Oh right, April! Dan’s MEGA65 Digest for, uh, April 2024.

Heyhey, all! I hope everyone is doing well.

I’ve been dealing with a family thing (not tragic, just time consuming) and haven’t been able to finish the feature article I planned for the April issue of the MEGA65 Digest. So instead, I’m going to push that article to the next issue, and just drop you a quick note. I’m also going to skip the audio issue for this month. (The audio issue for March was enough for two. 😅)

There has been a quiet burble of activity in the MEGA65 community as we all await the next delivery batch, including some promising incremental improvements to the audio system, and bug fixes for advanced graphics features. Only a couple of projects have proper announcements, but they’re fun and I don’t want to delay them!

Pascal65

The MEGA65 speaks a new language! TwoBitRetro has just launched the first public beta of Pascal65, a compiler and IDE of the Pascal programming language. The MEGA65 is just the first target. Ken says he intends to support other Commodore 8-bits in the future, as well as the Commander X16. The project is open source.

Download the beta, check out the beta release notes and the 0.25 update notes, read the documentation, and follow the dev blog for updates.

program hello;

var name: string;

begin
  write('What is your name? ');
  readln(name);
  writeln('Hi, ', name, ' nice to meet you!');
end.

mega65.h for llvm-mos

The llvm-mos SDK, the LLVM backend for 6502-family microcomputers capable of compiling languages like C and C++, now includes header files for using MEGA65 features. This provides a common way to use the VIC-IV, SID, CIA, hardware math, and the Hypervisor from C and C++ programs. Check out this example visual demo in C++. These headers are also usable with the CC65 and Calypsi compilers.

Many thanks to wombat for his continued development and advocacy work bringing MEGA65 support to the llvm-mos project!

Tell me what you think!

I want to hear from you! If you’re waiting for your MEGA65 to ship, what are you most looking forward to learning more about? If you’re already enjoying your MEGA65, what topics could the Digest cover that would make your experience more rewarding? If you’re still considering a purchase, what interests you about retro computing, and how are you hoping the MEGA65 or this Digest will scratch that itch?

You can send me e-mail, or leave a comment on my Ko-fi page. I’m considering doing the Community Survey again this year, too, so keep an eye out for that.

Thanks all! Back soon!

— Dan