🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990Aug22.155612.8673@santra.uucp> gs...@niksula.hut.fi writes:
>Now, I would like to know more about the history of this language.
>Did it originate at RCA, and was it also used in the ELF and VIP?

I worked with the ELF for a while and don't recall an interpreter
for CHIP-8 being available. There was a BASIC interpreter though.

--
Hugh Fader
hu...@slee01.srl.ford.com

Hi Andreas,

>These computers all used (among others) a programming language called
>CHIP-8.  This is a small, interpreted language designed specifically 
>?for writing video games on 1802-based computers.  It has less than 40
>instructions, including arithmetic, control flow, graphics, and sound.
>The instructions are all 16 bits long and are executed by a very
>compact (512 bytes) virtual machine interpreter.  A simple Pong-style
>game can usually be written in about 256 bytes of CHIP-8 and would
>usually be written directly in hexadecimal.
>
>Now, I would like to know more about the history of this language.
>Did it originate at RCA, and was it also used in the ELF and VIP?
>Does anyone have programs written in CHIP-8 that could be posted to the
>net?

I don't have any of the s/ware now but I used CHIP-8 about 1980 on a
DREAM (don't ask me what that stood for).  It used a motorola 6802
processor and used cheap video. ie. the processor was used in
generating the video signal so that the machine went faster if you
turned off the display.  I built it from an Australian kit.

The magazine that published the design "Electronics Australia"
printed several games for the machine and an alarm clock.  Some
contained machine code but if you have access to 10 year old copies
of the magazine I am sure there would be something interesting there.

This may not be helpful but I had to reply when I saw somebody
mention CHIP-8.  Happy memories.



-- 
Tony Bishop				Computer Centre
A.G.B...@massey.ac.nz			Massey University
					Palmerston North, N.Z.

In article <9...@massey.ac.nz> ABi...@massey.ac.nz (A.G. Bishop) writes:
>Hi Andreas,
>
>>These computers all used (among others) a programming language called
>>CHIP-8.  This is a small, interpreted language designed specifically
>>?for writing video games on 1802-based computers.

I'm pretty sure the CHIP-8 interpreter was marketed by RCA with their
VIP personal computer.  It was indeed a kind of simplified machine code,
but the instruction set had a strong resemblence to 1802 machine language.
The VIP was significantly different from the other 1802 computers
of its day.  I think it had a fairly sophisticated ROM monitor.
I never heard of CHIP-8 being ported to any Elf or any other kind of CPU.

>I don't have any of the s/ware now but I used CHIP-8 about 1980 on a
>DREAM (don't ask me what that stood for).  It used a motorola 6802
>processor and used cheap video.                               ^^^^

Are you sure this wasn't an 1802?  RCA had a companion chip, the 1861,
which could do bitmapped graphics with the processor's main memory.  It
would interrupt the 1802 for each frame and DMA the bits out of its
memory and right onto the screen.  It used about half of the CPU's
cycles, but the circuitry cost less than $20.  Cramming the video
interrupt routine, a game, and the 128-byte screen bitmap into a
256-byte Elf was a character-building experience.

    -- Larry

In <1990Aug29.0...@icad.com> l...@icad.com (Larry Stone) writes:

>I never heard of CHIP-8 being ported to any Elf or any other kind of CPU.

>>I don't have any of the s/ware now but I used CHIP-8 about 1980 on a
>>DREAM (don't ask me what that stood for).  It used a motorola 6802
>>processor and used cheap video.                               ^^^^

>Are you sure this wasn't an 1802? 

The original DREAM used a 6800, but when the 6800 clock-oscillator chip was in
short supply lots of people made a 6802 version. In fact I made one myself.
And yes, it definitely ran CHIP-8.

						-|-   Zik   -|-

In article <9...@massey.ac.nz> ABi...@massey.ac.nz (A.G. Bishop) writes:
=> >Now, I would like to know more about the history of this language.
=> >Did it originate at RCA, and was it also used in the ELF and VIP?
=> >Does anyone have programs written in CHIP-8 that could be posted to the
=> >net?
=> 
=> I don't have any of the s/ware now but I used CHIP-8 about 1980 on a
=> DREAM (don't ask me what that stood for).  It used a motorola 6802
=> processor and used cheap video. ie. the processor was used in

	Hopefully this isn't redundant by now, but a CHIP-8 interpreter
for the HP 48sx calculator was recently posted to comp.sys.handhelds.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
whelan@  (uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu || uhccux.BITNET || nextsrv.wslab.hawaii.edu)