My Ruby projects are a series of experiments and SBC (Single Board Computers) systems using technology from the mid 1970’s through the mid 1980’s that I’ve designed and built. They are all based on the 6502 family of CPUs.

• Details of the Ruby 6502 project can be found here
• Details of the Ruby ‘816 (65c816) project can be found here

 

History

For me, the 6502 processor is something of an icon. It was one of the first processors I used to write programs on and the first one I experienced assembly language programming with.

That experience started in 1978, so 2018 marked my 40th, or Ruby anniversary of my involvement with computers and specifically the 6502.

The first computer I used was an HP9830A which ran BASIC and was wheeled round the schools at the time in Edinburgh, the 2nd computer? well – it was something at the end of an acoustic 110 baud modem connected to a Teletype model 33. (It was an Interdata 7/32 and possibly more on that later)

The Apple II

After that – the Apple II…

…and the Apple II had a 6502 inside it. Better than that, I could take the lid off and see it!

Over the next few years I used Apple IIs at school and university then BBC Micros (another 6502 system), I designed and built my own 6502 based systems for use in industrial control systems and have generally stayed in the 6502 “camp” over the years (Back then, there was the great 6502 vs Z80 wars – well maybe some active discussions, much like Vi vs Emacs today. I use Vi/Vim, not that it matters)

And so now, a four decades later I’ve decided to rekindle my interest in the 6502 and build my own little 6502 system. It’s naturally called the Ruby 6502 and this page will act as a holding page for my blog entries keeping them all linked together.

Apologies if you came here looking for the Ruby programming language on the 6502. That’s really something completely different…