Hello from Brazil!

Chandler Klüser · Post by **Chandler Klüser** » Sat May 08, 2021 2:57 am

Hi buddies,

I am very excited to contribute to the Commander x16 project!

I have some experience in doing PCB's in my Engineering and I am starting to learn how assembly language works. Hope I can help someway.

evlthecat · Post by **evlthecat** » Sun May 09, 2021 3:14 am

Bem vindo ao grupo. Se voce tiver qualquer duvida, e so perguntar.

Tenha um otimo fim de semana!

Chandler Klüser · Post by **Chandler Klüser** » Tue May 11, 2021 10:56 pm

On 5/9/2021 at 12:14 AM, evlthecat said:

Bem vindo ao grupo. Se voce tiver qualquer duvida, e so perguntar.

Tenha um otimo fim de semana!

Muito Obrigado, meu caro!!

Como eu faço para saber em que posso contribuir para o Projeto?

---

Thanks, Buddy!

How can I find out how I can help in the project?

evlthecat · Post by **evlthecat** » Sat May 15, 2021 2:28 pm

1) Mostly, people are involved with support software development for the future platform.

The emulator can be downloaded via the 'Download' page, and follow the link for the cc65 cross-compiler development page.

2) The hardware development is out of our hands, as it being run by a core group driven by the 8-Bit Guy.

See the 'X16 Discussion Lounge' for updates and to ask questions.

3) I will warn you, they are strict about the rules see the 'Main Forum' page at the ?;

and the hardware platform form factor is pretty much final, so discussing change ideas will be met with a lot of resistance.

Have a great weekend!

Chandler Klüser · Post by **Chandler Klüser** » Thu May 20, 2021 5:21 am

I'm starting to study application development for the CX16. Do you recommend to do that by learning CX16 assembly programming or BASIC?

I'm loving so much to follow the 8-bit Guy's hardware development, I am very excited to have good news soon!

Thanks in advance!

SlithyMatt · Post by **SlithyMatt** » Thu May 20, 2021 1:46 pm

I would recommend assembly. BASIC is extremely limited, especially when you have to use line numbering and 2-letter variable names, not to mention extremely slow. Good news is that the X16 is an ideal platform for learning assembly, as I have laid out in my tutorial series on YouTube:

evlthecat · Post by **evlthecat** » Fri May 21, 2021 12:59 pm

On 5/20/2021 at 1:21 AM, Chandler Klüser said:

I'm starting to study application development for the CX16. Do you recommend to do that by learning CX16 assembly programming or BASIC?

It really depends on what your personal goals are. I love programming in C, but decided that for a machine such as the commanderX16 it is impractical because of the overhead.

If you have never programmed, I would suggest starting with BASIC and get a feel for the system. Then as you understand the memory mapping more and how to access it, move on. This could take as little as a couple of months depending on your dedication.

If you are a seasoned programmer, or have a handle on one programming language, and understand how memory addressing and mapping works, go for assembly as @SlithyMatt suggests.

There is nothing more frustrating for a beginner, then to drop themselves into something others perceive as easy, and become discouraged and quit.

Small victories win the war!

Have a great weekend!!

Chandler Klüser · Post by **Chandler Klüser** » Sun May 23, 2021 3:34 am

On 5/20/2021 at 10:46 AM, SlithyMatt said:

I would recommend assembly. BASIC is extremely limited, especially when you have to use line numbering and 2-letter variable names, not to mention extremely slow. Good news is that the X16 is an ideal platform for learning assembly, as I have laid out in my tutorial series on YouTube:

Buddy I am your fan, you are such a great teacher for me with your videos!!

I have programmed in assembly before, but for mcus not for cpus like 6502. I will follow your and evilthecat's advice and go for the assembly option!

Could you, please, answer me one question: in your video series you tell the 65C02 has more instructions than the older 6502, but here in my home I have only 6502.

If I try to assemble a X16 with the 6502, could that cause some trouble by running programs which have these new instructions? Thanks in advance!

SlithyMatt · Post by **SlithyMatt** » Sun May 23, 2021 4:40 am

No worries! Using the new 65C02 instructions is entirely optional, and it is completely backwards compatible with 6502 assembly and machine language. BUT, I would HIGHLY recommend looking into the new instructions, as they can make some significant performance gains and save program code size.

Elektron72 · Post by **Elektron72** » Sun May 23, 2021 3:37 pm

11 hours ago, Chandler Klüser said:

If I try to assemble a X16 with the 6502, could that cause some trouble by running programs which have these new instructions? Thanks in advance!

If you are asking about assembling programs for the X16 using an assembler that only has support for the original 6502, there should be no problems; the 65C02 is almost entirely backwards-compatible with the 6502 (excluding bugs and undocumented instructions). In fact, it is likely that an assembly program designed for the C64 that does not directly access the hardware would run properly on the X16 due to the kernal remaining compatible.

On the other hand, if you are asking about using an original 6502 instead of the 65C02 as the CPU of the X16, this would cause issues; any program using newer instructions would likely not function on an original 6502, and the original 6502 has a much lower clock speed than the 65C02.