Color Maximite 2 - ARM CPU that runs BASIC!

[@OldManTheseDays]

For some reason it makes me really happy that stuff like this exists. A computer that serves no function other than to facilitate the passion of the creators. Kind of beautiful, really.

[@sosurim]

I hear you. I felt the same way and was frustrated I couldn't really articulate it well like you. I'm by no means religious, but it's like God's back in his heaven and all's right with the world again.

[@brostenen]

Yup. That was why we started taking up computers as a hobby, back in the 1980's. For a private person, it was all about creation. Untill the Amiga became obsolete for the home user. Then the computer as a thing, started to slowly morph into this communication and life tool that we know today.

[@unperrier5998]

Yeah take a raspbery Pi and install basic. Or your laptop and install basic And then you've got the same thing... well not the same: even more powerful and mainstream.

[@OldManTheseDays]

@@unperrier5998 I think you’re missing the point of stuff like this.

[@unperrier5998]

@@OldManTheseDays there's no point to miss.

[@oddthecat3561]

My brain just stoped with the BASIC demos. Nice video David!

[@mikaalnaqi3167]

hey david, i'm 14 years old from the UK and i've been watching your videos since i was 9. I know it sounds absurd but you've really got me interested in 1980s tech. for now i'm saving up for a commodore 64 but the only old thing i have at the moment is an old cassette player that belonged to my grandad and i'm always opening it up and looking at the stuff inside. i'm surprised i haven't broken it yet!

[@removalist1995]

You should buy a mssiah cart, it's a full sequencer that works really well

[@Mugenloo]

Commodore 64 is an 8-bit machine.

[@RonJohn63]

Is your goal to play old games? (Because this Maximite 2 is a great tool for learning how to program. I started on a TRS-80 in 1980, and am glad I started there instead of Windows.)

[@frymate1261]

I have been watching him since I was 10 I am 15 now lol

[@frizzmoy]

You guys rule.

[@FriendlyWire]

BASIC at 480MHz on a single-chip computer... Thanks for sharing this David, this is fantastic! Also excited to see the amazing progress on the X16. What a time to be alive!

[@dodogaz]

*sees 16-bit capability* The 8-Bit Guy: "I'll stick with the older version"

[@pyrotechnick420]

That makes me think, is there room on the youtubes for a 16-bit Guy channel? lool

[@ernestuz]

Of course, he's not the 16-Bit guy!

[@Fry09294]

That's not what he said

[@andrewdunbar828]

Where is the 4-Bit Guy when we need him?

[@evandex08]

What about 1 bit

[@galbyman]

When I am wide awake I find your videos very entertaining and educational. When I am tired, I find your videos relaxing and a great sleep aid. I can't explain it.

[@AndrewHelgeCox]

Adrian's Digital Basement has the same effect on me and he pumps them out rapidly enough not to run out, especially on his second channel.

[@SmeddyTooBestChannel]

I've never said "I WANT ONE" so quickly in my life. I've always wanted a proper "open" computer/game platform with Amiga/Genesis era specs.

[@benanderson89]

Same! I just bought one of those knock off "X game" consoles from China that I was going to gut and use as a case for a Pi 4. I might have to put a Maximite inside it instead, or an X16.

[@RJBandsma68]

@@benanderson89 Gotta love the homebrew community, so many amazing products being made makes me want an X16

[@TheReimecker]

me too !!!!!!!!!!

[@superscatboy]

Check out SGDK, the Sega Genesis Development Kit - it's a very nice project that makes it very easy to write Genesis games in C.

[@ernestuz]

The first time I used a STM32F4 I thought the designers loved the amiga, and now this STM32H7... In general STM32 are very neat microcontrollers, and the higher F4, F7 and H7 have nice digital sound through DMA channels (a lot of DMA channels) and include quite an interesting blitter, indexed graphics, transparency effects and multiple screen layers with hardware scroll. Yeah, almost everything serviced by those DMA channels and loads of programmable timers.

[@XTHHedgehog]

I keep replaying the intro music. I love the baseline toward the end

[@combatking0]

4:40 - That's my dad on the monitor!

[@soniccookie655]

Windowlicker Supreme Me too. :)

[@TheStanHill]

He’s a well rounded person

[@xxhalfemptyxx7713]

@@TheStanHill :')!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xd

[@loscheninmotion9920]

Why is this so cute

[@robertlong6027]

Lier that not your dad

[@atomXLV]

10:41 8-Bit guy: I got in the Commander X16 boards from PCBWay a few days ago PerriFractic: As we all know PCB stands for Partially Constructed and Blue ...wait doesn't it...

[@PCBWay]

Perfect script, isn't it? 😀

[@notthatntg]

Printed circuit board.

