Commander X16 vs. Mega 65

martinot · Post by **martinot** » Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:19 pm

On 12/2/2020 at 2:08 AM, John Chow Seymour said:

I want something really cool-looking on my desktop. (I almost bought a Spectrum Next just because of how great that design looks, even though I don't know Z80 assembly and have no Spectrum nostalgia.)

Never had any Spectrum, but I am waiting for my Next. It is a really awesome product with a total experience of design, hardware and software in one complete package.

IMO the Next is the raw model for all other retro projects, and how I wish X16 will be.

Kalvan · Post by **Kalvan** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:32 am

I just updated the published specs of the Mega65 on page 3.

martinot · Post by **martinot** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:13 pm

On 11/28/2020 at 11:48 PM, paulscottrobson said:

I have one myself as have countless others. It's faster than the CX16 and costs a tenner. But there is one important pro that none of the others have, except for three ; a large potential user base - the three are the Spectrum Next, the Mega 65, and the Commander X16. (there are others that have smaller bases, the Gigatron, RC2014, Zx Uno perhaps and so on).

Without that user base you don't have software, an eco system, and without that you have another in the long list of machines that were technically excellent but you couldn't do much with. In the 1980s when I was a lad there were many of them. Neither the Speccy or the C64 is a particularly good design, the aim being to maximise profit for minimum design effort. But there were so many of them people worked round their limitations to often spectacular results. In some ways it's an advantage. Without the option of flashy graphics or sound on a Spectrum, people tried new game ideas instead.

I agree.

I think one could possibly also add the Foenix computers. But are they really compatible with each other, or do they suffer from less software due to too many different hardware configurations?

martinot · Post by **martinot** » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:19 pm

On 10/8/2021 at 8:11 AM, Scott Robison said:

I want all the toys. Commander X16. MEGA65. MiSTer. Tesla. List some more, I probably want them. ?

How about the Spectrum Next? ?

Scott Robison · Post by **Scott Robison** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 12:01 am

On 1/24/2022 at 2:19 PM, martinot said:

How about the Spectrum Next? ?

I've thought about that, but not interested enough to stand in line for it.

paulscottrobson · Post by **paulscottrobson** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:47 am

On 1/25/2022 at 12:01 AM, Scott Robison said:

I've thought about that, but not interested enough to stand in line for it.

I think you'll have to stand in line for the Mega65 and X16 ? Though it is possible they may eventually produce a cheap Mega65 without all the fluff.

rje · Post by **rje** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:02 pm

On 12/28/2020 at 4:30 PM, rje said:

That said, I think some of the VERA bitfields required to use its sprite engine make those lovely sprites Harder To Use, which bothers me. I haven't played with the sound generator in VERA yet, so I don't know how it compares with the SID. I didn't really have complaints about the SID -- especially when Compute! magazine's SuperBASIC came along and packaged many sprite and sound commands into convenience statements in a BASIC wedge.

I've worked a bit more with VERA Sprites and the PSG both, and I have an update.

(1) The sprite bitfields are not as big a problem as I originally thought. They are PAINFUL when programming in BASIC, but I suggest a thoughtful extension command would resolve that. When using C, the bitfields are no problem at all.

(2) The PSG has one major drawback, and that is the lack of ADSR envelopes. The solution would have to be something like an interrupt-driven software ADSR system in assembly language, with a small bit of RAM set aside to manage state. The 16 bit ABI can be used to pass parameters.

Now I haven't used the synthesizer chip on the X16. Maybe it's easier to use.

Scott Robison · Post by **Scott Robison** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:30 pm

On 1/25/2022 at 3:47 AM, paulscottrobson said:

I think you'll have to stand in line for the Mega65 and X16 ? Though it is possible they may eventually produce a cheap Mega65 without all the fluff.

I'm already in line for MEGA65, just waiting for supply chain issue of cardboard to be resolved.

martinot · Post by **martinot** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:41 pm

On 1/25/2022 at 1:01 AM, Scott Robison said:

I've thought about that, but not interested enough to stand in line for it.

Can not wait for mine! ?

It is really such a fantastic little extremly well made retro machine!

Scott Robison · Post by **Scott Robison** » Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:57 am

On 1/25/2022 at 2:41 PM, martinot said:

Can not wait for mine! ?

It is really such a fantastic little extremly well made retro machine!

I'm sure it's awesome for people who have fond memories of Sinclair & Spectrum in particular. I'm just not one of those people.