
           | an 8-bit chip nor would it be focused on things like BASIC as
           | these kinds of things make things harder rather than easier.
           | 
           | A 32-bit word size is the absolute minimum that I would
           | consider "practical". With that you can comfortably implement
           | reasonable floating point and integer arithmetic that can
           | solve most of the common practical problems you encounter in
           | science, business or engineering. Still people criticised the
           | System/360 because it was 32-bit, saying it wasn't enough
           | compared to the 36-bit word size computers that preceded it.
           | Mechanical calculators generally had ten decimal digits of
           | precision so the thinking was that digital computers needed
           | to at least match or exceed that.
        
             | kbolino wrote:
             | Plenty of older microcomputers got by just fine with only 8
             | bits in a word. That's enough room to fit two binary-coded
             | decimal digits and thus perform all the common arithmetic
             | operations one or two digits at a time. Many quite good
             | handheld calculators and early personal computers were able
             | to handle practical computations very well in this way,
             | albeit at speeds far below the billions of operations per
             | second expected of modern computers.
             | 
             | The advantage of 32-bit word size is more for
             | interoperability with modern systems and familiarity to
             | modern programmers and programming languages.
        
         | simonswain wrote:
         | Consider the RC2014 https://rc2014.co.uk I think it hits a
         | bunch of these points. Also don't overlook the SpecNext
         | https://www.specnext.com -- both have very active communities.
        
         | DowagerDave wrote:
         | Interesting that the hackers in the book of the same name (by
         | Steven Levy) were looking to change the public's perception of
         | computers from something very different from what we see today
         | to something very similar to what you describe. You both
         | describe an end state that is very tactile, emotional and
         | human.
         | 
         | I struggle to get my kids to experience computers with the same
         | sense of wonder and amazement that I had. This could be
         | inevitable (I've always taken flipping a light switch or
         | refrigerated food for granted) but it still makes me sad.
        
           | tines wrote:
           | This is an interesting point of view, thinking about it I
           | agree that instilling the "hacker ethic" into kids is very
           | valuable. But how does one do that?
           | 
           | For myself, I fell into video game hacking (and related
           | hijinks) because I loved a particular game, and happened to
           | hang out with some smart people on some forums online, and
           | that set the course of my life to a large degree. But it
           | seems like accidentally having these experiences is harder
           | and harder these days.
           | 
           | How do we set our kids up, or set the world up for our kids,
           | to have these experiences organically?
        
         | jonjacky wrote:
         | The Tulip Creative Computer[1][2] hits most of your points (I'm
         | just a customer). It is definitely _not_ a retro computer. It
         | uses modern technology (ESP32S3 microcontroller with megabytes
         | of flash memory and RAM, USB ports, wifi, color touch screen
         | etc.) and runs a modern programming language (MicroPython) that
         | also serves as the operating system.
         | 
         | This particular product might not be exactly what you want, but
         | it shows that you can use these technologies to build a
         | computer that is much simpler and more malleable than a modern
         | PC in both hardware and software, but is still very capable,
         | and intriguing to use.
         | 
         | 1. https://github.com/shorepine/tulipcc 2.
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41122986
        
           | scandox wrote:
           | Weirdly that HN article you linked to is flagged
        
         | kstrauser wrote:
         | I dug out an old HP-50g calculator I got a while back. I'm
         | finding it trips my triggers in the right way, with nearly all
         | of the points you made. It's a tiny, programmable computer
         | that's fully knowable. I was surprised how much fine I'm having
         | with it.
        
         | robinsonb5 wrote:
         | > I've been feeling lately that as computers have become more
         | advanced and software has become more inscrutable, our
         | relationship with our computers has changed, for the worse.
         | 
         | Very much so. Technology stopped being about empowerment some
         | time ago - it's been subverted into a tool for erecting virtual
         | tollbooths.
         | 
         | > This essay hit home for me:
         | https://explaining.software/archive/transparent-like-frosted...
         | 
         | Thanks for that - I just read it. This made me grin:
         | 
         | > "By the mid-1990s," Turkle says, "when people said that
         | something was transparent, they meant that they could
         | immediately make it work, not that they knew how it worked."
         | 
         | ... and by the late 1990s people meant they could see its PCB
         | through the case!
        
         | CalRobert wrote:
         | Then their school gives them a tablet because math on paper is
         | old fashioned. But I agree
        
         | MarkusWandel wrote:
         | BTW back in the early C64 days (before 1985), the user base was
         | "programmers" and "people who are going to learn how to do it
         | any day now". Everybody played video games, but the machine was
         | still seen as a challenge to create something with. The vast
         | majority of the "any day now" crowd never did anything more
         | than run ready-made apps of course. The "just buy it to run
         | video games" thing came later.
        
         | ryukoposting wrote:
         | > The computer should be _reactive_, not proactive. It should
         | never give you a notification. You should be in charge of
         | retrieving all information yourself, like a library, not a call
         | center.
         | 
         | I think we all know how impactful the smartphone has been, but
         | your way of putting it is especially succinct. It's not the
         | iphone that mattered in particular, it's the convergence of
         | phone and computer. The telephone was one of the first pieces
         | of "noisy" technology, i.e. it yells at you when it wants your
         | attention. Merging that with the versatility and sheer power of
         | the computer was... consequential, to say the least.
        
