Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Chat about anything CX16 related that doesn't fit elsewhere
paulscottrobson
Posts: 305
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:43 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by paulscottrobson »


"Given (assumption) that the Mega65 makes sprites easy and sound easy, then speed IS an Ease of Use improvement. "

AFAIK it's about the same. Most of the sprite API is fairly straightforward. It's the data and ease of use that's the issue. I've a Python script that builds graphics into a single file with autoscaling and so on, RLE encodes it and indexes it along with size/alignment information. Data is unpacked into $A000 RAM. It works well enough.

The other tricky bit is if you want automovement.

rje
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Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:00 pm
Location: Dallas Area

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by rje »



33 minutes ago, paulscottrobson said:




The other tricky bit is if you want automovement.



Automovement sounds fancy, as if one could specify a vector and the system will automagically move the sprite along that vector, until acted upon by the programmer's code.

 

Didn't need that on the C64; don't need it now.  What I do need is a sound API, ?  because (e.g.) on the C64 I couldn't do decent sound until SuperBASIC made it more accessible than POKEs.  Then I was happy.

The Sprite ABI that Michael Steil wrote is perfectly fine for sprite management.

 

Scott Robison
Posts: 952
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:06 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by Scott Robison »


I just received an email from MEGA65 saying that preorders will open next week for delivery late Q4 2021 or Q1 2022.

paulscottrobson
Posts: 305
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:43 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by paulscottrobson »


Yup, the price will be interesting. The devkit version was basically $1k. I'd guess $799 or $899 myself ? Wouldn't surprise me if it was more than the devkit.

 

TomXP411
Posts: 1781
Joined: Tue May 19, 2020 8:49 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by TomXP411 »



6 hours ago, paulscottrobson said:




Yup, the price will be interesting. The devkit version was basically $1k. I'd guess $799 or $899 myself ? Wouldn't surprise me if it was more than the devkit.



 



It won’t be more than the dev kit. The team said as much when announcing the dev kit. 

I was expecting a price of around $400, but seeing the dev kit pricing, I’m adjusting my expectation to around $600. Which I can’t afford right now. 

and since the nature of these things is often just one production run, it may mean I never manage to get one. 

Scott Robison
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Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:06 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by Scott Robison »


I would love to get a MEGA65. Given the platform, it seems like a perfect FPGA dev kit so it can be a C65 and so much more. But I don't know what dollar amount means I get one vs not bothering. It'll be an expensive toy, to be sure.

maktos
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2020 10:45 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by maktos »


Hmmm.... I wonder if they're trying to release and cash in on some of that pent-up demand for the X16, before the dev kits become available?

There are probably a number of people who like either, but can only afford one. We are talking about $600, not $50.

So the first system to market gets the sales from this group of people, and probably their long-term support (developing for the platform) as well.

Scott Robison
Posts: 952
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:06 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by Scott Robison »



36 minutes ago, maktos said:




Hmmm.... I wonder if they're trying to release and cash in on some of that pent-up demand for the X16, before the dev kits become available?



There are probably a number of people who like either, but can only afford one. We are talking about $600, not $50.



So the first system to market gets the sales from this group of people, and probably their long-term support (developing for the platform) as well.



It *could* be but I highly doubt it. The fact is the MEGA65 has been in development for a very very long time. This just happens to be when they were finally ready.

paulscottrobson
Posts: 305
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:43 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by paulscottrobson »



1 hour ago, Scott Robison said:




It *could* be but I highly doubt it. The fact is the MEGA65 has been in development for a very very long time. This just happens to be when they were finally ready.



Appears to be triggered by the cases becoming available. Electronically it's not complex, it's a Nexys A7 board with some add ons electronically. I don't think it's really a competitor for the X16. I'll be surprised if it's as low as $600.

Developing for an M65 is much more complicated than an X16/X8 which is really just a tarted up C64

TomXP411
Posts: 1781
Joined: Tue May 19, 2020 8:49 pm

Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

Post by TomXP411 »



1 hour ago, paulscottrobson said:




Appears to be triggered by the cases becoming available. Electronically it's not complex, it's a Nexys A7 board with some add ons electronically. I don't think it's really a competitor for the X16. I'll be surprised if it's as low as $600.



I doubt it will be more than that. You can build a dev system yourself for less than that. The dev board they used for developing the software currently sells for $229, and I seriously doubt the keyboard and case cost more than $80-$100 each, in quantity. 

Heck, you could probably build a MEGA core for the MiSTer, and a MiSTer system only costs about $300-400, depending on your options.

 

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