Musing on MOS 6500s

[DrG]

So, I came across this MOS 1980 catalog (sorry about the glare).



Apparently, the 6501 was announced in 1975 (a month before the 6502) and it was US$20, an unheard of low price https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/MOS_6501_Ad_August_1975.jpg



Has anyone here ever used one? I would love to hear the story. I have looked around and have seen at least one advertised for sale but at a ridiculous (to me) price.

In fact, by 1980, MOS had a number of 6500 'varieties'. I never hear much about them though.




OK, no real point to this post, just musing and sharing.

[Benta]

Apparently, the 6503...6513 were bond-out options. I've never seen on in the wild, they seem to only exist on paper (and they're pretty pointless).

[DrG]

Why are you mixing up the 6501 and 6500/1 in the same post?  There's no real connection.

I guess I'm just not as smart as you.

[DrG]

Apparently, the 6503...6513 were bond-out options. I've never seen on in the wild, they seem to only exist on paper (and they're pretty pointless).

I wondered about that and think you might be right. The 6501, btw, does not appear in this catalog at all.

[edavid]

I wondered about that and think you might be right. The 6501, btw, does not appear in this catalog at all.

Motorola made MOS stop selling them in 1976: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6502#Motorola_lawsuit

[BrokenYugo]

Apparently, the 6503...6513 were bond-out options. I've never seen on in the wild, they seem to only exist on paper (and they're pretty pointless).

Atari used the 6507 quite a bit, as the CPU in every Atari 2600 and in various 8 bit computer peripherals, they were aiming for a minimal price point and I guess less bonds and leads=cheaper when you need millions of chips.

[bsdphk]

Apparently, the 6503...6513 were bond-out options. I've never seen on in the wild, they seem to only exist on paper (and they're pretty pointless).

Commodore used them in various peripherals.

[Kean]

I thought I'd lost them, but I just found my original blue cover MCS6500 hardware manual and KIM1 users guide from 1976. 

There is a copy online already, which is good as I don't really want to damage it during scanning.
http://archive.6502.org/books/mcs6500_family_hardware_manual.pdf

The Rev A hardware manual dated January 1976 has details on the MCS6501/2/3/4/5, and the MCS6520 and 6530.

I also had a thicker white cover manual which I am pretty sure was the programming manual.
http://archive.6502.org/books/mcs6500_family_programming_manual.pdf
I lent that one to the owner of the local Tandy/Radio Shack store and sadly never got it back.  I see they now sell for over US$200... 

I have a vague recollection that I acquired a 28-pin 650x chip via a local PCB designer doing a workbench cleanup (circa 1983/4), along with lots of other stuff.  I'll keep an eye out for it in my collection.  I hope I also still have the KIM-1's in a box somewhere.  Sadly I didn't keep all of my 6809 gear from back then.

[DrG]

Yes! I had forgotten about the documentation with my KIM (see post here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/what-was-you-first-computer/msg2894062/#msg2894062).

When it arrived to me, the documentation, while original), had been ripped and placed in a binder 

I was always impressed by how thorough it was.