Switching gears back to Ember for a bit, I'm updating the emulator and debugger with changes since my last round of blog posts on the Project Ember implementation, including adding rudimentary syntax highlighting to the debugger disassembly display!

#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #DIYProjects #retrocomputer #retroconsole

Circuit board bodge of the day: Socketzilla! 🙄

I had some of the pins off by 1, so needed to shift them...

#retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #RetroDev #DIYProjects #retrocomputer

Success! I am now able to boot and POST the Apple I Replica Board using the SmartyKit firmware written by Sergey Panarin.

#retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #RetroDev #DIYProjects #retrocomputer

Back to work after a long overdue several weeks off sailing! This week we look at the memory map of the Ember design...

The Ember Console — System Architecture Design: Memory Map
https://www.iaritech.com/post/the-ember-console-system-architecture-design-memory-map

#retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #RetroDev #DIYProjects #retrocomputer

Finally, in the ongoing series from last years BVI flotilla, we head out for our adventure a day late, but eager to get to the adventures...

Sailboat Charter Flotilla: BVI — The Indians, Norman Island, and the Willy T
https://medium.com/skicats-earth-adventures/sailboat-charter-flotilla-bvi-the-indians-stanley-cay-and-the-willy-t-11ef5ea5b4b8

#sailing #sailinglife #travel #britishvirginislands

Switching topics to I/O and game controller support, this week we look briefly at the PIA for Project Ember

The Ember PIA — Initial Design Part 1: Peripheral Interface Adapter
https://skicat.medium.com/21f7f4abb2e8

#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #PCBDesign #RetroDev #KiCad #DIYProjects #retrocomputern #Verilog #ALU #8BitALU #VLSI #RTLDesign #FPGA #ASIC #ProcessorDesign

Brace yourself, Summer is coming.

#sun #retrocomputing #meme #imadethis

Ok here we go… this is the main layout minus goods yard and engine sheds which I’m still tweaking. The rest of the thread breaks this down into individual areas and explains them. The overall width here is 4.1m and the main layout area is about 2.1m deep #ModelTrains #OOGauge

This is the first post of a series about my attempt to create an RPG Engine.
I'm diving back into creating my very own RPG engine after multiple failed/abandoned attempts.
I want it super flexible and avoid hardcoding as much as possible. The post covers using Hollywood-MAL (and Lua which is very similar) for coding and building damage types, creature attributes and status changes, with almost total customization.

#RPGEngine #HollywoodMAL #Lua #Programming

https://www.a-mc.biz/2025/03/26/generic-rpg-engine-dev-log-1/

Baby steps in getting my Apple I reproduction PCB up and running. 6502 CPU booting with just RAM and ROM attached. It grabs the reset address from ROM and starts executing code...until it tries to do something with IO, which is not attached yet...

I'm monitoring the bus with an Arduino MEGA attached to my MacBook Pro.

#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #hardwaredesign #PCBDesign #RetroDev #KiCad #DIYProjects #retrocomputer

Boards look great! Starting the slow bring up with just the CPU, RAM, and ROM...and, of course, clock circuit and logic analyzer...

#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #Verilog #ALU #8BitALU #VLSI #RTLDesign #FPGA #ASIC #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #ProcessorDesign #hardwaredesign #PCBDesign #RetroDev #KiCad #DIYProjects #retrocomputer

The PCBs are here!

#appleI #pcbdesign #retro #retrocomputer #retrodesign #8bit

TIL that because the FFmpeg project has gained so much experience in hand-writing assembly code to provide huge speedups, they now are putting together a series of lessons for learning assembly:

Vibe coding is fun and all, but this is probably a better use of time!

https://github.com/FFmpeg/asm-lessons

Next, we'll explore the details of the GPU and the initial design of the first simple text mode display!

The Flame GPU — Initial Design Part 2: Tilesheets, Tilemaps, and Graphics Registers
https://medium.com/the-ember-project/the-flame-gpu-initial-design-part-2-tilesheets-tilemaps-and-graphics-registers-8c638a19ec4f

#cpudesign #retrodev #8bit #16bit #100DaysRTL #Verilog #ALU #8BitALU #VLSI #RTLDesign #FPGA #ASIC #DigitalDesign #ElectronicsEngineering #TechInnovation #ProcessorDesign #hardwaredesign #PCBDesign #RetroDev #KiCad #DIYProjects #retrocomputer

I'm playing through games I have in my Steam Library. and reviewing them after I finish them. First off, Tomb Raider (2013), 100%-ed singleplayer review: https://alextecplayz.github.io/post/2025/02/10/Tomb-Raider-2013-Review.html

Upgrading ROM from a 28C256 EEPROM (145ns) to a AS29CF040 Flash EEPROM with 55ns (on the small green board).
No wait state anymore during ROM access! Imagine the possibilities! #8bit #retrocomputing #6502 #vintagecomputing #electronics #eeprom

There's disco now inside my C64 #retrocomputing #c64 #fpgasid

Thanks to SvOlli, there will be another Sorbus Junior soon #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #rp2040

A real PDP-8e. #vcfb #vcfb2024

Something followed me home.