18 Apr
2002
18 Apr
'02
8:55 a.m.
The simularity was based on two things. (1) they used the same CPU, and (2)
they happened to have the same "expansion bus," not that it mattered. Since
their memory maps and logical layout were different, to say nothing of the
totally different I/O facilities, different cassette format, different user
interface (and user interface hardware), it's pretty hard to see them as
similar. The fact that they could use more or less similar 3rd party hardware
was more of a coincidence than the result of concerted effort to standardize.
I took a look last evening to see whether I could easily lay hands on the AIM
stuff I've got, and, while I easily found the hardware, ISTR that there's a
manual somewhere ... though I did find a couple of documents, one for a 3rd
party memory board and one for an EPROM programmer, of each of which I seem to
have at least one.
I never got the Assembler or the Basic, since I really haven't ever even
powered up the AIMs. I had my own system for which there was already an
assembler, and editor, a video display, and other support software, not to
mention a much more convenient user interface. One of these days, however ...
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dwight K. Elvey" <dwightk.elvey(a)amd.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: AIM-65 displays
From: blacklord
<blacklord(a)telstra.com>
Hi Dick,
-----Snip------
Not even close! They both use 6502's. That is about where
the similarities end. The KIM was a hex readout. The AIM
is an alpha/numb readout. The AIM runs a printer in parallel
with the display. The KIM has a small key pad, the AIM had
a full keyboard.
I could pull my chip and disassemble it but someone else
could deal with putting comments on the code. I'll look at
my AIM stuff tonight and see if they had any listing for the
monitor. It seems like they only had entry points but that
would be helpful in figuring it out.
Dwight
I'll have a look to see whether I have any
ROM listings. I
thought I did,
but, well ... they say the mind's the second thing to go ... can't
rememberthe first ...
The AIM is pretty similar to the KIM-1 no ? (I may be mistaken) The
KIM's ROM dissasembly is pretty freely available, I have a version that
was suppied with a text file on how to build your own using current
chips.