1st stage loader for IMSAI - need ascii to binary conversion

[Dave McGuire]

On Feb 26, 2008, at 6:14 PM, woodelf wrote:
>>   Well, Chuck said it best, but I'll add this: You get fewer  
>> components, lower cost, easier maintainability and tweakability,  
>> increased flexibility, the possibility for a reusable design...how  
>> is this a bad thing?
>
> I question the over head ... with all the design software closed  
> source
> I bet Mr Gates has control of I guess 75% of your hardware product.

   Huh??  No, nothing could be further from the truth.  This is a  
widely-believed myth that I want to put to bed *right now*.  If you  
choose a microcontroller and a compiler system that locks you into  
BillyWare (or any other single vendor for that matter!), you've  
chosen poorly.

   I only use one microcontroller for which the compiler toolchain is  
proprietary (ironically it's an extended Z80)...EVERYTHING else I run  
is free.  I regularly develop for (non-extended) Z80, at least four  
different modern mcs51 variants, ARM7, and PIC architectures, and I  
compiled every tool I use from source code.  It's free software every  
step of the way, including editing the source code, compilation,  
linking, chip programming, debugging...everything.  Soon I'll be  
adding MSP430 and ARM9 to that list, and the most commonly used  
development tools for those platforms are free (including source  
code) also.

   Further, there's no Windows involved anywhere (I don't have the  
patience for it)...I usually run under Solaris on UltraSPARC, but  
sometimes I develop (using the exact same tools!) under OS X.  Hooray  
for modern operating systems.

            -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL