Odd cpu lengths

[bfranchuk at jetnet.ab.ca]

Chuck Guzis wrote:
> On 10 Dec 2008 at 19:24, Tony Duell wrote:
>
>   
>> >From the discussion fo the AVR and PIC microcontorllers, it appears that 
>> should I wish to program them using an HP9816, or a PERQ, or a PDP11, 
>> or... then the information is available to do so. I can write a 
>> cross-assembler, debugger, downloader, etc. You may feel that's not a 
>> sensible use of my time, byt darn it this is a hobby, and it is very 
>> difficult to justify time spent on hobbies _other than 'you enjoy doing 
>> it'. 
>>     
>
> Given the simplicity of the AVR and PIC tools, you could easily host 
> a development system on a 8080, Z80, 6502, etc.-based system, 
> provided that you had the necessary (e.g. parallel port) interface.
>
> I've not seen any Z80-based VHDL compilers, but then, maybe I'm not 
> looking hard enough. :)
>
>   
Move up to 18bits ... buy Ben's new CPLD bug free [1] chip set or wait 
late 1975 ish
for the 48 PIN dips to come out.

But when you think of it, most develpment on the small 8 bit micros
were done by hand ... ie Apple integer basic or cross compiled on a larger
machine PDP-10? under Fortran IV.  PL/M for the 8080 comes to mind.

> Cheers,
> Chuck
>
>   

The instruction set is very 1969 ish, but it does have a software stack
and the idea of character data. The CPLD design is a emulation of
the 48 pin CPU, in that it is functionaly the same design, but not hardware
compatable as small PCB that fits over a 48 pin socket.
http://www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/fox1.html

[1] ISZ sadly was one the few instructions not implimented as well as skips
and PUSH/POP.  They are features not bugs.