Amethyst: 8-Bit Home Computer, Powered By An AVR Microcontroller

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024

Комментарии • 234

  • @crusaderanimation6967
    @crusaderanimation6967 3 года назад +7

    when i read "Amethyst: 8-Bit Home Computer," you got my curiosity, but when i read "Powered By An AVR Microcontroller" u got my attention

  • @PU7MZD
    @PU7MZD 4 года назад +72

    Next step is porting DOOM. Amazing project!

    • @dmitryhetman1509
      @dmitryhetman1509 3 года назад +1

      Doom is very heavy for that kind of PC, but NES had DOOM port, so this 8bit beast also capable of it but not sure..

    • @dmitryhetman1509
      @dmitryhetman1509 3 года назад +1

      I mean SNES

    • @dmitryhetman1509
      @dmitryhetman1509 3 года назад +1

      8 bit is not enough to reproduce doom I guess.

    • @cbmeeks
      @cbmeeks 3 года назад +5

      @@dmitryhetman1509 Doom was ported to an expanded 37KiB VIC-20 and runs surprisingly well with audio. Just search for VIC-20 Doom.

    • @excitableboy7031
      @excitableboy7031 3 года назад +3

      You cant run doom on everything, most videos about stuff powered by microcontrollers "running" doom is simply taking the input and passing the output, with the processing being done on a host

  • @bradscott3165
    @bradscott3165 4 года назад +28

    FORTH IN ROM. Absolutely badass. I bet it was all kinds of fun writing the forth kernel for that thing.

  • @hotkeymuc
    @hotkeymuc 4 года назад +27

    14:34 "a typing demonstration of me typing on this keyboard" - Love the Chyrosran22 reference :) (...and the whole rest of the project as well of course!)

  • @candidmoe8741
    @candidmoe8741 Год назад +3

    At first I thought that was a factory made computer. Very well done.

  • @Xoferif
    @Xoferif 4 года назад +54

    I'm pretty sure it was Woz that came up with this NTSC colour generation technique. I remember one of his talks where he described being in a sleep-deprived state and staring at a bunch of arcade cabs that were on test at Atari (which had coloured pieces of cellophane pasted over a mono screen) and the idea starting to form in his mind.
    Anyway, really nice work with the Amethyst!

    • @PauloConstantino167
      @PauloConstantino167 4 года назад +3

      ye! you can substitute some analogue signals by a digital signal as an approximation.

    • @yestertechnet
      @yestertechnet 4 года назад +7

      Al Alcorn taught Woz the trick, and Woz did what Woz does - optimize it.
      spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/tech-history/silicon-revolution/al-alcorn-creator-of-pong-explains-how-early-home-computers-owe-their-color-to-this-one-cheap-sleazy-trick

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 3 года назад +3

      I believe that would have been "Breakout!" Its certainly the one game where actual color made little difference. True the ball looked weird going through the "layers" but this only happens when the ball is far away from player interaction with the paddle, so it wasn't too distracting. Such things inspire creativity in code. Likewise the PC's real mode and protected and other memory modes inspired coding tricks.

    • @bryede
      @bryede 3 года назад +1

      The problem with the Apple trick is how dirty it looks without color amplitude control. You get as much artifact as actual color. You gotta hand it to Woz making full-feature computers with off-the-shelf TTL, but it was always going to be a giant compromise compared to an ASIC design.

    • @jnharton
      @jnharton Год назад +1

      @@bryede You also have to consider that they were trying to control costs too. I'm sure he could have done quite a bit in standdard TTL without an ASIC, but they were trying to make a product not throw a lot of money out the window.

  • @ricardlupus
    @ricardlupus 4 года назад +8

    This is so beautifully done, from the circuitry to software to case and keyboard.

  • @janikarkkainen3904
    @janikarkkainen3904 4 года назад +3

    Oooh this so cool! I'm kinda in the process of designing my own "8-bit computer", but my current abilities (had no real experience w/ electronics until a month or two a go) have me stumped on memory restraints on ATmega328p (been thinking about either upgrading the AVR to one with more memory, or do either parallel sram with glue logic or OC to >20MHz and dual quad-spi memory). I was going to do color later with just resistor dac to RGB and use composite for sync (SCART is a godsent), but I got intrigued about NTSC artifacting. I know this video is akready 6 mo old, but I really hope you get back to us with an indepth explanation about NTSC Color Artifacts! Thanks for the great video!