         | card_zero wrote:
         | I'm struck by how badly we wanted the opposite of everything on
         | your list, back when a C64 was what a kid was typically stuck
         | with. Well, maybe not the opposite of point 6, there's nothing
         | fun about a locked-down machine. But we very much wanted
         | graphics, and sound, and 3D and simulation and virtual reality
         | and MMORPGs (and internet, or at least improved telnet). And we
         | wanted to be wildly distracted by a machine that does magic
         | tricks and spins fantasies. OK, we wanted to be creative too,
         | but as an afterthought.
         | 
         | Possibly the joy of the golden age was in ruining computing for
         | everybody who came after.
        
           | skydhash wrote:
           | I started using computers with Windows XP and Windows 7 and
           | the computer experience was way saner than what we have now
           | (but that may due to the fact that everything was local in my
           | town as internet access was scarce). It was a creation
           | machine as well as a consumption one, mostly because it was
           | not expected to have a 24/7 connection to the internet and
           | software has to be file interoperable instead of having data
           | silo in databases. No notifications other than system ones.
           | And actual desktop design for the UI.
        
       | vunderba wrote:
       | I've been following this project pretty closely and even though
       | it is based on the prototype Commodore 65, I kind of wish they
       | had just gone with the superior aesthetics of the classic c64 for
       | the outer shell even if that would have been less accurate. And
       | the extra long spacebar, just ugh.
        
       | snozolli wrote:
       | That box design is giving me huge nostalgia waves.
       | 
       |  _A program most nerds (including me) used to run on every
       | computer we came across in department stores back in the 80's.
       | The salesmen must have been sick to death of kids doing this all
       | day every day - some of the messages weren't always so polite
       | either!_
       | 
       | As a diehard Amiga fan, I would always stop at the Macs on
       | display at office supply stores and switch the color setting from
       | "thousands of colors" to grayscale. Just doing my part.
       | 
       | In programming class at school, we'd be taught for a bit, then go
       | to the computers to practice what we'd learned in BASIC. When
       | class was over, we'd write programs to loop for maybe 15 minutes,
       | then emit an obnoxious sound to interrupt the next class.
       | Ideally, the chosen frequency would be high enough that the
       | teacher couldn't hear it, but the class could. Truly madlads.
        
         | gwd wrote:
         | Oh man, Mac and their "thousands of colors" -- that lit up some
         | neural patterns that have been dormant for a long time!
        
       | MarkusWandel wrote:
       | You have to have played with Commodore BASIC's PETSCII graphics
       | abilities "back in the day" to really appreciate them. With _no_
       | starting skill you could do animations, rudimentary video games
       | and what have you, all in BASIC with just character graphics.
       | 
       | The reason it worked so well was the cursor control characters.
       | Just by printing a string, for example, you could draw an outline
       | box with text in it, or a little man, or whatever, in an instant.
       | 
       | The speed of BASIC was still an issue. I animated a train driving
       | across the screen, about 10 characters high, and it worked fairly
       | well but you could see a bit of a ripple. I don't remember how
       | exactly, but, for example, each 1-character wide "slice" of the
       | train could be a string, then you just print your 40 "slice"
       | strings in a row and there's your train; pick your starting
       | offset in a larger array to draw it in different phases of
       | motion.
       | 
       | A faster CPU totally solves this. Now you have a machine where
       | non-programmers can do really cool graphic stuff and smoothly
       | too, without ever leaving BASIC.
       | 
       | The next step, generally, was about reprogramming the character
       | set. Now your BASIC, character cell based graphics could have
       | custom pixels, not just the preformed PETSCII characters.
       | 
       | I once saw a cute little character based platform jumper game on
       | someone's VIC20 and went home and implemented it, from scratch,
       | on the C64 in an afternoon. In BASIC, with a few custom
       | characters.
       | 
       | But what may be missing in this retro scene is being able to show
       | off your creations to everyone else who has the same computer.
       | Without that, kids may not get interested.
        
         | Cockbrand wrote:
         | If you haven't already, you should check out the amazing
         | realtime* PETSCII art of Raquel Myers, e.g.
         | https://youtube.com/watch?v=DCP-DbkbiLA
         | 
         | More can be found on her website: https://www.raquelmeyers.com/
         | 
         | *) Realtime meaning that she's typing in the images as you
         | watch them come into existence
        
       | timbit42 wrote:
       | This reminds me of the Foenix series of computers by Stephany
       | Allaire, the F256K2 which is much like what a Commodore 256/512
       | might have been like as a successor of the Commodore 128.
       | 
       | They are available in 8, 16, 24 and 32-bit systems with a variety
       | of CPUs such as the 65c02, 6809, 65816, 68000, or 68040.
       | 
       | Main website: https://c256foenix.com/
       | 
       | Wiki: https://wiki.c256foenix.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
        
       | squarefoot wrote:
       | Retrocomputing enthusiasts in search of a cheap platform to
       | tinker on may find interesting the VGA32, also ESP32 based, which
       | employs the FabGL library.
       | 
       | https://www.lilygo.cc/products/fabgl-vga32
       | 
       | http://www.fabglib.org/
        
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