Comment Re:More Relevant Info? (Score 1) 174
Yes, indeed, Motorola "got" the 6502. At least the right to build them, with little or no royalty to MOS Technology. Check your handy DigiKey catalog. Motorola 6502's have been in there for years. I don't need to "read the article" -- I read the original news stories in ECN and other mags "back in the day".
Motorola won their suit against MOS Tech because they took electron microscope shots of the silicon within the DIP packages and, voila, there were Moto's drawing numbers and logos right there on the silicon!
Innovative? Maybe. They did add a second index register, but at the expense of reducing both to eight bits, compared to the sixteen bit index register in the 6800. The PC (program counter, "Where am I") register was chopped to eight bits too. Bad from a programming standpoint, but their "innovations" did get them some clock speed. At the expense of needing more clock ticks. Advertising is everything -- our clock is faster!
Motorola won their suit against MOS Tech because they took electron microscope shots of the silicon within the DIP packages and, voila, there were Moto's drawing numbers and logos right there on the silicon!
Innovative? Maybe. They did add a second index register, but at the expense of reducing both to eight bits, compared to the sixteen bit index register in the 6800. The PC (program counter, "Where am I") register was chopped to eight bits too. Bad from a programming standpoint, but their "innovations" did get them some clock speed. At the expense of needing more clock ticks. Advertising is everything -- our clock is faster!
