Introduction

Sixty/5o2 is a minimal bootloader / micro kernel / mini operating system (if you like) for Ben Eaters 6502 Computer on a breadboard. It is only 1.5kB in size (assembled) but comes with quite a nice list of features:

1. Load externally assembled programs into RAM via serial connection to Arduino
2. Run programs that were previously loaded into RAM
3. Load & Run programs in one go
4. Debug the full address space via an integrated hex monitor (currently read only)
5. Clean RAM for use with non-volatile RAM or during development
6. Drive the LCD display even at a clock rate of 1MHz flawlessly
7. Drive the mini keyboard for input
8. Video RAM based output routines for convenient text display single page / multipage w/ offset
9. Interrupt based loading routine to fetch data via the Arduino's serial connection
10. Serial Sender (node.js) allowes to upload programs to the 6502 (error mitigation included)
11. Fully documented source code

Motivation

Ben Eaters 6502 breadboard computer is a very special kind of animal and brought lots of fun and joy into my last weeks. A 45 years old processor design that is still able to get things done was fascinating enough for me, to give this project a go - especially, since my first machine was a Commodore C64 which I programmed in Basic at the end of the 80'ies and never had the chance to get in touch with 6502 assembly.

On my journey during the last weeks I soon surpassed the current state of development (thanks to Ben's schematics) and was able to write a few programs which I ended up burning onto the ROM using the programmer. Soon enough this became painful, because every codechange required to extract the ROM chip from the breadboard, put it into the programmer, burn it, put it back onto the board. This became time consuming and constraining pretty quickly, especially when I attempted to write slightly more complex programs.

So early on I tested, whether I could use the Arduino, connect 8 of it's digital output pins to the VIA 6522 and transfer key strokes on my Mac serially and render them onto the LCD display. As soon as this worked, the path was clear:

I needed a bootloader that could leverage this power to load externally assembled object code / programs into the RAM and run it from there.

Luckily I was able to speed up the 6502's clock by just replacing the capacitor of the unstable 555 timer circuit by a smaller one such, that loading data serially was - lets say - at least stable enough. That paved the way to more complex subroutines which now make up my "Sixty/5o2" micro bootloader / micro kernel. It works very well with full clock speed of 1MHz and is hopefully helpful to other 6502 enthusiasts as well.

Especially the serial data transfer is enormously stable, since error mitigation (not correction) is baked into a minimalistic protocol, where there the sender side is implemented in node.js. Unfortunately I was not able to get a stable serial connection with serial terminals like screen, minicom or picocom. Hence I decided to build something myself. On the positive side of things I had the opportunity to integrate content transform using base64 encoding as well as simple error mitigation via a checksum algorithm plus a "send packet again" function.

It's not perfect, in places not even nice. Last time I personally touched assembler was 20+ years ago, so please be gentle with criticism. PR's are king.

If you want to get a glimpse, check out the demo video on Youtube:

Hardware Requirements

There are only two requirements, both of them can be mitigated though:

1. Use the 1MHz clock (you MUST disconnect the clock module, otherwise it interferes)
2. Some people (including me initially) built the mini keyboard such, that the buttons are tied low in normal state, when pushed they get tied high. This is opposite to Ben's design in his schematics. I updated my setup according to the schematics, and the default behaviour is now, that the buttons are tied high and only when pushed, they get pulled low.

Possible Mitigation Strategies

1. If you want to run at other clock speeds, you MUST adjust a global constant called WAIT_C in the bootloader code. It's a multiplier which is used to sleep and just burns a number of cycles in a routine called LIB__sleep. If you run at lower clock speeds, adjust WAIT_C to a smaller number until keyboard and main menu become usable.

2. Should your keyboard not be built according to the schematics (so the buttons are normally tied low and when pressed turn high), then you need to adjust the routine VIA__read_keyboard_input. Simply comment out line 555 in bootloader.asm. This will disable the XOR of the read value with 0xf. This way the keystrokes will be interpreted correctly.

Software Requirements

The following software components are must have's:

• Arduino IDE to be found here
• Minipro or XG GUI software for Windows for thr TL866 programmer available here
• The infamous and awesome VASM Assembler to build for the 6502 (Ben's instructions to build and use to be found here)
• Node.js 8+ to be able to use the serial program loading functionality via the Arduino
• npm or yarn (typically come with node.js) to install the senders dependencies

Installation

The project comes with a number of files, whose functionality is the following:

1. bootloader.asm - the bootloader / micro kernel / mini os you wanna put into your ROM after assembly
2. Receiver.ino - Arduino source which turns the Arduino into a serial receiver / parallel converter
3. Sender.js - Node.js tool to read 6502 object code / programs and upload them to the 6502 via serial connection
4. .sender_config.json - config file for Sender.js (update your /dev/cu.whateverhere)
5. package.json - package dependencies for Sender.js
6. /examples - some example programs you can load into the RAM

1. Bootloader

Assemble the bootloader:

vasm -Fbin -dotdir -o bootloader.out bootloader.asm

Burn it onto the EEPROM using your TL866 programmer in conjunction with minipro (Linux, Mac) or the respective Windows GUI tool provided by XG (see above).