  • @dirtfriend
    @dirtfriend 4 года назад +75

    very cool! i'd definitely buy a kit of this if it was available :)

    • @alangiles2763
      @alangiles2763 4 года назад +3

      Me too, FRed, it is a fantastic and good looking piece of work

  • @Alex2Buzz
    @Alex2Buzz 4 года назад +11

    This is the kind of thing I subscribed for. Very happy to see more computer projects, though I do wish we'd seen the project as it went...

  • @walnuthills11
    @walnuthills11 4 года назад +6

    Looking forward to your upcoming Amethyst Forth video!

  • @abdelkadernechadi7497
    @abdelkadernechadi7497 3 года назад

    AWESOME, and speaking of color, I'm now GREEN with envy.

  • @willofirony
    @willofirony 4 года назад +2

    Great video and even better project. I am often more impressed by the ingenuity employed when the resources are restricted than the general results of higher level programming and ability to treat resources as infinite. Impressed would be quite the understatement for my appreciation for what you have achieved with this project. Awesome!

  • @JonMcPhalen
    @JonMcPhalen 4 года назад +1

    I'm not a retro computer guy, but I do like the simplicity of that design. Have a look at the Parallax P2 chip -- for those who enjoy building retro computers, it will make life very nice.

  • @MattSiegel
    @MattSiegel 4 года назад +12

    lol, spectacular!! super output, you really pushed that chip to the limit :D (nice hat tip to thomas at the end too, haha)

  • @benjaminscherrey1124
    @benjaminscherrey1124 4 года назад +8

    Yeah forth!! Looking forward to seeing the details about that. I kinda like the prototype keyboard layout better.

    • @gustinian
      @gustinian 4 года назад +5

      Forth rocks! Youngsters are missing out...

    • @earlpottinger671
      @earlpottinger671 4 года назад +2

      I never programmed in FORTH, but I remember reading up on it and it need very little to get started (small ROM). I had a SuperPet for work and one thing I wished from that time is that other 8-Bit machines came with the option to program in more than one language. On my Commodores it was only BASIC and Machine Language (6502 and 68000) but I wish Forth, Pascal, APL and others came as standard, imagine how much more early programmer would have learnt.

    • @bradscott3165
      @bradscott3165 4 года назад

      @@gustinian To this day I still catch myself saying "Forth" when I'm talking about Python. And I'm a python kinda guy. Forth was the original python.

  • @RogerBarraud
    @RogerBarraud 4 года назад +2

    Nice 1974-style Hi-end case! :-)

  • @pu5epx
    @pu5epx 4 года назад +1

    Nice move, getting rid of space to make room for numbers. Will think about it in my next 40%.

  • @dgstephens
    @dgstephens 4 года назад +2

    What a wonderful project beautifully executed. I would love to see more about this project - especially how you implemented video. Thank you for sharing it with us.

  • @child_of_god_
    @child_of_god_ 3 года назад

    Brings back memories from late 80s
    Man, time just flies

  • @gregclare
    @gregclare 4 года назад +2

    Nice project. It’s probably just me, but for some reason I found it kinda amusing that you’d actually labelled the power indicator LED as “Power Indicator” :)

  • @andrewpalm2103
    @andrewpalm2103 4 года назад +4

    I've done a good bit of Mecrisp Stellaris Forth programing on the STM32 series. Forth is great for micros. Back in the 80's I had a Forth cartridge for a VIC 20, too.

  • @freeelectron8261
    @freeelectron8261 3 года назад

    Pre-VGA 8 bit - I remember them back in the early 80's. Nice job on the little Amethyst retro box!

  • @mheermance
    @mheermance 4 года назад +8

    Neat project. I'm looking forward to learning more about how you generated the graphics. Also, go Forth programming language!

