Commander X16

"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.

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.

 

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

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.

 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.