At this point you can install your ROM chip onto the board and celebrate. You will not remove it from it's breadboardy socket for a while. If your 1MHz clock, RAM, keyboard and LCD are assembled already, you can switch on your 6502 computer and enjoy the main menu of Sixty/5o2. If the assembly is not done yet, go read Ben's schematics and finish your hardware build.

2. Receiver (Arduino)

• Load Receiver.ino into your Arduino IDE.
• Open the IDE's package library and search and install the Base64 package by Arturo Guadalupi v0.0.1 also to be found here
• Compile the source
• Upload the program to your Arduino

3. Sender (node.js)

• Install the necessary npm packages via:

npm install

or

yarn

• Adjust the tty setting in .sender_config.json to match the device file which represents your connected Arduino
• DO NOT adjust any other value in there, as it will render the serial link unstable (more on that later)

Usage

Arduino Port Setup

Before you can upload a program to the 6502 through the Arduino, you need to setup additional jumper wires between the Arduino and the VIA 6522 AS WELL as the 6502 processor.

• You need 8 jumper wires connecting the digital output ports of the Arduino with the PORTB of the VIA 6522 (See table 1 below)
• You need 1 jumper wire connecting one digital output port of the Arduino with the IRQ line of the 6502 (See table 2 below)
• You need 1 jumper wire connecting one of the GND pins of the Arduino with common ground of your 6502 breadboard

Table 1: Port Setup VIA 6522

If unsure, look up the pin setup of the VIA in the official documentation.

Table 2: Port Setup 6502

The pin setup of the 6502 can be found here.

Important: Make sure, you still have the IRQB pin (PIN 4) of the 6502 tied high via a 1k Ohm resistor as per the design. The jumper cable to pin 53 of the Arduino just pulls the pin low in short pulses. The line needs to be normal high.

Note: Just one additional wire from the Arduinos power source to the 6502 board will free you of the need of any external power source. Just power your beast via USB and get rid of the power cord.

Uploading a Program

You can now write a program in 6502 assembly language like for example the /examples/hello_world.asm and assemble it like so:

vasm -Fbin -dotdir -o /examples/hello_world.out /examples/hello_world.asm

Important: Since your programs now target RAM instead of ROM your program needs to have a different entry vector specified:

    .org $0200

More on why $0200 later on.

To upload and run your gem onto your 6502, first start up the machine, and reset it. Using the keyboard navigate to Load using the UP and DOWN keys in the main menu. To start the uploading process hit the RIGHT key which acts as Enter in most cases.

Now you can upload your program using the Sender.js CLI tool like so:

node Sender.js /examples/hello_world.out

The upload process will inform you, when it's done. The 6502 automatically switches back into the main menu after the upload finished.

Should you encounter any errors during upload, check the tty setting in .sender_config.json and adjust it to your Arduinos device port. In addition you can lower the transfer speed to values to 4800, 2400 or 1200 baud. Don't use values above 9600 baud, they won't work.

Navigate to the menu entry Run and hit the RIGHT key to run your program.

Go celebrate! You're just running your first uploaded program directly from RAM.

Note: You can also use Load & Run to streamline the process during debugging.

Also note: Resetting your 6502 DOES NOT erase the RAM. So you can reset any time, and still Run your program afterwards.

And note: The Sender.js accepts two commandline parameters. If you want, you can also specify your Arduino port manually, whithout having to hardwire it in the .sender_config.json like so:

node Sender.js /examples/hello_world.out /dev/path_to_arduino_port

Link against routines in ROM

This feature was added by David Latham. Big thank you! Since RAM is a scarse ressource and we do not use much of the ROM, you have the option to built and test routines in RAM first, and burn them into the ROM afterwards. This way you can build your very personal library of functions and extend the existing library of Sixty5o2.

In order to do so, you have to rebuild the bootloader.asm as follows:

vasm -Fbin -dotdir -L bootloader.lst bootloader.asm -o bootloader.out

This generates the symbol list bootloader.lst with the hexadecimal addresses for all routines and labels. If you scroll down to the bottom, you will find the addresses of every routine, that Sixty5o2 provides. Now you can use these addresses in a new program, that you assemble and upload to RAM.

Take a look at the example using_rom_lib.asm that David added to the examples folder.

Using the Monitor

The hex monitor is very useful during development and debugging. It lets you inspect the whole address space, RAM and ROM. you can navigate using the UP and DOWN keys. The RIGHT key performs a bigger jump in time and space and the LEFT key returns you to the main menu. The monitor is currently read only and the keyboard debouncing is far from being good. But it works.

Important to know - Allocated Ressources

1. $0200

I choose $0200 as entry vector for user land programs. Why you ask? Two reasons:

1. The adresses from $0000 up to $00ff are the so called zero page addresses, which allow 8 bit addressing and faster processing. Use them wisely, don't waste them, don't put program code in here.
2. The adresses from $0100 up to $01ff are used by the 6502 as stack. You better don't mess with it, because not only does it hold values after any stack push operation (like pha), but the 6502 also stores return addresses here, when performing a jump to subroutine / return from subroutine (jsr/rts).

