Re: Discussion: The need of a 65xx HAL

-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Perry <jp_at_digitaltapestries.com>
To: cbm-hackers_at_musoftware.de
Sent: dom., 04 sept. 2022 8:00
Subject: Re: Discussion: The need of a 65xx HAL

Re: Discussion: The need of a 65xx HAL Hello Tokafondo,

Sunday, September 4, 2022, 6:24:10 AM, you wrote:

> I was asking for comments in the 6502.org forum about the need of a
> 65xx HAL. This discussion had no success there so I'm starting it here again.


> So what I'm talking about is if would it be of any help the
> creation of a 65xx HAL that would implement a kind of "high level" language where there would be:

> - A, B, C... Z registers
> - Unlimited memory addressing including virtual memory
> - Unlimited opcodes, including compatible with every known 65xx variant in existence

Registers are more than just on-board fast access memory: they are plumbed into the ALU and other structures, Clearly there was only room for only so many functional registers that could be plumbed into the ALU, and whilst the relative paucity of them on the 6502 caused headaches (and limitations) for programmers, it helped in the IPC (Instructions per clock) of the overall design. I'm sure in any emulation today one could slap in as many as one liked - but what would be the point?  It wouldn't be a 6502 anymore. 


Thats why I call it 65xx HAL. The goal of this project or idea is separate hardware from logic. Obviously once a design is different or an enhancement of the original thing it's based on, it cannot be considered the same thing.