  • @martin-ot
    @martin-ot 4 года назад +2

    So nice compact build, and I really love your design skills. Such a beautiful computer! I really love the design work you have put into it.

  • @anonUK
    @anonUK 4 года назад +1

    Cutting-edge 1981 technology!

  • @ExperimentIV
    @ExperimentIV 4 года назад +1

    ooh, the one with the spacebar but with the other keycaps would be so nice to play around with. very nice work!

  • @prog4925
    @prog4925 2 года назад

    Thanks to the algorithm to recommend me this.

  • @joet2057
    @joet2057 4 года назад +2

    Subscribed! Waiting for it to be connected to the internet!

  • @NilsKullberg
    @NilsKullberg 4 года назад +2

    Extremely nice! Very inspiring! Can't wait to see the next episodes of this series.

  • @eekee6034
    @eekee6034 Год назад

    I love the keyboard... except for the lack of a space bar! XD But no, I could get used to it and love it anyway. :)
    Cool color output trick, especially to get 256 colors! You're much less guilty of false advertising than Atari. ;) They advertised (and demo'd) 256 colors on-screen at once when the hardware was only capable of 128. It also looks like you can use many colors more freely.
    "AMSCII" made me grin!
    10:03 That first cat pic looked really arty in the Amethyst's palette.
    I was too busy reading the game screen to listen. Had to rewind twice! XD
    And Forth; nice! Sweet little machine.

  • @LastofAvari
    @LastofAvari 4 года назад +10

    Matt: I will show you Forth programming language in the next video.
    Also Matt: doesn't upload anything for half a year ;)

  • @2kBofFun
    @2kBofFun 11 месяцев назад

    Nice, when I got my first 1284 it was just my idea to build a computer around it, but watching this is a good start. I had the crazy idea to connect a SAA5050 for image generation.

  • @wizdude
    @wizdude 4 года назад

    I like the keyboard in the prototype much more. Staggered keys and a spacebar in the expected spot. Great video :-)

  • @MisterWillX
    @MisterWillX 3 года назад +1

    This is a beautiful piece of work. Good job!

  • @Pridetoons
    @Pridetoons 4 года назад +1

    I'll be waiting for your next video on the Amethyst.

  • @Manwe_SandS
    @Manwe_SandS 4 года назад +6

    8:30 - demo or die! :) Such a cool machine, even equipped with Forth! Wow. Wanna make demos on it!

  • @3vi1J
    @3vi1J 4 года назад

    Just now stumbled upon this while surfing retro channels. Great project and great design! I must say, I prefer the keyboard on the first prototype unit. Having the keys straight up/down over each other and a space button like the other one would drive me bonkers.

  • @MrMikeHawkey
    @MrMikeHawkey 4 года назад

    I only just stumbled on this. Like many, I'm also playing with the concept of a modern retro computer based around a microcontroller. I'd love to see updates explaining the inards in more detail. Very nice build. Well done.

  • @Gsus__17
    @Gsus__17 4 года назад

    Please continue with the videos on your computer, I like them a lot and they are very promising. They encourage me to continue with my Arduino Due PC. Good luck, greetings from Spain

  • @GeneralVanRyberg
    @GeneralVanRyberg 4 года назад

    Wow, such a cool project! Not only is the concept super nice, but it also looks very, very impressive.

  • @metatechnologist
    @metatechnologist Год назад

    There were/are a couple of other books that were a follow on to the tty typewriter cookbook by Don Lancaster that get into color generation. The Cheap video appeared in 1978. The Apple Il appeared in 1977. Which leads me to think that the idea quite possibly came out of Atari where Wozniak worked iirc. Imo it could have originated from actual color tv circuitry. Sony and RCA had very competent engineers. Reading the technical articles from them is amazing as one realized how brilliant a lot of these guys really were!

