BBC Micro: Second 6502 Unit

A quick video on a nice little (ok, its not "little") period correct BBC Micro Upgrade!

[MrLurchsThings]

Before anyone else makes the same comment - yes, I am well aware of the PiTube project.

[paul_boddie]

The 6502 second processor had 64K of RAM all to itself. That made it possible to run Tube-compatible applications and have a lot more memory for things like documents or for the operation of those programs themselves. One of the most promoted applications for the 6502 second processor was the Bitstik CAD system, which originated on the Apple II, and which featured 3-axis joysticks. See the May 1984 issue of Acorn User for some nice coverage of that system.

[JamesE]

Nice video, brings back happy memories for many. In the days when computing was interesting and thought provoking!

[p]

Cool. Would have been awesome if they had allowed it to do parallel processing like modern dual core.

[BigCar]

For the reason why that program failed. You used "O" instead of "0" on line 20. (20 S%=O)
Yes, I froze the screen because I wanted to find out!

[mgarnett]

With a second processor, the internal 6502 was still used for I/O, such as screen output.

[JVHShack]

*chuckle* "...getting up to Amstrad CPC levels of real estate..."

[station]

Second Processor was for use with BBC MIcro
Co-Processor was for use (internally) with BBC Master
Electronically they are both the same (almost), but different PCB and connector layout.
As the BBC Master has the external tube port also, it can use both styles.

[guystevens]

wow cool used these back in school days with good old Econet system i think *everything lol. Wow what a differece 6502 makes.

[CheshireNoir]

Awesome demo of a gadget most of us will never see. :-)
If you DO decide to play Elite, I'd strongly recommend a joystick. They're incredibly easy to "DIY" on the Beeb, as with so many Acorn systems, they did the Analog input the RIGHT way, so you can use any potentiometer with them. I went and bought an "off the shelf" analog joystick and slapped it in a cheap case I got from Altronics. It works really well.

[datasoftinc]

Back in the day disk drives were expensive. but there was another method to store and read files named "brain"

[OzRetrocomp]

There really needs to be an Acorn theme month one of these days. 🙂 I can't get enough Acorn content, especially when it's cool stuff like this.

[ChrissRetroCorner]

Nice video Mr Lurch, great to see it in action! I would have loved to have seen inside this device. (I'll google it!) I thought when I bought my beeb last year, that it had this 2nd processor with it. But alas, it was the teletext adaptor, in what looked like the same expansion box! 😄

[yruqqey]

The US being the home of Commodore and Apple, I would’ve loved to see more awesome 6502 machines like this. The Apples were for the “rich kids” and the schools had them locked away in labs. So the VIC 20s, 64s, and even the random CoCos and TIs were plentiful in the working class. But multi-processing expansions and co-processors? Even the c128 just had dead weight multi-cpu setup….these British machines were truly interesting imho from an engineering overachiever standpoint!

[catriona_drummond]

Call me a nitpicker but I think for this kind of benchmark you should break out a classic stopwatch. Gotta benchmark in style! ;)

[YesiPleb]

You had S%=O instead of S%=0, as you'd not defined O (because it was a typo) it threw an error.

[VKFVAX]

Nice to see some more Beeb. Actually.. I enjoy all your computer videos. I wonder about modern Tube accellerators. I'd love to find a dead one I can reverse engineer and reproduce. That'd be a stretch but I think I could pull it off and test on mine.

[UncleAwesomeRetro]

cool video :) It's nice that there was a game developed for this upgrade.

[RetroSteamTech]

Great video Jason. The 6502 Second Processor was an upgrade that I was considering for my Beeb. So it's really useful to know a little bit more about it, thanks. If you are going to have a go at Elite you might want to make sure you have plenty of free time available, the game really sucks you in 🙂 Cheers, Alan.

[parrottm]

Cool! I had no idea the BBC Micro had a second processor option.