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Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

mega65.org

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Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#11

Post by Aeolun »

cable2600 wrote: post #4
codezero wrote: post #2

I love this project but I’m tired of hearing about it until the next story is that I can buy it.

It is still in beta test and they have a free emulator and the ROM is open source. It is a Commodore 65 clone, which is like a cross between an Amiga and Commodore 64. It has Amiga graphics and sound. It also has a C64 mode. Only developers can buy a computer and it is expensive, once it hits retail they will make them in mass production to keep costs down. https://c65gs.blogspot.com/2020/07/mega65-emulator-and-tools…

Yeah, but any news around it is pointless unless I can buy it. Devkit or no. I can’t even find a price, that makes it kind of hard to get enthusiastic.

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#12

Post by pvitz »

Cadwhisker wrote: post #5

A curious mix of old-style and new for the keyboard, but one thing that really stands out is a key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago. Other keys that would have been great to become standard: Load, Save, Undo, Redo

The old Bloomberg keyboards had a separate "Help" key. However, the new one merged it again with the "F1” key.

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#13

Post by cbmuser »

Aeolun wrote: post #11
cable2600 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is still in beta test and they have a free emulator and the ROM is open source. It is a Commodore 65 clone, which is like a cross between an Amiga and Commodore 64. It has Amiga graphics and sound. It also has a C64 mode. Only developers can buy a computer and it is expensive, once it hits retail they will make them in mass production to keep costs down. https://c65gs.blogspot.com/2020/07/mega65-emulator-and-tools…

Yeah, but any news around it is pointless unless I can buy it. Devkit or no. I can’t even find a price, that makes it kind of hard to get enthusiastic.

I agree. Everytime this project gets mentioned somewhere, it turns to be still vaporware.

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#14

Post by cellularmitosis »

Cadwhisker wrote: post #5

A curious mix of old-style and new for the keyboard, but one thing that really stands out is a key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago. Other keys that would have been great to become standard: Load, Save, Undo, Redo

The old sun keyboards had a few keys like that. My favorite was the “again” key :)

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#15

Post by amatecha »

Is the site just overloaded or something? It took 26 seconds for the content of the page to actually appear...

More importantly, the site is not keeping my interest at all, even though an open 8-bit computer sounds amazing to me. Is there somewhere with like... tech specs? Text? I don't care about a photo gallery, videos or marketing-style summary descriptions. There seem to be some concrete details on this external webshop though (???) https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/en/Products/MEGA65/

Wait .. is MEGA65 just a design? ... And Trenz happens to be the place that made some limited physical units so far?

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#16

Post by derefr »

anigbrowl wrote: post #10
ajuc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago it was called F1

This sort of response is why people dislike techies. Arbitrary codes are how you get a priesthood, and that's not a good thing.

And the very fact of the Function keys' configurability meant that they couldn't be relied upon to always do some specific thing, which kind of let devs off the hook. If nobody's going to try pressing F1 anyway, you may as well not bother to make it do anything. Vicious cycle. (See also, and even worse: the "What is This?" window caption-button in Windows, that invoked a modal "Context Help" mode. It was so non-discoverable — and optional! — that I don't know of a single third-party that ever bothered enabling their software to use it.)

On the other hand, if there's a key on the user's keyboard explicitly labelled "Help", then as a developer you'll feel somewhat obligated to put some informative documentation into your app that appears when "Help" is pressed. "Burning" a help function into the hardware, takes away the developer's choice in whether they want to offer help or not, without needing to impose any sort of centralized QA process. The QA process is something the dev will be incentivized to do on their own, when faced with the realization of the inevitability of users' frustrated expectations when they think pressing "Help" will get them some help. :)

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#17

Post by cout »

ajuc wrote: post #8
Cadwhisker wrote: post #5

A curious mix of old-style and new for the keyboard, but one thing that really stands out is a key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago. Other keys that would have been great to become standard: Load, Save, Undo, Redo

> key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago it was called F1

No, F3 is help. F1 is cancel.

https://retrothing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/wp51.jpg

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#18

Post by nix23 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #10
ajuc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago it was called F1

This sort of response is why people dislike techies. Arbitrary codes are how you get a priesthood, and that's not a good thing.

>This sort of response is why people dislike techies.

Enter was called "return"..and you know why? Typewriters...carriage return, if you have already functions why no use it? You want a Copy/Paste button too?

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#19

Post by rzzzt »

nix23 wrote: post #18
anigbrowl wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of response is why people dislike techies. Arbitrary codes are how you get a priesthood, and that's not a good thing.

>This sort of response is why people dislike techies. Enter was called "return"..and you know why? Typewriters...carriage return, if you have already functions why no use it? You want a Copy/Paste button too?

Some keyboards tailored for office applications do have copy/paste/help/browse the internet/launch spreadsheet keys.

Re: Mega65 – Open 8-Bit Computer

#20

Post by rzzzt »

cellularmitosis wrote: post #14
Cadwhisker wrote: post #5

A curious mix of old-style and new for the keyboard, but one thing that really stands out is a key labelled "Help". I wish this had become part of standard keyboard layouts decades ago. Other keys that would have been great to become standard: Load, Save, Undo, Redo

The old sun keyboards had a few keys like that. My favorite was the “again” key :)

I feel obligated to add a link to the space-cadet keyboard with its many, many modifier and command keys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-cadet_keyboard
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