deadmeow Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 If you were going to build an army of robots to take over the world, and you only had access to any 8 bit computers (even TRS80's), which would you use for the individual brains of your robot army, and why? And which computer would you definitely not use and why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Well, such a robot wouldn't really need graphics, so you'd go for the fastest CPU. So, that would possibly be a win for the Atari. The BBC actually runs at 2 MHz, but from memory probably weighs about 3 times what an XL or XE does, and the ones I used only had a piddly 32K RAM, so that'd rule them out. Z-80s tend to run at higher speed, but as has been discussed recently, need near a 2:1 ratio over a 6502 to attain the same throughput. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math You Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I'd use a Commodore 64 so they could use the "destroy him my robots" sound sample from Impossible Mission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I'd use a Commodore 64 so they could use the "destroy him my robots" sound sample from Impossible Mission. Right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Dont know - the 'Intruder Alert' and 'Chicken Fight Like A Robot' are pretty good on the 8bit Berzerk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rje Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Atari 800, because it was built like a tank. The extra shielding would be really useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 If you were going to build an army of robots to take over the world, and you only had access to any 8 bit computers (even TRS80's), which would you use for the individual brains of your robot army, and why? And which computer would you definitely not use and why? A microcontroller would probably be better than a microprocessor. Running code over an external memory bus will make a system much more sensitive to glitches than running everything within a single chip. Some aspects of the 8752 can be a bit of a nuisance, but it's a pretty nice chip in a lot of ways. 8K of ROM and 256 bytes RAM internal; adding more RAM or ROM is pretty easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 which would you use for the individual brains of your robot army, and why? Commodore 64 (can I use the 128 if so, that one). Because I know how to code well on it. A 'kill all humans' routine would be easy for me. And which computer would you definitely not use and why? Apple & Atari. Because I know virtualy nothing about coding on those machines. I've dabbled on th A8, but not enough to make a killer robot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasholzer Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 (edited) double post? Forums fault :-) Edited August 19, 2007 by thomasholzer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasholzer Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 (edited) Apple ][ of course, because it has 8 expansion slots (open design) Z80 no problem, CP/M no problem, quadruple computers speed no problem, plug in a Robot building card no problem. No Commodore 64 or A8 can match that, but I would use those two to do the more mundane work whilst helping the A][. Edited August 19, 2007 by thomasholzer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 I'd probably use 64's because I could potentially find a lot more of them at a good price. Of course, the humans might escape while the program is loading...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSA Starfire Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 I'm a bit of a pacifist so I'd use the Mattel Aquarius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrathchild Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Certainly I'd go for an Atari 8-bit so the robots could be tested out against "Shamus"! For the machine not to use... probably not a ZX81, one nudge and bang goes their 16K of RAM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchysuperman Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 C64s. SuperCPU & RAMLink that puppy, and all the other robots would bow their heads in shame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redb3ard Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 The Apple II ? It couldn't take over the world its first try, what makes you think it'd do better the second time around? As for Ataris and Commodores both, all we'd need to do is find a Tramiel somewhere, and he could decimate your entire war machine. And TRS-80? Sure, they'd have all kinds of kickass battle robots in the catalogs, but management never realized that they needed to write software for the things, and no one ever bothered to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Rogue Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 The Apple II ? It couldn't take over the world its first try, what makes you think it'd do better the second time around? Hey, the Xanadu homes used to have the entire premises monitored by Apple II+'s. I think they can handle taking over you as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fröhn Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 I'd go for a Commodore PET. With it's bullet-proof case it's already half of a world-domination robot. Just add arms and legs, and it can start taking the world over without anyone being able to stop it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I would use C64s, Apples and TRS80s for the Robot Army and have the Central Brain, or robot army control center, driven by a cluster of networked Atari 130XE computers. Then, (1) start to take over the world, (2) once the world starts to see that the plan/army is working, sell the Army and Brain infrastructure to the opposing sides, and finally (3) once all opposing forces have faught and decimated all armies, we would have effectly destroyed all C64s, Apples and TRS-80s leaving us with hugh clusters of Atari Computers! Then, it begs the question: 'What we goin' to do today, Brain?