  • @TimoBirnschein
    @TimoBirnschein 3 года назад

    We had AVRs for decades and we have seen lots of cool stuff over the years (like UzeBox for example). But this really blows this out of the park. Thank you so much for sharing! Makes me want to make one :)

  • @intel386DX
    @intel386DX 4 года назад +1

    I love the wooden case :)

    • @ivanski28
      @ivanski28 4 года назад

      I like your profile photo 😁

  • @GeorgeGray43
    @GeorgeGray43 4 года назад +1

    Very nice! Love how you packaged it.

  • @KonradZielinski
    @KonradZielinski 3 года назад +1

    I'm imagining a version with three micro controllers, one acting as a graphics chip, one for sound and the third as a cpu.

    • @trentjackson4816
      @trentjackson4816 3 года назад

      Problem with that is getting all three micros to talk to each other fast enough.

  • @bentbilliard
    @bentbilliard 4 года назад +1

    Wow, that is pretty impressive. Well done!

  • @ice2642
    @ice2642 Год назад

    Very impressive! Congratulations.

  • @nosville22
    @nosville22 4 года назад

    the Chyrosran reference at the end
    good stuff

  • @azizyahaya2174
    @azizyahaya2174 Год назад

    nicely done. its surprising how much can be achieved with so little

  • @LewisCampbellTech
    @LewisCampbellTech 2 года назад

    Super cool. Was really curious about the forth stuff!

  • @vitalian1980
    @vitalian1980 2 года назад

    Looks like you have contributed a lot effort into the project. Great work!

  • @kevinof1978
    @kevinof1978 4 года назад +1

    Great project!

  • @meneeraart4714
    @meneeraart4714 4 года назад

    (No picture? O, wel...) Low-tech spacebar add-on: A wooden "hook" suspended by the space-key, and a pivotal foot on the left-most side.
    _
    ______| press anywhere along it's length to pivot (except directly above the pivot-point), and lever down the space-key.
    Should be an easy project for a GlowForge alumnus ;-) I *love* this bare-bones 8-bit. Fantastic educational project.

  • @unebonnevie
    @unebonnevie 4 года назад +1

    This is really good, man! I love the ATMEGA1284! I see that your github id is 74hc595! LOL! That's my favorite logic IC!

    • @trentjackson4816
      @trentjackson4816 3 года назад

      My fav 74HCxxx chip is 74HC945. Problem is that they are like hens teeth to find!

  • @hrnekbezucha
    @hrnekbezucha 4 года назад +1

    Super impressive! I'm really curious about the updates

  • @extantpedant1481
    @extantpedant1481 4 года назад +1

    Beautiful!

  • @RoyAndrews82
    @RoyAndrews82 3 года назад

    Very Cool. I especially liked the colors part.

  • @berndeckenfels
    @berndeckenfels 4 года назад +1

    It's a beautiful piece!

  • @CP200S
    @CP200S 4 года назад

    I love Rick Stout+Harley Hahn's Internet Yellow Pages!

  • @Applecompuser
    @Applecompuser 7 месяцев назад

    Very cool. Makes me miss my 8 bit Atari.

  • @dazealex
    @dazealex 7 месяцев назад

    Amazing! I want one just to have it in my collection.

  • @muxahx3096
    @muxahx3096 2 года назад

    Название прям как советской оборонке. Советские инженеры очень любили подобные названия: рубин, малахит, яхонт.
    п.с. Погугли и узнал П70 Аметист противокарабелтная ракета.

  • @ALPHA-555
    @ALPHA-555 4 года назад +1

    This is a really cool project !

  • @olavl8827
    @olavl8827 4 года назад

    Fantastic project. I'm really curious about the code and schematics. This is going to be inspirational.

    • @BrightBlueJim
      @BrightBlueJim 4 года назад

      Go to the github link - it's all there.

  • @Aeroman66
    @Aeroman66 4 года назад +1

    Such an amazing work! Just loved it.
    I'm currently working on a homebrew too, but using a pic18. It would be nice to exchange some informations
    Congratulatuons again!

  • @MatthewHill
    @MatthewHill 4 года назад +1

    Don't let @Chyrosran22 see that keyboard layout!

  • @angelperez7891
    @angelperez7891 2 года назад

    Good god! Really nice little computer!