[@fuseegelee]

@@notthatntg Printed Circuit Board

[@parishna4882]

I love this channel, I'm always transported back to better times :)

[@onedeadsaint]

oh man! looking forward to those two new videos! those devices look fun and interesting!

[@p_mouse8676]

I actually LOVE the idea of having a dedicated graphical OS for the STM32!!! So people can do on the fly programming a lot easier and mostly more user friendly.

[@aquaferme1346]

Man, this could be what is needed for a BASIC revival. BASIC was an awesome language, and this solves it's fatal flaw (speed)

[@aker1993]

I love BASIC it's simplicity.

[@obsoletegeek]

"I think this is called Final Fight..." Oh, David...

[@irridesu]

What happened to your videos?;I wanna see more content!

[@imperia777]

I am shocked he doesn't know Final Fight

[@matiasgl]

@John Doe Maybe it's too new for him haha

[@PaulMansfield]

first rule of Final Fight Club is don't talk about Final Fight Club

[@jennoscura2381]

@@PaulMansfield If you talk about Final Fight Club the Mad Gears will steal your girlfriend.

[@sdf39882]

The speed of that thing for BASIC is mind-blowing. I'd probably wait for the production version to get the price down, but you're about that being a great entry to programming. My 10yr old and I could have some serious fun with this as she starts to learn coding.

[@Ashanmaril]

When the slide popped up at 1:13 and he said he was gonna talk about the change in color, my stupid ass thought he was gonna point out that it used to be green and now it's blue

[@Rikkoshaye]

Same man... same

[@EtanMarlin]

Same man

[@KingJellyfishII]

I had a half thought of that haha

[@frankowalker4662]

Yeah, I felt a bit dumb at that point.

[@davidivester7025]

Been doing that kind of thing all week. Think it might be a mini-stroke. Haha, I said MINI.

[@ed.puckett]

Thank you! Great demos, especially the floppy stepper. It really showcased the simplicity and accessibility of BASIC.

[@user-qy9rg3nt2l]

Had a Coco 3 in the 80's and little to no exposure of anything outside BASIC, or even friends who were into programming. I just squealed in delight.

[@GeorgesChannel]

Thats really a great computer for BASIC coders! Great video!

[@tinman7551]

This is mind blowing. It’s like my 1980’s childhood came back and said “I can program ALL THE THINGS!! “ 🥰😍❤️

[@brostenen]

Yup. Same feling here. These machines are just perfect for the hobby market. That market segment have been abandoned for way too many years. Like I am soldering a SixtyClone these days. Creating something with computers, even creating or building computers, are a wonderfull hobby. I am personally more a hardware guy than software guy. I can build and solder, just really poor programming skills.

[@JosueRodriguez08]

Lol bro, what are you even saying? If you don't want to learn a real programming lang that's your problem but hobbyist market has been super well coveren by arduino and rpi

[@403punk3]

Definitely waiting on the X16! Your vids have got me so interested in computers!

[@markfisher1240]

Ahh yes BASIC. From the era where lending your copy of the book 'more basic computer games' to a friend was considered data transfer.

[@SolidMartian]

I sent you an email recently and you responded right away. I just wanted to thank you. You’re awesome!

[@kairiki3824]

haven’t seen this channel in years. i remember when you were still “iBookGuy”

[@mypkamax]

The Gauntlet port in this is amazing. The pixel art on the opening screen is well done.

[@antonnym214]

OUTSTANDING video, and hyper-interesting as all your stuff is. I am OLD SCHOOL like you are with the C64. I grew up on the TRS-80 and started with BASIC and went to z-80, 8080 assembly, APL, Pascal, QBASIC, TurboBASIC and a few languages I designed (R-code and LIM). Still, a nice interpreted BASIC is hard for me to resist. About five years ago, I played with a color Maximite and really loved the programming environment! I got it working very well with graphics and sound, but I never had any luck getting the GPIO pins to read a potentiometer. I was hoping to use a pot as a paddle control so that then I could write Pong, Breakout, Pole Position and those types of paddle games. Now that I see you getting this new model working with a sensor, that gives me some hope. If you have a pot or even Atari-style paddle laying around, I'd love to see your code to read it! Don't ever stop! All good wishes.

[@liamandevanfilson1314]

Just gonna put this out here..... SmileBASIC is cool.

[@lootinggoblin]

Just found this and as someone that last looked at basic way back at school when we had to learn BBC Basic as part of computer studies this is amazing.

[@rager1969]

Amazing. If 1980s me had access to this then ---- nothing would have changed.

[@DoctorNemmo]

On the contrary, we would have seen these computers replacing PCs, and IBM going bankrupt

[@NeverlandSystemZor]

And likely more open architecture software and hardware coming out, too.

