Some time ago we introduced a tiny tool called ppmview.prg in our collection of tools and progs for our Steckschwein. The ppmview.prg, as the name already tells, is able to load an image in ppm (Portable BitMap) format with a maximum size of 256x212px and displays it on the screen.
The first version of ppmview was released in 2018 and since then we just use the SCREEN 8 (MSX) also known as graphic mode 7 (RGB).
Chuck Peddle, the main designer of the 6502, has passed away on Dec. 15th, 2019.
Peddle was one of the engineers that developed the 6800 at Motorola. He later went to MOS in order to implement his vision of an 8bit CPU for way less than $300, which was Motorola’s price for the 6800.
This idea of a cheap but powerful CPU materialized as the 6501, and finally the 6502. That very chip, which started the microcomputer revolution, and on which both Marko and myself began to write our first code ever at an early age.
Es ist manchmal schon sehr mühselig bereits kleinere Probleme mit Assembler lösen zu müssen. Was uns für das Steckschwein fehlt ist eine einfache Sprache mit der man kleine Dinge erledigen und zeigen kann.
Also, warum nicht ein einfaches Basic für das Steckschwein portieren? Die Auswahl an guten Basic-Implementierungen ist überschaubar und unsere Wahl fiel in dem Fall auf EhBasic von LeeDavison. Warum? Nun, es hat sich gezeigt, dass EhBasic von vielen Homebrew-Projekten verwendet wird, die eine 6502-CPU-Basis benutzen.