  • @BrightBlueJim
    @BrightBlueJim 4 года назад +2

    Unfortunate, about your 6809 project. I'm seeing new projects like Amethyst almost weekly, and they just point out the biggest flaw: Running on a Harvard architecture with the code restricted to FLASH ROM, they - all of them - can only run an interpreted language. This project looks really great, and it looks like you can write the Forth code on it (I'm guessing that, based on the included editor), which is a big plus - it means that once the initial code is loaded, you never really have to connect it to a "real" computer again. I don't know why you stopped development of the 6809 system, but others have said things like, "well, if I wanted [my {Z80 | 6502 | 6809} project] to be a self-contained system, I'd have to include a compiler in it, which is way too big." To those people, I now say, take a look at NAND to Tetris, which goes from designing a CPU from absolute scratch (thus the "NAND"), to being able to compile code for it (running on an emulator) in a JAVA-like compiled language called "Jack". Which can run on the computer itself, which is the "Tetris" end of the chain. www.nand2tetris.org/. What I'm suggesting is that Jack may be a good language to port to ANY small CPU, the compiler for which fits into a very small footprint.
    But again, this looks great, as an 80s style TV game console, and the 40% keyboard, RJ-12 controller jacks, and "NTSC artifact color" all add to its charm.

  • @robfilmer
    @robfilmer 4 года назад +2

    Wood grain is LGR approved

  • @b213videoz
    @b213videoz 4 года назад +1

    I like the perpendicular keys: WSAD would be awesome without fingers slipping

  • @send2murph
    @send2murph 4 года назад

    Exceptional project! Thanks for sharing.

  • @SineN0mine3
    @SineN0mine3 2 года назад

    A beautiful machine, great work!

  • @PauloConstantino167
    @PauloConstantino167 4 года назад +6

    LOL THE eLON MUSK PHOTO.

  • @rivest-oss
    @rivest-oss Год назад +1

    Wow! This is awesome!
    Did you do all this on your own? That's a lot of pretty hard work.
    The computer is beautiful!

  • @shinmai
    @shinmai 3 года назад

    A home computer w/ an ortholinear keeb 💜 (that layout is a bit sketch, though 😅 but I assume that could be hacked into something more comfortable quite easily in software)

  • @Rowsdow3r
    @Rowsdow3r 4 года назад

    I see a thumbnail with an ortho keyboard and I give it a click. Even though I don't think I'd ever actually want to use an ortho keyboard.

  • @michaellosh1851
    @michaellosh1851 4 года назад +1

    Wow, this is really neat and impressive! I'm amazed that you get that much color quality from the artifact signal effect. Cool keyboard too!
    I'm a Forth fan from a long ways back, so I'm especially interested in that aspect of the project, but actually I'm eager to hear more about all parts of this project. I hope you post again soon!
    I've been starting to dabble in making a 16-bit stack processor design in FPGA that could go into a retro-style computer. I have in mind something like "what if Commodore was inspired by Chuck Moore's NOVIX processor (in the same way apple was inspired by the Xerox Alto) before the Amiga came to be?" I haven't gotten very far with it, but beyond the processor, I want the FPGA to also implement video generation. I'm likely to try a variant of VGA, but I really want to see how the color artifact effects are generated in the Amethyst... it seems so elegant.

  • @Jalecko
    @Jalecko 4 года назад

    this just looks so nice

  • @gerrytemple5044
    @gerrytemple5044 3 года назад

    No second part in over a year of Covid-19? I'm really curious to see more mate 👍🏻

  • @sofia.eris.bauhaus
    @sofia.eris.bauhaus 4 года назад

    woah, those scrolling text characters are really trippy 😅.

  • @yorgle
    @yorgle 4 года назад

    This is awesome! Nice work!

  • @AppliedCryogenics
    @AppliedCryogenics Год назад

    This is brilliant. I bet if ported to an ATmega2560, you could use the external memory interface add a sizeable chunk of SRAM. Of course, that would blow the whole through-hole aesthetic in a major way, which is probably a show-stopper. I feel like a cheater using an ATmega644 as a 'sound card' in my 6309 system, but at least it sounds good. Had to use latches to interface it to the bus though, because INT0 interrupt latency is just too high.