[@fischX]

Multiuser Unix/Windows style OS that act like they are the central workstation from a Telco with 1000 Terminal logins while sitting at home and actually be a better video player kinda suck.

[@stoojinator]

Imagine a 480Mhz CPU in the mid 80s! When 12MHz was considered blistering and 4.77Mhz was the norm!

[@parishna4882]

@@stoojinator sprites in the border... sprites in the border everywhere!!!

[@jesusgarciagutierrez7301]

Thank you for all your videos, they show us the beauty of computer science. Greetings from Spain.

[@mrmimeisfunny]

Color Maximite: "I am an arm computer with built in basic." Acorn Archimedes: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@RayBellis]

@Lassi Kinnunen that's because Acorn / BBC BASIC before that also had a built-in inline assembler for the 6502 processor.

[@battlepants5818]

Thank you David! This is one of my favorite KZbin channels.

[@apinakapinastorba]

Limited color modes are interesting in old machines. If a machine gets ”too good”, it’s just the same just to use a modern machibe.

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

Or even in this machine, which isn't old.

[@kevin12567]

You can easily simulate limited color palettes by declaring, say, 8 or 16 colors in an array. Then whenever your program needs a color, just read from the array - you could write a function or subroutine to make getting the colors simple so you could just write, for instance, "color(5)" to get the 6th color (in most versions of BASIC, arrays start with 0).

[@toms2oo8]

​@@kevin12567 I guess that defeats the purpose a little from their point of view. For example you can still release a 8bit colour game on modern machines but it's not as fun to share that if you don't have a 'hard' limitation. I suppose it fosters a little more creative thinking when it's impossible to just give up and move into higher colour modes. That being said personally I support anything that gets people into programming, you could always just purchase the older more limited hardware if thats your goal.

[@superscatboy]

@@kevin12567 You could probably wrote a shader to do all of that.

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@toms2oo8 It's only really a point of contention when you get into how the hardware phyically works. The reason for the low colour depth of old systems is basically a combination of memory and cost optimisation reasons that kind of don't really apply with this class of hardware. From the point of view of software, the routine is about the same whether you have 8 colours or 8 million.

[@BitsAndTips]

Wow! It's the fastest interpreted BASIC that I ever seen. Nice video as usual! Thank you very much! 👍👍👍

[@vittoriorebecchi7695]

Nice machine. It looks like an Acorn Archimedes, the conputer for which ARM was developend in late 80s. A great Basic with built-in assembly

[@RAINE____]

Mate, this is so cool. That infrared thing you did was awesome. I also never thought BASIC would be so effective. That was a really fun video

[@loganjorgensen]

I'm impressed, I like accelerated BASIC, fixes it's biggest drawback. :D

[@MarcosCodas]

Madly in love with this thing for some reason, and I'm so grateful for people like you, who create positive content.

[@Blackadder75]

2030: Somebody programs a playable version of Crysis in BASIC

[@the_kombinator]

Not too far off when Kiff states that the horse he programmed into the holoshed was 4 million lines of BASIC ;)

[@Athiril]

Hey if you used QB64 you could do it

[@joefish6091]

There is a game called 'Hall of the Things'

[@adam1984pl]

Mario 64 and Diablo first.

[@ryuchao008]

Honestly any port of Crysis would probably be faster than the original. Stunning graphics at the time but the engine is not performant even on modern hardware

[@ChadWSmith]

I love the new old school style projects that exist these days. Looking forward to the future videos!

[@leifgiering]

3:39 "the Tetris program that I wrote a couple of years ago" > date listed as 1999 lol

[@NPrescott]

I am absolutely in LOVE with this little computer!! I was heavily into BASIC development from the late 80's onward. I can't wait to get one of these and see what I can do! :D

[@computeraidedworld1148]

Man I'm really interested in that X16. I didn't know there was any developments on that idea.

[@mikekopack6441]

Got mine last Saturday and have been having a blast exploring the various basic features. It’s so crazy easy to do graphics with this it isn’t funny!!! It’s awesome! If you have thoughts of making your own games, go for it!

[@NerdyMeathead]

when you apologized for not having a capture card, I thought this was captured and you were just overlaying it to a blank monitor screen. Wow

[@TheReimecker]

I did think the same very good angle !!!!

[@rodneydaub3812]

Same. Great content.

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

Hehe, it's interesting when people edit that way just for an effect while also still having a perfectly direct picture transfer (I've seen it s few times on TV and maybe in a movie). But Dave wouldn't normally bother with that, because I think his philosophy is that if you're gonna hook capture up, ya might as well fill the video output with it (or sometimes an inset, depending on the application).

