4 ms·

Back in school (I studied electronics), our embedded programming course was done on 8085 machines with a hexadecimal keypad where you could enter data into memo

Back in school (I studied electronics), our embedded programming course was done on 8085 machines with a hexadecimal keypad where you could enter data into memory a byte at a time. The assignments were done on pen and paper, we got a printout of the instruction set, a blank piece of paper and a description of what the program was supposed to do. We'd write the assembler code on paper, translate it by hand to hexadecimal using the instruction set reference and then load the resulting binary code by hand. You could pause execution with a button and the address and data buses were available on pins, so you could hook up a scope or logic analyzer to see what was happening under the hood. Most everybody hated that class, but man did I love it. It was hands-down the most fun class in my studies. Would've been better with a 6502 though. EDIT: Oh look, I found the machine. Apparently it was a HP 5036A Microprocessor Lab (learning computer): http://www.azur-electronics.com/Pages/hp_5036a_microprocessor_lab.aspx http://www.azur-electronics.com/Pages/hp_5036a_microprocesso...

thick18cm 10y ago
I can't see how it would have been better with a 6502. The 8080 family had multiple clock cycles per instruction cycle, thus if you are hooking up a scope and watching, there is more going on to see, and if you grok what's happens at each clock transition, you will have learned more about timing and the internal propagation of signals through stages of logic gates. It's somewhat similar to CISC vs RISC, both may be elegant designs, but understanding more complexity is a greater intellectual puzzle and the 8085 had more microcode.
KSS42 10y ago
In high school, I used a similar setup from Heathkit with a 6800 processor. http://www.vintage-computer.com/heathkit3400.shtml http://www.vintage-computer.com/heathkit3400.shtml
- linker3000 10y ago
  Acorn System 1 for the Win http://imgur.com/a/f7zZR http://imgur.com/a/f7zZR http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3286&hilit=acorn+system+1 http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3286&hilit=acorn+... (No I haven't built the replica yet - darn work/life balance)

thick18cm 10y ago

I can't see how it would have been better with a 6502. The 8080 family had multiple clock cycles per instruction cycle, thus if you are hooking up a scope and watching, there is more going on to see, and if you grok what's happens at each clock transition, you will have learned more about timing and the internal propagation of signals through stages of logic gates. It's somewhat similar to CISC vs RISC, both may be elegant designs, but understanding more complexity is a greater intellectual puzzle and the 8085 had more microcode.

KSS42 10y ago

In high school, I used a similar setup from Heathkit with a 6800 processor. http://www.vintage-computer.com/heathkit3400.shtml http://www.vintage-computer.com/heathkit3400.shtml

linker3000 10y ago
Acorn System 1 for the Win http://imgur.com/a/f7zZR http://imgur.com/a/f7zZR http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3286&hilit=acorn+system+1 http://forum.6502.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3286&hilit=acorn+... (No I haven't built the replica yet - darn work/life balance)