4 ms·

I spent an excessive amount of time playing with an animated version of Dewdney's wallpaper algorithm from The Turing Omnibus, first with 286 fixed point arithm

I spent an excessive amount of time playing with an animated version of Dewdney's wallpaper algorithm from The Turing Omnibus, first with 286 fixed point arithmetic and later with 486 FPU code.

pvg 3y ago
Hah, I went through a similar cycle with Mandelbrot stuff - first with custom fixed point on a 6502, then I somehow got my hands on a prototype Apple ][ FPU card of some sort, then there was the 386/387 (sweet sweet 80 bit floats!), etc.
- sitkack 3y ago
  A Weitek math coprocessor board that snapped on to a 6502 would be a fun project.
  - pvg 3y ago
    I googled it up, it was a Bulgarian variant of this Am9511-based (the first FPU, according to AMD!) bad boy: http://www.apple-iigs.info/doc/fichiers/CCS%207781B%20Arithmetic%20Processor%20-%20Owner%20s%20Manual.pdf http://www.apple-iigs.info/doc/fichiers/CCS%207781B%20Arithm... https://www.applefritter.com/content/arithmetic-processor https://www.applefritter.com/content/arithmetic-processor
    - sitkack 3y ago
      Nice find! > "Apple APU. The Model 7811 B Arithmetic Processor Unit is intended to increase the execution speed of Applesoft II programs and the number of math functions available. The system employs an AMD9511 APU and plugs into one of the Apple expansion slots. The CCSoft interpreter is loaded from the diskette provided, and the system is ready to, go. The CCSoft interpreter is identical to Applesoft, except that CCSoft sends arithmetic functions to the APU for fast execution. Additional functions include AsiN(x), ACOS(X), LOGIO(X), SINIH(x), COSH(x), TANH(X), INVERSE(x) and PI. "