  • @TheWinnieston
    @TheWinnieston 3 года назад

    Yeah I'd also buy this as a kit, looks dope

  • @billbaud
    @billbaud 4 года назад

    Woodgrain and tech is always a great combo. 👍

  • @CykPykMyk
    @CykPykMyk Год назад

    Ten projekt jest nieziemsko kozacki.

  • @SteveJones172pilot
    @SteveJones172pilot 4 года назад +2

    Definitely interested to see how the video is generated, and also to see how you implemented that keyboard..

  • @kilianhekhuis
    @kilianhekhuis 4 года назад +4

    Just found this, nice! Given this is a video from 6 month ago, are we going to see some more vids in the near future?

  • @msx80
    @msx80 4 года назад +5

    Isn't that memory a little small? Any plan to improve there?
    Love the look of the computer, awesome combo of wood and unusual color keys!

    • @Ts6451
      @Ts6451 4 года назад +6

      The ATmega1284 comes with 16k of RAM and has no external bus, so added memory would have to be controlled in software, adding the overhead of doing this would probably prevent the use of software generated video.
      There are a few AVRs that can be connected to external memory, but with the timings tight already, more data to manage is probably not that useful.
      For more complex, memory intensive graphics and such, a separate controller and memory for video would probably be a more suitable, though more complex, solution.

    • @beforth
      @beforth 4 года назад +1

      A simple Forth would run happily on any microcontroller over 1k RAM and 8K ROM. Discounting all resources used by the base system it wouldn't surprise me that this has at least 8K RAM and more than 64K flash available in the low graphic modes... that's more than enough to make useful things with Forth.

  • @nick_parker
    @nick_parker 3 года назад

    Well done - very nice!

  • @boelkrug
    @boelkrug 4 года назад

    Hey Matt! I am super-impressed by this build and it is very close to my dream computer. It is amazing and I would really like to have one too. I have seen many different approaches to the feel of 80s computers with all its simply programmability, instant-on features, all fit in the keyboard. Also love the reduced set of keys, as when looking at my 101 key keyboard most of the keys are not used anyways. I am thinking of going a similar approach as you did with mechanical keyboard and all circuitry fit in the keyboard case. What I am currently looking at for using as the main piece is the Teensy 4.1, to have a lot of horsepower, still Arduino compatible though, and have the additional Ethernet PHY and microSD card slot as well as an USB host port. Basically I would replace the ATmega1284 and FT320X with the Teensy 4.1, keep the rest as your build first. Would really like to get in contact and know what your thoughts are on this. I wonder if you can have TinyBasic as one of your startup items. Cheers, Berni

  • @coolduder1001
    @coolduder1001 4 года назад

    This is way better than most "new" computer kits. Will there be an IDE for the computer, like being able to develop on the computer itself?

  • @johnsavard7583
    @johnsavard7583 4 года назад

    The prototype seems to have a better keyboard layout than the second model.

  • @user-ws4nz8fu6z
    @user-ws4nz8fu6z Год назад

    Это очень круто! Прекрасная реализация :)

  • @billkillernic
    @billkillernic 4 года назад

    lack of the spacebar is not the only issue... the keys are also aligned in a normal keyboard e.g Q is not right above A its on an angle above A and so on and so forth.

  • @KennethSorling
    @KennethSorling Год назад

    Very cool! And the casing looks so polished! Are you planning to commercialize this in any way, or is this jus a hobby project?

  • @kelp4312
    @kelp4312 4 года назад

    Hes back bois

  • @rodneyjweltham150
    @rodneyjweltham150 3 года назад

    … somewhere in a drawer I have an original Sinclair 1000 computer. I wonder if at some point you could do a review or a tear apart and rebuild of such a beast…

  • @amnesie6615
    @amnesie6615 4 года назад +1

    WOW! It is possible to make use of the GPIO-Ports via BASIC? This would be great! For example for our lovly blink-sketch :D

  • @luki-fg6qr
    @luki-fg6qr 4 года назад +1

    Wow, awesome