[@nickwallette6201]

I'm frustrated with the video capture market. I picked up a Blackmagic 4K capture card and it's so ridiculously picky about video modes that it's practically worthless for anything but bog-standard broadcast equipment. (Which, to be fair, is kind of their scene.) So I returned that and got the AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K, and the only drivers available are for Win 10 x64. All my video workflow is on a Mac, but... OK... So I built a box dedicated to capture. That's the one and only thing it has to do. I bought Windows 10, installed it, it updated the Intel graphics driver, and.... black screen. The only thing that brings back video is going back to the standard VGA driver. I'm using a mini ITX board, so I have ONE slot, which is used by the capture card. So that's a bust. Why is this so hard? I mean, the Windows thing is just two of the biggest names in the computer industry with their heads firmly up their X-D, but I mean capture in general. Receive bits on an HDMI port, save bits to a file. What's so difficult about that???

[@mingerone]

That's absolutely amazing. Thanks for showing it off. Younger me would have killed for access to something like this :)

[@falloutpc1]

@6:36 Final fight was a pretty iconic late 80s early 90s arcade game. So many quarters spent on that game.

[@johnr8996]

I was just sitting watching AVGN. And you're channel came to mind. I have a new channel now so you have a new sub.

[@AlRoderick]

I thought to myself for a second "why a nunchuck port", but then I remembered, the NES classic and SNES classic controllers use that port and they're relatively easy to get.

[@pal4140]

ran out and bought one, cant wait for it to arrive, looking forward to sharing the fun I had in the 80's with my son🙂

[@petermather3049]

Python, Pi, Basic, Assembler and the Colour Maximite 2 by one of the developers As one of the co-creators of the device, I though it worth commenting on some of the points raised. MMBASIC MMBasic which this device uses is not the language of the original 8-bit devices. It supports proper functions and subroutines, doesn't need line numbers and I can't remember ever using a GOTO statement while coding in it. Other than complex use of pointers you can take any C program and convert it to MMBasic with nothing more than some simple edits - e.g. swap "endif" for "}". Anyone who learns to program from scratch with MMBasic can transition to C extremely easily. I fully accept that the "old" Basics did not encourage good programming practice but this needn't be the case with MMBasic on the CMM2. PYTHON I personally despise python. Any language that uses white space as a syntactical element should IMHO never have been conceived. HOWEVER, there is nothing to stop anyone porting Micropython onto the CMM2 hardware. The source code of the CMM2 is available and could then be used to help implement all the peripheral handling that would be missing in MicroPython. I spent a lot of hours optimising the graphics primitives and these could be imported into a Micropython port to allow similar levels of graphics performance. I can't comment on the relative efficiency of the python vs Basic interpreter. PI No professional development environment for bare metal and no openly available documentation NDA possibly required for access to some bits Multiple versions which are all different, no guarantee what will be produced going forward or commitment to availability of older versions No ADC, limited other peripherals At the end of the day it possibly could be done but I chose to use the ST chip because there is an excellent development environment that I had used before. I had no knowledge of Raspberry Pi H/W, can anyone point you to any serious documentation of the chip and its peripherals - I suspect not. The ST has a 1000 page manual explaining the internals in precise detail and the chip has a guaranteed support life. Had I tried to do the development on the Raspberry Pi it would still be ongoing and the CMM2 wouldn't exist. I can't comment personally on the RISC-OS implementation of Basic but can quote from a recent user: "Did you try it ? I did, and was not very happy with the stability. Especially when going in- and out of the editor, I repeatedly lost changes. Could be me doing things wrong. Everything about RiscOS (also pico) is very different from the world of Windows/Linux. Nothing is intuitive. The command line edit mode works completely different from the editor. It could have been great, but as I read it on their website, it was a one-of release, no maintenance. No good user manual. "Take it or leave it". I only kept it on a SD card because the blazing speed, and, if I want to torture myself writing a basic program of 10 lines, taking over one hour, searching on the internet for tips how to use de damned thing. From reading 1980's BBC basic manuals, to forum tips what function keys do what in RiscOS pico. " ASSEMBLER The H/W design of the CMM2 is extremely simple, a processor chip, a ram chip, and a USB/UART. The circuit diagrams for both the motherboard and the Waveshare PCB are openly available and there is nothing to stop anyone using the H/W platform for any bespoke development in whatever language you want. The H/W handling is mostly done using the ST HAL routines which, despite some online commentary, are now pretty robust and reliable. The use of these is included in the source for the CMM2 so could be used as a basis for your own project. The CMM2 does use some ARM assembler routines to replace some of the inefficient C library routines like memset and memcpy. SUMMARY At the end of the day, for me, this was a fun project to do. If you like it - great; if it doesn't seem to have value to you that is fine also. It is what it is and hopefully some of you will get some fun out of it - it doesn't try to be anything more than it is.

