I am really interested in this machine. Anything that sheds more light on the F256K is a must watch for me. I am slowly saving up money to get one, just going to take me some time. I would love to teach my daughter BASIC through this machine. We've been doing BASIC on my 130XE, but a machine with more functionality will allow for more experience and knowledge growth for them. Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you for the comment. If you haven't done so, you should check out the Discord as there is alot of conversation, including on the SuperBASIC channel. The IDE/emulator is also a good choice as it's zero-cost, mostly compatible, and improving all the time. Final thing to share, which may be obvious, is the power of the FPGA (Vicky) and improved clock speed (6.29) over the original 8-bit era machines (1 or 2 Mhz.) affords the opportunity to write code in BASIC using graphic features and have them be completely usable versus barely tolerable.
I use real hardware exclusively but any method or set of off-host tools should apply to the emulator as well. I know many Foenix devs that do it all on their Windows platform. I do have some video shot on how to setup and use the 64TASS assembler with GNU Make for the F256 platform; hope to get around to publishing it soon. If you want emulator info, hop over to the Foenix Discord server; I'll double check that the link is in the description of this video now.
I had a C256 and was disappointed in it. The BASIC was broken and not finished, the kernel was also not finished. In effect the machine was almost unusable for someone like me who just wants to use BASIC and ASM (with kernel calls etc...). This looks to be more complete of a system with a complete basic and a working kernel. I think I might go ahead and purchase one .
I own a C256U+ and had a keyboard/interrupt issue with mine that was fixed with newer FPGA code. BASIC816 on that platform certainly had limitations, but it worked well enough for me for the small projects I did, mostly for tutorials and amusement. This (F256 w/SuperBASIC) is a completely different animal in every regard. I'm just getting started myself but am impressed and passing along what I'm learning as I go. Thank you for the comment.
@@paulscottrobson I've got a couple of questions.. What was the reason to switch from the 65816 to the 65c02 for the F256 & jr? Presumably, if the 65816 option is fitted, it will still run mostly on 6502 mode? Did you also write the MegaBasic for the Mega65? - the code looks nice & clean Is the kernel of the F256 basically the same as the C256 kernel? and lastly... stm32discovery user name? Is that your day job? ;)
@@samurai1999 it always was a 6502 machine. The 65816 and 6809 options came later. I don’t know what code there is for the 65816. I didn’t write M65 Basic. The kernels are completely different. I have no idea why stm32discovery !
@@paulscottrobson Yes, but the previous Foenix 8-bit computers (C256 etc) were all 65816-based, so it would have been nice to keep the 65816 in the F256 range too... - but, I guess that's coming later, as you say.. which is good!
Not that I'm aware of. I believe the author (Paul) would have given credit, if that were the case. As you probably know, there have been a few named "Super" Basic's across the years including one by Commodore. Paul cites his early influences of the BBC Micro which he acquired at a very young age (he's from England), and in conversations with him and reading some of his other work, is influenced by modern languages. QL appears to have much more within, namely SIN and trig functions, more screen utility, the modern turtle graphic directives, and "renumber", the latter of which, Paul is vehemently against : ), but the two share the auto-indent and some procedural directives. Let me know if you find other.
It's a 3 1/2" floppy drive, the FNX1591 (another Foenix Product). It is Commodore 1581 compatible and can be used with any Commodore system that has an IEC bus (C16, C64, C128, VIC 20, etc. or the Foenix F256 systems). It's also due to work with the Commander X16 (which should be released later this year). Here is a brief video that mentions it: ua-cam.com/video/SXjVMHv6jE8/v-deo.html I'll probably do a deep dive video once I receive my production unit (this is a prototype that I used for demo at the VCF East show). Thank you for the question.
The problem with this platform is that it just can't decide what it wants to be ... no one's going to develop software for a system which comes in all manner of incompatible configurations. Pick a CPU and stick with it. Other than that, this is a beautiful machine.
No argument that by rapidly iterating her design, Stefany tends to leave some owners in the dust. But this is no different than the way the VIC-20 was replaced by the C64 to be replaced by the C128, etc. (She has been at it for ~5 years as well). Back in the 80s, none of the machines could run the same code and had features which were not backward compatible. From a CPU perspective, however, you are correct except that the 65816 boots into 65C02 mode by default so for those intimidated by the 24 bit addressing and the complexities, there is hope. The bigger issue, which is undeniable, is there are only a few dozen serious developers working on utilities, games, and amusements and with that, it's near impossible to build a groundswell of interest before people wander away. Even the Commander X16, which has sold > 1,100 units to date, has a similarly relative small percentage sticking with he platform. It's all what you want from it and let's face it, we're not kids anymore and many of us can easily buy the next 'cool' thing, and do. It is beautiful and well designed. If you've not been there, have a look at the discord forum and you'll see plenty of activity on dev projects. Thank you for the comment.