Therefore RAM is usable in a meaningful fashion from $0200 upwards only.

Note: Due to Ben's (IMO clever) design choice RAM ends already at $3fff, which leaves you with close to 16kByte of RAM for your programs. Should you hit that wall, there's always the option to outsource routines as "standard library", put them onto the ROM and link them from your programs via the VASM linker.

2. Used Zero Page Locations

The bootloader needs to use some Zero Page locations: $00 - $03. Expect trouble if you overwrite / use them from within your own programs.

3. Used RAM

The bootloader also occupies some RAM. Most part is used as VideoRam to talk to the LCD (consult the source). [In contrast to C64 design there is no interrupt driven scanline routine that updates the LCD automatically from the VideoRam contents yet. A feature to come.] Another few RAM cells are used by the bootloader itself.

However, don't use RAM from $3fda upto $3fff. Expect problems if you do so.

4. Interrupt Service Routine - ISR

The Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) implemented at the end of available ROM realizes the serial loading. The way it works is quite simple. As soon as the Arduino set up all 8 bit of a byte at the data ports, it pulls the interrupt pin of the 6502 low for 30 microseconds. This triggers the 6502 to halt the current program, put all registers onto the stack and execute any routine who's starting address can be found in the Interrupt Vector Address ($fffe-$ffff) - the ISR. This routine reads the byte, writes it into the RAM, increases the address pointer for the next byte to come and informs the main program that data is still flowing. Consult the source for further details, it's quite straight forward.

Shortcomings

• The loader is slow. Quite slow. Even though 9600 baud as choosen transfer speed is not too bad, there are some significant idle timeouts implemented, to make the data transfer work reliably. You'll find it in Receiver.ino, the Sender.js does not have any timeouts left other than the necessary but unproblematic connection timeout once at the beginning. The worst is the timeout which allows to reliably read the UART buffer of the Arduino. When reduced, the whole data transfer becomes unreliable. Happy to accept PR's with improvement here. On the other hands, it's not that we transfer Gigabytes of data here ... not even Megabytes, so the current speed might suffice.

Known Problems

Despite the fact that the bootloader and all of it's components are quite stable, there are some problems, which are to be found via a #TODO in the source.

Worth mentioning are the following:

• sub par keyboard debouncing simply via burning CPU cycles
• LIB__sleep based EOF detection during data transfer - if more than a few packages fail to transfer and need to be repeated by the sender, it might happen, that the BOOTLOADER__program_ram routine interprets this as EOF, since no data is coming in no more. This problem can not be "easily" solved, since there are no control characters that can be transferred between the Arduino and the 6522. There are solutions, but first there needs to be a problem.
• sub optimal register preservation - the (reduced) 6502 instruction set makes it hard to preserve all registers w/o wasting RAM locations. The current implementation does put focus on register preservation only where explicitly needed.
• the ISR is currently static, so it can handle only interrupt requests which come from the Arduino. If you want to use other interrupts of the 6522 or software interrupts, you need to implement a priorization mechanism as well as a branching in the ISR, since (to my knowledge) there is only one interrupt vector, the 6502 can handle.

Future Plans

• make Hex Monitor read / write
• integrate Arduino Nano directly onto the board to replace all jumper wiring and power the board via USB
• develop a standard library with useful functionality in ROM
• (potentially) integrate a light color / bitmap display like for example the Adafruit 0.96" 160x80 Color TFT Display
• implement a 3d engine using vector rotation and scalar multiplication (or quaternions)

Pull Requests

If you would like to see any particular feature I might be able to provide it ... some day. Unfortunately my spare time is very limited, so you rather develop it yourself. I am happy to screen, test and merge any valuable PR.

Support

My friend and founding partner Bastian and I decided, it's time to bring all the joy and fun that come with 8bit projects to a much broader audience. I quit a well paying contract and we both ditched a number of projects, to be able to focus on 8bit related content solely.

We are currently working on a number of screencasts covering topics like:

• The worlds worst transistor clock implemented in Logisim
• An 8bit computer implementation from scratch - in Logisim
• Architecture updates to the 8bit machine for 64kb of RAM, more registers and instructions
• A Ruby based assembler for homebrew 8bit projects in just a few lines of code

... and we have numerous ideas for other, fresh content to come.

If you actually want to support us, it would mean the world to us, if you joined our newsletter. 8bitnews.io is the first real 8bit newsletter out there. On a regular basis we handcraft the latest 8bit news, learning resources and the best YouTube videos into an email, and deliver it to your inbox, when you have the time for tinkering. It's well selected and curated, and we personally guarantee, there will be no spam.

By the way, there is no catch here, you can unsubscribe with a single click. Anytime. We won't be mad at you.

Contact

I personally really enjoy talking to likeminded people. So if you want to share your thoughts regarding this project, other 8bit topics, our newsletter or our screencasts, feel free to drop me some lines via Email any time.

Credits

• Ben Eater
• Steven Wozniak
• Anke L.
• Tim Miller (special thx)
• P.A. Bäckström
• Wilgert Velinga
• Ed Gleys
• Jonathan Shockley