[@petermather3049]

Forgot to mention on MMBasic It also supports enforced and rigorous variable typing (OPTION EXPLICIT, OPTION DEFAULT NONE) and proper variable scoping with LOCAL and STATIC variable definitions in subroutines or functions.

[@adigyran]

how about just C with Arm Keil? Somebody just ported doom to STM32F4

[@TheTurnipKing]

point of order: The old BASICs were largely a wrapper over assembly. Use of GOTOs may not be considered a good programming practice, but it does mirror what the machine code is doing with jumps.

[@MrDuncl]

To me this looks very interesting. As a Professional hardware engineer I have programmed in Basic, self defined Micocode, Machine Code, and for the last twenty years VHDL, which actually reminds me of Basic. However, as software is done by software engineers with all their talk of Windriver RTOs etc I wouldn't be able to tell C code from Cobol or Pascal.

[@richardl4556]

I totally agree with you on you thoughts about Python. Very bad decision to use white space.

[@wisteela]

This is amazing. And I'm very much looking forward to see those other two.

[@andresbravo2003]

Another revision of Color Maximite? I like the name! Edit: again, It's a new Color Maximite 2 which is much better.

[@sosurim]

Actually, the only thing I don't like is the name. Keeps reminding me of vegemite :(

[@ericpode6095]

@@sosurim In the UK we've got Marmite, even closer!

[@aaronrbermudez7787]

i never get bored watching your videos. i am trying to learn digital electronics and programming so i can build my own computer someday. thanks and keep up.

[@johnsimon8457]

The basic in this is a WORLD apart from the AppleSoft basic on the ][ and other 8 bit micros No line numbers, a decent text editor, maybe a linter and debugger...A proper file system... Coding on 8 bit micros was simple but the friction of your limited tools will get to you

[@superscatboy]

For real, my first experience of programming was in ZX Spectrum BASIC and looking at the code in this video is like looking at a luxury language from the future by comparison.

[@TheTurnipKing]

95% of programming in BASIC is using it to slap together tools that aren't so limited.

[@adam1984pl]

There some 3 Pacman clones on Amstrad Cpc,written in Basic,nor so fast.One level only.I

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@adam1984pl original pacman only has one board. Multiple mazes tends to be a feature of home clones

[@straightpipediesel]

A lot of the large commercial products weren't developed on the 8 bit systems themselves, but on a minicomputer or timesharing system like a PDP-11. There was a lot of punch card editing too. Same thing today, nobody develops on a cell phone, it's done on PCs.

[@CarlosLopez-oc9nh]

Yes people are more interested in Python but to get kids interested in programming Basic can still be the key for the gate. Thank you for sharing and please keep safe.

[@redpheonix1000]

5:20 "Lets hope Warner Brothers isn't as evil as Nintendo" AHAHAHAHA

[@MXRetroDev]

I hope not... I saw many homebrew Gauntlet ports on other systems. I think if I keep it as an "old style game" maybe it not call the attention of Warner.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

Does Warner even have a modern continuation/marketing of the Gauntlet games?

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@gluttonousmaximus9048 They try and reboot it every now and again, I think the last attempt was in 2014 or so around the same time as they did that Alone in the Dark online game.

[@TheVercci]

Warner is worse and lazier than Nintendo.

[@AmyraCarter]

WORSE. WAY WORSE.

[@TheReimecker]

I dont understand whats kind of people look a awesome video from the 8 Bit guy (One of the best Channels on KZbin) and hit Thumbs Down ?? Whats wrong with this guys ?? Can anyone help to understand this ??

[@pinkpuff]

When he unscrewed the lid my brain filled in Lady Fractic's "EE-OO-EE-OO" sound

[@nattila7713]

#metoo

[@Illegal_Immigrant]

:gasp: you are a david too?! god i am finding so many davids. Brings me joy to have my name be known on such cool people

[@Jayenkai]

I've been writing some games using SmileBASIC on the Nintendo Switch. It's a fantastic form of BASIC, and has tons of modern capabilities. Highly recommended!

[@jovewolf]

Should also be noted that SmileBASIC is also available on the Nintendo 3DS, complete with the ability to utilize the system's 3D screen capabilities.

[@Jayenkai]

Aaron Grandy and the original DS for that matter. But having the ability to plug a USB keyboard (and mouse!) in has made a huge difference for me. Trying to type anything lengthy on that tiny DS/3DS touchscreen wasn't ideal.

[@kevin12567]

There's also Fuze4 which is more of a fusion (hence the name) of BASIC, C, Python and similar programming languages.

[@jonathancook4022]

Thank goodness! Another 8-Bit Guy video to brighten my day!

[@numbers9to0]

Anybody else who hears Perifractic's voice shouting _PCBWaaay_ in his head, after 8-bit Guy says it?