![[F256K] How To: Case Opening and Tear Down](/img/n.gif)
I am really interested in this machine. Anything that sheds more light on the F256K is a must watch for me. I am slowly saving up money to get one, just going to take me some time. I would love to teach my daughter BASIC through this machine. We've been doing BASIC on my 130XE, but a machine with more functionality will allow for more experience and knowledge growth for them. Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you for the comment. If you haven't done so, you should check out the Discord as there is alot of conversation, including on the SuperBASIC channel. The IDE/emulator is also a good choice as it's zero-cost, mostly compatible, and improving all the time. Final thing to share, which may be obvious, is the power of the FPGA (Vicky) and improved clock speed (6.29) over the original 8-bit era machines (1 or 2 Mhz.) affords the opportunity to write code in BASIC using graphic features and have them be completely usable versus barely tolerable.
awesome that you can show more about the f256, i don't have one yet but considering it if it runs superbasic well.
Can you do a series on how to program for the F256 using the emulator and C or Assembly language?
I use real hardware exclusively but any method or set of off-host tools should apply to the emulator as well. I know many Foenix devs that do it all on their Windows platform. I do have some video shot on how to setup and use the 64TASS assembler with GNU Make for the F256 platform; hope to get around to publishing it soon. If you want emulator info, hop over to the Foenix Discord server; I'll double check that the link is in the description of this video now.
I had a C256 and was disappointed in it. The BASIC was broken and not finished, the kernel was also not finished. In effect the machine was almost unusable for someone like me who just wants to use BASIC and ASM (with kernel calls etc...). This looks to be more complete of a system with a complete basic and a working kernel.
I think I might go ahead and purchase one .
I own a C256U+ and had a keyboard/interrupt issue with mine that was fixed with newer FPGA code. BASIC816 on that platform certainly had limitations, but it worked well enough for me for the small projects I did, mostly for tutorials and amusement. This (F256 w/SuperBASIC) is a completely different animal in every regard. I'm just getting started myself but am impressed and passing along what I'm learning as I go. Thank you for the comment.
If you have any specific questions about it , please ask (I wrote it)
@@paulscottrobson I've got a couple of questions..
What was the reason to switch from the 65816 to the 65c02 for the F256 & jr?
Presumably, if the 65816 option is fitted, it will still run mostly on 6502 mode?
Did you also write the MegaBasic for the Mega65? - the code looks nice & clean
Is the kernel of the F256 basically the same as the C256 kernel?
and lastly... stm32discovery user name? Is that your day job? ;)
@@samurai1999 it always was a 6502 machine. The 65816 and 6809 options came later. I don’t know what code there is for the 65816. I didn’t write M65 Basic. The kernels are completely different. I have no idea why stm32discovery !
@@paulscottrobson Yes, but the previous Foenix 8-bit computers (C256 etc) were all 65816-based, so it would have been nice to keep the 65816 in the F256 range too...
- but, I guess that's coming later, as you say.. which is good!
in this video, I learned that I suddenly had a need to print out the pdf and spiral bind it.
In this video, I learned that I suddenly had a need to stop procrastinating and get one of these machines. 😉
So, this isn't a port of the QL's SuperBASIC?
Not that I'm aware of. I believe the author (Paul) would have given credit, if that were the case. As you probably know, there have been a few named "Super" Basic's across the years including one by Commodore. Paul cites his early influences of the BBC Micro which he acquired at a very young age (he's from England), and in conversations with him and reading some of his other work, is influenced by modern languages.
QL appears to have much more within, namely SIN and trig functions, more screen utility, the modern turtle graphic directives, and "renumber", the latter of which, Paul is vehemently against : ), but the two share the auto-indent and some procedural directives. Let me know if you find other.
what is the purpose of the device to the right of the mouse?
It's a 3 1/2" floppy drive, the FNX1591 (another Foenix Product). It is Commodore 1581 compatible and can be used with any Commodore system that has an IEC bus (C16, C64, C128, VIC 20, etc. or the Foenix F256 systems). It's also due to work with the Commander X16 (which should be released later this year). Here is a brief video that mentions it: ua-cam.com/video/SXjVMHv6jE8/v-deo.html
I'll probably do a deep dive video once I receive my production unit (this is a prototype that I used for demo at the VCF East show). Thank you for the question.
The problem with this platform is that it just can't decide what it wants to be ... no one's going to develop software for a system which comes in all manner of incompatible configurations. Pick a CPU and stick with it. Other than that, this is a beautiful machine.
No argument that by rapidly iterating her design, Stefany tends to leave some owners in the dust. But this is no different than the way the VIC-20 was replaced by the C64 to be replaced by the C128, etc. (She has been at it for ~5 years as well). Back in the 80s, none of the machines could run the same code and had features which were not backward compatible. From a CPU perspective, however, you are correct except that the 65816 boots into 65C02 mode by default so for those intimidated by the 24 bit addressing and the complexities, there is hope.
The bigger issue, which is undeniable, is there are only a few dozen serious developers working on utilities, games, and amusements and with that, it's near impossible to build a groundswell of interest before people wander away. Even the Commander X16, which has sold > 1,100 units to date, has a similarly relative small percentage sticking with he platform. It's all what you want from it and let's face it, we're not kids anymore and many of us can easily buy the next 'cool' thing, and do. It is beautiful and well designed. If you've not been there, have a look at the discord forum and you'll see plenty of activity on dev projects. Thank you for the comment.