Commander X16

Hi, all. I'm Dave, and I'm very pleased to join the forum here - my new X16 machine is on its way! My main interests regarding the X16 are music, games, and hardware interfacing.

My first computer experiences were in the late 1970s on my junior high's TI-733 terminal, tied into the school district's PDP-11. My high school had a few Hazeltine terminals and modems, a TRS-80 I, and three Apple IIs. I got my first computer in 1983, a heavily discounted VIC-20 and datasette, which I still have and use occasionally. At times in the past I had an Apple IIe, C128-D, and an Amiga 1000 (among piles of other, later machines). In the early '90s I was also into the BBS/FidoNet scene, and ran a board on a '286 for about three years.

Then, life happened. But lately (you know: 2020, staying at home, etc.), I've rekindled my enthusiasm for 8-bit machines. A few years ago I put together a 6502-based PAL-1 kit, and this past autumn I took a plunge into the deep end of retro computing: I designed and built from scratch a 6800 machine on protoboard. I'm definitely not an engineer, but I enjoy learning about the hardware stuff. Finally, I have an interest in software preservation/discovery, especially from the '70s and early '80s.

I look forward to exploring the X16 and participating here as I'm able.

Best regards, Dave

Welcome! There has been some renewed discussion of pairing a 65c816 back to the X16. The SystemROM is currently compatible with it, so you can swap the 65c02 directly with one of those '816 chips right now.

I mention this, just for those more experienced with hardware, it may be of interest to them to see what other benefits an '816 can offer. But the emulator and compiler tool support may be somewhat limited still.

But it's also a nice system, with plenty to try out and experiment with, in the stock 65c02 config. I hope someone gets more time to play with the VIA#2 to see more what the userport could do (like a comlink or interlink cable to another X16?).