[@dwaynezilla]

Don't forget that PCB stands for _Pulsed Computer Beeps_

[@enjibkk6850]

@@dwaynezilla I always thought it was potato chips bag

[@dmacpher]

Wayyyyyyyyy

[@davidhealdjr.513]

Every. Single. Time.

[@Impresso3dBlogspot]

he did indeed brainwashed us. BTW, PCB stands for Powerfull Coding BASIC. ;)

[@blendpinexus1416]

i can attest to basic being dead simple to learn and utilize. ti-basic is my experience and hell, i made a few bucks in highschool making tibasic programs for other students. the spoiled kids loved that and i got several snacks and drinks over the course of those years by just having the inate knowledge of ti-basic. hell it's so simple that after two years of not touching it at all i came back to it and easily made another program from scratch for the hell of it. don't be afraid of that prgm button on your ti graphing calculator. it has many great capabilities.

[@Turnbull50]

If basic had been like this in the 1970's it would have been amazing

[@retropuffer2986]

This is just amazing. You featured quite a few products like this now but something about an ARM chip being used like an 80s computer appeals to me!

[@LasiczkaABC]

When you will record about Commander X16? And i love your channel❤️💚❤️.

[@proxy1035]

still disapointed the offical community is limited to facebook... instead of something more open and modern like Reddit or Discord, or even both. also still confused why he didn't use the sound chips he originally wanted. the speed limit of the sound chip shouldn't've been an issue as the 65C02 supports wait states to easily interface with slower hardware, and it would've been much easier to just add a bit of circuitry that generates wait states when accessing the sound chips instead of choosing completely different ones.

[@lisasaleh9765]

Yeah

[@timslab1272]

Ditto! Those new boards look promising!

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

Except that, @@proxy1035, Reddit is only a year newer than facebook.

[@gregclare]

I’m just disappointed that they didn’t use the 65C816, for a truer cycle accurate 6502 equivalent, combined with ability to switch over to more advanced 16bit ALU and registers, as well as being true to the X16’s name!

[@MilickoMijatovic]

your show is so relaxing and satisfying

[@cigmorfil4101]

"This thing can literally run interpreted basic as fast, or faster, than a computer from the 80s can run assembly language..." Hmmm... Two points: 1) its clock is between about 260 and 480 times faster than the 6502 of the 1980's 2) this side of the pond in 1987 a machine was released: the Acorn Archimedes which did just that: ran interpreted basic as fast as, if not faster than, most 1980's 8-bit machines ran machine code. It was available in the US via Olivetti Canada (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture for more info) At 8MHz it was about 4-5 times faster than a 68k doing the same 32 bit workloads. The Acorn Archinedes used a processor that Acorn designed called the Acorn Risc Machine, or ARM for short. This is the granddaddy processor of the current ARM processors.

[@welshtechie6832]

Indeed it was. I had the A3000 and upgraded it to a whole 2MB of Ram. Loved it and had a software PC XT emulator to do my college work in Turbo Pascal at home. Not easy without a hard drive but the beginning of what we have today. As stated, if Acorn had gone open source then who knows where we would be today?

[@another3997]

I think you missed the point. Interpreted languages are, by their very nature, extremely slow. Up to several hundred times slower than pure assembly language. Optimised assembly was the ONLY way to get the required speed back then, and more importantly, it needs an intimate knowledge of each processor architecture. Modern processors allow programs written in a high level, easy to learn, interpreted Basic to run faster than highly optimised assembly from a few decades ago. Even better, Basic requires less detailed knowledge of the target processor, is more portable and produces results in a fraction of the time.

[@another3997]

The first ARM chips had a higher MIPS rating than the 68000, something typical with all RISC processors, but real world results were never that far ahead of contemporary CISC designs. The 68000 wasn't a true 32 bit processor, unlike the 68020 and 68030. I'm pretty certain that the Archie's BBC basic didn't run that fast, not without resorting to inline assembly.

[@Archimedes75009]

@@another3997 And you are wrong : all tests showed that the Archimedes BASIC crushed all other BASICs of all other systems in the same price range ; and in 'real world' as you say, the Archimedes was way ahead for everything needing computations (like ray tracers). No wonder why Artworks ( vector graphics package) appeared on this platform. When the 68020 or 68030 become popular, Acorn had the ARM3 (25 and 33 Mhz with 4 kbytes of cache) and this CPU was beating them, easily, at the same frequency.

[@cigmorfil4101]

@@another3997 I don't know; a friend had one back then and it did run basic fast- stuff I'd have had to write in machine code on a BBC (in 6502) he had written on basic on the Archimedes.

[@bwc1976]

Very cool getting to "listen" to the output of a remote control! And I love the Amiga/QBASIC-style editor without line numbers. That Tauon Android computer also looks promising.

