Just stumbled across this while doing some random browsing.
http://geoffg.net/maximite.html

I know these sorts of things aren't for everyone, but I personally thought it was pretty cool. Very much a tinkerers machine, but a different take than things like the RPI.

The specs are interesting too. A nice level of restrictive, but capable. Bit of a sidebar, but this is one facet of the Classic Amiga that some "NG" users don't consider when talking down the capabilities of 68k systems. It can be those very same restrictions some use to talk down a system that others find appealing.

As for the Maximite, seems an Amiga could be a nice companion system. Good for both graphics and sound production as both the resolution and number of colors both fall inside even an OCS capabilities, along with 8bit .mods being the format of choice for the inbuilt development software.

The last 5 or 6 years have seen some interesting stuff in the computing world.
After things getting somewhat generic and bland for so long in an attempt to make computing accessible and enticing to non-enthusiasts (tablet, social media, phones, etc.) it seems we geeks have developed some new and fun toys catering to us again. It may be nieche, but so was computing in general 35 years ago.

Last edited by fishy_fis on 27-Apr-2017 at 06:42 AM.

@fishy_fis

Looks like a really fun little machine.

_________________
cheers
tony

Hyperion Support Forum: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/index.php

Lets be honest about it. It is a very great product but it is running on a Microcontroller which is not a full computer chip.

@fishy_fis,

Looks like XMOS meets PI, but with I/O's. Put that in a real Zorro slot!

Chris

@Chuckt

And?

Sorry, but I fail to see your point.
Neither I, nor the developers made any particular claims about the machine. I simply thought it was cool.
Unless I'm missing something it seems you're being negative for the sake of it. If that's the case then that's your prerogative, bizarre as it may be.

@fishy_fis

Quote:

fishy_fis wrote: Just stumbled across this while doing some random browsing. http://geoffg.net/maximite.html

Cool, looks like something coming from Sinclair or Tandy

_________________
Proud Amigan since 1987
Owner of various Commodore and a SAM440ep\OS4.1FE
See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

@Nibunnoichi

Funny you should say that. I come across it while browsing Tandy Coco stuff.
A well known Coco dev seems to be a fan and did a conversion of his game "Donut Dilemma" to the Maximite Color.

@fishy_fis

Yes indeed! I posted here about the Maximite a few months back
http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=41673&forum=17&15


I love the Maximite idea. It's less like an Amiga, more (as you say) like a Coco or a C-128/C64 approach.

I think it's really helped by using MS Basic / GW Basic as the template for the OS + language. It makes this machine accessible, understandable, provides a large pool of existing software and programming knowledge. When I say a large pool of existing software, what I really mean is readily adaptable software. Think of all those years of program listings from magazines like Compute! or from books. Plus lots of custom legacy stuff that was programmed for an Apple II or a PC-XT or a C64.

For example, in the 1980s and 90s, my Dad refurbished a surplus military flight simulator. He built interface boards to connect to the cockpit, and then wrote the flight simulation software in GW Basic and QuickBasic. He's never updated his software to run on modern systems (Windows, USB etc.) Frankly, converting his system to run on the Maximite would be less work than re-implementing it on a Windows system.

@Dave73

Ah, yes, I remember that thread. I'm not sure I checked out the link to the Maximite Color at the time though or, given that I find it interesting, I'd have remembered it.
Oddly, despite your thread being about the Maximite, I remember it because of the Mega65 stuff. :)

The Maximite is definitely on my "to buy" list.

@fishy_fis

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh but a 32-bit computer with a BASIC interpreter and only 8 colours? Even 8-bit computers had more colours. It's half what a C64 had and a C16 would kill it. Which is like an insult. But on top of that where are the sprites? Didn't see that mentioned. What sound hardware does it have and how many channels? This information is missing on Geoff's page.

@Hypex

It does mention that the original Maximite was mono and the color is stereo, but yes, beyond that there's no mention of sound capabilities (other than the fact its 8bit).

As I said though, its definitely a niche system.
Personally I like the limitations/restrictions.

@fishy_fis

I didn't find the info on the main page. I downloaded a hardware manual but it really had no specs for sound and video. I then downloaded a software manual that didn't exactly list specs either but implied that it didn't have real sprites; only software sprites, and that playing mods uses CPU time; so not exactly any hardware audio channels either. I expected better from an 8-bit like computer in 2017.

@Hypex

I believe the point of this project was to build an entire computer around a single microcontroller chip. If you want hardware sprites or hardware sound, I expect you need a more complicated hardware design - you'd probably want to use an FPGA or similar and that makes it a whole different kind of hobby project!

Actually getting a computer this sophisticated from a PIC is very impressive. If you read about the details, even just getting a colour VGA display without having a separate graphics chip needed a lot of hackery. The PIC chip is basically acting as the microprocessor and generating the video display as well. Haven't seen something like that since the SInclair ZX81