3 ms·

Sean Riddle's linked blog post mentions that the code for the prototype for Mattel Football was included in the patent (wrapper) and it was in 6502. Here is th

by djmips 4y ago

Sean Riddle's linked blog post mentions that the code for the prototype for Mattel Football was included in the patent (wrapper) and it was in 6502. Here is the source updated by Sean to build today. https://www.seanriddle.com/footballproto.asm https://www.seanriddle.com/footballproto.asm And more info on this: https://www.seanriddle.com/footballproto.html https://www.seanriddle.com/footballproto.html

WalterBright 4y ago
I did SBCs for both the 6800 and the 6502 for Aph, and couldn't remember which one was this one. I'm also not totally sure whether Hockey was derived from Baseball or Football. It was 40 some years ago! Other people who worked at Aph at the time were Shal Farley, Will McKown, David Rolfe, and Hal Finney (yes, that Hal).
- shalfarley 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure the handhelds were all done on 6502s, but I don't have much else to add about them. I saw them at the time, when APh was still in Glenn's living room, but didn't work on them myself. I did help build and test the "briefcase" style datawidgets that preceded the ones in a formal box. The briefcases were an off-the-shelf Samsonite model, but deep enough for the two-board stack that was the datawidget, with an open-frame power supply on the side. One of those may have accompanied the attache case you mentioned.
- shalfarley 4y ago
  The other person to mention would be Dan O'Dowd. He wrote those PDP-10 / PDP-11 cross-assemblers, and may have had a hand in the earliest handheld games. I think he was Glenn's first employee.
WalterBright 4y ago
I recall there were a lot more parts in the original. It was at least the size of a sheet of paper. There weren't any PLDs in those days. The sounds were also created by having an I/O pin connected to a speaker. The pin was turned on and off at high speed to make the sounds.

3 ms·

Sean Riddle's linked blog post mentions that the code for the prototype for Mattel Football was included in the patent (wrapper) and it was in 6502. Here is th

by djmips 4y ago

WalterBright 4y ago
I did SBCs for both the 6800 and the 6502 for Aph, and couldn't remember which one was this one. I'm also not totally sure whether Hockey was derived from Baseball or Football. It was 40 some years ago! Other people who worked at Aph at the time were Shal Farley, Will McKown, David Rolfe, and Hal Finney (yes, that Hal).
- shalfarley 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure the handhelds were all done on 6502s, but I don't have much else to add about them. I saw them at the time, when APh was still in Glenn's living room, but didn't work on them myself. I did help build and test the "briefcase" style datawidgets that preceded the ones in a formal box. The briefcases were an off-the-shelf Samsonite model, but deep enough for the two-board stack that was the datawidget, with an open-frame power supply on the side. One of those may have accompanied the attache case you mentioned.
- shalfarley 4y ago
  The other person to mention would be Dan O'Dowd. He wrote those PDP-10 / PDP-11 cross-assemblers, and may have had a hand in the earliest handheld games. I think he was Glenn's first employee.
WalterBright 4y ago
I recall there were a lot more parts in the original. It was at least the size of a sheet of paper. There weren't any PLDs in those days. The sounds were also created by having an I/O pin connected to a speaker. The pin was turned on and off at high speed to make the sounds.