[@MorebitsUK]

Wow, the basic on that is impressive. If that's basic V and since that runs on a ARM Chip, if those are true, technically you should be able to program ARM Assembly, and there were some amazing ARM games around in the 90s.

[@Zhixalom]

Like a vast amount of other people, I have done a ton of Basic programming on various machines through the '80s and into the early '90s. Before moving onto other languages in pursuit of more complexity, power, and speed. Although I did dabble a bit with 6502 and Z80 assembler/machine code, it was all about achieving more speed. Watching David's first video back in 2018 the speed of the Color Maximite kind of blew me away. I obviously knew that these much much faster processors had been available in the form of Arduinos and Raspberry PI's (and their clone cousins) for some time. But since it has been literally decades since we have had a new machine build around Basic, that someone would choose that as a basis was what really caught my attention... and I instantly got myself one after watching the video. Having only ever experienced sluggish interpreter based Basic (It wouldn't really be fair to compare it to compiler-based Basic) the Color Maximite really kicks a serious punch. I have had a project in mind for some time now, designing, 3D-printing, and building a case for my Color Maximite much in the style of our old retros. But I am pretty sure that the AJazz AK33 RGB keyboard I have in mind for it isn't PS/2 compatible... and just as I have begun thinking about how to circumvent this issue, I get an e-mail from CircuitGizmo last week about the new ARM-based Color Maximite 2 (with an extra bunch of rockets up its beehive). So it wouldn't surprise me at all if I was one of the first to order... and I was almost counting on this video from David turning up shortly after 🙂 I really don't want to see it as a rival to the Commander X16. Haven't we like "been there, done that to death and beyond" already? - Fighting over which computer was the best definitely is the furthest away from my fondest childhood and teenage memories as you can possibly get, and with our vastly more power- and resourceful Mac's and PC's around, practically doing ludicrous speed loops around these much smaller micro-controller based systems, reviving the old tribal wars and applying them to these new machines, just seems mind-numbingly daft and childish to me. The greatest thing about this retro-renaissance which we are experiencing right now is that we get to pick and choose what was best from that long-gone era. So why not just let the old brand-wars rest in peace. Getting excited about the Color Maximite 2 surely won't keep this old Retro-Looney from getting excited about the Commander X16 as well😉

[@thatguyoverthere531]

I have never shuddered as hard as when you abused the IDE cable.

[@hjalfi]

Not as bad as soldering directly to the pins of the floppy drive. You'll never get the solder off those.

[@nickwallette6201]

Not a big deal. Nothing valuable or irreplaceable was lost. You can get them from eBay for a couple bucks, or buy bulk ribbon cable and standard 40-pin IDC connectors and make (pre-UDMA) IDE cables at home, with whatever length and number of ends you want. (E.g., I have a home-made three-device cable to make it easy to swap between 3.5" and 5.25" devices for testing.)

[@joefish6091]

@@nickwallette6201 Long time ago I used to make ribbon cables at work, lots of standard and weird custom cables for the company, they got them very good and very cheap. All the work we grunts did on the shop floor was not appreciated. the company destroyed it self from the top down, like a dead fish rotting from the head. Gardners Radio/Transformers/Electronics. RIP

[@RandiRain]

I love it. I see robot potential. The screen graphics for a face, i/o pins for control.

[@gabetrain8834]

my mind is blown rn, seeing a computer playing 3d games at a playable speed, i may not hav a old pc but i do watch ur cannel a ton

[@gabetrain8834]

the floppy drive is my favorite part, seeing a floppy drive actrually doing things is awsome to see

[@PJL3791]

@@gabetrain8834 There's a channel on KZbin that is basically just a load of floppies and other computer tech stuff all moving to the tune of pop hits. Just do a search for Floppotron and you'll get to the channel.

[@cyb3rpunk190]

Ur channel is great and thanks for sharing “debug” channel it’s a great channel too keep up the good work

[@j.d.6915]

Hey, Final Fight on this has less slowdown and lag than the SNES version! Learning basic is great, because it isn't too complicated, and it is possible to learn basic ideas like if, then, while, etc...

[@SeraphimKnight]

Oh man, that old samsung remote gave me a nostalgia blast. That was the exact remote that I had for the first CRT I owned (eg, not the family's). Weird how random bits of consumer technology can send you down memory lane with a single glance.

[@ahmadprogramming1197]

3:00 IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK!!

