Ironically, I'm writing to say that I haven't been
much for writing lately. My brain waxes Dionysian
in the warm weather and won't really return to
it's Apollonian mode in force before the first
snows.
Sunshine. Dirt. Tools. Ticks. Wine.
Occasionally I'll try to prefigure my next steps
for the LMC emulator (see my root gophermap) but
I'm finding myself a little unsure of what to do
next with it. The cross-assembler is working and
the emulator executes code correctly. What next?
The options I'm considering are: (A) Hex Keyboard,
7-Segment readout and simple Monitor/Debugger a-la
the Heathkit ET-3400 or Kim-1 (B) a Tiny Basic
Interpreter (or C) an Opcode Interpreter (like an
interpreted assembler). Of course any one of these
would be programmed natively in LMC Assembly
Language.
"A" would be the easiest code and the physical
product could look really cute and retro... but
I'm loathe to spend even the minimal cash for a
readout and tactile matrix - not to mention that I
get queasy 'nowadays when I "buy new"
"B or C" could look even cuter. I'm envisioning a
60% USB keyboard with room enough for the Pi Zero
W to live inside the enclosure. These options are
even worse about "cost and newness" but the even
bigger thing that puts me off these options is
that coding either of these two things would be
pushing my coding abilities beyond my comfort
zone. I've not the brain for such things that I
used to.
Well I've got a couple of months to see what
amount of confidence I can muster. The winters ARE
long after all. Maybe I'll start with "A" (without
the pretty hardware), then graduate to "B or
C".
