4 ms·

My youth: Z80, 6502 Micros I used: 8051, PIC, AVR, MSP430 Mainstream CPUs: 68000, x86 DSPs: TMS320Cxx (no SHarc?) Missing from this list: NIOS II and other

My youth: Z80, 6502 Micros I used: 8051, PIC, AVR, MSP430 Mainstream CPUs: 68000, x86 DSPs: TMS320Cxx (no SHarc?) Missing from this list: NIOS II and other soft cores and anything ARM. Maybe they are not supposed to be here.

stevesimmons 3y ago
That's my list exactly. What a trip down 40 years of programming! * 6502 in my Vic20 and Apple ][, as a teenager (both computers' manuals had complete circuit schematics) * Z80 assembly during my Elec Eng degree * 8051 assembly for embedded systems I built for some consulting clients during my PhD * DSPs including DSP32C (1992) and TMS320Cxx, considered for radar processing during my PhD (though by that stage, the 486 turned out to be good enough!) * x86 for everything else. Especially once PCs came with the x87 floating point processors (for 386, before the 486 integrated the FPU into the CPU).
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Oh, the nostalgia! I remember the first "holy war" I was ever exposed to was Z80 vs 6502.
  - zwieback 3y ago
    I had a Z80 CP/M card in my 6502 computer (Apple ][) but my heart was always on the 6502 side.
  - stevesimmons 3y ago
    My first exposure to the Z80 was via Rodnay Zaks's book [1]. And, just because I was curious, here's the Vic-20's 6502 circuit diagram [2] [1] https://archive.org/details/Programming_the_Z-80_2nd_Edition_1980_Rodnay_Zaks/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Programming_the_Z-80_2nd_Edition... [2] https://www.vic-20.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/VIC-20-Schematic-Main-Logic-Version-E.pdf https://www.vic-20.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/VIC-20-Sche... P.S. Fun fact - my mobile phone number ends "6502" :)
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      The Vic 20 was the first commercial microcomputer I owned, and I did a lot of machine language programming on it. But the first microcomputer I owned was one I built myself, based on the 8085A (which was basically the same as an 8080). Since the Z80 was essentially an enhanced 8080, I could never choose a side on the Z80/6502 wars and consider the debate a bit stupid (like all holy wars).
- zwieback 3y ago
  I forgot about DSP32C, we had that in one of our vision systems. Fun chip but I preferred the TI offerings.
stevesimmons 3y ago
To complete my microprocessor list, here are the two exotic CPUs I most wanted to try as a teenager. Buying them in mid-1980s Australia was not realistic, especially since I had no money. The closest I came to them was reading about them in Byte magazine... * Inmos T414 Transputer (1985), with Occam programming language. * Novix NC4016 (also 1985), designed by Chuck Moore, which executed Forth directly.

stevesimmons 3y ago

That's my list exactly. What a trip down 40 years of programming! * 6502 in my Vic20 and Apple ][, as a teenager (both computers' manuals had complete circuit schematics) * Z80 assembly during my Elec Eng degree * 8051 assembly for embedded systems I built for some consulting clients during my PhD * DSPs including DSP32C (1992) and TMS320Cxx, considered for radar processing during my PhD (though by that stage, the 486 turned out to be good enough!) * x86 for everything else. Especially once PCs came with the x87 floating point processors (for 386, before the 486 integrated the FPU into the CPU).

JohnFen 3y ago
Oh, the nostalgia! I remember the first "holy war" I was ever exposed to was Z80 vs 6502.
- zwieback 3y ago
  I had a Z80 CP/M card in my 6502 computer (Apple ][) but my heart was always on the 6502 side.
- stevesimmons 3y ago
  My first exposure to the Z80 was via Rodnay Zaks's book [1]. And, just because I was curious, here's the Vic-20's 6502 circuit diagram [2] [1] https://archive.org/details/Programming_the_Z-80_2nd_Edition_1980_Rodnay_Zaks/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/Programming_the_Z-80_2nd_Edition... [2] https://www.vic-20.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/VIC-20-Schematic-Main-Logic-Version-E.pdf https://www.vic-20.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/VIC-20-Sche... P.S. Fun fact - my mobile phone number ends "6502" :)
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    The Vic 20 was the first commercial microcomputer I owned, and I did a lot of machine language programming on it. But the first microcomputer I owned was one I built myself, based on the 8085A (which was basically the same as an 8080). Since the Z80 was essentially an enhanced 8080, I could never choose a side on the Z80/6502 wars and consider the debate a bit stupid (like all holy wars).
zwieback 3y ago
I forgot about DSP32C, we had that in one of our vision systems. Fun chip but I preferred the TI offerings.

stevesimmons 3y ago

To complete my microprocessor list, here are the two exotic CPUs I most wanted to try as a teenager. Buying them in mid-1980s Australia was not realistic, especially since I had no money. The closest I came to them was reading about them in Byte magazine... * Inmos T414 Transputer (1985), with Occam programming language. * Novix NC4016 (also 1985), designed by Chuck Moore, which executed Forth directly.