[@LoveDoctorNL]

Basic is back! So glad to see this 😊

[@enthusiasticgeek7237]

me: "im gonna save up my money so i can buy an oculus quest" 8-bit guy: "color maximite 2" me: "well crap"

[@laurinneff4304]

I'm saving up some money too for an oculus quest or a rift s, recently started my apprenticeship so I'll finally earn money

[@ramsesvelasco]

Your Basic skills are on Super Master Advance Level ! ... I had to pause the screen several times to copy some codes and play around with my Maximite controller

[@thwill]

Strictly speaking it looks like there was at least one more game installed: RUN "/zmim/zmim.bas" 😀

[@Jesse__H]

Great episode. Interesting and informative.

[@FredericBezies]

When I saw Gauntlet, I nearly fall from my chair. It is incredible. Looks like the Amiga version or even better! By luck, you gave us a warning! :) A port of Wolf3D in Basic? What the?! Tell me, I'm dreaming! What about rewriting PlanetX3 on CMM2? Just kidding, of course! Floppy drive control? Reminds me some Imperial March played with disk drives :) And news about Commander X16? Yummy!

[@MXRetroDev]

Soon I will publish all the source codes and a diary of development of the Wolfenstein 3D port. It is the most challenging game that I made until now.

[@NaokisRC]

As a long term fan of the original gauntlet, I had tears of joy to see it running as well as it did. I'm guessing its more based on G2 than the OG...G

[@stu729]

There are so many people who make incredible music with FDDs and other computer components. MrSolidSnake745 was one of my favorite, but he stopped making content about 3 years ago. Maybe an 8-Bit Keys episode on making music with this Maximite?

[@MXRetroDev]

@@NaokisRC I have made a mixed about G1 and G2 with some focus to show more deeply the character differences in games (see the panel on the right). But if you play it enough a warrior can ben almost fast as the elf, for example. The development is far from being finished yet but is playable at now. If you want to see more about the gameplay: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH-zYausbZhme7c

[@sthardj.b.7785]

As always, thanks for showing :)

[@gbclab]

Great!!!

[@legoman8960]

are you a bot?

[@Bamahut]

Those games and demos are amazing, all done under basic that's just crazy!

[@stanguay169]

Would be nice if this kind of Basic was available on the Raspberry Pi instead of having to buy another kit like this... After all, it's just another ARM chip.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

They have an image called ichigo jam that boots straight up to basic.

[@Doug_in_NC]

Try using RiscOS on your PI instead of Raspbian, then you can run BBC BASIC. Here’s a link to the BASIC documentation to give you an idea how good it is. www.riscos.com/support/developers/manual_index/basic.html#bbc_basic_manual__part_1__chapter_1__about_the_bbc_basic_reference_manual

[@g00glian0]

I hope you never stop making videos.

[@JTTofficial]

Last time i was this "early" David made videos about airguns.

[@Reynsoon]

They are rage. Brutal. Without mercy. But you: you will be worse. Shoot and puff; until it is done.

[@alsatusmd1A13]

JT T In a parallel universe,…

[@jerrypinewood6278]

The kid who got bullied now has 1.23 million fans on youtube. Love how life turns out :-)

[@rkornilo]

Love the ugly authentic 80's modem styling. :-)

[@andrewdunbar828]

It actually looks a bit like one of the Taiwanese Apple II clones to me.

[@joonglegamer9898]

When I receive the Color Maximite 2 - I'm 3D printing and designing a new Retro style Computer case with keyboard for it :)

[@PCBWay]

Our greatest honor to be one part of your commander!

[@ryancoke777]

When's the planet x3 port coming out? I haven't watched the whole vid yet so maybe you already answered my question lol

[@c0smiq]

Ordered one last week! Its just so cool to have a device, turn it on, bang! BASIC at your service :) You can even hook up some LCD screens to it. I wonder how long it takes before one hooks it up to the internet :)

[@wheelitzr2]

So I started off watching this thinking why would I be interested in this and by the end figured out this might be able to solve the problems I've been having with my Arduino project. 🤷

[@webmasterg3526]

It solved mine! De-bugging directly at the keyboard - no compile, load, test, recompile cycle, no IDE - it's super friendly to learn!!

[@wheelitzr2]

@@webmasterg3526 I had an issue where my computer crashed and I lost my 500+ line Arduino code for my project and of course couldn't get my code back out of the Arduino so I literally had to start over. It was a rough day.

[@darrenjkendall]

Sounds like a nice mini series, thank you.

[@Ra-zor]

A simple easy to program using Basic as its language computer, with Amiga graphics and speed and with a Raspberry Pi pin compatible interface, all in a nice small box... What more could you ask for ?. The average person wont need half of the options modern languages offer anyway! (If your a pro programmer why you even looking at this product, its not for you lol) The best part is it uses just one programming language and boots up straight to the user interface, just like the good old days of the c64/spectrum and others. No confusion, no choices, no drivers, everyone gets the same experience and everyone knows how it works. Perfect.

[@loganlockhart7768]

Great video