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I'm probably missing something, but it's incomprehensible/mind-boggling to me that a processor released in 1975 would be used in the Commodore 64 and similar co

I'm probably missing something, but it's incomprehensible/mind-boggling to me that a processor released in 1975 would be used in the Commodore 64 and similar computers in 1982 and even later. Imagine someone today releasing a computer with a 7-year old processor! Price trumps everything else, I guess? And the 6502 was so primitive and unpleasant to use. I remember writing some 6502 assembly code back then. You have a total of 3 8-bit registers and no multiply instruction. And only 16-bit addressing because "64 K ought to be enough for anybody". All this nostalgia about 1980s computers is completely lost on me, I'm glad those days are over.

klelatti 4y ago
x86-64 was released in 1999. Is it incomprehensible that you're probably buying a computer with an x86-64 processor in 2022? ;) More seriously computers are being sold today with CPUs with the same performance as those available seven years ago and are perfectly useable. I have to disagree with you though on the 6502 being unpleasant though. For a microprocessor with 3,500 transistors it very elegant. In the hands of a skilled programmer (like eg Sophie Wilson of BBC Basic fame) it could be quite powerful for the era.
tenebrisalietum 4y ago
CPU speeds were increasing rather slowly up until the mid 90's when suddenly we went from 33Mhz to 1Ghz and higher over the course of a few years it seemed. RAM was super expensive in this time frame, and the 6502 was conceived as a cheap industrial controller. So it was never meant to be part of a system with oodles and oodles of memory for the time, such as the VAXes and PDPs of the time. Surprised you're not complaining about the absence of floating point, but that didn't stop Bill Gates from implementing software floating-point on the 6502 BASICs he sold to Commodore, Atari Apple at the time.
forinti 4y ago
RAM was expensive in those days. If you put more address lines, the chip would be more expensive and you would have a smaller market for it.

klelatti 4y ago

x86-64 was released in 1999. Is it incomprehensible that you're probably buying a computer with an x86-64 processor in 2022? ;) More seriously computers are being sold today with CPUs with the same performance as those available seven years ago and are perfectly useable. I have to disagree with you though on the 6502 being unpleasant though. For a microprocessor with 3,500 transistors it very elegant. In the hands of a skilled programmer (like eg Sophie Wilson of BBC Basic fame) it could be quite powerful for the era.

tenebrisalietum 4y ago

CPU speeds were increasing rather slowly up until the mid 90's when suddenly we went from 33Mhz to 1Ghz and higher over the course of a few years it seemed. RAM was super expensive in this time frame, and the 6502 was conceived as a cheap industrial controller. So it was never meant to be part of a system with oodles and oodles of memory for the time, such as the VAXes and PDPs of the time. Surprised you're not complaining about the absence of floating point, but that didn't stop Bill Gates from implementing software floating-point on the 6502 BASICs he sold to Commodore, Atari Apple at the time.

forinti 4y ago

RAM was expensive in those days. If you put more address lines, the chip would be more expensive and you would have a smaller market for it.