Posted By
JamesD
on 2016-09-23
00:02:47
|  Re: What would I do differently in the Plus/4
"up to" Litwr
*edit*
Clocking the CPU faster would be one of the biggest advantages the machine could have had.
I think if people had the choice between a faster clock and sprites, this would be the better choice.
The CPU doesn't have to take only half of the clock cycles.
In lower resolutions, the CPU could receive 3/4 of the clock cycles + extra border cycles.
If 640x200 were supported, then half of all clock cycles + extra border cycles.
That would make it the fastest 6502 system at the time.
Software sprites would be reasonably close to the speed of hardware ones.
And for number crunching, it stomps on the Apple II and probably most Z80s machines.
UCSD Pascal P-Code would probably execute nearly as fast as native Pascal compiler output for the 6502.
If Commodore includes the 6516 instruction additions, it's a scary little powerhouse.
But, I'm sure that would require a different TED. And given the current failure rate of TEDs due to heat, the machine might also have the lifespan of a gnat.
I'm also sure it would add more to the price of the machine than you think.
The BBC Micro Model A was around $266 given the historical exchange rate, and that was with only 16K. They also had to raise prices after that.
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