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VW Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 This is just a hypothetical question right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 (edited) I wouldn't chose a 6502 machine... sorry. For my 1st choice I'd use the Tandy CoCo. The 6809 was used by NASA for the computers on the first space shuttles and OS-9 was commonly used for robotics applications. Actually, I'd prefer a CoCo with a 6309 since it's faster than the 6809. Standard CoCo's are also inexpensive. My 2nd choice would have to be the fastest Z80 based machine I could find since it is better supported by C compilers than the 6502 and is commonly used in a *lot* of embedded systems. The fastest "Z80" based machine was actually an MSX machine, the Turbo R but it is so rare you couldn't make much of a robot army with it... an elite robot death squad maybe. If we were strictly talking about a CPU used at that time or a derivative it would be some sort of Z80 decedent like the ez80, Rabbit or possibly a Z80 compatible FPGA core... one of which has been run at several hundred MHz when used in a custom ASIC. If we are talking about an ASIC, the free 6809 compatible FPGA core is around 15% faster than the 6809 at the same MHz and with some tweaking could probably reach the same MHz as the Z80 one in a custom ASIC and should be more efficient code wise than a Z80. However... if a gun were held to my head and I had to pick a 6502 machine to run a robot my first choice would be the Plus/4. Atari fast clock speed, dirt cheap to buy, plenty of ROM space if you use it's paging capability and why does a robot need sprites or sounds beyond what the TED chip can handle? 2nd choice would be the Apple since there were versions with 4MHz 65c02 CPUs, 3.5" drives and 1+MB RAM upgrades. Also, I believe the IIgs had 65816 CPUs long before any of the other machines. IDE/Compact flash drive interfaces have also been around for some time as well. Edited August 26, 2007 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenDayRlz Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 I`d do a trs-80. There very qwick. On commodore it takes 4 minutes to load a simple prog. 1 Min MAX on a coco trs-80. thats why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 (edited) I`d do a trs-80. There very qwick.On commodore it takes 4 minutes to load a simple prog. 1 Min MAX on a coco trs-80. thats why. Actually, if you are building a robot you probably won't use a floppy disk drive. Your software will probably be all in ROM or on a FLASH drive. You need a real time OS to do the job right. You would also need a system bus connector (card slot) for adding new hardware interfaces to control the robot. Built in ports for different things certainly wouldn't hurt. The CoCo fairs well on all points. Buss connector with full address and data lines provided OS-9 boot ROMs are available making the OS part easy A standard IDE design with OS-9 drivers (perfect for Compact Flash) D/A and A/D converters built in (could be handy) serial port... not a bad combination. Edited August 26, 2007 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 On commodore it takes 4 minutes to load a simple prog. Oh please. There were some insanely quick fast loaders, both hardware & software for the Commodores. One of the best was a tiny public domain software wedge that could load 200k in about 3 seconds. And lets not forget the C128's fast serial when using a 1571 or 1581. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 (edited) On commodore it takes 4 minutes to load a simple prog. Oh please. There were some insanely quick fast loaders, both hardware & software for the Commodores. One of the best was a tiny public domain software wedge that could load 200k in about 3 seconds. And lets not forget the C128's fast serial when using a 1571 or 1581. I have to agree that the C64 wasn't as slow for most people due to fast loaders. There's also a minor hardware mod and free patch to use the high speed mode of the 1571 and 1581 with the C64. However, it's still not as fast as a parallel drive interface. But like I said... some sort of FLASH drive/ROM combination is the most likely way to do this. <edit> BTW, 200K in 3 seconds? I don't think so. Thats more than an old floppy disk holds. Seek times alone would make that impossible. 200K in 3 sec = 1024 x 200 x 8 bits / 3 sec or 546,133 bits / sec. 20K (about 1/3 an 8 bit's memory capacity) would certainly be possible if the CPU is fast enough. Edited August 26, 2007 by JamesD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 However, it's still not as fast as a parallel drive interface. I've found it kinda funny that the drives have gone back to serial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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