Syd's Twitter publicity stunt brought the VIC-20 back into the limelight briefly, and got me thinking about a different implementation that would bring the IP stack natively onto the VIC.
It would be every bit as Chindogu as Syd's implementation, but arguably more "pure" as all the relevant code would be running on the VIC. It would have a unique set of challenges, but I think it's possible and the pieces are mostly there.
INGREDIENTS
One (1) 64NIC+
One (1) MasC=uerade Cartridge Converter
One (1) IP65 TCP/IP stack for 6502 based computers, modified as below.
METHOD
1. Modify the IP65 source to use the new I/O addresses for the 64NIC+ in the VIC's memory space, and scratch space RAM in a suitable area of the VIC memory.
2. Burn the new IP65 binary to an EPROM suitable for use on the 64NIC+. See NetBoot65 for one possible approach.
3. Write a bare-bones Twitter client. Use Breadbox64 as a basis, though it might be a lot tighter to write it in pure ML. This would be the hardest part.
Optionally, add RAM expansion. Not as palatable, but might be needed to have it all hang together.
4. Connect it all up and serve Tweets.
Thoughts?
Twitter on the VIC, natively?
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Schema
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Twitter on the VIC, natively?
Last edited by Schema on Tue May 25, 2010 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Richard James
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I think it would be better to develop a new Cart for the VIC that has the network layer and down embedded in it. That way you only need to write a program that sends TCP or UDP packets. This could be used for other programs as well as a Twitter client.
Change is inevitable except from a vending machine.
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Schema
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The 64NIC+ with IP65 ROM has exactly this!Richard James wrote:I think it would be better to develop a new Cart for the VIC that has the network layer and down embedded in it. That way you only need to write a program that sends TCP or UDP packets. This could be used for other programs as well as a Twitter client.
Though I have heard of newer chipsets/cards for PCs with some of the network stack onboard too. There's been some talk of using those on the 64, but then you lost compatibility with all the existing RR-Net stuff.