14 Jan
2014
14 Jan
'14
11:14 a.m.
On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 09:00:28PM +0000, Liam Proven wrote:
[...]
It seems to me that he was trying to make the ultimate
8-bitter, in a way.
*The* 8-bit sound chip - no less than 2 of them, for stereo, magnificently
self-indulgent - and what might be the ultimate COTS 8-bit graphics chip, the
one from the MSX2 machines IIUIC. And then what is, one could argue, the most
powerful CPU that one can put on an 8-bit bus.
The memory interface doesn't really define the bit-ness of a CPU, otherwise the
386SX would be 16 bit and Westmere would be 128, 192 or 256-bit depending on
how many memory channels the particular model supports. Calling a CPU 256-bit
clearly only makes sense if one works in marketing and spends more time
snorting inspiration off a hooker's back than using a computer.
So, yes, it's constrained, very constrained, but
if he moved from a 68008 to
a full 68000, then it would be a 16-bit machine, and suddenly that choice of
sound and graphics chip would make no sense at all. And if you wanted better
1980s graphics & sound chips for a 68000 machine, well, it's been done, the
job's been taken - that's an Amiga, really.
One silly project I fancy doing if I ever simultaneously have the time and
inclination is to attach the Amiga's chipset to a (bank-switched) 6502 or 65816
just to see if I can make it do something interesting.
And the Amiga is of course a grown-up computer with a
grown-up multitasking
GUI OS, whereas the Kiwi boots into a ROM BASIC like a proper 8-bitter. :-)
Don't make me sit down and create a Kickstart ROM image that boots into BASIC :)